It’s balls-out hard pretty much from the get go, demanding pixel-perfect (snarf) jumps and committing entire levels to memory. There’s a point where it goes from being cute to very annoying, though. [March 2013, p80]

More than seven years on and Stranger’s Wrath is still fresh. Apart from some annoying pop-up tutorial boxes on PS Vita and some niggling issues when retrieving ammo, it’s still unabashedly brilliant. A must buy for sure. [March 2013, p80]

Sadly, not a lot of love has gone into cleaning up these remakes. The time capsule is rusty, but there’s enough old school challenge and timeless dark humour to justify a buy. [March 2013, p79]

Everything about EDF 2017 is a slog. Graphically atrocious and sonically awful, low-res buildings comically disappear after being grazed by heavy weaponry. While the bugs and bots twitch and spasm around their own character models, the bipedal robots are the worst offenders here, often getting caught up in their own limbs. [March 2013, p79]

It’s a pity the backtracking mars an otherwise clever title. [March 2013, p78]

It might look simple but prepare to have your brain tickled and tested. [March 2013, p78]

Persona 4 Golden is a Tardis of a game. Initially, it seems cute and friendly and it hooks you with its murder mystery and time management focus. Once you get inside, it opens up exponentially, awing you with its scope. [March 2013, p76]

Do yourself a favour and play DS3 like a raving masochist, straight off the bat. It’s a slick, AAA sequel that’s worthy of its place in the franchise. but only if you take the initiative and crank the difficulty. We didn’t think it possible, but Visceral has engineered a sequel that will appease old fans and entice new ones, too. [March 2013, p72]

Poorly presented and boring. Little difference between each mode.[April 2013, p78]

A tidy PS Mobile title who’s only crime is repetition. Loads of fun. [April 2013, p78]

Fact is, when Revengeance is firing on all cylinders it’s a great, albeit short (six hours, tops) action game. [April 2013, p78]

Unfortunately Ninja Storm 3 doesn’t really do anything to distinguish itself from its predecessors utilising the ‘bigger is better’ formula, and while novel in the short term, the huge character list isn’t enough to hide the glaring simplicity of its combat. [April 2013, p77]

Mindless, shallow fun if you’ve never played one before but it really is the same as 6 and 5 and 4. [April 2013, p77]

Fans concerned about this being the first Sly game not made by Sucker Punch should worry no more. Developer Sanzaru Games ‘gets it’ and has brought a lot of great ideas to the table that show, without a doubt, that action platformers are still a massively entertaining genre. [April 2013, p76]

Less of everything that marred Atelier Meruru. One of the best JRPGs of the year so far. [April 2013, p75]

If you’re a fan of the manga, maybe that’s enough to lure you towards Ken’s Rage 2. With a whole bunch of episodes (both based on the classic tale and new stories) to work through, you’ll certainly get a bang for your buck. The question is whether you’ll want to spend it in the first place. [April 2013, p75]

Combine some rock-solid fighting with a strategic Persona System (think: the ability to manifest a second, ghost buddy for 2 vs 1 beat downs) and Persona 4 Arena feels like a breath of fresh air. Round all that off with faultless versus and online modes, and you’re looking at a truly unique fighter that deserves to be noticed by mainstream gamers everywhere. [April 2013, p74]

As a shooter, you’ve been here a hundred times before. As an Aliens game it suffers the pressure of the legacy on which it’s built, and the story is diabolically woeful. Game over, man. [April 2013, p72]

There’s no denying Tomb Raider is a heavily influenced work, both mechanically and aesthetically (its nods to Neil Marshall’s The Descent are so happy to be there at one point Lara even re-enacts the “girlrising-out-of-sea-of-blood” scene). While it offers nothing wholly original, its salvaged parts combine to produce an experience that is consistently better than anything its own heroes have produced. [April 2013, p70]

Despite the flaws, Crysis 3 is a triumph that shows a willingness by Crytek to push itself to new heights, achieving a beautiful three-way union of graphical fidelity, compelling storytelling and a honed gameplay experience.[April 2013, p68]

Like a crack dealer in council flats the first hit is free, then the really good stuff is gonna cost you depending on what you want. However, it’s a thrill you’ve had before, and unless you’re really pining for the past (and don’t have all these old titles on your myriad other handheld and home devices) you can leave these alone as they’re presented as arcade perfect with no upgrades. [May 2013, p77]

Keep an eye on Thomas Hopper, he’s the digital devil. His latest platformer will put a serious dent in your free time and leave your scalp with pockets of bald patches. [May 2013, p77]

Simple at first but your twitch skills will get a solid workout in the later stages. Bite-sized fun and quite fetching. [May 2013, p77]

