One of those games you can happily dip in and out of over a period of weeks.

There's plenty of things to like in LEGO Star Wars III, though some of them might be buried a little too deep for younger players.

There's plenty of things to like in LEGO Star Wars III, though some of them might be buried a little too deep for younger players.

There's plenty of things to like in LEGO Star Wars III, though some of them might be buried a little too deep for younger players.

There's plenty of things to like in LEGO Star Wars III, though some of them might be buried a little too deep for younger players.

If you've never played the PS2 Prince of Persia trilogy before, this is the perfect opportunity to do so. If you have, play it again; reliving the experience in HD is a glorious reminder of just what great games these are.

Splinter Cell 3D's biggest shortcoming is that it's simply not a game suited to a handheld console. Ultimately it's an awkward game to play. Grin and bear its problems and the nine-mission campaign is still a good one, but playing Chaos Theory on this handheld is considerably less enjoyable than it should be.

Launch titles are often rushed and not representative of what the console can really do, but Asphalt is poor even by these lowered standards. Of all the early 3DS games I've played, this one is a dead cert to be filling bargain bins in a few weeks.

Surprisingly enjoyable. I say surprising because at the ripe old age of twelve, you'd expect the mechanics to be grey and riddled with arthritis. Despite a camera that often refuses to behave itself, Rayman 3D is as robust as it is enjoyable.

If you've bought your 3DS to show off its new-fangled gadgetry, you might do better to pick up one of the other launch titles. But if, heaven forefend, you might actually want to actually play something fun, or something that requires a bit of thought, look no further. For all its lack of 3D showboating, Shadow Wars offers genuine depth.

Despite getting a name check in the title, the cats are at best some sort of bizarre comedy foil for the canines.

Despite getting a name check in the title, the cats are at best some sort of bizarre comedy foil for the canines.

Despite getting a name check in the title, the cats are at best some sort of bizarre comedy foil for the canines.

The 3D looks pretty smart, but this is the same old PES I've played many, many times before. It's still a smart game of football, but as with a number of 3DS launch games, it's not making the most of the hardware and doesn't really offer anything new.

I'd rather play this than any other game currently available for the system, but that doesn't forgive the many signs that Namco rather rushed this out of the door.

It's obvious that sweat has gone into translating all of Sims 3's features onto a hand-held device, but beyond the core game - the eating, buying, working, cleaning Sims - the game feels too lightweight and its features too incidental.

If you're a hardcore fighter fan, you'll be annoyed by the button layout and the associated lack of precision. If you're a newcomer who has yet to play Street Fighter IV, you're better off picking up one of the previous editions; it'll cost you little more than a tenner, rather than the £30 you'll pay for the 3DS version.

A quirky little title which stands out in a market swamped with clones.

Crytek's fourth game is their most confident to date, carefully balancing silliness, seriousness, and spectacle, and despite looking like a laundry list of bad shooter clichés at first glance the end product is surprisingly fresh-faced and triumphant. Switching to New York gives Crytek what it desperately needed: a credible sense of menace to go alongside gorgeous technical fortitude and impressive artistic direction.

Crytek's fourth game is their most confident to date, carefully balancing silliness, seriousness, and spectacle, and despite looking like a laundry list of bad shooter clichés at first glance the end product is surprisingly fresh-faced and triumphant. Switching to New York gives Crytek what it desperately needed: a credible sense of menace to go alongside gorgeous technical fortitude and impressive artistic direction.

Crytek's fourth game is their most confident to date, carefully balancing silliness, seriousness, and spectacle, and despite looking like a laundry list of bad shooter clichés at first glance the end product is surprisingly fresh-faced and triumphant. Switching to New York gives Crytek what it desperately needed: a credible sense of menace to go alongside gorgeous technical fortitude and impressive artistic direction.

As ever with a new console, it's fairly easy to overlook serious shortcomings in launch software, but Pilotwings Resort's failure to live up to its brilliant predecessor is a disappointment. It's unlikely you'll be playing this once the next wave of 3DS games hit, but there's enough here to warrant this being one of your initial purchases.

