It doesn't get everything right, and its low budget is obvious at times, but this is still one of the most unique and ambitious racers of the generation.

An inspired reworking of The Sentinel, introducing a new generation to one of the most tense and atmospheric action puzzlers ever made.

The price prevents any serious criticism but this is still one of the best-looking and most accessible Tower Defence games around.

All the component pieces are here, but given the severe control limitations the subtitle here should have been 'lite' not 'refrain'.

A Monster Hunter clone that copies most of the key features but fails to properly balance any of them - or add any proper new ideas of its own.

It's an obvious clone of 'Splosion Man, but it's also a pretty good one - and in the world of gaming that's all that's ever really mattered.

So the question is: how good is the new map pack? And without hesitation the answer is: very good indeed.

It still looks and sounds amazing but this sabotages and dumbs down almost everything the original game got right.

The graphics are great and the course design often inspired but in terms of depth and longevity all this nails is its own finger.

The glory days of Mario Golf and Tennis seem very far away, in this lazy and patronisingly simplistic sports compendium.

It may lack the scares of its big brother but this proves an impressively progressive lightgun game that works very well with PlayStation Move.

A poorly thought out attempt to take on Call Of Duty and Battlefield, whose main gimmick is as a flawed as its other elements are overfamiliar.

Not just a tech demo, but a cleverly designed time waster that creates an absorbing challenge out of its apparently limited mechanics.

The iPhone's best game emerges from the shadow of LocoRoco as one of the best portable puzzlers ever.

There are a few niggling technical issues but this still easily laps any other serious racing game on the iPhone - or any other portable format.

An improvement on the original but only in the details, not as a result of any big new ideas. Genre-starved survival horror fans should be well satisfied though.

Good ideas and good intentions only go so far when the game itself is as incompetently made and balanced as this seriously flawed shooter.

Ratchet & Clank's less talented cousins show just how unimportant technical competence is when a game has no heart or ambition.

Not quite the definitive version that some would've been expecting, but still the best Western style action role-player of the generation.

A textbook Gameloft release, with an impressive facsimile of Counter-Strike et al. at a fraction of the price - and with a fraction of the inspiration.

Rather than iron out the faults of the original this new platformer construction kit tries to hide them under a wave of useful but inessential extras.

Whether you're a fan or not this is easily the weakest of the series, with an unwanted revisit of overfamilar locations and gameplay faults.

It's rare to see any new ideas in a 2D shooter, let alone as many as this game boasts, but they're all suffocated by some hopelessly dull presentation.

The flaws are obvious, and in many cases needless, but personality (and fantastic animation) go a long way in this eccentric puzzler.

Innerspace meets Smash T.V., except retaining only the worst elements of both in this slow-paced and tedious dual-stick shooter.

It might be a pain to get hold of but this engrossing visual novel has more mystery and tension in its simple text screens than a hundred CGI cut scenes.

A clever puzzler that makes interesting use of PlayStation Move, but like its forebears the minimalist presentation and lack of pep will not appeal to all.

Not only one of the best WiiWare games ever, but an inspired 2D action puzzler to put even LocoRoco and Rolando in the shade.

The level of whimsy may seem artificially high but this is an inventive and fun puzzler - and a great opening salvo for Xbox Live Arcade in 2011.

It sounds, and to a degree looks, like the movies but so far this run of the mill graphic adventure lacks the soul of the film franchise.

Another excellent download that's arguably more entertaining than the main game, with an improved co-op mode and a more focused adventure.

A much more ambitious slice of downloadable content than many, but in the end one that fails to take advantage of its own, or the main game's, best features.

One of Steam's best kept secrets and a cracking indie title that both pokes fun at and celebrates the charming absurdity of role-playing games.

A useful expansion that puts an appreciably different spin on the original gameplay, to the point where many are likely to prefer this tour of duty.

It's not Sonic and it's not meant to be, but this dowdy little platformer puzzler is uncomplicated to a fault.

The characterisation and presentation continue to impress, but they've yet to be emancipated from the repetitive and shallow gameplay.

As unique a vision as video gaming has ever seen and one able to use even its many incompetencies to entertain and surprise.

WiiWare's most consistent series of downloads returns with a unique take on the 2D shooter and the most literal on-the-rails action ever.

Although this fixes many of the problems with the original it then undoes all the things it got right, in one of the most inexcusably brief games ever.

But perhaps the most tragic thing here is that despite a critical drubbing for each game this series has made exactly the same mistakes every time.

A low key revival of what should be one of gaming's biggest licenses, but the child-friendly recreations of the movies' battles are still fairly effective.

A perfect mix of retro and modern sensibilities that loses none of the charm or accessibility of the originals, but adds a great deal more variety.

Although the graphics are adequate, at least in comparison to the rest of the game's failings, all this is really good for is making Kinect Sports look even better by comparison.

Even if this was free it still wouldn't be worth it.

Series and genre fans are well provided for but it's a shame the technical achievements aren't in service of a more adventurous game.

It's a technical tour de force for the PSP, but also one sequel to many for a series that is in dire need of a reboot - or perhaps simply a rest.

Not one of the standout entries for the series, with just a few useful additions that never go quite far enough. Not that it tempers the game's addictive powers.

The best horror game of this generation and one of the few courageous enough to try new ideas and make the player a victim, not a saviour.

One of the best action role-players on any portable - if it wasn't for the appallingly banal plot and characters.

Helicopter sims may be a niche interest but after IL-2 Sturmovik this is the best flight simulation available on current consoles.