2013’s The Show is the complete package: amazing visuals with the capacity to fool unsuspecting relatives that you’ve temporarily forgot what country you woke up in and are watching televised baseball, and incredibly nuanced gameplay that’ll sprout a Louisville Slugger in the trousers of ardent fans of what’s allegedly America’s favourite pastime. [May 2013, p76]

Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory is a compromise between two extremes, which is frustrating because there are so many meaningless textual back-and-forths in between the much improved adventuring that, every now and again, main charrie Neptune will even break the fourth wall and complain about it. It’s kind of like Hideo Kojima stopped by while this game was being made. [May 2013, p76]

Sigma 2 Plus might still satisfy die-hard fans, but its best moments come at a price. The game’s uneven combat, frustrating camera and shoddy performance make it a task of perseverance over entertainment. [May 2013, p75]

Let’s not pull any punches. This PS Vita version features the exact same pugilism, panty-service and pendulous paired appendages of Dead or Alive 5 on PS3, just in the palm of your questionably-callused hands. [May 2013, p75]

Think of every single sniping mission in Call of Duty all crammed together into four hours of nonsense terrorist stuff, but not nearly as good and you have Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2. It’s a beautiful display of third world foliage, but you won’t be exploring it in any detail, great or not. [May 2013, p74]

In a decade, God of War: Ascension may very well be looked upon as that weird middle child that nobody really wants to talk to. But for now, it’s still a consistent, well-polished bundle of fun and really, that’s all that should count. [May 2013, p72]

Ultimately, Infinite will linger in your memory for a long time after the credits have rolled. Irrational Games, through its own turmoil of lead staff departing, a multiplayer mode that started late in the piece only to be canned (a wise move) have proved that excellence takes time. This is a genre-defining game, and it deserves to be played by anyone who’s ready for a brilliant story, engaging gun-play and a real challenge. [May 2013, p68]

Many set pieces simply do not work smoothly, and sacrifice fun for punishing perfection. Even replaying the tracks to memorise when to open the throttle or the best way to land can’t counteract this, and Urban Trial Freestyle ends up being not just unforgiving, but also plain unfair. [May 2013, p77]

Nice one, Clever Beans – this is how you do "casual". [January 2013, p74]

It would be foolish of us to pretend that Sine Mora is for everyone. The fact is most of us simply don't have the time or patience necessary to properly appreciate a game that demands so much from the player. But for those who do: buy it. Buy it now. [February 2013, p79]

Big Sky: Infinity manages to give the player a fun shooter that surprises each time they jump in, but have coupled these good times with utterly broken scoring systems. Why should our latest effort in Arcade mode be judged against the session that opened immediately with a score multiplier zone that severely boosted the points we got from those first enemies? Isn't it unfair that this boss fight occurred so early on? [February 2013, p81]

An affordable little gem that will merrily kill your time. [February 2013, p80]

It's unforgiving as all hell, too: After you've barely scraped through a particularly insane dungeon, you might run afoul of a boss. This boss will, without fail, instantly kick your ass until you memorise his wicked ways, just like the old days. Then it's back to the start of everything with you. [February 2013, p80]

Guardians of Middle Earth's early days are a bitch, and can be made bitchier by the fact it has no local matchmaking. Push through this brief difficult period, and you'll be hooked. It's almost loathsome how addictive this can be. You ever laugh at all those World of Warcraft Gollums? That's gonna be you. [February 2013, p78]

[O]nline modes can be great fun, but they have one glaring weakness – within a week of release, they were all but deserted online. Getting into a 2v2 competitive match – which is the only thing that anyone has been playing at all – has been a struggle since launch, which is never promising. If you've got friends who also bought the game, this won't be a problem, but if you're hoping for something to play against random folk online we wouldn't expect this one to have a sudden huge surge in players. [February 2013, p76]

By obliterating the worn exterior and souping up the interior, Ninja Theory has done the very difficult, and that is they've made Devil May Cry relevant again. Not only that, they've also made it accessible where previously it was definitely not, both aesthetically and mechanically, without ignoring the hardcore crowd who've been up most nights chewing their fingers into nubs ever since this surprise initiative was announced. [February 2013, p72]

Stressful platforming action made infuriating by a bad camera. [January 2013, p78]

It's anything but predictable, which is good, and there's lots to see, which is great, but it's also a bit sluggish, which isn't. [January 2013, p78]

You can see the improvements in the car models compared to the years before, and the hardcore audience of the sport – the handful that there are – will appreciate WRC 3's spirit to following the source material. Everyone else looking for slip n' slide action should load up DiRT 3. [January 2013, p77]