This is a game designed for the purist, and this PSP version of Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together is a charming restoration of the classic game. Connoisseurs of the grid will derive much enjoyment looking at a competent snapshot of the past while bridging the gap to the forward-thinking Disgaea 4 later in the year.

Movement feels smoother with the analogue stick, and that inevitably helps when you're crawling your way through hordes of skeletons.

It looks great, plays smoothly, has decent multiplayer functionality and will keep you in the driving seat for some time. The audio is a letdown, but if you want another quality iDevice racer that isn't reason enough to give this a miss.

It's wonderfully colourful and completely unique, and it should provide the usual hundreds of hours of gameplay for the hardcore. Those worrying about a retrograde step being taken for the series shouldn't have done so - it's a classic, no question.

Ultimately, Homefront's threadbare campaign is like a beautiful, sweeping piece of music being awkwardly recited by a child on a recorder.

There's enough material within Homefront's concept for it to spiral into something more interesting, and with plenty of talk about a sequel it's clear that's what THQ and Kaos is looking for, but this first crack of the whip falls far short of the competition.

There's enough material within Homefront's concept for it to spiral into something more interesting, and with plenty of talk about a sequel it's clear that's what THQ and Kaos is looking for, but this first crack of the whip falls far short of the competition.

There's a lot of choice to be had for your money, but the campaign feels a little bland compared to its predecessors, and the idea of repeating it over and over for each of the six races is hardly a pleasant one.

A relentless assault on the senses, with grandiose set pieces that would make Michael Bay gush with delight. The racing itself doesn't offer a tremendous amount of depth, but the destruction unfolding around each event offers an edge-of-your-seat experience that more than makes up for it.

Despite the way narrative has been re-structured and the combat made meatier, this sequel follows the old conventions of the genre too literally to develop an individuality beyond them. Two entries down the pipe, and Dragon Age is still experiencing the growing pains of a series that's more dedicated to studying fantasy games than developing its own personality in the genre.

Despite the way narrative has been re-structured and the combat made meatier, this sequel follows the old conventions of the genre too literally to develop an individuality beyond them. Two entries down the pipe, and Dragon Age is still experiencing the growing pains of a series that's more dedicated to studying fantasy games than developing its own personality in the genre.

The new character models and HD visuals do a great job of bringing Hillys to life, but only serve to contrast how far game design has come in eight years. We're more critical of camera issues and interface problems these days, spoiled by the likes of Uncharted and Mass Effect. Considering the effort gone into revamping the character models, it strikes me as odd that Ubisoft hasn't addressed these issues too.

There's not much variety to be had, and you can wade through it in a couple of decent train journeys, but Predators keeps itself sharp enough for you to chop until it stops.

Driver struggles at times to work here as well as it did on a dedicated games console, but it's still an excellent port that has managed to retain the majority of what made it so much fun back in the day.

It's a gorgeous fighter with vast depth, but it slightly lacks the tightness and coherence that made Street Fighter 4 such an instant classic.

It's a gorgeous fighter with vast depth, but it slightly lacks the tightness and coherence that made Street Fighter 4 such an instant classic.

There's just not quite enough meat on Fight Night Champion's bones to recommend it to owners of previous games, however, and Champion mode itself is little more than a brief diversion you can bash through in an afternoon.

There's just not quite enough meat on Fight Night Champion's bones to recommend it to owners of previous games, however, and Champion mode itself is little more than a brief diversion you can bash through in an afternoon.

While the game insists on holding your hand a little too tightly and the time limits can cause a lot of unnecessary stress, de Blob 2 remains a solid platform game with an interesting mechanic at its core.

While the game insists on holding your hand a little too tightly and the time limits can cause a lot of unnecessary stress, de Blob 2 remains a solid platform game with an interesting mechanic at its core.

While the game insists on holding your hand a little too tightly and the time limits can cause a lot of unnecessary stress, de Blob 2 remains a solid platform game with an interesting mechanic at its core.

