There’s a painful sense of irony to Metro: Last Light. Though there’s much to like about the sequel, it’s hard to ignore the monotonous tunnels that you’re forced to follow.

Linearity was always going to be an issue in a game focusing entirely on an underground rail network, yet while Metro: Last Light fixes many of the flaws of the original it hasn’t managed to fix its biggest problem.

You return to the boots of Artyom, Metro 2033’s protagonist. As silent as ever, Artyom is tasked with hunting down the sole remaining Dark One to finish off the apocalypse he had wrought against the eerie race.

There’s an impressive quality to Metro: Last Light, as much in the graphical grunt as the attention to detail. It must be hard turning endless corridors into visually attractive locations but, to its merit, 4A Games has done a superb job.

It has really managed to focus on the immersive nature of the first-person experience, ensuring almost every action is met with the right number of flailing body parts.

As Artyom peers through vents, rolls under closing barricades or any number of other actions he grasps and grabs and grips.

It’d feel immersive too if it didn’t mean you lost control of the character during these sequences. There’s a heavy influence from Half-Life throughout, but where the that lets the player witness events while in total control Metro: Last Light insists you look where it wants you to look.

Metro: Last Light's Linearity

This scripting plays a heavy part of Metro: Last Light throughout, too. Monsters will only attack after triggering a particular event, enemy guards will only look for you when their obvious AI routines tell them to and there’s an unhealthy amount of defend-this-spot type of last stands, too.

Practically every mission has one.

While it creates a game that, on the surface at least, can seem pretty exciting, it ends up feeling a little falsified.

Each time there’s a button to press, you can expect to have to hold your own until the train/raft/lift has arrived. Or, in other words, all of the incoming beasties have been disposed of.

It’s a shame too because Metro: Last Light’s world is deep and rich, as any game based on such a unique story ought to be. It feels like a world worth exploring and each new corner feels genuinely intriguing.

It’s because of this that Metro: Last Light is really at its best in the fearful glory of the sunshine. The few segments that see Arytom take to the surface are some of the best the game has to offer.

This is thanks, in large part, to the openness of this terrain. Though you are limited by various boundaries, you don’t feel quite as trapped as you do down inside the bunkers.

Outside Metro: Last Light's Underground

Exploring derelict buildings for new supplies as the counter on Artyom’s watch ticks down feels honestly rewarding, as though you’re uncovering a fragment of history that this fiction has to offer.

Every concealed gas mask filter feels like a hard-earned victory, and though your time on the surface is often brief and limited you often feel in your element, as though this is what Metro is supposed to be about.

And in a lot of ways it is. It’s a world rich with detail, but even when you’re down in any of the myriad underground towns you’ll visit you still don’t feel like you’re exploring.

These locations are more tour guides of the seediness of mankind. A slideshow of places and events 4A Games wants you to see, not necessarily locations you want to explore.

As with the original, Metro: Last Light is unforgiving with its barriers within these towns. Though you have a mission to complete, more often than not you’d much rather stick around just to absorb a little more of the world.

Instead you’re funnelled through the game’s most intriguing areas as little more than stopgaps for more traipsing through tunnels. A respite to stock up on goods and head out into the darkness once more.

More Money, More Problems

Not that there’s any real reason to stock up. As with the original, you’ll collect two forms of ammo throughout the game: standard ammo - which is placed into the barrel of a gun and thus let loose into the face of an enemy - and military grade, which counts as your currency.

The ‘point’ of military grade ammo is that it can actually be used as equipment for your weapons, but it rarely feels like a necessity.

Almost every major battle out in the depths is punctuated with caches of ammo or a suitable weapon. Some of this might be hidden, but rare are the situations where you’ll be required to spend a few of these posh bullets on an enemy’s death – even on the tougher Ranger’s Mode.

Even the upgrades are largely unnecessary, with only the silencer adding anything that can be construed as a necessary improvement.

Yet this will all come down to exactly how you want to play. As a straight-up shooter you most certainly won’t need any attachments, meaning any military grade ammo is surplus.

A lot of situations won’t call for out and out action, however. Coming up against a room filled with guards is possible, but not recommended – not unless you’re playing on an easier difficulty anyway.

Mechanically the weapons feel solid enough, but your human enemies can pack a punch and are best encountered in smaller numbers. So stealth it is then.

Metro: Last Light's Flawed Stealth

It’s a shame, then, that the AI hasn’t really had much work on it since Metro 2033. While it is empowering to race around a particular battle arena as you pick off guards one by one from the shadows, their bizarre search patterns does make it feel a little unfair.

The problem is the binary nature of stealth; you’re either visible or you’re not. There’s no in-between. So much so you can literally stand next to a guard without ever getting spotted.

