Quotation forthcoming.

Charming characters, stunning visuals, a vast world worth exploring, tons of cool things to do and a heartwarming story - these are only some of the reasons, why Ni No Kuni: Curse of the White Witch is a must-have title in 2013. Level-5 and Studio Ghibli have created a fantastic adventure reminiscent of JRPG-classics like Dragonquest VIII or the 32-Bit-Final Fantasys. For me this is clearly the best Japanese roleplaying game this console generation has seen so far.

Nintendo Land offers a unique gameplay experience which benefits from the new Wii U controller. The play value for single players is quite short, but you can spend hours in the different multiplayer attractions.

The New Super Mario Bros. gameplay is as well balanced as ever, with new items and better graphics. The tunes sound very familiar. Nevertheless: Mario's Jump & Run is the perfect game for you if you've enjoyed the series since 1985.

It is rare that a game combines such raw graphical force, such a keen sense for aesthetics, such a strongly built out background universe, and this much style and personality with all in all pretty shallow gameplay mechanics. Halo 4 has power, it has pride, it has a well-crafted personality, and above all, it has dignity. If it managed to find a bit more courage along the way now, it would be pretty close to perfection.

Layton's highly anticipated 3DS-Debut keeps the brilliant puzzle gameplay and spices it up with some nice innovations.

Forza Horizon is a great spin-off that delivers pure arcade racing fun in an amazing open world environment – but purists beware: this is not your kind of Forza anymore.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is the best approach in delivering deep strategy to the consoles without dumping down the level of complexity we've seen so far. Literally every step you make in XCOM is linked to a tough decision with direct consequences. If you're even slightly interested in turn based strategy, XCOM is the best thing to spend your money in many years.

Some slight technical issues mar an otherwise extraordinarily fun game with equal parts stealth and action.

Resident Evil 6 is more than the sum of its not so perfect parts: Capcom delivers the biggest and boldest episode in the long running horror franchise.

Rocksmith lifts the Guitar Hero formula to the next level. The game takes beginners by the hand and gives them tutorials, songs and exercises in a step-by-step manner, so you can really see a progress in your playing. The strongest element of Rocksmith is the dynamic difficulty, which adjusts to the players skills on the go during a song. But Rocksmith is not without its flaws. The graphics are faint, the loading times long and there is also a minimal sound-lag that bothers experienced musicians.

Although very short on modes and true innovation, the title refines the proven DoA-formula and offers one of the smoothest fighting games of the current generations. The systems are easy to understand, hard to master and the visual presentation is better than ever before.

If you love to laugh and shoot at the same time, Borderlands 2 is for you. The remarkable humor oozes through the whole 40 hour long game and is the glue that keeps the otherwise not-so innovative game together. Gearbox managed a pimped version of the original game but dared not to try something new.

The new offensive AI, in particular, with its new pathing routines makes FIFA 13 worth buying. Additionally, the other new features like First-Touch-Control and tactical free-kicks enhance the franchise's playability. Add the large variety of game modes and licenses and you get one of the best sports games on the market.

The most authentic F1-Game to date - with improved gameplay and graphics. The AI might not be perfect and sometimes you can take a shortcut without being punished, but all in all F1 2012 is a great game with tons of content and options.

Due to AI improvements and better pathing of the players, PES 2013 feels smoother than last year's incarnation of the series. Add new features like PES Full Control or player ID and you get the best PES so far on next generation consoles. Too bad though that the AI still tends to be absent in some situations and that the graphics haven't been improved since 2010.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 delivers the largest playable roster ever with more than 50 new and returning characters. The great fighting engine provides advanced attack mechanics, ultimate combo move sets and blazing new tag-throws and tag-combos! Up to 4 players can each control a character and experience well balanced offline and online multiplayer battles. Get ready and challenge your friends in 2-on-2 tag-team battles or 1-on-1 and 1-on-2 matches in one of the best fighting games today.