The game feels right at home here. While it may not exactly push the PS3 to its limits, seeing it run on the PS Vita's 5 inch OLED screen is still extremely impressive. The camera keeps track of the frantic action perfectly, and although a little impact is lost the fidelity of the whole package makes up for it. [January 2013, p77]

Declassified feels like a disappointing DLC bundle rather than a full release. In its best moments it proves that Call of Duty could work on the console, and it has some good ideas – earning XP across single-player for multiplayer unlocks is particularly neat – but it's exceptionally hard to justify how this ended up with a $70 price tag. The very best PS Vita games have proven that, in the portable market, size can still matter. This lesson has, ironically, been ignored by gaming's biggest franchise. [January 2013, p76]

It contains everything you'd expect of a middle-of-the-road puzzle game, and it's executed competently. But the creators of this game suffered from a paucity of ambition. There is a tsunami of innovation crashing through the worlds of online and interactive learning, Rocksmith being but one example. [January 2013, p74]

There are more immediate giggles to be had in the Story Mode, which is rib-tickling to wade through, although "wade" is definitely the word. It really just boils down to running around dodging either projectiles or up-close Family Guy caricatures, like angry college guys with deadly melee bongs. Then you either cap 'em or bash 'em, and maybe collect a few things while being funneled towards your next inane but comical goal. [January 2013, p72]

Unfortunately, there's just not a lot of meat to Spy Hunter: the campaign is a decent length, but rarely does it go anywhere new or interesting. This isn't the sort of game that requires strategy or nuance, and failing a mission – which happens often, as the difficulty tends to spike in places – means replaying the whole damn thing, which is a big turnoff. [January 2013, p71]

Amusing and inoffensive, it's a winning formula. The only problem here is that the PS Vita version has a serious case of port-itis. Symptoms include itty-bitty characters and platforming elements that have clearly been optimised for living room-sized flat-screens, and noticeable compression artifacts in the full-motion video and spoken dialogue. [January 2013, p71]

WayForward seems to have saved its 'A Game' for their own IP. Book of Memories feels odd, as though a Diablo has murdered a Silent Hill, and is traipsing about wearing its skin. [January 2013, p70]

While this PS Vita version does nothing wrong, the PS3 version's split-screen option makes that the one to get. [February 2013, p81]

As an interactive story it's one hell of a good piece of entertainment. Taking your first tentative steps into this seriously rich universe, planting the seeds for larger implications later in the series, and tangling with one of the best antagonists ever, Saren, is a trip well worth taking. There's a rich, colourful cast you'll want to meet for the first time (Urdnot Wrex in particular) and very poignant moments to be had (e.g. becoming a Spectre). These are watershed gaming moments that the ME2's 'introductory' comic book could never hope to encapsulate. [January 2013, p69]

Brilliant in concept, truly great in execution despite a few stumbles. A must own title. [January 2013, p68]

[T]here are people playing Anarchy Reigns – but there's not a lot of them, and they're all a million times better than you. The terrible shame of it – and the dilemma for us – is that it's pretty obvious Anarchy Reigns would be incredible if only it could only attract more players. Battling it out with the bots, we often saw glimpses of what could've been, and were always left wanting more. [January 2013, p66]

Killzone is only for the most curious of fans who want to see what the franchise was like before it got good (see: Killzone 2). Everybody else should dodge this draft and enlist elsewhere. [January 2013, p65]

Though the formula hasn't exactly been built from the green ground piece up, Telltale has gone above and beyond our expectations. Take, for example, the fact that Middle-earth is one gigantic, seamless hub world that can be be trodden across (or fast traveled through) from one end to the other. [January 2013, p64]

[Y]ou're looking at everything you could want in a game; a breathtaking world to get lost in, wonderful characters, a fun tactical combat system, hours and hours worth of quests, puzzles and more booty to grab than a live stage show of Magic Mike. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is gaming at its most magical and only the hardest of hearts will not be spirited away by it. [January 2013, p60]

Buggy as hell, and multiplayer is severely lacking. [Christmas 2012, p.83]

Basic to look at, but totally delivers bite-sized sessions. Tough, too. [Christmas 2012, p.83]

Could do with shorter 'mini-loads' between retries. But otherwise great. [Christmas 2012, p.83]

Take Burnout Paradise's massive open world, strip out the wild, physics-defying, cabin-crushing crashes and insert a generous handful of the world's hottest or most iconic motors. This is Need for Speed that only Criterion could create. [Christmas 2012, p.83]