Once you’ve learnt the boundaries that the game falls under – whether the telegraphed combat sequences or the flawed stealth – Metro: Last Light unfortunately becomes a bit of a drag.

Though the world is deep enough to make up for this – and should be commended for stepping outside of the typical macho bravado that has diseased the first-person genre – you’re not given free reign to properly enjoy it. Not the way it should be.

Had 4A Games enabled its players to explore a little more – rather than get shepherded down tunnels – then the drive to head further into the game would be there. The story, in itself, is not enough.

Version tested: PS3

The best things come to those who wait. Which means Persona 4 Arena qualifies as a 'best things' because the European release has come almost a full year after the anime brawler hit the shelves in Japan and America. It’s the best game ever! Then again, by that logic, Duke Nukem Forever would be the best game this gen.

Ah. Hmm.

All of this is an elaborate and needlessly long-winded way to say we’ve been waiting a long time for Persona 4 Arena to hit Europe. While Zen United’s pre-order trinkets and shiny things go some way towards apologising for the delay, the more important fact is that Persona 4 Arena has held up as an excellent game even after being stuck in release limbo for so long.

Persona 4 Arena - RPG Or Fighter?

A huge chunk of the credit for Persona 4 Arena's success goes to ArcSystem Works, co-developer on the title. Anyone familiar with the studios previous titles – Guilty Gear and BlazBlue series – will recognises the same fighting game DNA present here. It’s a chain fighter where weaker attacks chain into bigger attacks and combos that are long and elaborate.

There are air dashes, bursts, instant kill moves and other trademark mechanics from ArcSystem Works' previous games. Other minor additions help spice up the gameplay here such as the defensive Furious Action that serves as a dragon punch style move for most characters and All Out Rush overhead. Persona’s roots might be in the RPG genre but this is a fighting game through and through.

The only clue hinting at the series' past is how status ailments have carried over, with some characters able to inflict Poison, Confusion and so on.

Persona 4 Arena Has Assists? Almost.

What makes Persona 4 Arena stand out within the genre is its use of Persona guardians, unique to each character. They’re summoned into the fight similar to assists in the Marvel series but they have their own attacks and special moves, so they work as an extension of your character rather than as a one-off spot of help. Personas also have their own health bars – if they take five hits, they temporarily duck out of the fight to recharge, leaving you without their attacks or moves to rely on.

It’s a little difficult to get your head around at first, mostly because it’s such a unique mechanic. But more importantly it’s a fun mechanic to learn and it’s also something that makes Persona 4 Arena different to other fighters, particularly once you start understanding more about how each character plays – Mitsuru’s Persona works as a long-range whip that freezes opponents while Shadow Labrys has a giant behemoth as her Persona that’s always present on the screen, harassing opponents with a wide arsenal of moves.

Overall it’s a little harder to learn that most fighting games, particularly if you haven’t dipped your toes in Guilty Gear or BlazBlue waters before. The pace is quite fast thanks to the movement options each character has (particularly air-dashing) while combos off throws and overheads mean you can’t sit back and defend. Conversely, combos themselves can take a while to build up.

Persona 4 Arena does help out in this area thanks to a hefty tutorial and the presence of an auto-combo, which lets beginners automatically pull off combos by mashing the weak attack button. It’s balanced well enough that beginners have a guiding hand helping them compete while those grinding out hours in training mode can easily outclass auto-combos by doing their own manual combos.

Persona 4 Arena Story

The story follows a tournament involving four of the main characters, which eventually branches out into more playable characters and a ‘cliffhanger’ finale. There’s a lot to see and do in the story line, plus a lot of talking to get through.

It’s not unusual that you’ll sit through a huge chunk of dialogue and story, get the option to save your game, and then sit through another huge chunk dialogue before getting to a fight.

It’s not a complaint though because fighting games rarely offer much attempt at catering for the sole player and the voice-overs and scope of Persona 4 Arena’s storyline is above and beyond the expected call of duty for the genre. There’s a lot of content to get through but the real test for Persona 4 Arena, as with any fighting game these days, is with its online modes.

Persona 4 Arena Netcode

One of the main concerns to arise from the long European delay was whether there would still be an online community at this point in the game’s life. The good news is that there are plenty of American and Japanese players online of varying skill levels, making it appear no different to any other fighting game release on launch (even if it is perhaps not quite as busy online as that traditional launch peak period).

The netcode also holds up for transatlantic bouts, even though it frequently threatens not to. It’s erratic in a way we haven’t seen in any other online fighting. The intro for each match suffocates with lag as both fighters stutter into view but when the actual game begins, the lag disappears and it’s playable. Very odd.

