Genre fans will rejoice in its depth and should grab it straightaway.

The Last Remnant is a stale JRPG with interesting combat and lovely graphics.

If you don't have a big interest in bikes or MotoGP, this isn't for you. There's nothing here for casual bike fans or anyone who might be on the look out for something accessible in the bike racing genre. It's an incredibly solid package, though, and one that fans will get a lot out of.

You shouldn't buy Thrillville Off the Rails for the mini-games - there are much better social video games out there. But as a theme park creator it's not bad, and has literally hundreds of options to tweak and manage.

The 2005 edition lacks a few of the extra features found in this year's release, but it allowed you to play lengthy matches that mimicked real-life cricket; the aggressive and often stupid AI in 2007 makes this almost impossible.

It's visually appealing, easy to pick up, and the combat has a nice competitive edge to it. But this feeling doesn't last as long as perhaps it ought to. Once you've plundered your way through all the game has to offer, the lack of variety is clear to see and the story isn't good enough to hold things together.

The Sims 2 Pets isn't anything more than The Sims 2 on consoles with pets. It feels like an expansion pack, and if that's what you want, you won't be disappointed.

Graphically - both in terms of character design and use of 3D - Street Fighter is the better game. It also proves itself far more competent online, which is a huge deal for fighting aficionados. DOA fans with an itch to satisfy should pick it up regardless, if only for the rather interesting tease at the end.

If you've already got your traditional football fix, though, World Tour Soccer 2 offers something that neither of the big boys does. It's an arcade game, so don't expect to be putting together beautiful free-flowing moves that Brazil would be proud of, but the challenges make for a game that feels very different to normal football, and a title that will fill the gaps between World Cup matches very well indeed.

Heavy Weapon might be distinctly unoriginal in what it does, but it's a fun, action packed experience that is ideal for Microsoft's online service.

Ride 6 continues the series’ unbeaten track record of providing the most realistic-looking and feeling motorbike games on the market. However, while the multitude of new bikes, cameos from iconic racers, and intricate riding physics may prove its passion for the sport, it often struggles to communicate that passion to its audience.

It's a bit ropey in places, especially during multiplayer games, but the single-player campaign is simple fun and the online play is surprisingly entertaining and thorough.

PES 2009 is a good game, but the times they are changin', and we're afraid that Konami is being left behind. Time for a reboot, Seabass.

The action in F.E.A.R. is relentless from start to finish, and the AI of enemy soldiers is about the best you'll find in video games at the moment. Sadly, the core game is let down by some sloppy technical issues that really shouldn't be seen in a port of a game first released in 2005.

This is a game that'll stick in your brain by virtue of originality alone, then, but if Catherine can't take itself seriously then why should we?

With support for up to 32 players online there's nothing quite like this for the PlayStation 2 or on consoles in general.

It's easy to appreciate From Dust, but harder to enjoy it.

Although not as visually spectacular as "GT5: Prologue" or as deep and exciting as Microsoft's "Forza 2," Ferrari Challenge is a very competent racer with a clear focus: Ferraris.

All told, though, Rhapsody's charm and characters do just enough to keep you going through the relatively short 14 hour experience. It won't be for everyone, clearly, and probably not every old school JRPG fan, either, but it's worth a punt.

Essentially the Ultimate Edition isn't that much different to what's gone before. It's better than the 360 version on account of the improved technical performance, but, as with so many console RTS', it's got nothing on the PC version. If you're a PS3 owner looking for a solid RTS with good controls, this is the best the console has to offer. If you've got both "next-gen" consoles, Halo Wars is still the daddy.

Tiny Tower's real question is about the scale of its economy, then, and whether you can stomach playing a game that becomes increasingly desperate in its desires to part you with chunks of your own money.

You can't compare this to the GTAs and the Tomb Raiders of the world, but as a fun way to spend a few minutes every day, it's worth considering.

A good start.

An accomplished, excellent remake hampered only by some dated game design, MediEvil is a marvellously macabre medley of mayhem and mirth.

It lacks the depth required of a game that will stand the test of time and live on for months if not years to come, but for simple fun, either alone or with a few mates, SEGA has a winner on its hands.

