As positively nostalgic as all of this is, it's not surprising to find that Sonic Generations' emulation of past greats extends to its duration. Despite the fact that there are nine main stages per Sonic, seven bosses and ten side-missions per Zone, it will take an experienced fan just a few hours to blast through to the main ending.

FAST Racing Neo is a simple game, its roots clearly planted in a simpler time. It's good, honest, fast, arcade fun, priced perfectly to match its ambitions.

While things do get a little repetitive after a while, there's a huge amount here for your money, and though it will likely be little more than a passing fad, Pain deserves plentiful success. With several planned expansions, Pain is another gem in Sony's underrated PSN crown.

Ratchet & Clank is an easy recommendation. It's great fun, looks lovely, plays well and almost serves as a palate cleanser to the usual video game releases. Newcomers to the series will likely find a fresher experience (even though it's a proper remake, familiarity does creep in), but fans will love what Insomniac has done here. A remake done right in a series that rarely puts a foot wrong.

Judged purely on how good the driving is, GT5 is top class, perhaps even king - but as a game it could and should have been a whole lot better.

If you can cope with the archaic gameplay elements you'll find a JRPG that shames many of its more modern cousins with its entrancing plot and bewitching charm.

Everything is a challenge, everything does something, and there's never a moment when you can't interact with the world around you in some way.

There's a scrappy little multiplayer brawler to be had with this game, but the fact DiRT Showdown feels a lot like DiRT 3 with a new lick of paint is both the game's greatest strength and its ultimate downfall.

SBK '07 succeeds at being accessible to casual Superbike fans while also catering for the hardcore market.

When you and your two pals are sharing item pick-ups, driving in each other’s racing lines, and skimming past one another for a boost, Team Sonic Racing shines. It offers something different in the kart racing genre.

Lumo could have easily been another retro inspired title that did little other than revel in old-school visuals. If anything, the reverse is true here. While visually a little unappealing, the isometric adventure and platforming gameplay are great, with a smattering of hair-pulling moments not enough to irrevocably damage what is a lovely trip down memory lane.

At points Comic Jumper will frustrate to the extent that you'll want to walk away and never look at it again, but if the humour grabs you then it's possible to overlook the many problems.

With a bit more ingenuity in the puzzles, more made of the time travel and a little more graphical "oomph", Raven and Activision could have had a real gem on their hands. It's still well worth a look though.

While the game's superb comedy feel makes the experience great fun, any evilness is all but lost, which is a shame as a touch more comedy cruelty would have been brilliant.

The more I played the less the goings-on of the narrative bothered me, and the more I relished the wavelike rhythm of the action: the roll and crash of sailing and breaking to alight for supplies.

Orcs & Elves is no revolution. It's Western role-playing the way it used to be - hidden passages, mountains of gold, dead dwarves and a temperamental dragon. It's perfect fodder for the geek in you, and a half-an-hour train ride, but don't expect it to rock your world.

Despite its faults and playing it very safe, Assassin's Creed Mirage is a step in the right direction for Ubisoft, an exercise in concision and a solid attempt to rekindle what made early AC games memorable.

If you're coming into the series afresh, Crackdown 2 is well worth checking out, but for those of us who have patiently waited over three years for a sequel, it's a mild disappointment.

A great port of a good game that has a few problems, the result being something well worth picking up if you’re looking for some decent home console Resi action, or just something to get rid of the lingering taste of Resident Evil 6. Although this re-release is somewhat surprising, it is far from unpleasant.

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.

On the one hand it's highly entertaining and almost obscenely violent and crude, but for a next-gen title with a next-gen price tag it doesn't quite deliver.

If the DNA of Biomutant sparks a re-evolution of some of the genre’s dull spots, perhaps we can forgive the dull spots present here.

The good driving mechanic and excellent presentation found in Parallel Lines are only let down by some rather mundane missions.

Skylanders Superchargers is another solid entry in a franchise that has done gangbusters for Activision, and fans will enjoy the new vehicle gameplay and adventure-strewn story.

While its impact isn't as great as the original, Guacamelee 2 is a reminder of how good combat and traversal can feel when married together as they are in this 2D platformer-cum-brawler.

The combat can be slightly uninvolving at times, and the exploration side of proceedings serves little more than to connect one battle to the next, but the experience as a whole is surprisingly enjoyable.

Oversights, like not being able to access downloaded GH:3 tracks, are baffling and the number of covers for non-Aerosmith tracks is disappointing. For die-hard GH and Aerosmith fans it's a no-brainer, but everyone else might want to save their money for World Tour.

I would recommend the remake to anyone with a nostalgic thirst for the original, but so, too, to those that like their laughs with a dark bite.