It's easy to pick up and play with just enough depth and difficulty to become an itch you'll need to scratch on a daily basis for a minute or two.

It's a generous buffet of the finest experiences the genre has to offer, the problem with this being that each offering is a discernibly weaker imitation in comparison to the original source it is drawn from.

They Bleed Pixels is a monument of pain and frustration packaged in nostalgia and wrapped in a pretty red bow. Every moment of relief is overcast by ten of anxiety. At least the soundtrack was awesome.

The controls are somewhat sloppy and perhaps a bit more time could have been spent on shoring up the artwork but above all else Grabbity is an entertaining game which will keep you coming back to your phone or tablet for another go.

Global Offensive is pure Counter-Strike. Hidden Path have made an inoffensive compromise between the best parts of the old versions. Whether it'll be the definitive thing is yet to be seen. However, it's an all-around decent FPS and is likely the most necessary one on PSN.

The game's a well-oiled, spit-polished masterpiece of casual gaming that needs to be on your iOS device.

It may be in competition with its predecessor but the disappointing world of Transformers video games has a new top dog. Perhaps not the crowning achievement but a steady improvement that will hopefully continue with any future instalments.

This is the kind of expansion that, if you haven't played Mass Effect 3 yet, you should add this to your first experience through the game. If you have played through Mass Effect 3 already, this will help make sense of some unanswered questions.

I'm pleased during this rather dull year to be surprised by Telltale's take on not only a monster that has been diluted by pop culture and monopolised for quick cash grabs (irony alert), but also on a decision making system that is constructed with functionality and maturity. As long as they don't botch the ending - I'm sticking by my guess of the final choice that came to me twenty minutes into the first episode, though I hope I'm wrong - this as one complete story will be the best of the year. Matt Sawrey was right, keep horror to the independents.

As an online game my apprehension is that if friends can't play together without hassle then soon they won't bother.

If you're into having your tears tugged at, this will definitely be a change from nights spent curling up on the couch spectating those romance flicks that no one else gets. If you're someone who winds up stuck with the aforementioned individual, originally promised beer and tricked into the awkward Kleenex duty, no guilt will be harbored from missing out.

My one major complaint is that the game never feels very difficult, especially on Normal. There are frustrating moments, hordes of baddies, and increasing difficulty levels, but the same feeling of utter defeat never really happens as it did in the past.

More than any of its clipping issues or framerate dips, it's Caballero's opening words that resonate throughout the entire experience, an emotionally raw dedication to his family that lingers in black and white, piercing each heartbreakingly symbolic interaction between Quico and Monster.

Its weird blend of influences coalesce into an experience that transcends its parts, creating a title that feels familiar enough for the average rhythm fan, but different enough to be considered on its own merits. Retro/Grade is a seamless mix of concept and execution, an essential entry into the music genre.

The last push and final confrontation are a union of repetition and frustration, overstaying its welcome and almost undoing the good work. Bookended by a flat beginning and ending, it's the entertaining centre of this adventure that is its strong suit.

Dungeon Twister is a strategy game defined entirely by its complexity and rules stacked on rules. Is it fun? Not necessarily, although it is designed to give strategy enthusiasts their money's worth with a ridiculous amount of things to learn. But in its translation into the medium of digital gaming, Dungeon Twister would've benefited from some streamlining and simplification.

Sleeping Dogs is a great action game with a compellingly melodramatic story and an atmosphere thick enough to cut with a knife. Control issues aside, it's a great PC port, too - on a beefy gaming PC, Sleeping Dogs looks far better than its console counterparts. For fans of Hong Kong cinema and/or open-world games, it's a must.

The main story can be completed in a fraction of the time you'll actually end up devoting to the world, and ironically, it's one of the few sandbox games whose sidequests offer substantial rewards. Thus, don't be put off by Sleeping Dogs' troubled development for it's a meaty package you'll struggle to put down. And best of all, it's darn good fun.

It provides a familiar formula wrapped in the guise of another familiar formula, and succeeds at picking the best parts of both.

It doesn't entirely make sense as a whole product. The best thing that can be said is it's the best Tony Hawk Robomodo's made.

The Amazing Spider-Man is a weekend's worth of fun and difficult to recommend purchasing for much more than that, yet that's quite the accomplishment considering the extremely quick turnaround.