A very entertaining shooter with a strong campaign, lots of gameplay-variety and two very solid online-modes. Graphically not amazing and gameplay-wise always a little too simple, it still wins us over with a great mix of robo-drama and well delivered gags. This is the best Transformers-Game so far.

This well rounded open-world-experience lacks true innovation but offers a great balance of different gameplay, a superbly told story and a game world both exotic and immersive. It is held back by its performance though.

Darksiders 2 is not perfect but a really good game. The beautiful design and the new hero are truly entertaining. A lot of RPG elements mean one step forward for the Darksiders series. Some levels in the game were unnecessarily drawn out but the rest of the game is brilliant.

With its well-balanced gameplay and the high long-term play value, New Super Mario Bros. 2 offers a nearly perfect Jump & Run experience. The levels and boss fights could be much more difficult.

Faced with the challenge to deliver something else than the technical disaster that was Risen on Xbox 360, Piranha Bytes and porting developer Wizardbox again make a mess of things. What has been an entertaining story of seafaring buccaneers and swashbuckling pirates on PC becomes a sordid role-playing experience on consoles with a ton of technical shortcomings.

It's the best in series, but make no mistake: Lego Batman 2 is still very much a Lego game, light-hearted silliness and extremely low difficulty included. Apart from that, the game does an excellent job of telling a great comic book story thanks to the much-needed addition of spoken language, inciting laughs in children and adults alike. The open world adds much to the familiar formula, even if the navigation of Gotham Citys grimy streets is sometimes borderline frustrating.

The officially licensed Olympic video game features motion control and more than 30 Olympic events, including new disciplines making their debut for London 2012 like 10m Synchronized Diving at the Aquatics Centre or Trampoline at the North Greenwich Arena. The official Olympic arenas have been authentically recreated and with an excellent control system. London 2012 contains a massive single player Olympic Games mode and a great online multiplayer mode featuring leader boards, which will track personal medals for that player's nation medal table.

Spec Ops: The Line forces the main character Captain Walker to be a killer. It forces you to be a perpetrator as well as it shows perfectly how Walker is to collapse because of that violence. A very good story for a game.

Ferrari Racing Legends is an entertaining racing game for everybody who loves Italian sports cars and realistic driving. The new Test Drive on one hand offers a lot of cars and (historic) racing tracks, it looks fair and sounds great but on the other hand the career mode especially in the first hours lacks variety and the game's difficulty isn't balanced very well.

Sorcery is maybe the first PlayStation Move game that core gamer can enjoy. The game offers nice graphics and a very good gameplay. Only the camera control is poor.

Cheerleading, chainsaws and no excuses – Lollipop Chainsaw totally is a crazy game. The soundtrack fits like a (bloody) glove. The game feels like the highschool version of Shaun of the Dead.

The events in Dirt Showdown are literally hit & miss. While the lap-racing is rather dull and hardly engaging, the car-wrecking Rampage and Knock-Out modes make you giggle like a schoolgirl and swear like a sailor. But only in multiplayer does the game lives up to its full potential. Compared to the fabulous Dirt 3, the Showdown spin-off feels like a setback.

A very solid, graphically impressive shooter with a lot of content in solo-, coop- and multiplayer-modes. Although the mix of tactics and more offensive shootout plays well, the mix of both leads to some frustration. The cluttered controls make that even more annoying.

Capcom's plan to deliver an RPG catered towards western roleplayers worked out. A mix of Skyrim and Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma scores with its rough atmosphere, deep roleplay elements and high level of difficulty. Furthermore the game stands out due to the climbing- and companion-system. Biggest downside though are the technical issues: Some textures seem lackluster and many objects and characters pop up way too late.

The story of Warriors Orochi 3 is confusing. But fans of JRPG's are getting a huge game with some entertaining story turns. The gameplay mechanics offer a deep action experience.

The Pod races offer a great feeling but there are bad animations and awful controls. The german synchronization is also very bad. Nothing more but a minigame collection.

