Resident Evil 6 is not one but four games, and Capcom has done a beautiful and stupid thing in its attempt to recreate a rich, diverse and storied series into one single title.

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.

Despite originally pitching itself as a more serious fighter, Dead or Alive 5 stays very true to its roots by offering a gentler introduction to the genre. Tits, thongs and throws, it still offers everything you'd expect from Team Ninja's famous fighter, though maturing fans might find themselves put off by all the titillation.

Even on easy mode, FTL is another capital-D Difficult game and its random nature means even the most careful of explorers might find themselves unexpectedly asphyxiated.

Definitely an improvement on its predecessor. The additions from last year have been worked on and sit far more comfortably this time. Developed physicality and complete unpredictability mature proceedings on the pitch.

Hopefully the quality of Rayman Jungle Run will herald a wave of developers rethinking how to transition their titles to mobile, hopefully making it so we can all live in a world free of dodgy virtual d-pads. I imagine, though, that natural simplicity and finesse of Rayman Jungle Run will just lead to loads more games that are a lot like Rayman Jungle Run.

On paper, this sequel reads much the same as the original. But it's not - it's a vastly superior game with a sharper focus, better quests and more enjoyable blasting. Borderlands 2 is a gamer's game, so if you like shooting things, levelling up and exploring every cubby hole across a massive, varied world - if you love games, basically - then it's definitely for you.

PES 2013 manages to do something only the best arcade experiences achieve. It offers playability to those who want to dip their toes in and hardcore techniques for the serious gamer.

The subtle improvements are almost invisible to an untrained eye, but F1 nuts will find immeasurable satisfaction in taming and tuning this year's cars to performance perfection.

Armored Kill is proof that DICE is still the best in the business at crafting these colossal worlds in which to play, and it's an expansion that makes Battlefield 3 feel vital and current once again.

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.

Tokyo Jungle should be praised for its originality, even though it isn't a consistently engaging experience. If you're willing to suffer the slog of survival through testing environments and even more testing game design you'll be rewarded with a 70-year dynasty of beagles. If you don't have such patience, you might find that your mutt barely makes it to his first birthday.

This is ultimately a modern game deeply rooted in nostalgia, and you can still see the component parts of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Trials, Sonic the Hedgehog and Excitebike in Joe Danger 2: The Movie, but this time around the amalgamation is seamless, unique and completely coherent.

There's never enough of a challenge to match how complex the levels look, resulting in a joyous jaunt through some wondrous lands that never reaches the gameplay heights that always seem to lie tantalisingly around the corner.

Time will tell if it can hold up in real world conditions, but I found myself playing comfortably against American players, which felt remarkable in a world where Tekken 6 became a stuttering, wheezing mess as soon as you even considered taking it on the Internet.

Despite the whopping size of your new stately mansions, Hearthfire feels cold and empty.

Super Hexagon is hard enough to infuriate, but its competent design makes it inviting as well. This game will invite you to have one more try (taking less than a second to restart), and it'll invite you to immerse yourself and play instinctively too: for a game like this, that's the greatest invitation of all.

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.

The team at Telltale Games have done an incredible job keeping the series fresh, and they don't look like they're going to rest on their laurels anytime soon.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron doesn't come close to recapturing the magic of fighting Autobots and Decepticons in the bedrooms and playgrounds of our youths, but High Moon Studios has created something that allows us to fondly recall those bygone times.

There are better 2D brawlers out there, better ones on Xbox LIVE Arcade in fact, but probably none prettier. And it seems like that's probably just enough to make my weird old brain smile.

It's destined to be nothing more than a forgotten idea, stuck behind a wall, trying desperately to get noticed.

There's plenty of things to like about today's modern shooters, but Counter-Strike is the only one of its kind designed to be anything other than a throwaway novelty you replace every year. It's the Audi compared to Call of Duty's Fiat.

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.

You could ask for Darksiders II to be more imaginative, then, and it would be nice to see some sharper puzzles, tighter combat and loftier jumps, but for a game obsessed with revenge and murder Vigil has crafted something with a surprising amount of heart.

Sleeping Dogs may not offer anything particularly new and certainly nothing groundbreaking, but what it does do is deliver sharp, thrilling and just downright enjoyable action to savour. Other open-worlders have tried to veer from Rockstar's path, some have even tried to lampoon it, but Sleeping Dogs has shown, confidently and emphatically, that you don't always need to change the rules. You just have to know how to play.

I found it mightily upsetting to have something in my hands capable of such beauty, such triumphant gaming bliss, only to have that thing ultimately turn into disappointment and frustration. It's almost more upsetting than playing something that was never up to much in the first place.

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.