A creaking but stellar current-gen send-off. [Dec 2013, p.91]

Although this simple brawler has some intriguing multiplayer ideas, the solo game's repetitive and the Crusade metagame is hard to invest in. [Dec 2013, p.87]

Hits an unexpected sweet spot of Hollywood-style bombastic entertainment. [Dec 2013, p.86]

The game's the best it's ever been, but it's more of an update than a revolutionary overhaul. [Dec 2013, p.84]

Call of Duty is, and has always been, a series about instant gratification. It's fast food gaming at its most refined, a continual adrenaline rush that never thinks beyond the next kill. Ghosts maintains that heady, intoxicating momentum of shoot, kill, win, reward - but pales at the thought of taking the franchise in any interesting new directions.

Battlefield 4 combines a middling campaign with some of the finest larger-scale online warmongering ever conceived. As a package it constitutes extraordinary value. Levolution aside, it hasn't reinvented any shooter tropes, but it has refined and improved them to impressive degree.

Where Assassin's Creed 3 kept players at arm's length for hours, refusing to let you make your own way, Assassin's Creed 4 spreads those arms wide. We don't miss Connor, so much, but somebody should get this new guy a trilogy.

We'll find out next year if WWE's stable-change to 2K really changes the world of digital man-squeezing, but for now, like Wrestlemania, WWE 2K14 is a comforting combo of familiarity and nonsense.

It doesn't bring many new tricks to the table, but Origins is still thoroughly entertaining.

The most exhilarating moments, however, arrive care of the game's brutal action sequences.

Simplified controls. [Nov 2013, p.97]

As much fun as you'd expect from vermin. [Nov 2013, p.96]

Avoid like you would a corpse flower. [Nov 2013, p.95]

Far from a masterpiece, nowhere near awful. [Nov 2013, p.95]

Hugely imaginative but slightly irritating. [Nov 2013, p.95]

A grand idea, but needs deep pockets. [Nov 2013, p.94]

Only hipsters and farming fetishists need apply. [Nov 2013, p.91]

Its also frustrating that a game that can give so much on the pitch has very little to offer beyond it.

FIFA 14 represents a difficult step forward for a very popular franchise, but a successful one nonetheless. The changes have such a significant effect, that returning fans may find them off-putting through the first five to ten games. But those that embrace them will be rewarded with perhaps the most satisfying, engaging FIFA yet.

An entirely shallow addition to the fighting franchise, but it's slick and stylish nevertheless. [Dec 2013, p.87]

Rockstar's Xbox 360 swansong is probably the console's greatest technical achievement, and as such it's unmissable.

Decent, cheap and slightly interesting. [Oct 2013, p.103]

It's not changing the game. It's more like finding a third finger in your Twix packet. [Oct 2013, p.103]

Silva has got a razor-keen eye for what makes a satisfying brawler, and fans of The Dishwasher will be relieved to find his art and musical direction intact. [Oct 2013, p.89]

Doesn't totally transport us back. [Oct 2013, p.89]

Diablo 3 isn't an experience for the time-poor, though it's surprisingly possible to nip in for half an hour, just to level yourself up. But treat it like a casino: set yourself a limit, and stick to it. Otherwise, you might find yourself wide-eyed on Nephalem Glory at 5am.

Lost Planet 3's basic competence doesn't mask an almost complete reliance on recycled fetch quests. Its story ends on a relative high, but once the pace finally picks up in the final couple of hours, it's much too late and the 14-hour slog to get there isn't worth the payoff.

This is the most polished and satisfying platformer on Xbox 360. It's another masterpiece from Montpellier.