Three obscure lightgun games and the world's most unpopular online shooter do not exactly prove a great showcase for PlayStation Move.

An unexpectedly daring mix of Jet Set Radio and de Blob, that may lack in realism or plausibility but certainly not in imagination and fun.

As poorly named game as there's ever been, since this doesn't recreate the experience of Jacko's music or life - just a few motion-controlled dance moves.

The faults are a shame because the basic gameplay works perfectly well and if the technical issues can be ironed out, and the musical horizons broadened, a follow-up could be the real evolution needed.

It offers little progress from the PC version, but then none is really needed in what is a masterclass in minimalist video game design.

Much more than a poor man's Ico, the low tech presentation hides a consistently charming and well constructed puzzle adventure.

Probably the best Kirby game ever and one of the most visually arresting video games of the year (if it had actually been released in Europe that is).

One of the most imaginative and ambitious motion-controlled games ever. The only problem being that it doesn't actually work.

It's clearly just junk food gaming but there's still an art to these arcade brawlers and X-Men remains one of the most social examples of the breed.

It's good to see Assassin's Creed having a positive influence on game settings but this historical would-be epic has little else to recommend it.

The granddaddy of online first person shooters returns and although you could quibble over the price the classic gameplay is as solid as ever.

It may be a relatively small improvement but this is definitely the best of the series yet, and as a result one of the DS's best puzzle games.

There's a decent range of game modes, but none are as engaging as the other ten year old snowboard games it's trying to copy.

It's only a cheap pack-in title but this not only fails as a game, it's also a terrible way to show off the Wii Remote Plus/Wii Motion Plus.

All hardware launches have their shovelware and this is the most glaringly awful for Kinect.

It often seems like you're making more effort in the game than the developers did, with this miserable showcase for PlayStation Move.

A fairly cynical attempt to mix Left 4 Dead with a twin stick shooter, but there are still some interesting ideas in amongst the far too familiar ones.

Consistently underrated at the time this masterful mix of influences makes hardly a single mistake in all three games - and definitely deserves a fourth.

The best arcade racer of not just this year but this whole generation of consoles, with an unrivalled sense of speed and the sheer joy of competition.

Despite all that could have gone wrong this is one of the best remakes this generation, with a triumphant return for old school split screen multiplayer.

Donkey Kong Country is still no classic platformer, but this reboot comes surprisingly close to rivaling modern Super Marios.

It's the imagination of the developers that seems at fault here, not the player, with little real opportunity to create anything - just rearrange it.

A return to the mini-game collection formula proves predictability disappointing, with slightly more complex games but even less variety.

No matter how the new movie turns out this tie-in makes all the usual mistakes with bland, unoriginal action and an incoherent narrative.

The best Call Of Duty Treayarch has ever made, with several set pieces that are amongst gaming's very best. The multiplayer is usefully enhanced too.

Ghost Recon re-imagined as the most boring Time Crisis clone imaginable, with a mix of genre and franchise that should never have happened.

A bad idea poorly realised, with some below par 3D platforming married to mismatched graphics and a vague and unsatisfying morality system.

Fans are unlikely to be too disappointed, and the developer's automotive obsession is always evident, but this is definitely a refinement not a revolution.

A terrible disappointment given the Wii original, with some very sloppy use of Kinect and more bugs than Fallout: New Vegas.

The name and the screenshots have probably put most people off already but this is a classic example of Cave's mastery of the 2D shooter.

EA have saved the worst for (second to) last in this laughably poor third person shooter that fails as both a tie-in and a game.

Its goals and improvements may be more modest than the last game but this is still an enjoyable return trip to Italy - especially in the company of friends.

The road to Sonic's redemption is a long one, but this is a much surer step towards it than any other game in the last 15+ years.

Almost everyone does it better than this bland, unambitious shooter that manages to squander all of the developer's usual talents.

The underlying technology and use of Kinect is impressive, it's just that the package as a whole seems a little undercooked.

The concept is clearly not going to appeal to anyone with an age in double digits but the game makes much better and more varied use of Kinect than almost any other title so far released.

Once the novelty has worn off - which will only take a couple of goes with lesser games like 20,000 Leaks - you'll never want to play any of them again.

It's not a new idea, the feature set is thin and the presentation is mediocre. But it's still the best dance game - and the best Kinect game - so far.

Just as shallow and unoriginal as you'd expect, and with some fairly obvious technical issues. But it still offers hope for the future of Kinect.

It was probably foolhardy to ever try to bring The Sims 3 to consoles and despite a spirited attempt this is just a shadow of the PC version.

Every year this moribund franchise goes without a complete overhaul the more obvious and unacceptable its half-decade old problems become.

The whole package absolutely shames most other downloadable expansions (including the earlier Red Dead ones) and as silly and shallow as it all is it's just as unmissable as the main game itself.

Ask not what Rock Band 3 can do for you, but whether you have the commitment (and a large enough wallet) to make the most out of it.

It's only a slightly better game than last time but that's almost irrelevant given the impossible range and complexity of virtual objects at your command.

An aggravatingly poor sequel that insists on changing things that didn't need changing and refusing to fix those that did.

Even for those that would never normally dream of playing a basketball sim this is a great game, although it's best played in small doses.

The best new music title for years and a significant improvement on the first game, with almost every complaint from the original addressed.

Considerably worse than the thoroughly unremarkable original, this is a horror game but not quite in the way it was intended.