A distinctly sludgy shooter. [June 2011, p.102]

DiRT 3 is one of those rare games that delivers both quality and quantity. Everything is laser-engineered to improve on the brilliant previous game. The only misstep is the anodyne Career mode interface - lots of people will be baffled by the decision to replace the bustling 3D service area with something stylish yet hollow.

Traveller's Tales could use a magic compass, we suspect - there's a definite sense of diminishing returns here, a worry that for all the franchise's simple amusements and dumbshow gags, LEGO is sailing close to the rocks.

A meticulously designed Live shooter...Few multiplayer FPS games furnish you with unique anecdotes about valiant last stands and over-the-trench assaults but Brink is full of them.

Escalation feels less like a map pack as a theme park for Vietnam veterans, not just contested territory but an environment you'll want to explore - rooting under the crust for the inevitable Easter eggs. Black Ops has never felt fresher.

Kinect aside, it's genuinely smashing.

While it's worth replaying to catch the dialogue you missed the first time round - a spectacular rarity in any game - and to hunt out the hidden Rat Man rooms, there isn't enough variety in the way you solve puzzles to sustain repeat runthroughs. We're going to need DLC, and plenty of it, to keep our co-op partnership going.

It's a blood-soaked love letter to the original series but hauls everything else up to date, making it a tasty treat for newcomers and a nine-course medieval banquet for fans.

Imperfect but surprisingly pleasant. [May 2011, p.103]

Immediately intense, but no long-term appeal. [May 2011, p.101]

Charming but flawed, and lacks ambition. [May 2011, p.101]

Red River certainly has its moments - especially when it's played with friends - but the clumsy attempt to gain acceptance from the trash-talking masses leaves it inadvertently feeling like an advertisement for pacifism. [May 2011, p.88]

So this isn't Dance Central and it certainly isn't Lips, but if you're firing it up for a party, Michael Jackson: The Experience is definitely enough to keep a gang of, preferably drunk, mates entertained - even if it is absolutely propped up by the undeniably stellar music and iconic dance routines.

A faithful upgrade of a handheld classic.

More than ever, Dynasty Warriors feels like an uncomfortable timefart.

Vampire Smile is the product of just one man. Everything, from the slick lo-fi graphics layered with intense lighting effects, to the urgent, industrial music, is by James Silva....Don't be too quick to be jealous.

A disappointing interim chapter.

Hitting a difficulty sweet spot, Top Spin 4 is deep enough to let you spend hours mastering the perfect volley, but won't turn its nose up at you if you don't fancy anything more than an occasional late-night session of backhanding with Federer.

A fun party game with limited appeal.

Accessible arcade fun with oodles of depth.

A good-looking and therapeutic dose of bird-tweeting, ripples of applause and gasps of mild horror. If you're happy paying the price of admission for a more streamlined experience and the Augusta National, don't let us stop you.

The personalities are great, and brilliantly caricatured. The matches are as much fun to watch as they are to play. The attempts to add variety don't always work - four-player tag teams are fun, but the rest is fairly uninspired - so it might not last too long without DLC.

Throwing accessibility out of the window like a misjudged motorway Ginsters, Shift 2 is an unashamedly stoic love-letter to hardcore driving fans. For casual fans of the genre, though, it's the kind of correspondence that leads to restraining orders.

The great and the rubbish at a price that's definitely not right.

The Clone Wars is no bold new chapter for the evergreen franchise, but give it five minutes and you'll soon succumb. The Force is still strong.

If you hate online multiplayer, avoid Homefront like you would a naked laughing man, waving his own severed leg in the air. If you're in it for the multiplayer, then it offers a clean, coherent and genuinely entertaining experience.

One complaint - why make the unlocking process so drawn out? [Apr 2011, p.111]

If only the combat matched the visuals. [Apr 2011, p.111]