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.

A great 20th anniversary gift for Sonic fans and although it can never make up for all the series' low points it at least helps draw a line under them.

A fun riff on the Lego formula, and although it doesn't add anything other than an extra two players it's a fun diversion for Disney fans.

Still one of the best lightgun games never to see the inside of an arcade, but it's still no classic and the new additions are of questionable worth.

An excellent multiplayer and the best version of Battlefield ever on a console, but a lesser game than on the PC and with a very poor single-player mode.

Some of the best multiplayer action ever seen on the PC, although not without its issues - as well as a deeply disappointing single-player campaign.

Still the best party game on Kinect but the new sports are a mixed bag and the motion controls remain as inconsistent as always.

A surprisingly clever use of the licence, that maintains the charming whimsy of the books and marries it to one of the best 2D platformers of the year.

No longer just an imitation of cinematic blockbusters but an interactive roller-coaster of outstanding ambition, technical ability, and genuine heart.

Superb mix of Tower Defense and action role-player that is one of the year's best and most addictive co-operative games.

Very poor value if you already own last year's version, but even if you don't the console version is still badly compromised compared to the PC.

Still easily the best sports management game around, and although most of this year's changes are fairly trivial they're all extremely welcome.

An inoffensive way to waste a few hours with friends or family, particularly younger ones, but a waste of both Insomniac and Ratchet & Clank's talents.

A genuinely entertaining and imaginative child-friendly dungeon crawler, that's at least as good as the recent Lego games and not nearly as cynical as you might think.