Landfall holds up particularly well when you're contesting objectives, as the layout is relatively easy to read and form strategies around, without feeling unbalanced.

An excellent game that, while paying tribute to Lara Croft's heritage, certainly feels like a new beginning - mechanically as well as thematically. It's visually dazzling, narratively affecting, dangerously near best-in-class when it comes to solid shooting, vertiginous platforming and ballsy set plays... and bodes fantastically for any future instalments.

Crysis 3 might be a victim of this love-blindness. You'll never be bored during the campaign, and certainly not during the excellent multiplayer. But Crysis 3 feels like a retread of entertaining ground, with a frustrating glimpse of how good it could actually be.

It's the story that shines here. All pretense of historical accuracy has been thrown out of the window, and it's the most absurd Assassin's Creed plot yet - which is saying something.

There's a great game in Revengeance, buried under the rubble of a previous franchise collapse. With a little less zatsu and a little more dan, Platinum Games could be on to something.

Colonial Marines can't trade on nostalgia alone... It needed to offer intense combat against an unstoppable force, deft storytelling that matched the cinematic flair of the films, and some new ideas that could have rejuvenated an overexposed franchise. It needed, in short, to be a better game.

Most of the things fans loved about the original are here, and the new features are cleverly mixed with the existing ones, but in terms of the structure, Visceral is treading water. Dead Space isn't dead by any means, but the spark isn't quite there.

The paper-thin strategy, piss-weak story, and miserable appearance are compounded by an insulting lack of polish.

If you've only played Absolution, these games will come as a surprise. They're more sandboxy, less handholdy experiences. They lack polish, perhaps, but between them they chronicle the invention of a genre, before it was left behind.

An entirely adequate karaoke machine. [Feb 2013, p.87]

When Battlefield 3 received a set of heavy armour maps and another set of close-quarters infantry maps, that was a revolution. Black Ops 2's Revolution is a step in the right direction, but a small one.

Fun, but far too easily mastered. [Jan 2013, p.97]

Looks like Potter has lost its magic. [Jan 2013, p.97]

One of the finest console strategy games ever. [Jan 2013, p.96]

Sails beneath already low expectations. [Jan 2013, p.91]

Going through the motions. [Jan 2013, p.86]

Retro City Rampage has all the charm, scattershot wit and entertainment value of a drunk, gabbling child. It's shallow, mindless and simple - that's the point.

The three-player co-op could well help with spicing up repeat journeys, though, and with every character's area worth playing (not least for the lovely hidden endings for those who think around the final section), those intent on searching its every inch will find that The Cave runs very deep - and dark - indeed.

The combat system is deep, satisfying, and just welcoming enough to let you in, before losing the smile, slapping your face and making you pay attention. Ninja Theory has bottled Danté's soul, and given him an excellent new life.

The single-player mode offers some spectacular boss battles, but pads out the experience with long-winded slogs against disposable drones. Without humans to fight, the relative rigidity of combat is exposed, though Platinum could never make hitting something anything less than satisfying. Anarchy Reigns is a brash, scrappy runt in a litter of spectacular action games, but in making online brawling just about work it still offers something of its own.

If you never played RAGE, buy it. Then buy this. Play it, love it, and when the "Insert Disc 2" prompt pops up, simply walk away, smiling.

It isn't entirely awful - even dodgy MOBA games can provide a lot of fun - but the myriad flaws suggests that it's badly misunderstood its audience. It's like being handed a love letter that was written by someone who had Googled 'seduction'. The effort they've put in is clearly endearing, but sorry - we're just not interested.

Play is built around evading attack, then countering with frenzied sword stabs or a selection of spells, so it's a shame that the all-important dodge move doesn't quite work.

The pack feels both more adventurous and more complete - a differently styled distillation of the things Skyrim does best which should last you well into Christmas.

All things considered, Sam's been seriously shafted. [Christmas 2012, p.99]

Time to reassess everything about 2001. [Christmas 2012, p.99]

Easy on the pockets and surprisingly fresh. [Christmas 2012, p.97]

Too tough, very cool, not as good as Sine Mora. [Christmas 2012, p.97]