Behind the f-bombs and dick-t.ts are some incredibly mature and well thought out mechanics. Not only does the Skillshot system invite a completely new approach to shooting in single-player, it uses scores and leaderboards to inspire competition in a completely different vein to the amalgamate of contemporary shooters.

Behind the f-bombs and dick-t.ts are some incredibly mature and well thought out mechanics. Not only does the Skillshot system invite a completely new approach to shooting in single-player, it uses scores and leaderboards to inspire competition in a completely different vein to the amalgamate of contemporary shooters.

Behind the f-bombs and dick-tits are some incredibly mature and well thought out mechanics. Not only does the Skillshot system invite a completely new approach to shooting in single-player, it uses scores and leaderboards to inspire competition in a completely different vein to the amalgamate of contemporary shooters.

Star Wars fans will drop the cash on it regardless, but there's enough here to satisfy the urges of serious tower defence players too.

It's a not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, just a slightly poor use of the license.

it's one of the most creative examples of casual gaming.

This is a top-drawer iDevice game that feels perfectly at home on Apple's touch screen, tilt-enabled handhelds. At just £2.99 it's an absolute steal.

It will still be far too difficult for most, but the game is one of the developer's most accessible titles to date, and while its jagged 2D art and unpopular genre will never grant it more than an extremely niche audience, the few who are interested will be more than satisfied with both the game and Rising Star's commendable publishing efforts.

Ultimately there's not a whole lot to it, but if you can ignore the odd Kinect upset there's a competent brain training experience for those willing to embrace it.

Stacking rarely treks toward the outskirts of the playroom, and not as far into alternative humour territory as some Schafer fans would hope. But instead it offers a fully-formed, self-contained world of colour and quaintness, charm, and more importantly an individuality of its own.

Stacking rarely treks toward the outskirts of the playroom, and not as far into alternative humour territory as some Schafer fans would hope. But instead it offers a fully-formed, self-contained world of colour and quaintness, charm, and more importantly an individuality of its own.

Helsing's Fire has inventive levels and immediate charm, making it an instant iPhone classic you'd be a fool not to pick up post haste.

Please Eden, next time just focus on the driving.

Please Eden, next time just focus on the driving.

Please Eden, next time just focus on the driving.

For all its added features and refinements, Black and White still rigidly follows the tried and tested formula. The leaps and bounds folks like me have been hankering after will have to wait until the inevitable 3DS version. Until then, however, rest assured in the knowledge that Black and White are damn fine games; the best the series has to offer.

For all its added features and refinements, Black and White still rigidly follows the tried and tested formula. The leaps and bounds folks like me have been hankering after will have to wait until the inevitable 3DS version. Until then, however, rest assured in the knowledge that Black and White are damn fine games; the best the series has to offer.

I got to the third form of the final boss and decided I've had enough - in this instance, at least, I'm not nearly interested enough to take that exhausting last step to the end credits.

Good fun, but it's short-lived in the extreme. While £2.99 might not seem much, other App Store games offer far better value for money, making it feel like you're paying a slight premium for the license.

Suffers from some problems, many of which can't be helped given the tiny iPhone screen, while others take the edge off the game's believability. Despite this, the game still manages to have a bizarre hold on me, nagging from within my pocket to play a few more games or to check if my transfer offers have been accepted.

If you're hungry for an old-fashioned platformer, one with a tongue in its cheek and a spring in its step, you could do far worse.

If you're hungry for an old-fashioned platformer, one with a tongue in its cheek and a spring in its step, you could do far worse.

You don't need Magnetic Shaving Derby, of course. It doesn't demand your attention - it's simply a charming, silly, completely unessential purchase that's quite nice to have.

The experience as a whole is entirely forgettable.

Osmos is still a fantastic little title, one of a rare breed of games that can be described as meditative.

Monkey Island 2 is a sacred property to many - me included - and we expect the game to be treated with an appropriate amount of respect. It isn't.