In the movie Skyfall, James Bond is accidentally shot off the top of a train as he pursues a bad guy and falls into a river below. All the stages in 007 Legends are the spy's sort-of memories of previous missions as he plummets into the river, all based on previous films. Honestly, he'd be better off being totally knocked out. 007 Legends is awful. [Christmas 2012, p.82]

Despite the heritage, and the memories of the time (if you did play it) promising a nostalgic trip, it's a reminder of how far we've come. In the end, Doom 3 just feels old. [Christmas 2012, p.81]

Though Zero Escape comes with reams of text, it's all well written, thoroughly addictive stuff that encourages multiple playthroughs to see its 24 endings. Any Vita owner looking to try something different is advised to make the leap of faith and scoop this up immediately. [Christmas 2012, p.81]

You'll never powerslide around a corner. Seems odd, doesn't it? Kart racers in general have implemented this move since day dot, and while it's one missing attribute that sets Race Stars apart from the competition (apart from the official licence, of course) it feels weird and frustrating. Tight corners need to be taken wide as the karts are especially stubborn in the twisty bits. [Christmas 2012, p.80]

The bargain basement price should entice fans into reliving their glory days but offers very little else. [Christmas 2012, p.80]

Orcs is unrefined in spots, but Cyanide punches massively above its weight in terms of production values and thought-provoking storytelling. Go in expecting some rough edges, but also expect to be surprised. [Christmas 2012, p.78]

LBP Karting doesn't run a perfect race, but it definitely earns its podium finish thanks to a glorious track editor. It mashes together the approachability of ModNation's DIY editor with the overwhelming possibilities of LBP's 'if you can think it, you can create it' motto. [Christmas 2012, p.77]

Epic Mickey 2 smacks of the brilliant game designer many of us admire as Spector attempts to redefine what has defined his great games for years within the confines of a world that can't really allow it. The end result is it's a compromise that, by default, isn't able to wholeheartedly please anyone. [Christmas 2012, p.72]

Like its forebear Skylanders Giants won't tax the skills of the mature hardcore gamer. But it is a worthy expansion that'll keep the youngins amused on the TV, and in the schoolyard, for hours. [Christmas 2012, p76]

If you can ignore the eyesore low-res video feedback of the PlayStation Eye, the book itself and the creative crap it spawns looks sharp, well animated, and it grows in complexity. Likewise the interactive stories and narration are top-notch stuff. [Christmas 2012, p.76]

If you're desperate for some dungeon dwelling, get a PS2 and play Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. We know the process of eBaying that equipment is going to be a pain, but we guarantee you it'll be less of a pain than playing this. [Christmas 2012, p.75]

There's no faulting the quality and content. But yeah, wait for a serious price drop. [Christmas 2012, p.75]

Though neither of these games can eclipse the love and attention lavished upon other Kojima projects, they're still decent examples of their genre. [Christmas 2012, p.74]

The 2008 original was dubbed 'the PlayStation's Zelda' and received wide critical acclaim. Despite that, Okami was criminally underplayed and its shallow sales triggered the collapse of a great developer. It'd be an absolute sin to see that history repeated here. So buy this classic. Wolf it down. [Christmas 2012, p.74]

Battle Royale is an otherwise tightly designed and technically accomplished fighting game. Consulting our crystal balls – not a euphemism – we see it acquiring a small but dedicated following on the tournament scene. It'll never be as big as Street Fighter or Tekken, but it'll always be present on the periphery. [Christmas 2012, p.70]

Although each year's Call of Duty has always been a package deal, Black Ops II represents a watershed moment. It's bulging at the seams, not only because nearly every team that's ever worked on Call of Duty has had a hand in it. The engine has been tweaked, multiplayer and CODcasting are both revolutionary, single-player has a decent lifespan and offers more than the same roller-coaster but on a tougher difficulty setting, while Zombies is mental comic relief. [Christmas 2012, p66]

An excellent PlayStation Mobile title for less than a dollar. Do get. [December 2012, p83]

If you have an existing library of Rock Band tracks you'll dig this. [December 2012, p83]

Joe Danger 2 is tough, especially in the exclusive-to-PS3 bonus levels. Tough, but not unfair. You'll need to memorise the courses as you fling your vehicle through the air, and each of machines feels beautifully weighted and satisfying to control. [December 2012, p83]

The multiple inescapable tutorials that open Worms Revolution's campaign are an ill portent: for series veterans they're insulting, and the new mechanics introduced don't seem like anything special. It's not until you've played a few games and dipped into the campaign proper that the merits of Revolution become clear. [December 2012, p82]

Marvel vs Capcom: Origins is a bland and unexciting update of a couple of classics that have long been superseded. [December 2012, p82]

