It's incredibly fast-paced and responsive. Nailing some of the intense combos may twist your fingers off as there are no touchscreen specials except for the X-ray moves that can be initiated once you have a full meter, but fatalities can be executed with finger swipes that match the d-pad inputs. Most of the extra modes, such as Test Your Slice, are gimmicks that either borrow heavily from smartphone games (let's just say you'll slice fruit whilst playing as a ninja) or rely on 'been there, done that' mechanics that use the Vita's hardware. Balancing a man on a beam is old hat, even if he's perilously dangling above a pit. [July 2012, p82]

As a single-player thing, Sorcery is just okay. You run, you stick your shimmering shield up if things get hairy, you wave spells at shambling horrors, and a lot of the time our boy Finn does something completely mental because the control scheme is a very delicate thing indeedily. It's simple but frenetic, with some surprisingly nutty moments and even nuttier boss battles. [July 2012, p81]

Familiar foes and even familiar ideas await to present a paint-by-numbers challenge. Despite occasional clipping, frequent atmosphere-breaking occurrences of bodies blinking out of existence, and an ally who literally warps to your next objective point, Burning Skies isn't a terrible game – it's just horribly average. Admirable ideas are matched by disappointing decisions. [July 2012, p80]

Buoyed by a promising concept and Suda51's reputation, we expected and experience comparable to God Hand or Bayonetta. What we got is witless – an embarrassment that shames itself and the industry as a whole. It's idiocy that outstays its in record time. [July 2012, p78]

While Codemasters have made this look the goods from the glossy cars to the vibrant environments, the edge-of-your-seat events are few and far between, and the carnage is limited due to a small field of competitors. You'll either feel indifferent to its attitude or loathe it outright, and your gut reaction will tip you either way. We, and we suppose many others, will be curious to see how this sideshow influences DiRT 4. [July 2012, p76]

Kudos to Santa Monica for the online code as it's top-notch. We were rarely looking for a match, and although there's only a handful of modes (Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Zones and Capture The Flag, with the latter responsible for many late nights) they're all tried and tested. If you're not online there's a pleasing if short-lived single player campaign and a co-op mode where you'll battle waves of enemies. While the purpose of the campaign is to make you familiar with each of the units in the IKEA-in-the-sky, it's still fun if ultimately forgettable. There's a tale of sibling rivalry, friendship and love lost, but we'd have to hit Google to find the name of the main character. [July 2012, p74]

When the dust from the dirty bomb settles, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier looks noticeably grimy and raw in a few spots, but its mission has still been achieved. The visuals can be iffy, but the feeling of being an elite soldier of the future has been faithfully rendered in other ways. The pace is fast, the gadgets are empowering, and your job can shift from shrewd predator puzzles, to battles of attrition fought on a knife's edge. [July 2012 p.72]

There are a bunch of new modes from previous versions to challenge your timing and they're insanely addictive. It won't just be your gems that'll disappear, it'll be your life. Our (life-crippling) highlight is the Poker mode. [June 2012, p 81]

It'll put your reflexes and your memory to the test. Addictive. [June 2012, p 81]

Stupidly charming visuals add to the sense of weight of your floating cloud god as he rains blasts of energy on the demons who are impeding your pilgrims' progress. Damn tricky, too. [June 2012, p 81]

Thankfully, Sega's made some tweaks to its Sonic 4-mula that manage to both advance the platforming while bringing the 'feel' of things closer in line with the series' halycon days on the Mega Drive. [June 2012, p 81]

The single player mode is quite challenging at any difficulty level as the momentum of any battle frequently shifts. There are some balancing issues (particularly on the easier difficulties), which may make going it alone less appealing. Versus and online, however, is where Skullgirls really shines and will keep you equally entertained and frustrated. [June 2012, p80]

If you've been looking for an excuse to dust off your Move controller, this is it. [June 2012, p80]

It's the kind of game you'd hire on a rainy Saturday night because you got to the video shop too late and all the good games were already gone – but then you get it home and it's actually alright. It's plain, simplistic, and totally no-frills, and you'll want to mute the "angry white man" soundtrack immediately, but on the other hand… sick jumps, bro. [June 2012, p79]

Battleship could never work as plain shooter. It's a facsimile of a facsimile that tries to pay homage to some of the biggest shooters out there but ends up ripping them off and in turn ends up being bland, characterless yet functional. The RTS elements definitely add an extra layer, but the strategic payoff is muted by near-constant nannying needed to keep them – and the game – afloat. [June 2012, p79]

A splendid mix of free-roaming action, RPG leveling, and sexy visuals. [June 2012, p77]

Never before has a game so gruesomely represented the impact that 9.3 grams of lead travelling at almost one kilometre per second has on the human body. Thanks to this game's disturbing X-Ray Killcam, players are treated (subjected?) to a clinical view of each bullet passing through their target's vital organs whenever they pull off an especially good shot – and by 'good' we mean 'life-ending'. It's brutal, it's disturbing, and we're not quite sure how it got past Australia's over-eager censors. [June 2012, p76]

Being a Japanese attempt at Skyrim, Dragon's Dogma gets a bit overly ambitious in places. Exploration is not a case of 'if you see it, you can go there'. Firstly, because seeing the horizon is difficult; Dogma's graphics engine renders vistas with all the detail of a waterpainting. Secondly, you're held back by locked border towns, or high level enemy mobs, until you have some hours and major quests under your belt. Just as irking is the lack of authenticity to the towns and the NPCs within. You can ransack a house and sell the crap back to the homeowner (while happily stabbing them), or you can score XP by killing their pets. [June 2012, p74]

In the end you have a sequel that improves upon its predecessor. It's a better game in terms of presentation and content, and if you didn't play the original then you're going to rip through this with a silly smile on your face. We're not sure that it's going to hold your attention though, and that's a shame as Heller's brutal adventures are amongst the best you'll have. [June 2012, p72]

There are also some breathtakingly elegant scene shifts where you play stints of classic, NYPD detective Max. Punchy script and Max's metaphor-ridden inner monologues are milked for all they're worth via action-text and motion comics. Some may find the constant artefacting effects distracting – but we found it accentuated emotional beats nicely, and suited Max's boozehound view of the world. Whichever way you look at it, Max Payne 3 is slicker than owl crap on an iceberg. [June 2012, p68]

The touchscreen moments are pretty lacklustre, but the biggest waste of the Vita hardware comes from the lack of co-op. multiplayer. Solid, but never spell-binding. [May 2012, p81]

A dodgily produced cash-in of a chestnut anime. [May 2012, p81]

Features; criminally stupid AI, rehashed enemies, ear-defiling voice acting and paint-by-numbers levels. This is 'so bad it's bad' gaming. [May 2012, p81]

Wrecked is the remake of the PS2 game Mashed. To anybody possessing gaming experience and at least three friends, that opening sentence was the end of the review - the verdict received: must-buy. [May 2012, p81]

It's a hell of a slog to win a match and characters are fairly underpowered at the start. It is tactically deep and responsive, but make sure you have mates to play with. [May 2012, p80]

The vehicle handling is awful, the graphics are rudimentary and the soundtrack is a three-riff wonder. Keep your cash and avoid. [May 2012, p80]

Depending on how brave you are (or your peripheral set up) the handling model can be altered from reasonably forgiving to brow-mopping stressful. Knuckle down and learn the nuances and you'll lose yourself in some glorious moments, recreating key battles and moments, swopping through the air and perfecting the art of dogfighting. [May 2012, p80]

A sequel nobody asked for, and it knows it. Hugely unnecessary. [May 2012, p78]