A step back in terms of story mode. Naruto fans get a huge amount of 72 fighters and a better multiplayer experience. But the singleplayer mode is disappointing.

The console version offers a great and dark RPG-Story. The additional content from the PC version is already included. Only the menu in the Xbox 360 version is a little confusing sometimes.

Trials Evolution is really the best Xbox Live Arcade game to date. It is challenging, it is fun and the new courses are brilliant. For 1.200 Microsoft Points you will get a huge amount of content.

Yippee-ki-yay: Max Payne 3 is the coolest action experience since Bruce Willis invaded a certain skyscraper in 1988. Rockstar's newest masterpiece captures the atmosphere of the legendary series - despite some annoying gameplay flaws.

The UEFA Euro 2012 add-on delivers everything FIFA 12 stands for: good gameplay, nice graphics and a solid mix of different game modes with its evolving challenges and the brandnew and motivating expedition. But it fails to create what it was programmed for: a good European Championship atmosphere. It misses the celebrating fans and coaches from the 2010 World Championship game and it even includes only 29 (of 53) teams with original players, which is a huge letdown and not typical of FIFA.

A nonstop action-orgy of fists, claws, blood and guts. The second Prototype delivers a very streamlined, entertaining and visceral open-world-experience with only minor flaws.

Many little problems hamper an arcade-racer that is more Burnout than Ridge Racer - the track editor is a huge achievement though.

The latest installment of this horror series delivers a decent story and good puzzles but is rather weak in terms of action sequences, fighting system and graphics.

Ninja Gaiden 3 is a brave departure for the infamous action series – and it's focus on sword fighting and spectacular quicktime sequences could disappoint diehard fans.

Kid Icarus Uprising is a great 3DS experience with a very unique hero and a fascinating story... but the controls are quite uncomfortable, even if you use the 3DS stand!

With all new graphics and some FIFA-12-borrowed features like Personality+ and the Impact-Engine FIFA Street is a great reboot of the series. Despite a sometimes unfair AI and minor technical issues, the mixture of mind-blowing tricks and fast football-action is as fun as ever. And due to a motivating career-mode and a lot of original FIFA-licenses, Street-Fans will be occupied for weeks.

This clash of the fighting game titans offers a huge selection of heroes from both worlds and many welcome changes and additons to the superb fighting mechanics of (Super) Street Fighter 4. Although Tekken fans will have to adapt to the different system with 2D gameplay and six-button-controls, they will find most of the signature moves of their favourite brawlers. However, Capcom's new Gem system is disputable and might give players an advantage who are willing to spend extra money for Gem-DLCs. Compared to the huge selection of game modes in the recently released Soul Calibur 5, Capcom's new title feels a little rawboned.

I am Alive is an amazingly atmospheric and innovative survival adventure. It's a shame that the story concludes in an disappointing ending that comes way too soon.

With a gripping story, fun combat, clever dialogue and a great cast of characters Mass Effect 3 is everything we hoped it would be: an epic conclusion to a highly acclaimed trilogy.

The remake of the well-known blockbuster game Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2) takes advantage on the touch screen for quick and easy equipping of items and weapons and offers enhanced graphics due to the auto-stereoscopic 3D viewing capability of the Nintendo 3DS. Snake Eater 3D also supports the new Circle Pad Pro and utilizes the Gyro Sensor for an improved gameplay experience. The great storyline of the single-player mode, which tells the very first chapter of the whole Metal Gear Solid series, is a fair compensation for the lack of a multiplayer mode.

American Nightmare does some great tricks in telling the story but fails to deliver the same immersive and thrilling experience as Alan Wake. But as it offers far more interesting fights with (finally!) a lot more different enemies it still is a really good action game!

Take the typical, unrealistic SSX-Snowboard-Action, add a mediocre story, mix everything up with a few special items, which are sometimes fun, sometimes horrible and you have an idea what the first next-gen SSX looks like. Although some tracks frustrate, the core-gameplay shines once more and the online-multiplayer yields weeks of fun.

