Some truly innovative ideas that all MMOs would do well to take notice of, but they and the intriguing narrative are wasted on the tedious and derivative combat.

A hugely ambitious space strategy that rivals even Civilization in terms of presentation and addiction - despite a few rogue elements.

There's an obvious love here for the genre, and retro gaming in general, but as strategic role-players go this is far from a grandmaster.

As mindlessly entertaining as any lightgun game, and with lots of zombie-themed nostalgia - but none of the pacing or showmanship of the best of the genre.

Indie gaming sires another 2D classic, with a platformer that offers more freedom and intrigue than almost anything else on Xbox Live Arcade - or beyond.

It may well end up being Nintendo's last game on the Wii, but it's an impressively subversive swansong that is neither as crude - nor as easy - as it looks.

A cleverly orchestrated souvenir of Final Fantasy at its best, that also can't help but remind you of the series' most common failings.

A laughably bad ghost story whose broken technology and shallow gameplay cannot sustain even its meagre two hour running time.

Despite its obvious gameplay failings this is still one of the scariest video games ever made, and this Wii edition a surprisingly effective update.

An even more impressive mix of horror and personal drama than the first episode, with intelligent writing, crowd-pleasing gore, and… far too many bugs.

An even more bare bones collection than on home consoles - even if it does include the best portable version of Snake Eater so far.

Definitely the best Spider-Man game for several years, but it falls short of the character's full potential and the high watermark of Spider-Man 2.

Its headline feature is easily its worst but there are enough other new extras to make this a costly but still diverting return to the land of Skyrim.

Not just an Olympics tie-in but a proper sports game, with the majority of events finding a good balance between realism and enjoyment.

One of the most daring marriages of narrative and action game ever seen, and yet still the end result never fully satisfies as either a game or story.

Not an encouraging start for the first Harvest Moon on the 3DS, with a game that struggles to justify not only its own existence but that of the franchise as a whole.

There have been far more than just three Ratchet & Clank games over the years but it's still a franchise worth celebrating, in one of the better HD collections so far.

The new additions are all positive but, apart from the reintroduction of religion, extremely trivial - which makes this an interesting test of the Civilization faithful.

Its similarities to Portal will be obvious to everyone and in terms of puzzles this is very much its equal, but in terms of script and characters… not so much.

Battlefield 3 does a good impression of Call Of Duty, but this isn't an expansion that plays to the series' strengths or offers much value for money.

The multiplayer options are impressively comprehensive and as Diablo clones go this ticks all the necessary boxes, except the ones for imagination and innovation.

It's still not a full reinvention of the Lego template but it is one of the most enjoyable uses of it so far, with an open world Gotham and a cast of characters to rival Arkham City.

Its heroine may be the only thing that's not rough around the edges, but this is another fascinating mess by Suda51 and a great arcade style actioner.

There's a decent a story to be salvaged here, and one that could happily be adapted for the show, but as a video game this fails miserably.

Its flaws are frustratingly obvious, but this has some of the most enjoyably original gameplay and visuals of any game this year - on the PS Vita or otherwise.

More of the same has rarely been so welcome, with this unusually elaborate, if still obviously reheated, download.

First person shooters clearly do work on the PS Vita, but proving that fact is the only real achievement of this otherwise insipid portable experience.

Another failed Doctor Who tie-in, but one that's especially disappointing because of how much it gets right in terms of the dialogue and visuals.