The Last Of Us' story was pretty much perfect in terms of what it wanted to achieve. This does nothing to build on or take away from that.

Dead Island Definitive Edition is a great example of how a previous gen title can be improved on current-gen. Techland has done more than required in porting the games over to PS4 and Xbox One, resulting in a package that is tremendous fun and technically up to par. That's a sentence I never thought I'd be saying.

Disintegration poses interesting questions about how we will define the human experience in a recognisable future. It's not going to answer those questions, sadly, but the gameplay is so creatively rewarding and satisfying. Plus, cool robots.

It's slightly lightweight, sure, but Injustice will slap a grin on your face for a few days and then entice you back with the promise of idiotic multiplayer battles.

Despite these niggles, Yonder is obviously a fantastic game for adults to play with their children, and for slightly older children to be allowed to play unsupervised. Even for adults it's surprisingly beautiful, and a soothing breath of anxiety-calming non-violence. But the older you get, the less mileage you might receive from Gemea.

It's a fun game, with an impressive sense of speed and the official license fans want, but there's undoubtedly something better coming next year, on platforms that can do the sport justice. This is a perfectly competent racer, one of the best on the Wii, but it's not a classic by any stretch of the imagination.

The cutscenes are lovely, the dialogue and voice over work stereotypical but fitting, and the soundtrack is a wistful traditional Japanese score that rekindles memories of The Karate Kid. Still, Mini Ninjas will do nothing to quell the growing call from core gamers for IO's "next-gen" Hitman game.

As a multiplayer game it's an incredible amount of fun, but lone players will suffer from the lack of online gameplay.

Good, harmless, undead brain-eating fun!

If you’ve got a mind for puzzles, Kine is great. If you’re into the narrative, Kine might make you feel like an afterthought.

Foregoing genre-advancing substance and texture for impeccable style, Ghost of Yotei feels like a cowed shadow of its full potential. Those looking for a departure from checklist-oriented open-world gameplay will be disappointed. The title lands as generic, risk-averse, rigid, and safe.

An extremely competent hack 'n' slash that achieves exactly what developer Raven set out to do: deliver a real Wolverine experience. This isn't the feral X-Man as family-friendly super-hero, but a full-on blood thirsty killer.

Despite an inviting, off-kilter world and quality writing, Avowed abides by an almost arcane dedication to process and formula that drains it of its weird, compelling marrow. It's good, easygoing fun, though it won't linger long in the mind beyond the credits.

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.

Ultimately the Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novel is nothing more than fan service, and those for whom the paper-based version was an essential purchase will certainly get a kick out of it.

There's plenty of unmemorable fun to be had here, but it's shocking how it only took three goes for Nintendo to make New Super Mario Bros. feel old.

Underneath its myriad of flaws there's something endearing about Crystal Bearers. I fell in love with the game world, enjoyed the company of the characters, and lost hours to the distractions the game had to offer. Just don't fall into the trap of comparing Crystal Bearers to other Final Fantasy titles; you'll only be disappointed.

I’m glad to see a return to the franchise that doesn’t involve a free-to-play model, but as far as multiplayer shooters go this feels like a nice change of pace, rather than a long-term alternative.

Annoying puzzles aside, Song of the Deep is an excellently put together Metroidvania with a sweet tale to tell.

Dark Legend on Wii manages to be an extremely competent third-party offering. It's too easy and suffers from a few technical shortcomings, but the campaign is always fun and entertaining. As an intro to Overlord, Dark Legend does its job. Play it on Wii and then move on to the superior and altogether more challenging next-gen sequel.

The most refined version of Rock Band yet available, but not as essential as it once was.

Despite a few niggles with the note structure changes and the nagging feeling that this could have all been DLC, Greatest Hits is still a lot of fun.

Insomniac's biggest problem is that All 4 One feels like it's stuck somewhere in No Man's Land. The family-friendly gameplay is done better in Traveller's Tales' LEGO games, and the action platforming is handled more successfully by Insomniac's own A Crack in Time and Tools of Destruction.