Unimpressive visuals and bland characters hamper an otherwise thrilling and surprisingly thoughtful shooter. It's a shame that the whole teamwork system lacks subtleties.

Offering a great atmosphere and impressive graphics The Last Story definitely is a great J-RPG. But the innovative fighting system often seduces the player to do button-mashing. With a completion time of around 30 hours it is quite short compared to many other RPGs.

The detailed Pride Mode and the new control settings for beginners alone would make UFC Undisputed 3 worth the money. Add the great career mode, over 150 original athletes and a perfect UFC atmosphere and you have a dream product for every MMA Fan.

The Darkness 2 offers subtle, but very welcome gameplay-changes and superb new comic-book graphics. A dense atmosphere, an entertaining four-player-coop-mode and solid voice-acting (both english and german) are other strong points of the game. On the contrary, the story is not as gripping as in the prequel and the boss-fights are rather trite. But Digital Extremes found a good balance between action-scenes and quieter moments. The german USK-version is heavily cut.

Despite its generic story and shallow characters Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is worth a try if you know every inch of Skirym in and out by now. The best thing about Reckoning is the fluid combat that leaves you hoping for more like it in future RPGs.

Catherine is like no other game out there. It's witty, involving and really fun to play. Despite the sometimes heavily frustrating puzzles I could not stop until the credits rolled down. If you are looking for a unique experience don't miss this great mix of rewarding arcade-puzzling and clever written adventure.

This nutty shooter offers some zany and creative gameplay-mechanics and a refreshing old-school experience. Unfortunatley our enjoyment was held back by camera issues and a frustrating lack of variety. In the end the game feels more like a grind than an epic adventure.

Stunning visuals, challenging gameplay-tweaks and new game modes - the fifth installment is an excellent comeback for the Soul Calibur series. Because of the confusing training mode and the lack of a tutorial, getting behind the new fighting techniques can be difficult at first. But it's well worth putting time and effort into this, as the fights will become more and more thrilling.

Despite its disappointingly open ending, Final Fantasy XIII-2 surpasses the original in every way. The monster hunting is fun, the presentation is a blast and the gameplay is way more open than in Final Fantasy XIII. If you liked the predecessor, you will fall in love with the newest installment of Final Fantasy.

Revelations is definitely one of the best games for the Nintendo 3DS to date: It offers great action, a very good story, outstanding graphics and a great atmosphere with lots of shocking moments.

The third installment of the Saints Row series is totally without rhyme or reason. The gags are good but the shooting and the AI are bad. The Anarchy-Action is nevertheless a game with the most iconic weapons and vehicles.

The new Mario & Sonic game offers some new mini games. You will enjoy the game probably at your new years eve parties with your friends.

Mario Kart 7 could be the system seller Nintendo waited for. The online mode offers some great improvements so that you easily can join games of your friends directly from Nintendo 3DS friend list. The rest of it is pure Mario Kart fun.

You'll get what you expect in the new Layton game. Some great puzzles and a beautiful story are offering some great fun. German players had to wait two years after the japanese release of the game. Layton Life is not included in the european version.

Despite being another great installment in the series, Assassin's Creed Revelations lacks real innovation and is the first chapter of the franchise that can't live up to it's predecessor. Nethertheless its story is highly enjoyable and Revelations is a great conclusion for Ezios adventure.

The new Zelda for Wii is not the best adventure of the series. But it truly is a great game with a lot of fresh elements. The combat system with Wii MotionPlus works well. You also will enjoy the dungeons and bossfights.

Super Mario 3D Land is indeed a wonderful debut on Nintendo 3DS. The 3D effect is fine and helpful because of some camera issues. Mario fans will love this new experience because of the very cool retro elements.

Skyrim is huge, beautiful and absorbing, filled with secrets, quests and adventure. Even though the story has its flaws and quests offer little freedom of choice, Skyrim still stands out as one of the best open world RPGs to date.