The formula's barely changed since Just Dance 3. Brightly coloured representations dance on screen, you follow with a Move controller in hand. Or you can do as we did towards the end and sit on the couch and wave it as convincingly and energetically as you can. This works just enough to keep the score counter ticking up, but you'll never hit the max number of stars or nail the new and tough sub challenges that way. These sub challenges ask you to achieve a certain rank in specific part of songs. We just want to let our aching arms recover. [December 2012, p81]

Great design and syrupy animation. Busy without being chaotic, and humourous too. [December 2012, p81]

Leaving you with no indication on how to progress might have been quirky, innovative game design in 1996, but in 2012, it's an exercise in pure frustration. Replaying the initial laps over and over again, just so you can have another crack only makes matters worse. The original Saturn version of the game is on offer too if you are so nostalgically inclined, but it still doesn't manage to escape the fundamental inadequacies NiGHTS possesses. [December 2012, p80]

Controls have been upgraded to include a more intuitive feel, with the right stick now used for ball control as well as shooting. The old button controls are still applicable, it just depends if you want to keep up with the times, as well as how much flare you want to add to your floor game. [December 2012, p80]

New Little King's Story could have been a surprise hit. But, as it stands, all its charm and whimsy is marred by poor menu design and technical issues that aren't game-breaking, just a royal pain in the butt. [December 2012, p78]

Quirky but has been done better and many times before. Wait for Ni No Kuni instead. [December 2012, p78]

In some matches it almost feels like the AI is taking the piss, effortlessly stringing together combinations and reversals, when it is nowhere near as easy to do this yourself. There's a lot of assumed knowledge and familiarity with the franchise, which can be disconcerting to newcomers. Positioning is key for finishers and signature moves and can get frustrating when your opponent is whaling on you almost effortlessly. [December 2012, p77]

Being Sherlock Holmes is a welcome of pace. He's no Downey Jr., but this videogame version is still an amoral prick who 's totally down with poisoning plebs, breaking and entering, prodding corpses, and threatening some of the ugliest children ever rendered digitally. Aside from explosions, QTEs and loot, more could you want from a game? [December 2012, p76]

Beyond the addictive action, where RCR really shines is with its irreverent comedy and fan-service references. Expect to snort milk out of your nose when The Player randomly codecs a Solid Snake wannabe who responds in broken English. Even if you weren't gaming back then you'll get a grin when you're given a DeLorean and asked to run over 88 people to fill your Flax Combobulator. [December 2012, p75]

The default end-to-end camera is still a massive pain when it switches for an intercept. Players, most notably the FRF and 2RF, love to drift out of position and hang out on the wings. Also, while expanded controls are welcomed, the game mishandles them – you'll punch walls when any tackle before an intercept gets interpreted as a grubber kick after you gain possession. [December 2012, p75]

What the avid propeller-head wants is realism, depth and tactics – all of which Damage Inc. does not deliver. There's no dynamic damage, your cockpit gauges may as well be crayoned on, and while the controls are responsive, this game cares not for your Earth-air physics. [December 2012, p74]

Gone are the wide beams and lovely safety fences around the edges of levels that we'd grown used to. They're replaced with a brand of fiendishness that'll have you tearing your hair out, punching objects and hurling your Vita across the room. Only to pick it up and have another, begrudging, go. [December 2012, p74]

This is easily the sexiest looking, smoothest running and features packed open-world game on a portable. Yes, Liberation may not boast as many side-diversions as ACIII, but more than enough DNA from that GOTY contender has made the leap. PS Vita technical limitations are offset by the fact that we think Aveline's tale is slightly superior to the PS3 adventure. [December 2012, p72]

SFxT for Vita is a maddeningly brilliant obsession that will burn holes in your mitts. If you're looking for a fighter to permanently fuse to your hip, or want to save yourself having to spend $30 just to unlock the DLC of your PS3 copy, punch a hole in your piggy bank and go pick this up. You won't regret it. [December 2012, p71]

Yeah, the puzzles are moderately difficult, and (we think) the levels are linear, but there's simply no denying childlike wonder Unfinished Swan engenders, nor the indelible mark it leaves upon your heart. [December 2012, p70]

Ubisoft has suggested some plot threads may end in this iteration, but we don't think the end is anywhere in sight. Thanks to the sizeable engine update and an era shift in Assassin's Creed III, this withering franchise has been allowed to bloom once more. [December 2012, p62]

Hitman: Absolution absolutely nails the modern gaming trope of presenting oodles of gameplay choice. It would be an insult to polarise Absolution into 'stealth' or 'action', where the real beauty of the game is found in the fertile grey area in between. [December 2012, p66]