There's nothing fundamentally wrong with Jeremy McGrath's Offroad so much as there's no compelling reason to recommend it over other racing titles that have more depth, variety, and make for a more engrossing racing experience for the same asking price. Instead, it's a barebones package with a famous name in the title that nails the basics and nothing else.

Spelunky is a game that you can finish, but one that you will never complete, and that's why I have played it for 15 hours: The finely tuned mechanics, addictive algorithmic based level design and provocatively challenging, magnificently creative difficulty represent tough videogame design at its finest. Spelunky isn't a game for the casual, or faint of heart, but if you can't stand the heat...

Garbed in retro aesthetics, an upbeat soundtrack, engaging puzzles, and a story that whispered promises of a long and grandiose experience, Resonance was definitely armed to the teeth. As a puzzle packed title, it does well enough to keep players immersed and plugged in. But as a story driven spectacle, expected from any point-and-click title, having things dim down prematurely is a sure disappointment and is best kept as a one time foray.

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.

Those going into SOL: Exodus should be warned that it's a thoroughly average space shooter that doesn't innovate and is going to deliver a boilerplate experience.

The classic Civilization quirks still remain - completely illogical backstabbing AI players included! - but the game now provides a much richer toolbox for budding conquerors.

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

Of all the iOS developers using the free to play model, NimbleBit has come the closest to getting it right.

It's the single player element that proves the weakest link in the package, as whilst it isn't terribly conceived, it remains a shallow experience, providing nothing that a decent tutorial couldn't have done in preparation for the plethora of more exciting multiplayer options.

Most of the writing's cleverly done. The soundtrack is pitch perfect. It successfully executes on the concept of an exploitation film in videogame form. The creativity's somewhat marginalized beneath commonplace mechanics but it's still there, itching to get out. This time you'll just have to dig for it.

It's not a bad action game by definition, but it lacks everything that made the series endearing, making it an overall unmemorable outing for fans that fell in love with the white-knuckle action and hair-pulling difficulty found in previous Ninja Gaiden titles.

The gameplay at times feels regressive and uninspired, just things that you have to do to get to the next hilarious dialogue exchange. The story very effectively pushes you along through it, and I can't say that the gameplay is terrible by any stretch. It just never tries to be as innovative as the rest of the package and comes across as underwhelming by the end of its five hour campaign.

If simply taken as the sum of its parts, TERA might not seem all that impressive. But considering just how excellent its combat is and just how gorgeous everything in-game looks, it's impossible to dismiss the game as just another run-of-the-mill MMO.

This is a broken, dismal game that manages only to disappoint across its meager four hours. Fans looking for a longer experience can ramp up the difficulty level, but this just means you'll be bored AND frustrated. If you want an authentic Battleship experience, go buy the board game and avoid this dreck.

It's not CAVE's best effort, but does further showcase their ability to nail a niche genre with near pixel-perfect accuracy, ensuring that those who grew up with similar titles aren't left with only nostalgia and a trusty Megadrive in storage for when the time calls to dust it off and bang in an indestructible copy of Thunderforce IV.

It's a safe house for the trigger happy but also an engaging tale, told with the sort of introspection missing in other games: Max is letting you in on his darkest secrets, and these are secrets to cherish.

The story wraps up nicely, and it's interesting to see Max in a game with a much darker tone, especially when, for the most part, the grim elements are handled extremely well.

Future Soldier does what is expected. It does little else and rarely deviates from the concepts accepted as standard. There's a sense of regret there with the opportunity to be something bigger, something more, but rather than expounding on the stylistic ambition, Future Soldier camouflages itself with borrowed ideas, blending seamlessly into a crowded genre.

Without a breadth of tactical options longstanding fans of the series will be disappointed in its change of approach, and while action fans will get some enjoyment out of its expansive arsenal and competent combat they'll surely find something more worthwhile and noteworthy elsewhere.

It's the kind of game that doesn't try to imitate any single game, and by combining several ideas into one it creates something new and unlike anything before.

Sure, it carries with it some hereditary issues of the 16-bit era – lack of depth and flattened when playing without a friend – but when it works Awesomenauts is a needed break.