While the first two Modern Warfares proved to be the extraordinary work of a single, incredibly talented team, the third instalment in the series stands as a manifesto to what three great teams, working together as one passionate unit, can achieve. It's an improvement over its predecessor in pretty much every aspect and a return to former strength after the stagnation that was MW 2. Sledgehammer and Infinity Ward deliver a natural conclusion to an astounding trilogy - and the best Call of duty since the first Modern Warfare.

Goldeneye established the formula for a perfect movie tie-in 14 years ago: Recreate enough trademarks and memorable moments of the source material to please fans, but also take enough creative liberties to tend to the specific needs of the respective medium. The remake respects this formula in almost every way and thereby creates the best Bond experience in years. Although technical shortcomings and the dated graphics impact the final rating, the fast-paced and extremely funny multiplayer complete this satisfying trip on the nostalgia train.

Sonic Generations takes the player on a voyage through 20 years of Sonic history. Pairing 2D-Levels with 3D-Stages Generations offers the best of both worlds and provides fans of the franchise with tons of unlockable art, music and gimmicks. Hands down one of the best Sonic games in the last 10 years.

The new Uncharted game offers one of the most entertaining adventures of all time. The animations, the characters and the story are well presented. You are going to feel like beeing the hero in a Hollywood movie. Also the puzzles of the game are brilliant. Some Uncharted fans will probably miss some innovations.

The new Batman is bigger, better and much more dangerous than Arkham Asylum. The atmosphere is brilliantly designed like Batman himself. There are wonderful side-quests and well designed puzzles as well. Players that did not play Batman: Arkham Asylum will feel left alone a bit because there is no real tutorial.

Some aspects of Rage leave you with the feeling that there could have been more. More open world, more story, more driving. More meaning. Still, Rage is a brilliant shooter from people who know exactly how a perfect shoot-out needs to be. If you love a good gunfight on your screen, this game is for you.

Forza Motorsport 4 offers an even better driving experience than its predecessor: It comes with more cars, improved driving physics and AI , tons of options, great online features and high detailed graphics. Compared with 2009-released Forza Motorsport 3 improvements can be found in almost every aspect of the Game. At the moment Forza Motorsport 4 is not only the best racing game for the Xbox 360 - it's the best driving game available for any console.

FIFA 12 delivers the most impressive virtual representation of football to date. The sheer amount of original licences and the quality of the atmosphere inside the virtual stadiums fills every true fan's heart with joy. But nevertheless there are some minor annoyances with the new impact engine producing absurd results and if you turn of the assistances for passing and shooting, you'll experience considerably less precision than in PES 2012. So on the pitch it comes down to a matter of taste between the faster, more organic PES 2012 and the slower, more tactical approach of FIFA 12.

It's been a terrible year for Konami, they had to suffer through incredible hardship during the catastrophic tsunami-events and were under constant critique for the disappointing PES 2011. But instead of despairing they just gave it all all and returned with the most precise, most fluid and most ambitious PES in years. What the game lacks in terms of licenses and presentation it more than makes up for by sheer supremacy on the pitch. Forget last year's letdown, Konami is back in the race, PES 2012 will give FIFA 12 a serious run for its money.

Thanks to the God of War Collection: Volume II all parts of the series are now playable on the PlayStation 3. Running at a native 720p and 60 Frames and upgraded with a nice 3D-Mode, both games are still top-action-games and should not be missed by anyone, who is into adult, story-driven action games.

The Shift-Feature is maybe a bit weird but it fits perfectly into the game. The racing speed of Driver: San Francisco is really high and the missions offer a lot of fun.

The Shift-Feature is maybe a bit weird but it fits perfectly into the game. The racing speed of Driver: San Francisco is really high and the missions offer a lot of fun.

