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.