There's only so many times, however, that you can tolerate the poorly-defined stealth and terrible AI.

Doesn't quite live up to its Star Wars cousins, mainly due to the fact that Star Wars is simply a more memorable series, but it's still a brilliant adventure and great fun.

There's no denying that Dark Messiah has a certain bloody charm, with battles against numerous enemies being both challenging and rather gory. By the end though, things do become a little repetitive, and this prevents the game from being anything truly special.

You don't need to be in the company of non-gamers to enjoy Scene It? We played a rather heated game in the office that proved to be as hard fought as the console war, with as much competition as a session on Gears of War 2.

The game coaxes out hearty chuckles and swear-laden outbursts in equal quantities, but there's no denying that the resulting blend of emotions make for a memorable experience.

A thoroughly decent blast.

The frenetic fighting and over-the-top fun of Tekken 7 is great, but it's let down by light offline modes and online matchmaking that, right now, simply isn't working well enough.

The game coaxes out hearty chuckles and swear-laden outbursts in equal quantities, but there's no denying that the resulting blend of emotions make for a memorable experience.

Through simulating the good of adult life and the comfort of routine, without complicating things with the pressures of money, Animal Crossing: Happy Home designer is a relaxing, repetitive toe-dip into the working world.

When it works, it gathers up your problems and piles them together to await their death. When it goes wrong, it simply washes everything bad your way, trapping and killing you.

Despite these impressive production values, Homecoming ultimately fails to achieve greatness.

It's a great stepping stone if you're looking to really improve on your overall fighting game skills, and it's a meticulously well-made effort in its own right. Just like the dominatrixes flaunting and frolicking about on the screen, though, it's just a little too weird and demanding to fall in love with.

Dishonored is a great game that doesn't quite achieve excellence, and this collection is the best way to experience it all on consoles, but the port simply offers a crisper image and more defined textures. There's very little reason to buy this if you've already played it, but newcomers will still find a very entertaining title if they embrace the stealth mechanics.

As with the rest of the game, outside of the more focused platform sequences, I was boosted through by the breezy mood more than anything else. Skelattack is a masterpiece in the art of the pleasant.

A Plague Tale: Innocence has some clunky writing in places, and its play gets stale after a time, but it prevails with a compelling mystery and a beautiful world.

Civilization Revolution 2 brings with it a visual overhaul, new leaders and some new units, but ultimately, it’s largely the same game that suffers with the same issues of older Civ games.

Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll might be marketed as a game to play using the Wii Balance Board, but it's a much better game when played using standard Wii Remote controls.

If you approach the game with the mentality that Charged Football is going to be football in the Mario universe you'll find a game that is hard to get on with. If you accept that the emphasis is on flashy moves and fun over skill and precision, you'll find a game that has a place in your collection, even if it's only brought out every now and again.

It might be a simplified version of Hitman, but it does simple very well.

Leviathan manages to just about recapture what makes Mass Effect compelling, but by failing to develop any of the game's most central characters it struggles to find a place in a narrative that many of us will already be done with.

Shadow Warrior isn't a classic, but it's a game that exists in an area that we rarely see these days, and is great fun to mess about with.

Byking has delivered more than a fitting send-off to this series. In many ways, this is a complete My Hero Academia game experience. However, these strengths make it all the more painful when My Hero Academia All’s Justice fails to reach its full potential. Despite the simplicity of its mechanics and more conservative approach to storytelling, attention to detail and earnest love for its source material make My Hero Academia All’s Justice a competent if unremarkable conclusion to the series.

Battlefield V offers a compelling single-player and multiplayer package, although it's not the complete reinvention that you may have hoped for.

A well-produced sequel to the original that manages to repeat many of its problems. It's still fun, but it's a shame Ubisoft Romania feels little inclination to challenge its established mould – doing so could have yielded a far more interesting end product.

FIFA 23 is the best feeling football game currently on the market, the gameplay is much better this time around than it was in FIFA 22. It's just a shame the lack of attention to the single player game modes, and Pro Clubs, lets the rest of the game down.