Delivers a solid story, dense atmosphere and lots of fancy weapons to play with. It's also kind of retro in design and gameplay – in a positive way. But: The singleplayer-campaign is shorter, the boss-battles are less demanding and exciting than those of Resistance 2. Being a first person shooter with a sci-fi-background, Resistance 3 also has to be compared to Killzone 3. And that's a battle Resistance 3 clearly loses.

Deep in its heart Bodycount is a great arcade action game with some really good shooting mechanics - but when it comes to all the little extras that make a game special, it fails. The aiming system just doesn't feel right, there is no working mechanic to make the player feel the current health for his character, the score system fails to make you wanna replay the missions and so on. The really good and nicely exaggerated spy story in the background doesn't help much either - it's told in a totally boring and underwhelming way.

Deep in its heart Bodycount is a great arcade action game with some really good shooting mechanics - but when it comes to all the little extras that make a game special, it fails. The aiming system just doesn't feel right, there is no working mechanic to make the player feel the current health for his character, the score system fails to make you wanna replay the missions and so on. The really good and nicely exaggerated spy story in the background doesn't help much either - it's told in a totally boring and underwhelming way.

Although Human Revolution neglects to achieve the brilliance of the original Deus Ex, with its dense world, the epic storyline and the open-minded gameplay Human Revolution nevertheless succeeds in reviving one of the most admired science fiction series in the history of game design. Sadly the PC-Version of this great experience is radically handicapped by bugs and excessive loading periods.

Although Human Revolution neglects to achieve the brilliance of the original Deus Ex, with its dense world, the epic storyline and the open-minded gameplay Human Revolution nevertheless succeeds in reviving one of the most admired science fiction series in the history of game design. Sadly the PC-Version of this great experience is radically handicapped by bugs and excessive loading periods.

It's a fine god game, for sure. But From Dust does not reach its full potential. A fantastic physics engine and some clever ideas do not entirely compensate for its lack of missions and storytelling.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

The game offers a funny presentation. But after a few hours the gameplay of Shadows of the Damned becomes boring and repetitive. Don't expect a fresh, new action game experience.

The excellent shooting mechanics work in F.E.A.R. 3's favour, as they are able to let me forget about the poorly told story. Furthermore there are some truly amazing horror sequences which sent my pulse racing. That was also the case in some instances in which the flawed balancing almost led me to throw my gamepad against the wall in frustration.

The excellent shooting mechanics work in F.E.A.R. 3's favour, as they are able to let me forget about the poorly told story. Furthermore there are some truly amazing horror sequences which sent my pulse racing. That was also the case in some instances in which the flawed balancing almost led me to throw my gamepad against the wall in frustration.

A wonderful remake of one of the best video games of all times. The new graphics and the 3D effects are looking awesome. Master Quest and the Boss Battles are great. But always remember: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is only a remake.

Alice Madness Returns is a beatiful game. The beginning is great but after the first few hours Alice Madness Returns becomes too repetitive. In some situations the gameplay is only a mess.

Alice Madness Returns is a beatiful game. The beginning is great but after the first few hours Alice Madness Returns becomes too repetitive. In some situations the gameplay is only a mess.

Cole MacGrath is once again reluctantly playing the hero, trying to destroy his nemesis The Beast. With all new abilities, frost- and fire-attacks, a new melee system and a vivid city, Infamous 2 beats his predecessor in all areas. It suffers from a few technical issues though and the controls are a bit rough here and there. Also the AI tends to alternate between good and awful.

Duke Nukem Forever definitely is an awesome old-school experience. It has some flaws (especially in terms of graphics), but that's okay – at least for those who eagerly awaited the Duke's return for more than 14 years now. For all the others: The game probably isn't good enough to change your opinion, but at least you now know for sure.

Duke Nukem Forever definitely is an awesome old-school experience. It has some flaws (especially in terms of graphics), but that's okay – at least for those who eagerly awaited the Duke's return for more than 14 years now. For all the others: The game probably isn't good enough to change your opinion, but at least you now know for sure.