This is a game best enjoyed in short bursts, or in the multiplayer. At its best, it's an intoxicating cocktail of high-speed thrills and explosive action. It may feel slightly shallow after several hours of play, but give it a brief window of your time and you're looking at some of the most intense and gleefully maniacal racing available.

Rather than re-inventing the series in their image, 343 has treated Halo 4 with kid gloves, settling for familiarity and mimicry of what has gone before. A reassurance to long-term fans, rather than a battle cry that one of gaming's biggest blockbusters is there for the re-crafting.

It's a game that offers few surprises then, but one that offers plenty of enjoyment. It has nowhere near the depth of Obsidian's last RPG, Fallout: New Vegas and in this case it suits.

But there are times when it all comes together majestically.

If you're willing to go off and do the optional activities, then Assassin's Creed III's single player really shines, and there's just so much content here that even despite the negatives, it's well worth your time. Couple that with another consistently excellent multiplayer component and you're left with a game that may leave you frowning on occasion, but nonetheless one that still has a lot of fun on offer.

Purists and veterans will probably dismiss Halo Wars due to its lack of depth, but Halo fans and the uninitiated should jump right in. It's probably the strongest RTS game that's ever been released for a console, and as an entry point into the genre, it's pretty much unbeatable.

Touches like this elevate Rhythm Paradise from a fun but throwaway music game into an addictive quest for rhythm perfection. It’s not a music game as wonderfully elaborate as the superb Elite Beat Agents, but its ostensibly simple mechanics give it a sense of purity that a lot of games lack.

The sheer variety and novelty of what Hohokum offers, as well as the attention paid to making sure that something as basic as the movement feels great (the only game I think does this as well as Hohokum is another Playstation title, Journey), means that Hohokum is going to be something I come back to, on occasion, for a pleasant escape. And it’s one well worth your time.

This is a fizzy, exciting brawler that’s easy to pick up and even easier to like, all bolstered by an authentic and reverent adaption of the DC Universe.

It’s a Neapolitan ice cream of shooters, essentially, with three very different flavours squashed together in a single serving. They’re not always complementary: it’s hard to reconcile the fact that you’ve got a former Doctor Who shouting “twat!” at Nazi zombies in the same game as a haunting glimpse of history’s worst genocide. Still, between its moments of good taste and a mode that’s more Bad Taste, it hits a consistently high standard – and though it’s mostly riffing on ideas we’ve seen before, it manages to make several of them its own. The series’ dwindling popularity has proved a tough nut to crack for its publisher in recent years; COD: WWII proves that maybe a Sledgehammer really is the right tool for the job.

A game that is both more accessible to newcomers and even deeper for old hands. Most importantly it continues to improve in its storytelling and humanity, providing a richer escape to fantasy football at a time we need it the most.

Halo 3 ODST may feel a little thin in may places, and some of the bonus material may seem a little like padding, but there's more than enough here to recommend it to Halo and FPS fans alike.

This is pretty much the perfect Xbox Game Pass title. Persuade some pals to download it too and you’ve got a cracking co-op shooter for zero financial risk. Solo players might find it slightly harder going but for genre aficionados, The Ascent is a salve for both the eyes and the trigger finger that will scratch your cybperunk itch until you-know-what gets its act together.

Mojang's famous video game series goes all action-RPG and proves a fine introduction to the world of fantasy looting.

Telling Lies feels more like a jigsaw puzzle, with you hunting among scattered pieces. But while it can have its moments of exasperation, there are few things as satisfying as revealing the full picture.

The problem with Unbounded is that it doesn't seem comfortable sharing its secrets with you. It's called Ridge Racer, it looks like Burnout, and anyone who has played an arcade racer will, not unreasonably, expect a certain handling model...Unbounded is not that game.

Knight, for all its foibles and frustrations, consistently gives you that injection of adrenaline.

There's a more nuanced approach to family inclusiveness here than in most games aimed at this age group, and - perhaps helped by the confidence in the power of words that bleeds through the whole Potter universe - a touching emphasis throughout on the importance of becoming wise.

Fundamentally, there aren’t many changes to the Football Manager core. This is a yearly update of a series that’s been around for a long time. All the same, there have been fundamental changes to elements of the game, and they’re welcome, and logical.

Its good-natured feel and simple controls make it ideal for families, and though some of the wonder of discovering a new species will be lost on those who played the original, there’s plenty of new content to keep everyone occupied.

Whether you love this iteration or not relies entirely on your tolerance of Mario Kart being Mario Kart. Unbalanced, flukey, stagnant even, but still managing to offer plenty of fun.

Better than we expected.

Cars 2 certainly doesn't lack personality and sheen, then, but there are some irritations that hold it back.

There's a strange juxtaposition between restriction and fun, and I still don't feel they've accurately nailed it.

The game's chief appeal really is wrapped up in Alec Mason's capacity for devastation and whether or not the endless opportunities to cause widespread mayhem (albeit in a good cause) are worth slogging through some of the game's drawbacks is down to the appetite for destruction of each individual player. Those who demand in-depth plots, revolutionary gameplay and a twist around every corner won't have much use for Red Faction: Guerrilla. But if you enjoy blowing things up, this well may be one of the best video games ever made.

To embrace Disney Infinity is to buy-in to the whole package: collecting the physical toys, building in the Toy Box, enjoying the Play Sets. Without interest in all its components, its appeal is diminished.

Disappointing too is the roster of worlds you visit, and the lack of exploration in each.

But it never crosses the threshold into greatness, either in its visceral thrills or in its sober, but ultimately a little bland, tale of the soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan.