For those that have grown up with video games, 3D Dot Game Heroes is a celebration of everything that encapsulates the concept of retro. It wraps you up in a blanket of nostalgia and whisks you off to a world that just isn't seen in video games today.

A smart series of puzzling occult cases, The Darkside Detective has a very distinct sense of humour that you'll either love or hate.

A brief but striking title, one that doesn't outstay its welcome, perfectly pitched at the digital market.

In Tales of Kenzera: Zau, grief and acceptance tug at your heart between bouts of refined combat and slick traversal. While seasoned Metroidvania fans will want more diversions and mystique, the game’s platforming abilities and challenges do justice to its setting.

By the end of the game I was bored silly, and considering the scope of what was going on that shouldn't have been the case. Sadly, bar a few exceptions – a Jurassic Park-style hunting section in long grass, an open-ended assault on Ceph AA emplacements – I'd rinsed and repeated the same thing so much that I couldn't care less.

And yet, despite these glaring, obvious faults, Destiny is utterly capable of draining the hours away, via its excellent combat and its PvP. Flawed, yes. Fun? Certainly. A total failure? Not really.

PES 2008's gameplay is a big improvement on last year's effort. PES fans can forgive the poor graphics, the God-awful music, the embarrassing presentation and lack of licensed teams because the core of the game is so mind-bogglingly brilliant.

It's the first game I've played that nails the personality of the bots and it genuinely delivers a solid gaming experience alongside the nostalgia.

The important point is that the infantry-based action here is largely excellent, provided that you have the will-power to endure countless defeats. Death is never far away in Dragon Rising, and if you've not played a game like this before there's a good chance you'll love the lashings of tension that accompany each and every mission.

Thanks to the strength of its stories, its fat pack of content and its irresistible charm, even those initially resistant to the prospect of another three terms at Hogwarts are likely to be won over.

Demonschool is the renaissance of classic Shin Megami Tensei design principles in a tight-knit retro package. Charming side content and colorful students will captivate players into its pre-established world, filled with stylish horror and strategic action-oriented battles. Whilst its fast-paced plot may leave some struggling to keep up, its simplified UI and protagonist Fayes' energetic disposition help guide you through every new development. Its streamlined approach to strategy makes it inviting to anyone who is looking for a short yet clever tactical RPG.

Tacoma is a quiet, lovely, yet slightly melancholy exploration of humanity struggling in a corporate vacuum, and one that proves Fullbright still has an eye for detail.

It's also a much more entertaining single-player experience than the other party games available for the Wii, although clearly doesn't offer the depth that a Rayman platformer would have.

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.

RoboCop: Rogue City is a game dripping with love and appreciation of the source material, made by RoboCop fans, for RoboCop fans. But frustrating late game combat and clumsily resolved story beats raise questions of whether it's for everyone else, too.

The single-player Career won't take all that long to complete, but with a hugely entertaining multiplayer mode both on and offline, there's a good chance you'll continue playing for a while after.

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.

Yager should be admired for its bravery and effort in building something different - this could so easily have been an entirely generic shooter - but it just doesn't have the fundamentals to back up its grand ideas or the confidence to go completely off the wall and truly stand out from the crowd.

For a 22-year-old game it stands up remarkably well, but it's a shame that a few omissions prevent R-Type Dimensions from being all it could have been.

If you like the idea of generally not doing much, exploring and looking at lots of sea creatures, dive in. If the idea of shooting a gun at a fish to heal it and not blow its face off sounds bizarre, avoid.

Add in the two-player Wi-Fi option and what you've got here is a brilliant game, and one that is an absolute must for all DS owners. Quite simply: if you've got a DS, get this!

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.

Make no mistake, Resonance is an impressive achievement for its tiny indie developer: a vast and intriguing adventure game made mostly by one person, filled with mystery, and confronting issues a lot bigger than most games dare to touch. Keep that in mind and you might be able to forgive its missteps. I almost could. But not quite.

If you fancy singing along to some classic tunes or have grown tired of the tracks included on previous releases, SingStar Legends is an essential purchase.

I want to like Plain Sight, I really do. It's effortlessly cool and carries off a unique concept with style and flair. Sadly though, I never found myself enjoying it all that much.

So, let's sum up: lag so frustrating you want to gouge your eyes out with a spoon, tiresome deliberate disconnections that make a mockery of the ranking system, and a d-pad designed to make you jump around the screen like some deranged monkey on speed. Not particularly positive.

It's a game that comes across more as GH with a different musical focus, rather than as a new IP in its own right. Band Hero is far from being a bad game, but somewhere along the line it seems the new franchise's focus became a little confused.

It's Rock Band, but with Green Day songs. If you like Green Day and you like Rock Band, you're going to like Green Day: Rock Band. Go figure.