We’ve mostly tested UK vs. US connections and in comparison to the same fights in other fighting games, the netcode isn’t quite GGPO good but also not quite Mortal Kombat bad. It’s between the two, where everything online feels a fraction slower and less responsive than offline play but it’s never a big enough issue to impede your play.

It’s taken its sweet time but Persona 4 Arena looks lovely, it plays fantastically and the fact that it still draws a strong online community in both America and Japan is testament to its quality.

And unlike Duke Nukem Forever, it proves some games are worth waiting for.

Version Tested: PS3

There is no easy place to begin with a game like this.

This is a game both awful and brilliant. This is a game that's basically Twin Peaks with added cereal and jam sandwiches. This is a game where the pause menu is a giant elk head with a clock running backwards. This is a game that when announced, the immediate concern from fans was that Marvelous would fix the 'wrong' parts of the game. This is a game scored from 2/10 to 10/10 upon its original release. Where do you begin with a game like this?

At the start, obviously.

Deadly Premonition - The Awful, Awful Beginning

You play as Francis York Morgan, an FBI agent who arrives in the small town of Greenvale to investigate a series of murders. As is the case with all murder investigations, you begin by playing through a sub-standard survival horror on a rain-trodded path coloured with dull purples, grey and browns, shooting at…

Hang on, wait. What? Yes, this is exactly how Deadly Premonition opens. There's no explanation or context for why you're stuck fixing generators and shooting at zombies-shadows-what-are-they-supposed-to-be creatures that slowly shuffle towards you with a mild air of depression, in what has to be the worst opening 20 minutes for any game we've ever played.

We've described it as survival horror but it's neither threatening nor scary. You pootle about firing a peashooter at these shadow things and the only challenge is shuffling back and forth so you have enough room to shoot them, as you listen to them croaking out laughable "I don't want to diiiiie" lines that sounds like they've squeaked out of a Two Worlds voice-over session.

There's no indication that Deadly Premonition will be any good. You'll find yourself steeling against the game and hating it. Then suddenly, the rain clears and you meet the first characters and everything picks up.

Deadly Premonition - Why It's Good

It seems weird to flag up characters as the best part of a game but every character in Deadly Premonition is unique, eccentric and has something slightly amiss about them, that makes you want to learn more. The creepy twins, the bizarre Diane Ames, Mr Stewart who has an aide speak for him ("so says Mr Stewart"), they're grounded characters with surreal characteristics, and they all have their place in Deadly Premonition's world.

Francis York Morgan himself is the best example of this. A one-man meme machine, he's an awkward mess of rambling monologues and social tics. His love of coffee, imaginary friend Zach (later explained in the plot) and odd way of introducing himself to new faces have made him one of the most memorable characters this gen.

Even the game mechanics seem to exist to highlight how odd York is. You have the option of shaving and changing clothes, which seems pointless. Given enough time without doing both, York sprouts manly stubble and has giant flies buzzing around his dirty suit. Not just flies that follow him when he's trotting around Greenvale but also when he's driving and even in cutscenes. It's a completely arbitrary, pointless addition and yet it adds to the overall personality.

Honestly, it's hard to say how much of York's appeal is by design and how much of it is by accident. He was going to be a Natalie Portman or Jodie Foster character, then became David Young, then became the Francis York Morgan we know today. For a character to have undergone those many changes and emerge as someone memorable is remarkable and possibly lucky.

But there's no questioning that he is the heart of Deadly Premonition and does an incredible job of pushing the game's flaws into the background. For example, driving is terrible. It's not just that the handling feels like you've been shoved into a toy car but that it takes far too long to get anywhere, plus you need to keep an eye on your fuel and damage in a needless bit of micromanagement. Yet driving also gives you the option to talk, where York will ramble on about a film he saw in the 80s, and that makes the drive worthwhile.

It's weird how these things work out.

Deadly Premonition - The Story

There's also a strong story backing up the characters. Deadly Premonition might be home to a motley crew of the weird and the wonderful but the story isn't too far-fetched, remaining in the realm of plausible murder mystery. Although it threatens to take a left turn into the surreal as revelations start but it stays grounded.

The reason the story works is that with each character introduced, you're also given reasons to suspect them, with a gentle nudge of doubt from York on that character's sincerity - even if it is something as bizarre as connecting letters he saw in a cup of coffee to a possible suspect.

As you might have heard by now, a lot of people picked up on the fact that Deadly Premonition is a lot like Twin Peaks. Whether you call it a tribute, rip-off, parody, homage or whatever, there's no denying there are obvious similarities but it also works as a reference to explain how bizarre and utterly beguiling the world of Deadly Premontion is.

