Saints Row IV doesn’t play like a sequel so much as an expansion pack, substituting huge quantities of diversions and weaponry for an engaging campaign. With Steelport recycled and the lack of challenge, it doesn’t offer much beyond short-lived thrills through wanton destruction and the occasionally humorous moment wrapped in science fiction tropes.

Voiceovers by Bruce Campbell and some excellent unlockable features just aren’t enough to make this game worthwhile. Watch the movies or read the comic instead.

Crysis 3 is a mishmash of Crysis and Crysis 2, which is probably the best thing we could hope for now that the series has to work on aged consoles

Suikoden Tierkreis isn’t perfect, but its strengths more than make up for its few weaknesses.

This reckless, half-cocked release is not just insulting to the thousands of gamers who’ll pay full price to receive an inferior product that others will buy cut-price a few months down the line when it’s finally been chopped and changed into a playable state, but detrimental and damaging to a team of developers who clearly have a real passion and love for the games they create.

Knights in the Nightmare is not an easy game to get into, and its complicated mechanics might be too overwhelming for those looking for simpler fun. Regardless, few games can reward your efforts as well as this one can. Pick it up if you want something different. Long live the king.

It's a great MMORPG, and while it begins as a fairly overwhelming experience, it soon evolves into an almost casual game.

I would have really liked a level editor, but the game is still just as addictive as the original. It is difficult to understand why it's so fun and engrossing, but I suggest that you don't worry about the "whys" and just start playing. That's what I'm going to do.

An underwhelming conclusion for Sony’s duo on the PlayStation 3. It’s a fine game; it’s pretty, it’s got the series’ trademark weaponry, and yet, it’s just another Ratchet game.

So yes, it's fun, charming, addictive in a kiddy way, and a bit too short. But it's very Star Wars, so that's alright then.

The thing holding it back isn’t the length, but rather it’s the lack of anything different that sets it apart.

Unlike the last episode, there are no half-assed puzzles to deal with or keys to be fetched and out of the two Desperate Escape provides the most entertainment value for your virtual dollars. It’s a fun little send-off for Resident Evil 5—nothing more, nothing less.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex Edition does have a few little niggles that bring the game down, but this is the best FPS on Wii and will have you hooked for hours on end, both online and offline.

While it’s lacking in singleplayer content, Multiwinia is fun, simple, and addictive.

While it lacks the graphical finesse and multiplayer modes of its peers, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway outshines them with a brutally honest portrayal of war and one that you won't forget.

The fully realized Adventure Tours makes a great introduction for players picking the title up for the very first time, and the breadth of modes and extras should extend the life of the game for a good, long while.

It's no-hold barred old-school shmup action. If stripped of its additional content, Deathsmiles could have been an XBLA title. Instead Rising Star Games have created a niche product – a well presented old-school shmup with plenty of additional material to bring you back.

Twisted Metal is stuck in second gear, trying to evolve beyond the simplistic (but enjoyable) nature of its mechanics. It introduces new ideas while attempting to please hardcore fans of the series at the same time, and this middle-of-the-road approach doesn't really work.

If you can look past Divinity: Dragon Commander’s shortcomings, you’ll find a charming and unique experience.

Though this isn't quite it, Sonic Generations provides indisputable evidence that Sega is in fact capable of making the Sonic the Hedgehog title we've all been waiting for.

MLB 12 on the Vita is a clean presentation of the baseball experience on the go. It raises the bar for realism a notch with its enhanced physics, but loses what it gains from clumsy animations. There's a lot of room for improvement, both technically and creatively, but for now the game suffers the most from the former.

As with their past work, Genius Sonority has interesting ideas that regularly get in their own way. Denpa Men 2: Beyond the Wave’s no different and the iteration never comes together. It makes only a bit of forward progress with eShop’s limitations putting strain on the potential. They came by wave and so they went.

Despite its rougher edges, Tales from Space: About a Blob is a genuinely fun – and funny – romp through classic sci-fi tropes. The feeling of piloting a gelatinous character is more than enough to set the game apart from its sidescrolling brethren, but, it's the unique gameplay and sense of style that truly absorbs you.

Anyone with an appreciation for old school arcade games will have a blast with The Club. Just remember to leave your brain with the doorman.

No matter how engaging the last several hours are, there's still a ridiculous giant cat and a host of other obnoxious characters that ruin it.

Slipping into their finest retro attire, Q Games has once again proven their ability to step into any genre and own it.

Justice For All gives the fans everything they could want; the cases are longer, the testimonies are harder to crack, the witnesses ever so wily, and the prosecutors are more die-hard than anything you’ve faced.

Everything that made the original Super Star has, for the most part, survived the journey, and luckily, most of the additions truly add to the game, rather than bloat it.

There is just something incredibly satisfying about a great 2D shooter. Metal Slug 3 may be a few years old and minus a dimension, but that doesn't stop it from being one of the best action games currently on the Xbox.

