The lack of offline multiplayer is a real shame as it would have been much easier to recommend, even if it meant having to constantly ask other players to avert their eyes. Still, Xbox Live Arcade is very much in need of more games like this and it’s well worth checking out.

It’s great if you want a chilled out, thoughtful experience that’s slow paced almost all the time, but if you fantasise about pursuing a life of white knuckle action and adventure against those great looking backdrops, you’re SOL.

The amount of content and the price point is just on the right side of comfortable, with the story trading ambition for authenticity. As a result, this first game can be called 'pretty good', but it’s still a little short on awesomeness.

As hardened gamers, we love really original ideas, especially when they’ve been implemented with care and attention to detail.

Evil Genius is a flawed strategy title very much in the Dungeon Keeper mould, but that doesn’t mean there’s no fun to be had. It’s certainly entertaining enough to keep you playing, but the numerous faults do serve to irk throughout, which ultimately strips away some of the pleasure.

Civilization Revolution feels like a bloated XBLA or PSN game. Strip away the disappointing visuals, bloody annoying introduction video that plays every time you start a fucking match, all the bells and whistles and you’re left with something could have been a true revolution. As it stands, this is just a good case of Civilization Devolution.

The game is a real mixed bag of action and strategy that, while not quite recreating the magic of X-COM, gives a pretty good showing of itself.

As a result, this first game can be called 'pretty good', but it’s still a little short on awesomeness.

Civ has the glitz and the glamour, while EUIII has huge depth and enough gameplay options to ensure that the game is never going to play the same way twice.

Episode Two is still thoroughly ridiculous and amusing, but compared to the first episode it pales, feeling much more like a stop-gap than a fully-fledged follow-up.

Everything about the game is over-the-top, including the story, and in our book that’s no bad thing. Like diving around and shooting bad guys in slow motion? Buy this.

Supreme Ruler 2020 is a big step on from what has gone before in the series. It doesn’t stand head and shoulders above the pack, but it certainly rubs shoulders with the big boys and doesn’t come off looking cheap and a little embarrassed. It makes the job of being a psychopathic dictator just that little bit more fun.

We may not call Bunjigai a classic, largely thanks to its less-than-refined story and level design, but as an action-packed hack and slash experience this game has it where it counts.

Technically the game stands up well, but feels a bit rushed in places, leading to some rather uninspired level design.

No game can claim to be as visually and aurally stunning as Killer7. There has been no video game as heavily and expressively stylised before, with the beautiful, cel-shaded visuals forming an integral part of the game, rather than a back of the box bullet point.

With a steep learning curve, fiddly controls and some tough levels, Heroes is not for everyone.

Civilization Revolution feels like a bloated XBLA or PSN game. Strip away the disappointing visuals, bloody annoying introduction video that plays every time you start a fucking match, all the bells and whistles and you’re left with something could have been a true revolution. As it stands, this is just a good case of Civilization Devolution.

Episode Two is still thoroughly ridiculous and amusing, but compared to the first episode it pales, feeling much more like a stop-gap than a fully-fledged follow-up.

As with its namesake, Evolution doesn't hold many surprises, being a by-the-numbers retread through environments and situations that will now be more than a little familiar to veterans of the series.

For the die-hards who take their games like they take their women – angry, violent, unforgiving, underdeveloped and occasionally gratifying – Ninja Gaiden 2 is a fine follow-up, especially with its punishing achievements and four difficulty settings (Very Hard, Insane, Chuck Norris, Double Chuck Norris). For everyone else Ninja Gaiden 2 is an exercise in futility that’s just not as polished, balanced or enjoyable as its predecessor.

We’ve also learned that its d-pad isn’t kind to the thumb when playing beat ‘em ups.

The PSP port in itself is not perfect, but with 6 and a bit full games, all of which are pretty damned well polished side-scrolling shooter experiences, it comes pretty easy to recommend to anyone looking for a bit of classic coin-op action.

Sometimes it’s too complex and sometimes it leaves you feeling hopelessly powerless over certain situations, but these facts are more of an inconvenience and don’t significantly affect your chances of success.

In the grand scheme of things, we’d probably rate GTA: Liberty City stories as being somewhere between GTA III and GTA: Vice City. That should give you some level of guidance when considering whether or not the £20 asking price is worth it.

The irony is, despite Meteos: Disney Magic being an inferior update, it’ll probably sell more purely due to the fact that the Disney licence is there. The fact that said licence has been wasted is hugely disappointing, as is the mishandling of some of the updates to the thankfully still-good gameplay.

With more characters than anyone could possibly master in one lifetime and plenty of variety in the form of Motor Kombat (we’re still laughing after playing this) and the Konquest adventure mode, not to mention the scary number of unlockables to be found, it’s enough to make you start daydreaming at what they could do on the next gen consoles.

Vice City fans might have fun with the game for a while, returning to familiar haunts one last time, but ultimately Vice City Stories is a great handheld game through and through, and this PS2 port does little more than emphasise the difference between the formats.

The greatest shame is that developer Saber Interactive wasn’t bold or ambitious enough to really capitalise on the one or two good ideas they actually had, and that’s ultimately the difference between a game that is just good and a game that is great.