Still a minor royal in the fighting game pantheon, but a hardworking one that beats Marvel Vs. Capcom in terms of depth - if not accessibility and brand recognition.

The Lord Of The Rings is yet again denied a decent tie-in, with this desperately uninteresting and half broken action role-player.

The cinematic approach makes sense on paper but it means Telltale Games aren't able to play to their strengths and the end result seems doomed to extinction.

A peculiar multimedia bundle that features a near worthless HD update, a paid-for demo and a terrible CGI movie. Fighting game fans can do a lot better.

Inspired at times but also badly inconsistent, this is certainly the best Shinobi game since the Mega Drive era but still not really it's own game.

The loss of London Life leaves a nasty taste in the mouth, but its absence doesn't affect the main game which is probably the best of the series so far.

The aging formula may be getting by purely on charm at this point, but this is still the best Harry Potter game ever made - Lego or not.

Still the least interesting inter-company crossover ever conceived and still just an outdated and unambitious mini-game compendium.

A superbly crafted comeback for one of platform gaming's most overlooked stars, and one of the best-looking 2D games ever made.

The motion controls work well enough but this is an unambitious and needlessly simplistic on-the-rails adventure that does nothing to help Move's cause.

The best original Kinect game this year, and if it wasn't for the vagaries of the controller itself one of the best video games around for the very young.

Need For Speed is back to being a bland, middle-of-the-road racer - one so uninteresting it's hard to get too upset at th e shamefully short running time.

Gloriously insane and surprisingly good value, it doesn't pretend to be the deepest fighter around but in the short term at least this is one of the most entertaining.

Not even half as crazy and daring as it likes to think, but instead a dispiritingly conservative collection of bland third person action and missed opportunities.

Halo's 10th anniversary certainly deserves celebrating but a HD remake only serves to underline how little the series has moved forward over the years.

There's still plenty of the old Assassin's Creed magic in parts, but this proves an unnecessary sequel and one with few genuinely welcome new ideas.

Giving a purposefully retro 2D platformer a 3D makeover sounds like the worst idea ever, but the end result only reconfirms Cave Story as a modern classic.

Revolutionary on at least two counts, with the best motion controls ever seen in a video game and an inspired reinvention and improvement of the Zelda formula.

Easily Bethesda's best game yet, with an impossibly detailed and beautiful game world and a new gold standard for Western style role-playing.

Exactly what the 3DS needed to reenergise its fortunes and restate its purpose, and even if it's not as good as Galaxy it's still the best portable Mario since the Game Boy.

Not only one of Cave's best 2D shooters but one of the definitive entries in the whole genre, with a deep weapons system and dazzling pyrotechnics.

As substantial as they are the changes won't silence committed critics, but for accessible, content-rich action this is still the best first person shooter of the year.

A good idea only moderately well implemented, with the novelty of playing cops and robbers lasting only a relatively short time.

The funniest and best-looking entry in the series so far, but also the least innovative and accessible in terms of gameplay.

A no-brainer for fans of the series, but although superior to its predecessor this is still too repetitive and shallow to convince newcomers.

There are only a few minor improvements over the Wii version, but this is still a classy remake with some of the best split screen action on consoles.

Mountains of game modes and content but only a molehill amount of personality, this does nothing for either Tetris or the 3DS's back catalogue.

A surprisingly fitting end to Nintendo's legacy on the DS, with one of the best ever uses of the touchscreen and the best Kirby game since Epic Yarn.