As it is, the story must be commended for tackling the horrors of war and the effect it has on the human mind, and the techniques it deploys to accomplish this. It tries things no other modern military shooter has even come close to, boldly stating that shooters don't always have to be wrapped in mundane and convoluted storytelling, and that's quite the accomplishment considering the oversaturation of the genre.

A middling outcome.

It's hard not to admire this 2007 PSP game for what it's worth, but it simply doesn't develop its assets far enough.

The difficult thing about reviewing a game like this, however, is that even at their least inspired the developer represents the upper-echelon of the platform. Yet there's a difference in quality now and Pocket Academy comes in below expectations.

It’s still not particularly polished, however, as I experienced a couple of crashes and some audio glitches with character speech, but other than that this is a fairly solid expansion that captures what makes Fallout 3 so good.

It's an absurdly addictive experience that maintains this draw on consoles. As a whole, the game's fairly solid.

If you’re a zombie freak and really like the sub-genre then this might be worth an investment, but for the rest of us there’s not really a great deal here that will pull us away from Super Stardust HD, Flower or PixelJunk.

There was never a moment when I was playing this game where I was annoyed or frustrated, even as I crashed back to the desktop. I just wanted more and more.

Even if you’re discounting any additional future content (and the developers are already hinting at follow-up campaigns post-release), this is a game that deserves your attention right now. A.M.F, chummer, see you in the sprawl.

The turn-based and map-scouring gameplay is a fresh take on the series, even if the timed missions aren’t nearly as epic as the battles of the previous games.

It's only too bad this series can't get out of its own way at times, because there are moments when it's pure fun and others that feel at odds with the rest of the package.

This is a game for the fans, featuring an appreciative amount of exposition even if it's fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

What is certain though is that Streets of Rage 2 is a classic title that fully deserves to be revived and remembered in modern day gaming. Now, pass me the pain relief and I’ll be on my way.

It’s just a real shame that the PC port was subjected to a half-arsed effort, because on consoles Resident Evil 4 has revitalised a stagnating series.

Despite the outlandish oil puddles and EMP blasts, switching between between criminal and cop has never been so fun.

What it lacks in personality and options it mostly makes up for in classic track design and strategic power-up and boost usage. With a little more polish and a bit more thought, SkyDrift could have been something great, instead of something good.

FIFA Street is a fun game and will keep you entertained, but the overbearing problems it brings with it prevent it from taking its place alongside its 11-a-side cousin.

it's an admirable game that probably deserves an audience of dedicated players.

The sheer amount of destruction is satisfying and the sense of humor is refreshing, but the short length and lack of saves during lengthy missions are what makes this potentially great game merely a good one. Even so, it's still hard to resist the Destroy All Humans' charm.

But if you’re craving for some naval based warfare you can’t go wrong here, it’s just too slow and monotonous to recommend on a larger scale.

Burnout: Dominator marks a true return to form for the series, and whilst the removal of features in any game is usually a lamentable decision, I'm happy to be proved wrong on this occasion.

One of those few DS titles that gets it completely right.

Before it was called Battalion Wars, this game was slated to be named Advance Wars: Under Fire. I'm glad they changed the name. Fans of the Advance Wars series would have blindly picked this game up, and found out how badly executed this console wartime strategy turned out.

The story and hijinks found within could’ve been the basis for yet another Oscar winning short for director Nick Park and his team at Aardman, but instead are the premise for one of the most genuinely wonderful and funny adventure games in years. It really is a grand day out.

Even though there are a lot of games like it, Order Up! really surprised me in the end as being very competent and fun.

But I think it's safe to say that when a game is both a retread and short, there's definitely something wrong with it. Silent Hill 4 is such a game.

It gives gamers a small taste of what the WiiMote can do for their gaming experiences and a reason to keep playing the new system, but nothing more. Its appeal and flaws lay with its simplicity.

However, look past the briefness of what’s on offer and there’s a richly entertaining game to be had.

It’s fun, it gets the job done, but it fails to genuinely improve on any of the overall Worms experience.

I get the feeling that Raven Software rested a bit too much on their laurels instead of giving gamers a refreshing new Jedi Knight experience.

It’s not the top fighting game out there, but it’s certainly the best Mortal Kombat game in some time, and the use of DC characters only adds to the fun, even if the whole thing is absurd.

Taken as a whole, Dead Space 3 is far more infuriating than it is bad.

It may not stand out massively in the RPG world, but Star Ocean: Second Evolution deserves a lot of recognition for simply being an enjoyable, well scripted and interesting RPG.

With no story or true narrative to latch onto, there's no reason for players to care about what's going on. And there's only one thing ever going on in Dear Esther: nothing. Broken up into individual pieces-the graphics, writing, and music clearly show talent and might have led to interesting stories or games-but together they form a dull, lifeless experience that's quickly forgotten.

Stubbs might be left craving a few more brains and he might have wished that he could have done a little bit more than just feast and fart, but I think that by the time Punchbowl and love have been conquered, Stubbs is reasonably satisfied with the second chance he was given for life and love.

The franchise's future looks - ahem - brighter, but we'd be best advised to withhold assent until the second extra episode, The Writer, is released later this year.

