With such a wealth of characterization, exceptional narrative, side-quests and good old-fashioned homicide on the sprawling Liberty City streets, Rockstar have delivered us a title that is the first worthy piece of downloadable content of this generation so far.

So when it all comes down to it, what you have here is a classic Square Enix RPG that you can play wherever you are, without having to make any major compromises in your expectations. Sure, it costs more than the other icons on your iPad and, yes, its control scheme is weirdly out of place.

The options presented to you in Fallout 3 are so numerous and complex that you are likely to want to replay the game just to experience them.

If you’ve played the original, let’s face it, Nintendo prices don’t drop very quickly. You may as well just go and pick this up because you know you want to play it. This is easily the definitive version of Wind Waker and the best you’ll ever play.

So are you a diehard nut who can’t get enough Portal action? Then you’ll probably already own this one. And if you’re new to the whole thing, Still Alive is easy to recommend. But everyone else in between, you may be better off saving your pennies for the inevitable Portal 2.

Minor flaws aside, FEZ is a great game that's hard not to recommend. At least, it'll offer a few hours of fun puzzle platforming; at most, it'll give you a fresh outlook on our three dimensional world and open your mind to what more there could be.

Overall, while Limbo's back-story is strangely absent, it can stand on the unique visual style and deceptively difficult platforming/puzzle gameplay alone.

Got a PSP? Awesome! Strike now. This is well worth your time and money. You won't be disappointed. Got both? Get the DS version. Better graphics don't trump the touchscreen.

Okami is beautiful to witness and plays like a true classic.

With its subtle but significant changes to the gameplay, and with the leaderboards providing excellent motivation for just one more go, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 will last players until their skills plateau. Even those that are loath to get into the fuzzy area of downloadable content and digital rights management owe it to themselves to purchase this game. It’s simply that good.

The iPad has the sweetest graphics with a massive screen.

For the most hardcore Civ addicts out there, some of the changes may be a little unfamiliar. But Civilization V retains the ethos of this iconic series, while modernising, simplifying and improving both its look and its feel.

It's the best game on the 3DS and it justifies the purchase of the system all by itself.

Thankfully the combat controls are simple and intuitive.

Its incredible controls and even gameplay really elevate the franchise to new levels.

Guild Wars 2 can be what players want to make of (and take from) it, which is pretty much what every good MMO should aspire to. All up, it's been a resounding success.

As a complete package its clearly an impressive, engrossing experience. Its storyline is excellent, its characterisation, voice acting, score and script are very well done, and its aesthetic is deliciously dystopian. The only fly in the ointment is its binary combat mechanics.

But those controls are what I keep coming back to. Frankly, I really detest playing an iOS game that has virtual buttons. Gameloft has done what it can, but this is far from an ideal platform for first person shooters.

While my iPad 1 struggled with some of the more demanding scenarios (more than two players usually crashed me out of the game), the iPad platform, generally speaking, is perfect for this sort of game.

Grand Theft Auto IV is very much a console-friendly game, and the PC port brings enough problems – albeit ones that won’t apply to everyone – to make me hesitate to recommend it over the original.

Even by the standards of the series, Empire: Total War is epic. It takes the combined real-time and turn-based strategy, and pushes it out into the eighteenth century in style. It's bigger, and it has a hell of a lot more bang.

Rayman Legends offers a surprisingly diverse 12+ hours of gameplay - an admirable feat for a platformer of this type.

Its relative ease makes redoing the challenges very pedestrian, and worse yet, replaying the same dungeon also means reliving all the pre-faffing-about to get there. You have to endure many of the same conversations, cutscenes and menial tasks you already know of and know how to do. Regardless of what decade you played it in, that is not fun.

When all the elements work in tandem, this game is extremely immersive - particularly if you have a 5.1 system (or at least a subwoofer) and an HD TV.

Demon's Soul is it. It will kill you, cap your health, break your sword, make you replay the same half hour ten times over and then kill you some more. But, because of this its rewards are infinitely more exhilarating and satisfying. However, the game isn't completely heartless.

Massive and beautiful. Classic roleplaying at it’s finest

Taken as a whole, as an experience rather than a series of discrete mechanics, this is a game that – if you let it – will draw you into its world…and then let you run loose in it. It feels refreshing enough to breathe new life into this crowded genre, and if you’re an RPG fan – even a casual one – then this should definitely be on your ‘must play’ list.

There is a stack of gameplay here, both in the singleplayer story (which is heavily connected to Assassin's Creed II) and in the multiplayer, which is a series first.