Deep Black: Reloaded features incredibly repetitive gameplay and broken, frustrating shooting. It's devoid of the smoothness in controls and exciting action that made the Gears of War series such a joy to play.

It is a challenging game that demands precision and patience to master and in exchange it delivers tense, thrilling racing. It isn't perfect, but it's a step in a great direction for the franchise.

It might be a while before a fighting game emerges with a genuinely amazing story, but for now the plight of Raiden and the representatives of Earthrealm is fascinating enough.

It's too bad that everything outside of the sniping is so mediocre.

A port that respects its platform and audience, and was clearly crafted as carefully as possible.

It's a silly game with an awful camera – particularly indoors – a bad draw distance, repetitive missions and a paltry story, but the unabashed mayhem it conjures and lays at your finger tips makes it surprisingly easy to recommend. It might not reinvent the genre or introduce anything new, but Prototype 2's tweaks to its original formula make for a highly entertaining game.

It's a hint of what could be a fun little title, if the level design was scripted tighter.

While on paper that might sound like a good idea, in practice not so much. Cars are sluggish and painful to manage while the core gameplay feels unbalanced and oversimplified.

It is all so persistently delightful to experience, so charmingly quirky that Botanicula has the power to melt away any frustrations resulting from the occasionally poor section of gameplay.

Fez is quite a game, especially for people who look for interesting atmosphere and setting in their games.

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.

For shooter fans craving something with a little more substance, Binary Domain is definitely the ticket. Behind its hokey yet self-aware characters and stereotypical premise is a hugely intelligent shooter, one that packs just as much heart as it does brawn.

Its dialogue is superb and really gives credence to the choices you make, and we can only hope Telltale makes good on its promise to have these decisions mean something, and to impact the world and the way other characters view you.

It does feature one of the most disappointing games ever made, but it also stars two of the best games ever made, so it sort of balances out.

Still, it's a very well-designed game that harkens back to the arcade era which adds a few new twists to what could've been a very dull game. Fans of brick-breaking titles will find much to enjoy with Wizorb. It adds a new wrinkle to gameplay with its magic elements, and its mimicry of the bygone NES days will charm the pants off anyone nostalgic for that era.

Sega have succeeded in adding just enough tweaks and extras to convert the unconvinced.

Confrontation is an unfortunate a mess of a game, cluttering enough junk to prevent whatever good that lies within from shining through.

The franchise to this point has been both slick and punishing, providing a variety of ways to hone Ryu's ninja craft; Ninja Gaiden 3's new direction simply doesn't cut it – especially when played alone.

Hardcore WKC fans may be willing to pour hundreds of additional hours into this sequel, nay - expansion - but most will likely be turned off by the confusing story, niggling flaws and generally repetitive nature of the combat and questing.

It excels in some unlikely areas, with lovely presentation values and intricately detailed backdrops. It's a fun diversion and while it's not entirely up to par in terms of mechanics, it also doesn't make itself redundant by centralizing all the focus to the one area that's already been perfected.

Anomaly Warzone Earth is not going to revolutionise the strategy genre for home consoles. It does however provide an ideal place to start for those who are somewhat sceptical or intimidated by the genre.

Technical issues aside, Cubemen is a cleverly produced game that has the potential to keep you engaged for hours. The simple controls, challenging maps and variety of game modes are a potent combination. Once its stability improves, this could be one of the best purchases you make on iOS.

Despite its engaging combat, Tales of Graces f fails to distinguish itself from so many other JRPGs that have the exact same elements and handle them much better.

The slippery movement commands make basic platforming a tedious chore. They make the potentially great online multiplayer into a convoluted mess. Despite such flaws, Uprising is still a great addition to the 3DS library.

Whilst technically not as polished as recent 2D successes like Trine 2, Rayman Origins and Super Meat Boy, it has a strong enough USP with its Fluros to stand out from an increasingly-crowded yet creative genre that shows no signs of losing momentum.

Origin's charm makes it easy to forget that you're playing on a handheld and that is perhaps its greatest achievement.

Journey's worth playing for the unique experiences offered but the actual involvement with the mechanics isn't always engaging enough to match.

Yesterday has all the right intentions, but it seems to be in a hurry for some unknown reason.

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.