Guardian of Light is a thoroughly refreshing take on tomb raiding, and – aside from the aforementioned control issues - has made the transition to iPhone surprisingly well.

BaSS is a genuinely funny game, boasting the kind of clever humour that we all too rarely see these days.

Overall, then, it's a fairly robust package with a steep asking price. Adding novelty additions to the mix might incense the grumpy critics, but these map-specific gimmicks seem to be going down genuinely well on Xbox LIVE - just like the blast doors on Radiation or the space rocket on Launch.

Sure, in terms of the core gameplay (that being combat) you don't actually do a whole lot. You swing, dodge and cast the odd spell every now and again, and that's about the crux of it. However, the experience wrapped around these mechanics gives the game an alarmingly addictive nature.

It's a gorgeous game, and one that runs at a framerate speedy enough to justify why it doesn't support older models of iPhone and iTouch.

It's one of those games that can quickly get stuck in your head if you let it.

Dead Space 2 is sometimes a confused and disappointing production, but more often than not it's tense and fascinating.

Dead Space 2 is sometimes a confused and disappointing production, but more often than not it's tense and fascinating.

Dead Space 2 is sometimes a confused and disappointing production, but more often than not it's tense and fascinating.

It's still the most well produced variation on the Deadly Giant Worm genre.

A generous and competent addition to Bad Company 2.

A generous and competent addition to Bad Company 2.

A generous and competent addition to Bad Company 2.

It's an elegantly crafted thriller that stands out as an original, charming and beautiful adventure.

It's been said before, but it's worth repeating: Western RPGs will never be the same again, such is the impact of BioWare's work here. In short, Mass Effect 2 is bloody brilliant. Grab a fork, and tuck in.

Be prepared to hit that A button a lot over the course of the adventure. But while this latest Kingdom Hearts has its fair share of problems, long-term fans shouldn't find it too hard to forgive and forget.

The real depth comes from the creation utilities, and anyone drawn in by the wealth of features is likely to be investing tens if not hundreds of hours here.

At 800 Microsoft Points ilomilo is ludicrously good value for money.

For the lucky few who happen to have the preposterous layout requirements, Kung Fu LIVE is a solid novelty title. Unfortunately, it's being marketed to an audience beyond those twelve people.

It's funny, challenging, and easily worth replaying a few times; there are only two endings this time around, but you're unlikely to see everything the Phenotrans lab has to offer in a single outing.

Nail'd impresses in its opening moments and is fun to hop into for a quick burst, but once you've seen a few of the sights you're left with a game that struggles to excite where it really matters.

It's a skill-based game that manages to be surprisingly technical, but never at the expense of fun. It's hugely rewarding, too: after several extended spells on the game, Mr Gaston had the balls to perform Gold Digger on stage in a Croydon nightclub - and round there, they kill people who suck at karaoke.

It's a skill-based game that manages to be surprisingly technical, but never at the expense of fun. It's hugely rewarding, too: after several extended spells on the game, Mr Gaston had the balls to perform Gold Digger on stage in a Croydon nightclub - and round there, they kill people who suck at karaoke.

Yes, Deadly Premonition is flawed. It's unhelpful, outdated and highly irregular - and I should probably give it a lower mark, but I'm not going to. Instead I'm going to thank Rising Star for bringing this game to the UK, and I'm going to suggest that if you're even remotely curious, that you give it a pop.

It'll teach you things, broaden your horizons, and give you a damn good time; think of it as the Mrs Robinson to your brawling Benjamin Braddock. As Taokaka might say, meow can you resist?

It'll teach you things, broaden your horizons, and give you a damn good time; think of it as the Mrs Robinson to your brawling Benjamin Braddock. As Taokaka might say, meow can you resist?

It's not a bad game by a long stretch - just a game that's over in a flash and almost entirely devoid of any memorable moments.

It's not a bad game by a long stretch - just a game that's over in a flash and almost entirely devoid of any memorable moments.

It's not a bad game by a long stretch - just a game that's over in a flash and almost entirely devoid of any memorable moments.