Nostalgic fun that's aged badly. [Apr 2012, p.105]

All zombies must try (harder). [Apr 2012, p.105]

Not great for beginners, but fine for flight fans. [Apr 2012, p.100]

Some of the ideas at the core of it are brilliant, but the same thing could be said of the atomic bomb. Blades of Time is slightly more pleasant than a nuclear explosion, but that doesn't make it worthy of your money or your time.

The Kinect controls for all these activities feel intuitive, accurate, and responsive. Considering the range of gestures, there's impressively little frustration involved.

It's abysmal in singleplayer, elevating itself to merely dull and forgettable in co-op and multiplayer. Welcome to a zombie game that's as lifeless and ragged as its primary antagonists.

Most story missions rely on hefty amounts of trial and error, but getting it right doesn't even feel satisfying: it's like playing cards against someone who cheers every time you win, but refuses to teach you how to play. Everything you do is tied back to the multiplayer - a mighty clan-based system that impresses, but adds even more complexity. Armored Core V's initial ease turns out to be a token gesture. This is hardcore.

Ninja Gaiden serves up some Hollywood setpieces with a rock-solid combat system. Forgive the hyperactive cameraman and choose the right difficulty, because the wrong one will ruin your game.

Given that FIFA 12 is crammed with modes and teams, FIFA Street feels lightweight, with only a handful of licensed club leagues on offer and a main menu bereft of choice. Still, if you're getting bored of FIFA and like your football a little more vibrant, this is a decent if not essential choice.

Downpour is an engrossing, eerie play, but it's simultaneously empowered and constrained by its necromantic heritage. There are two sides to every Silent Hill, and like every studio since Team Silent, Vatra hasn't brought enough to the party.

The additions are enticing, but they're also insulting. If you're the kind of person who's easily enraged, steer well clear of this cheeky cash-grab.

If we have one complaint, it's the fact you have to waggle the thumbstick for a few seconds to blow up the thing you're occupying. You're not using B or Y, guys. But otherwise this is an intelligent and modestly-priced puzzler that'll lovingly abduct an evening from your life.

It's a harrowing tale, but a frustrating one too. Odd arcade touches and cost-cutting measures poke through the skin like broken bones. Bluffing your way out of a fight sounds promising, but it's a clunky, repetitive business and bodycounts are high.

Mass Effect 3 is brave enough to threaten to destroy its very own legacy. Everything you've worked for is genuinely at risk, and horrifying things are going to happen because of some of the choices you've made. If you've spent as long as we have with these characters, the impact of this final journey will be one you don't forget for years. Brave, thrilling, and incredibly emotional, Mass Effect 3 is a sci-fi masterpiece.

A fantastically substantial fighting game. If Marvel vs Capcom 3 was too wacky for your tastes, this sits comfortably between it and Street Fighter IV on the lunacy spectrum. The tag mechanic is brilliantly robust, there are loads of new moves to master and the Tekken characters slot in more comfortably than a bum in a favourite armchair. Welcome to your new favourite fighting game.

Not really worth investigating. [March 2012, p.91]

The Lost Archive will blast an evening from your life, and give you something minor to chew on until Assassin's Creed 3. But this udder sac is pretty much drained.

As a series reboot this is perfectly acceptable, but it's the new and innovative online aspects that make SSX feel absolutely superb. Packed to the brim with clever ideas, SSX is a truly unmissable surprise. While most other online modes feel like painting-by-numbers, SSX shrugs and tries something refreshingly different. This isn't just brave - it's brilliant.

This is very much a single-player pick, and the game Terminator wishes it could be.

Asura's Wrath begs for negative criticism. But no unhelpful intellectualising about the boundaries of TV and videogame can magic away the wide grin that sat on our face for most of the game. If you're a fan of massive-attack anime and characters who are only mortal when the battle ends, Asura's Wrath is Naruto for post-pubescents. It's not great value, but it is spectacular entertainment.

Syndicate feels like a deeply average game in a cunning, expensive disguise. Stare at the screenshots and you'll wonder how something that looks so slick can be as disappointing as it is.

American Nightmare is good value, but it hints at more than it delivers - a world in which urban myths can come true never materialises in this episode. But that just makes us wonder what Remedy has got in store.

Kids will obviously adore it, but if you've ever enjoyed inching through Disneyland's campy haunted house, you'll be equally at home in Haunt.

Brief, reasonably entertaining and mercifully cheap. [Feb 2012, p.103]

A by-the-numbers recreation of the show. [Feb 2012, p.103]

Explodes your preconceptions. [Feb 2012, p.101]

It's the one that we want. [Feb 2012, p.101]

The Winter of our discontent. [Feb 2012, p.101]