It's not perfect, though. The camera controls are terrible; navigating the mission is a frequently annoying experience. The lack of other additional features and gameplay modes doesn't help, either. Despite its shortcomings, Snake Eater 3D is well worth playing.

This is a sub-par licensed shooter without any real sense for what it wants to accomplish.

Missile Command for the iOS generation. It succeeds in matching that arcade simplicity and yet feels designed chiefly around the efficiency of Apple's portables.

Despite showing its age, Stranger's Wrath HD is still a wholly original, refreshing title when compared to many modern offerings.

Mutant Blobs Attack! isn't a game with many surprises up its sleeve, but within its designed simplicity it contains unbridled joy. It's a game that focuses on being fun first, and succeeds at that ambition.

It's got fan service where it counts, too - familiar character themes appear in the soundtrack, win quotes will often comment on specificities of other characters, and there are even some custom introductions for certain pairs of characters.

Order Up! serves up as the definitive cooking sim for the times, not just as a single player stress reliever, but one that's great for the family or even with a significant other. With its multiplayer options and high replayability, you'll be sure to find yourself keeping the people fed with a smile.

The Jagged Alliance series has a lot of potential to be excellent, it just requires a lot of attention to the little details to construct a product that acquires that perfection. Back in Action isn't quite that product, though after a few patches it'll likely be heading in the right direction.

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.

A great game taken in the spirit of an extreme sports hybrid, that's also partially grounded in reality.

This is a title that jumps back and forth from great to average and back again, and though it's far from perfect, it's worth experiencing.

There's that visual layer to it, an efficient backdrop that contributes to a kind of combined audiovisual experience. Nothing is added which isn't essential to the design.

Mass Effect 3 is an action game with a side-helping of dialogue, and the finale might frustrate fans who have stuck with the series since the beginning - some might even consider it lazy. It's hard to knock the actual game; it's a great shooter and the dialogue is well acted and (mostly) well-written. Mass Effect 3 is one of the best marriages of shooter action and storytelling around, and it's up to the fans to decide if that's what they really want.

Run Roo Run is one of the most enjoyable experiences you can have on this particular platform, and probably the best dollar you'll spend for a long, long time.

Despite its flaws the platforming and cover-based shooting are on par with its console peers. There is fun to be had with Uncharted: Golden Abyss, regardless of how badly it fumbles with its new technology.

The sheer amount of unlockables and additional content ensure that you'll have plenty to uncover. Extend might not be original, but it is built upon the best.

With some more selective content editing and a more carefully crafted balance, 38 Studios could have something unbelievable in their hands. For now, Amalur is an interesting proof of concept, and one to watch.

Binary Domain ultimately feels as if it's pandering to schizophrenic expectations. It aims for the stars, incorporating a jack of all trades mentality, but in a market crowded with third-person shooters, this lacks the quality to stand out. In the end, it's more I, Robot than Blade Runner - an enjoyable romp, but far from a classic.

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.

With more fluid and natural, mo-capped animations, better presentation and the introduction of PRIDE, Undisputed 3 showcases progression in all the right areas, giving fans the ultimate MMA experience.

A workout that doesn't work out. The flavor is that of a party game, but within multiplayer it grants no Kinect functionality for other players.

If you treat Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning as a shorter, story-driven experience, you'll have a much better time of it than the completionist who chases every single side quest.

Rhythm Heaven Fever is a late, essential pick-up for the Nintendo's fading console, coming in at an attractive budget price with an exceptional amount of polish.

Even to the most hardcore of point-and-click fanatics, I cannot wholeheartedly recommend Da New Guys, and if we were still in the '90s this would remain so.

Still, at its heart this is Dead Rising 2. Most of the cutscenes contain the same dialogue, only with Frank edited in, so there's the feeling that two entirely different conversations are taking place and it comes across as lazy.

The combat mechanics are easy to pick up, but the advanced techniques ought to be more than enough to keep things interesting. Regardless of its shortcomings, Soulcalibur V is still a fun and engaging game. That's all what really matters.

It doesn't play well, it's unfriendly to the first-time user and it looks downright lacklustre. It may entertain some less-accustomed gamers for an hour or so and the soundtrack is impressive but that is not enough to forgive what is a completely uninspiring and underwhelming title.