Though one could claim that the campaign and online rewards/achievements and the mediocre level of character customization online make the game worth looking into, in truth, this is a title that doesn't warrant your attention unless you're starved for a taste of Transformers flavour and the most basic gaming experience.

Considering the level of flexibility, it's still likely you won't be totally happy with Conduit 2; the campaign is lazy, marred with bad AI, lots of balance issues, poor writing and impotent weaponry. The multiplayer is the sole reprieve, but even then, it's still only a relative high point.

So, King Of Fighters might be a much-loved series amongst its hardcore fans and it might deliver in all the areas that those familiar with the franchise would expect, but measured toe-to-toe against modern fighting games it just doesn’t fare well.

There could have been so much more to Samurai Warriors Chronicles…but there isn't. Unlike its source material, this game will never make history.

Ultimately, Max and the Magic Marker may be like many other puzzle and platforming games, but it's rarely as accomplished.

Players that pick this game up will find a game that is certainly playable, but if you let this pass by, you won't miss much.

Evoland is a small game, but if there’s anything it could have learned from the big titles it draws inspiration from is that it should have picked one style of gameplay and fleshed it out. Instead there’s several subpar reflections of olden styles, painted in a fresh coat of nostalgia.

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

With its inadequate online play, starved features, and questionable arcade perfection, Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection is, at best, a nostalgic purchase.

For a title that many cult followers have demanded others to acknowledge, the disregarding scrutiny on Capcom's part does more harm than good for the cause.

This is one for the hardcore basketball fans only, as they are likely to enjoy the short-burst addictive action it has to offer. With that said, don’t expect to find any challenge here.

But despite its benefits, the plot is bland, predictable, and utterly cliche. By limiting Samus in such a nonsensical way, the game goes against everything the series is about. The exploration aspects are severely limited, and the linear designs are watered down versions of the stuff you'd find in the previous games.

It’s hard to review a game like this, even with my years of experience, because nothing, good or bad, really stands out. This is a strictly average game that isn’t going to enhance or blight your collection.

If you look at that game it’s difficult to see how this has taken such a giant leap backwards. With any hope the next iteration in this series will gravitate towards previous successes.

At first glance the lack of direction appears to be a weakness, but in actuality Legendary Heroes requires you to assist it, to give it the direction it needs.

It’s a shame, really. It’s sad to see one of the most popular handheld games of its time be devolved into this poor excuse of a card game.

Its brevity doesn’t merit the fifty dollars you’ll have to shell out for it. The missions are a simplistic mishmash of killing, transporting, and exploration.

All style and no substance is an appropriate way to describe the entire game, really.

The bundled games are competent, albeit boring, and the software did lock up on me twice. The graphics are serviceable for a Mini, though I thought Smashout was very dull looking.

The blue stuff could be an analogy for the game at large – unexpected, cool to look at, but utterly, maddeningly infuriating and with little resemblance to what the forces that birthed it set out to achieve.

This is another sad case of a cash-in title that will only appeal to absolute die-hard fans of the Transformers series and in particular the new film.

For ancient king and Elvish lord, Guardians of Middle-earth is stuck in the Mystical Bog of Latency Irritation. Its system's solidly built and there's the appearance of depth crying to be uncovered. However, those cries aren't being heard. This isn't the first time a multiplayer-only XBLA title has effectively been broken online. It deserved a better fate than this.

By trying to match up to juggernauts such Gears of War and Halo, Fracture ultimately becomes a prisoner shackled by predictability and poor design.

It's not a bad game, it's just one of the most tediously easy, generic and downright bland games of the year.

All in all, The Undergarden is definitely a game that is to be avoided by puzzle enthusiasts, ultra violent droogies, or people who like to be given a clear purpose before giving anything their attention.

It's far too long and tedious, allowing us to save along the way, when its old school appeal would have been better served by fewer levels, no saves and less repetition.

Despite its intriguing but flawed multiplayer suite, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is one of the most underwhelming shooters of recent memory.

In a year beholden to console gaming's finest offerings, this is impossible to recommend.