Puzzle Quest: Galactrix for DS has all the makings of a great new entry into this now hugely popular adventure series. The story is compelling and well paced, the presentation is strong, and most importantly, the gameplay here trumps its predecessor in just about every way. But the basic foundation of the game – touching – is almost broken. Galactrix is still playable and still very addictive, but endless flubs on the game’s part will inevitably cause your blood to boil.

If you have the patience and memory to save often, Fallout 3 DLC doesn’t get any better than this.

Impossible Road’s fundamentals are so crisply constructed, so itchingly compelling that its lack of iteration doesn’t completely sour the experience.

Umbrella Chronicles is a must-purchase for Wii owners. While it isn't a killer app on the level of Mario Galaxy, it's probably the best multiplayer game on the system.

It obviously looks and sounds great being a 360 title, with subtle differences in audio over the different courts most obvious, but you’ll also notice that a little more effort has been made to make the courts more animated than in previous titles.

There’s a nice online feature which, after you’ve navigated through the terrible menu’s, is quite a blast, even for someone who doesn’t have a clue about ice hockey.

After Burner Climax is as good as arcade conversions come.

Mega Man X Collection features the triumphs and failures of Capcom's most dynamic duo. It faithfully renders all of the aspects of the games, be it the quality platforming, the tough bosses, or the less savory things like bad level design and ridiculously challenging obstacles.

Jet Set Radio is by no means a perfect game, nor was it originally, but it's the world, its ideas and that same unique energy that keep it relevant today.

Overlord 2 is bursting with good ideas, but a more disciplined approach to the game would have been more welcome.

It’s a shame there isn’t some sort of message integrated in the game, because as it is now, it seems unambitious. A plot of some sort would have helped here.

The sea battles are awkward, the prices jump far too quickly during trading and the learning curve is too steep to begin with.

It’s made for kids of all ages, and Starfy’s well deserving of sitting alongside Nintendo’s other great gaming legends.

Despite its issues, The Taxidermist is a tense, atmospheric delight and a promising start to the Heavy Rain: Chronicles.

On one hand, it’s a fun, colorful, hearty little game that employs throwback platforming and collect-a-thon elements to good effect. On the other hand, it features a jarring mishmash of gameplay styles, lacks challenge and suffers from enthusiasm-sapping load times.

If you must complete every game you play, then don’t bother. Still haven't found anyone on Xbox LIVE or on public message boards who has even claimed to have completed the game 100%.

In the long run, the consistently buggy and flawed level design keeps Lara from reaching new heights.

The story might be lacking a bit and there are a few irritating objectives, but the whole game feels like it was cleaned up and rethought.

Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles isn’t the best light-gun shooter on Wii, and generally speaking, it feels like Capcom skimped a bit with respect to extras. Still, folks are getting quite a hefty story, and the pacing of most chapters makes for a fun, casual ride down memory lane.

The only problem is that lack of personality or vibrancy.

There might be an interesting game in this engine, but it’s not here, not yet, and as a result Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is at best a very expensive demo that should only be approached with the lowest expectations.

For FPS fans that want a break from modern warfare settings, F.E.A.R. 3 is this year's alternative - caked in blood, guts, mind blowing audio design and high-octane co-op action.

Dementium II spins an interesting, albeit simple, horror narrative on the DS. It's unlike anything else on the hardware and is a perfect example of stylus use done right. It's held back by a few half baked ideas, easy enemies and some questionable sound design, but still delivers a compelling, bite size horror experience.

It’s a game that doesn’t commit any great—wait for it—sin, but it’s so dead-set on copying a superior game that it’s destined for mediocrity.

The biggest issue I have with Extraction Point is that it doesn’t really end. You get to the final cutscene and...nothing. There’s no delivery. There’s no wrap-up. Something happens, and then basically you’re told to wait for FEAR 2 to find out what’s next.

It is by far the most entertaining, thought-provoking, and possibly the longest game in the series. Fans of the show are in for an especially grand adventure.

Even with a fun premise and colorful, simplistic visuals, Noby Noby Boy ultimately falls short when a basic fundamental of design hinders the overall experience.

Prince of Persia is a great series with a lot of potential, but the developers just didn't hit the mark with this entry.

The most disturbing thing about .Hack is how short it is. Perhaps the whole series, or at least two of the games, could have easily fit on one disc.

Without the tactile use of a proper analogue stick, or a significantly more forgiving sense of level design, Cling! is a game only suitable for the most dedicated masochists. And, before playing this, I might have included myself in that distinguished fraternity.

The short, breakneck campaigns create a compelling game you'll likely revisit time and time again. It's the perfect blend of planning and reflexes, requiring you to thoroughly plan every move but remain highly reactive and adaptable.

Its brevity is the main cause for concern with a limited number of modes and a faltering online community, but it's not quite enough to detract from the amount of fun garnered from its brand of outlandish wrestling action.

Dirt Showdown, is a curious deviation for the series, and one I happily experienced, but I was left hankering for what came before.