FIFA 15 has gameplay problems, but it can also play some sublime football. However, single-player’s continued stagnation leaves a sour taste in the mouth. If goalkeepers can be addressed, EA will remain the football king.

A well-produced sequel to the original that manages to repeat many of its problems. It's still fun, but it's a shame Ubisoft Romania feels little inclination to challenge its established mould – doing so could have yielded a far more interesting end product.

With a smart learning curve - it's still throwing new ideas at you well over 30 levels in - and an absolute barrel-load of content, I could call Hitman GO the surprise of the year. I'd only be doing that for hyperbole purposes, though. It's still pretty damn good.

It offers an otherworldly break from the busyness of life, and, when you do return to Earth, you will do so with a smooth landing, and without stress.

Final Fantasy 16 is a rich, visually arresting spectacle with engrossing set pieces let down by a bloated story and stifled combat.

This one's a brilliant weekend rental, just like the movies.

Maths Training won't make you smarter, but it will make you quicker at solving simple sums. If that sounds like something you'd like to add to your CV then pick the game up. But don't expect anything more - maths isn't fun. It's just maths.

If you're willing to learn its touch inputs and put up with the frustration of in-game transactions - it often leaves you in a situation where things would be much easier and fun if you parted with cash - Spartan Assault is a solid way to feed any Halo pangs you may have, no matter where you are.

You could consider the game’s numerous glitches as a kind of meta-contribution to this aesthetic, but, having laboured through a number of instances where my HUD was obscured by the lingering letterbox format of the kill cam, or where I have been inexplicably insta-killed, I have come to the conclusion that I would prefer a patch.

Despite offering a gritty medieval RPG sandbox with a layered, dynamic open world stacked with detail, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is haunted by the same demons as the original.

This won't replace Wii Sports as the mini-game collection of choice, but it's another option should Wii Tennis and Bowling start to feel a little over played.

The shmup is a genre that's struggled to find a place in gaming's mainstream, and we doubt Big Bang Mini on the DS will change that fact. But it's an impressive effort with an interesting control scheme that, for the most part, works well.

PES 2010 is simply not good enough to challenge FIFA's dominance. It's an improvement on last year's effort, and fans of the more arcadey virtual football will find plenty to enjoy, but as a simulation it pales in comparison.

A considerable multiplayer mode and truly excellent musical score round off a nice package, but Tactical Strike isn't quite the amazing new direction for real time strategy it could have been.

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, but don't drop them in the sea, and mind out for the runaway chickens, and remember to lift with your noodley arms rather than your legs.

Perhaps No More Heroes 2, like its predecessor, works on a level our feeble brains aren't capable of comprehending. Perhaps it's so post-modern it's post-post-modern.

Its excellent weapon set should make for some fantastic and skilled online gaming, and for now it fills a gap on the Xbox 360, which is undernourished in terms of both futuristic and combat racers.

As entertaining as the game is, it's abundantly clear that things could have been a whole lot better.

High production values and a superb art style can only take a game so far, and the gameplay on offer here, while fun, can't take it that step further.

At times, Concrete Genie can be a little too pleasant, which makes the action-packed conclusion really jarring. Still, the contrast between Ash's fantasy and his reality is truly stunning.

Far Cry Primal is a great spin-off for the Far Cry franchise, but it doesn't do anything drastically new.

50 Cent fans are going to love every minute, and non-fans are likely to have a pretty good time too. Just don't expect a deep gameplay experience.

The whole package is undeniably ambitious and for the most part Zipper Interactive has pulled it off, but the complex controls combined with the dumbed down aiming make it less impressive as a game than its PlayStation 2 cousins.

For once, it's an expansion pack that does exactly what it says on the box. It broadens the experience of the already panoramically wide core game enough to justify a purchase.

Anno 117 Pax Romana is a structurally sound colony builder set in a Romanized world filled with flair and gravitas. For those who struggle to find joy in expanding their influence, the busy UI may disrupt the experience and confuse. It’s a game designed for risk-takers who won't hesitate to make tough choices to reap the rewards of a tantalizingly broad array of intuitive city-building mechanics.