It’s a pity that such a fun, arcade adventure requires grinding so early on, because it serves no other purpose than to hinder progress. Pirates is an enjoyable jaunt played in short bursts, but one that promises a little more than it actually delivers.

It's hard to recommend the PS3 version though. With its slow frame rate and other graphical glitches it's nowhere near as polished as the Xbox 360 game, making this yet another port that hasn't been given enough care and attention.

Excellent occasionally, good in parts and downright dull in others, Yoshi's Woolly World is a disappointment.

Ultimately, die-hard fans of the series or devotees of traditional RPGs will find a lot to love in Children of Mana, while the rest of us will yearn for something that doesn't rely quite so heavily on hackneyed game mechanics and endless button-bashing.

It’s nice that the developers get to play around a little through these map packs and let off some steam, and as they stand, these maps and the Mob of the Dead mode are engaging deviations from the jingoism and machismo, but is it not also a shame that developers are reduced to using map packs to go a bit hog wild, rather than hedging their bets on something new?

So, if it wasn't for the frustrating camera, Squad Command would have been a recommended PSP purchase for all. As it is, it's only recommended for die-hard Warhammer fans and turn-based enthusiasts.

It's monotonous and lacking the exciting moments of the book and film, but you do get to play as Harry and act like a wizard in Hogwarts.

Whilst the whole package is graphically very dated and lacking in originality, there is an undeniable depth to this tactical shooter that knows exactly what its target demographic wants, and it's nice to see Sony continuing to support the PlayStation2 online community.

F1 2014 feels like something that needs to exist while Codemasters works on rebuilding the foundations for next-gen.

Retro/Grade is built on a unique idea that simply isn't explored in an exciting enough way or to a sufficient depth to keep you interested for long.

Some will enjoy this, but for most the game won't keep their attention long enough to justify forking out full price. WET is good fun for a couple of hours but ultimately it's a classic case of style over substance.

And it feels empty; fetch quests are all well and good but after the impressive voice acting and general spectacle of the main adventure starts to fade, you’re left with an altogether dull world in which to roam.

As a teaser for Life is Strange 2, Captain Spirit does its job, but here’s hoping there’s more subtlety to the writing for the next big thing from Dontnod.

EA has managed to produce a competent virtual version of the classic board game, but we still can't recommend it over buying the real thing. You get numerous boards and the questionable Get Rich Quick mode, but you lose so much by not being able to play the way you want.

Most PC gamers will find the experience too dumbed down to warrant investigation. On console EndWar is good. On PC it's in over its head.

The DJ system is unique and intuitive, the visuals well polished and, even with my rock/punk roots, the soundtrack is a commendable mix of uncensored beats. Nevertheless, the broken fighting mechanics and sluggish pacing are enough to keep this game from reaching true icon status.

The Run certainly isn't terrible, and a big improvement on Black Box's previous effort, Undercover, but it needed more moments like the avalanche and less monotonous freeways. With the campaign over in an afternoon and the rest of the package failing to offer anything to keep you playing, The Run is some decent throwaway fun that will be forgotten as soon as you move on to something else.

Without any truly brilliant missions to balance things out, the single-player campaign never really gets off the ground. Multiplayer games are a lot more fun, but if you have no interest in taking to the skies with other people, this isn't a squadron that you want to be part of.

Once you get past the terrible opening missions and start blowing things up with massive explosions there's a game here that is worth a look, but it's criminally unpolished and as such will leave many gamers rather unsatisfied.

The Run certainly isn't terrible, and a big improvement on Black Box's previous effort, Undercover, but it needed more moments like the avalanche and less monotonous freeways. With the campaign over in an afternoon and the rest of the package failing to offer anything to keep you playing, The Run is some decent throwaway fun that will be forgotten as soon as you move on to something else.

Entertaining in places, Killer is Dead will only appeal to players who enjoyed Suda51’s previous titles, particularly Lollipop Chainsaw. If you’re not convinced by now, this will do nothing to alter that mindset, unless objectifying women is your thing.

About as good as I could imagine a game in the series being on the PSP, but that doesn't automatically make it an excellent game. Control issues to do with the use of a manual camera, the PSP's lack of horsepower and a series of missions that focus almost entirely on killing make this an Assassin's Creed game that lacks the quality seen in the console games.

It should provide an entertaining ninja experience for the under 10 market but in doing so can't be recommended to more experienced gamers. If you're old enough to remember the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on pre-32-Bit hardware, you'll sadly fall into the latter category.

EA has managed to produce a competent virtual version of the classic board game, but we still can't recommend it over buying the real thing. You get numerous boards and the questionable Get Rich Quick mode, but you lose so much by not being able to play the way you want.

Last Stop is most enjoyable when it isn’t going anywhere. The end of each episode may hook you with a cliffhanger, but, when you look back on the game, the story fails to hang around. Instead, the scenes that stick in the memory don’t mean much at all.

774 Deaths is hard to recommend, which is oddly befitting for a game that's been custom built to be agonising every step of the way. If you like a challenge then it's an interesting curio you can really sink your teeth into, but give it a miss if you get frustrated easily.

Uprising's decent value at £15, but without any multiplayer features it lacks longevity and feels at odds with the original game. It introduces some nice new units and successfully makes a move into the dungeon crawl arena, but ultimately it's an underwhelming experience that never hits the spectacular heights of the game that fathered it.

It's got an unforgivable opening, it looks worse than Final Fantasy XII, and that was released a year and a half ago on the PS2 and 70 per cent of the characters may as well not exist. But it does get better.