Quantum Conundrum is a fine adventure with a mechanically competent series of puzzles, and I definitely recommend it, but while the game has got plenty of brain it doesn't have nearly enough heart.

Where Solar Ash goes from an intriguing ambient platformer to one of the year’s most fascinating releases is in its fixation on living as an act of being stuck.

There's definitely a point where it all becomes a bit too much, but Cuphead will best most games in how it looks and sounds, and defeating that boss that you once deemed unbeatable is glorious.

Vice City Stories is an impressive PSP game but a less impressive PlayStation 2 title. It's not a great port but with another PS2-only GTA being highly unlikely, fans yet to enter the PSP market should find a highly enjoyable game.

It may not have any longevity beyond the times you boot it up to show off to friends as a curio of you new PS3, but at a budget price it is an undeniably unique and enchanting piece of software.

Ninja Blade has no right to be as entertaining as it is. It's nowhere near as accomplished as the genre's heavyweights, but anyone able to see it as the roller-coaster ride it is should have a great time. It's a game to play in the company of friends, laughing at the on-screen randomness and insane bosses, and because of that we can't help but recommend it.

Unique, hardcore and immensely satisfying, Sin and Punishment hits all the right weak spots.

Having been playing the series since its early heydays in the 90s, I can honestly say I haven't had this much fun with a football game in decades.

F1 Manager 2023 improves on its predecessor in every way possible, with new driver development attributes, sprint races, more depth in car part development, more driver tactics, realistic tyre degradation, a whole new mode full of real-life scenarios, and more. The downtime between races is still a little dull, but it's finally a worthy pickup for every Formula One fan.

MUA fans may bemoan the lack of change, and they'd have a point. Bar the Fusion Powers there's little new going on here. But it's still a fun, albeit brainless romp that's sure to please Marvel fanboys.

Skate 3, to be blunt, doesn't offer a great deal that's different to the previous two games in the series, with the added team, online and sharing functionality being the key additions.

There is enough fun available for those who are happy to muddle through, and the winning combination of Wirebug and Palamute adds enough zip to each fight that you can swing over much of its more intricate baggage. Whether that counts for or against the game, I still haven’t decided; fortunately, no small measure of its power lies outside the combat, patrolling the glittering plains, and down in Kamura, amid the cats. It’s more than steel and hunters.

Tweaks and refinements help Torchlight II's mechanics sing beautifully together, and certain efforts to streamline the whole kaboodle go down a storm, but innovation isn't really the focus of this blisteringly colourful, entertaining but ultimately familiar romp.

de Blob isn't all it could have been, mainly down to the odd awkward jump and a slightly too simplistic first half, but it's still an extremely polished and well put together game.

XCOM 2 is more tense and thrilling than a turn-based strategy has any right to be. There are some great additions to the original gameplay, but the port to console is an imperfect one.

In reality, this is a reserved effort from Namco Bandai, and feels almost as if Project Soul has merely dipped its toe in the next-gen water for fear of causing too big a splash. It's gorgeous, and an essential purchase for any fighting game fan who likes aggressive counters and weapon clashes, but it's no fighting game revolution.

Online races with six players were smooth and relatively lag-free, and the downloadable time trial ghost cars come in very handy when trying to better your previous lap records. It's the kind of feature set that hardcore SEGA Rally fans will appreciate, but casuals might be left wondering why more isn't on offer.

I’ll happily trade 10 minutes of frustration for those brilliant instances where everything just slots into place.

Final Fantasy XV is about adventure and excitement. There are oddities, and it's not the FF you're used to, but it's a good time with some good boys, and has an unexpected emotional resonance to it. Sometimes it seems like it shouldn't work, but it does.

Apparently you can play games on the PlayStation 3, but it certainly looks like a top of the range karaoke machine from where I'm standing, on centre stage in my living room stadium.

Endless Universe is a terrific package, offering a staggering amount of gameplay for the price, and even after two years from its original release, Galactic Civilizations II has lost none of its charm, depth or playability.

Even though much of Orcs Must Die! 2 feels like it's an expansion rather than a fully-fledged sequel, Robot Entertainment adds and refines just enough to get away with it. Besides, you'll be having too much fun knocking back waves and waves of all those nasty Orcs to care.

Playing UNBEATABLE makes you feel like you’re watching pirated episodes of your favourite show. Its janky narrative structure and limited content make it feel appropriately criminal to grow attached. However, while frustrating at times, these jagged edges are part of the charm. UNBEATABLE feels like an unapologetic guilty pleasure.

Movie licensed titles are often less than satisfactory, but The Spiderwick Chronicles manages to pair decent gameplay with impressive production values.

Great writing and environment design, combined with an epic story and wide range of player choice, make Tides of Numenera a wonderful RPG. The reliance on text won't be for everyone, but fans of the genre are going to love it.

DOOM The Dark Ages is an unrelenting barrage of visceral hyperviolence that comes at you thick and fast, leaving you overstimulated and exhausted but thrilled and gratified.

We don't think the PSP Remote Play functionality makes it worth while, but we reckon the harmony duet mode just about swings it. Oh, and the trippy background music. So, get this if you like SingStar Vol.2's track selection and you're effortlessly popular. Don't if you don't or you're not. Simple as that.

There's plenty to see and do, then, and I managed to whittle away 100 hours quite easily. But this isn't the transformative revival of the MMO genre that some were expecting, with many of the quests falling into the same pitfalls of repetition that often blights the genre. ArenaNet's efforts to encourage discovery and exploration are rewarded, and their efforts to streamline the genre help Guild Wars 2 raise the MMO bar ever so slightly.