Deadly Premonition - Good Versus Bad

One comment you'll often hear said about Deadly Premonition is that "it's so bad, it's good."

This isn't true. You wouldn't play a game say 'hey, the controls are so broken that they work!' or 'the graphics are so awful, they're great!' because that's obviously nonsense. What people usually mean when they say 'so bad, it's good' is that there are a lot of obvious flaws but the hidden strengths overcome them, because they appeal to you more than the flaws put you off.

And there are a lot of obvious flaws here. The opening 20 minutes are dreadful. Whenever Deadly Premonition switches to its survival horror gameplay, you'll feel your spirit sag to sock level. The pacing can drag, particularly when you have to drive across Greenvale to get to the next prompt that pushes the story along.

On the flipside, there are a lot of strengths too. The characters are all brilliant, supported by well-written dialogue and eccentric traits, that makes you want to learn more about their backstory and how they fit into the bigger picture. The story is also smart and plays out like a classic whodunit tale, as all the characters you meet are possible suspects, with plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing. Then there's Francis York Morgan himself, the one-man show who could keep Deadly Premonition entertaining without any outside help.

Then there's Greenvale itself. Although not stuffed with distractions like a Saints Row or a Grand Theft Auto, there's plenty to do here that fits in with the unique, eccentric vibe of the game it's playing host to - you can go fishing, find guitars as melee weapons, find hidden character cards, play trivia quizzes, play darts and so on.

Deadly Premonition - Director's Cut

If you're here because you've already played Deadly Premonition and want to know if the Director's Cut holds up, the best news is actually nothing to do with the new additions.

What surprised us most when revisiting Deadly Premonition is how well the story holds up. Like any murder mystery, revisiting the story when you already know the outcome puts the narrative in a new light, as you can spot hints and clues as to the eventual outcome.

In terms of what's actually been changed for Director's Cut, the camera tweak is probably the most significant. The camera for the original release was a hyperactive boost, which would WHOOSH overshoot what you wanted to look at and then WHOOSH you overcompensated trying to look and WHOOSH fine let's not look at it.

No such problems here, as the camera is much calmer, allowing you to actually look at the environments without the inherent twitchiness of the predecessor and also making combat slightly smoother.

The addition of Trophies strengthens the rewards for exploring Greenvale as most of them come for completing side-quests and the graphical overhaul makes Deadly Premonition look nicer, although it's still a fairly hideous creature. Mercifully, the survival horror sections are also much easier this time round, making it less of a slog.

So for Deadly Premonition veterans, Director's Cut is definitely worth playing through again but mostly off the back of the story being strong enough that it warrants revisiting and the camera making it more enjoyable to pootle about Greenvale, absorbing the details in the environment. In all honesty, the other additions and tweaks here are negligible.

Deadly Premonition - Worth Getting?

The one thing that's been really hard to convey with this review is why Deadly Premonition works. More so than other games, it's a really personal thing - it relies on you connecting with the story and the characters because the gameplay swings from passable to bad with alarming regularity.

But if you do connect with the story, the characters and the odd atmosphere of Deadly Premonition, it's easily one of the most enjoyable and memorable games you'll play this gen. Rarely does a game this focused on story come with the same feel-good factor or personality that Deadly Premonition does. It'll stay with you long after the end credits roll.

And for that, we say give it a chance. Director's Cut makes it easier to deal with the bad side of Deadly Premonition (awful survival horror sections, dodgy gameplay) and get to the good side (brilliant story and characters), and thus if you didn't give it a try the first time round, now is as good a time as any.

Just try and play it for more than 20 minutes if you do.

Version Tested: PS3

In the grand schemes of things reviewing a videogame is not the hardest job in the world, but by forcing our way through Star Trek it certainly felt like it.

If that hasn’t painted a picture for you, let’s put it this way: Star Trek is a bad game.

Unfortunately it’s not so bad that it inadvertently becomes funny, it’s just incredibly, painfully, woefully dull. It’s the kind of dull that forces a resigned shake of the head, a quiet sigh or an emphatic roll of the eyes.

And, of course, if you like Star Trek you’ll probably get just a smidgen more entertainment value out of this game than your average gamer.

But by that virtue if you also like endless corridors, phoned-in voice acting, unrestricted bugs and the various other ills that often plague a film tie-in then you’ll likely get more out of Star Trek than your average (and sane) gamer.

At its most fundamental Star Trek is, if nothing else, a passable third-person shooter. Its mechanics are solid enough, albeit lacking the weight and punch of the likes of Gears Of War or Uncharted.

But the numerous bugs and AI issues put a blockade on any of the enjoyment you might’ve had. Dying because your AI partner struggled to get past a pair of barrels, for example, is just frustrating.

Star Trek's Co-op Gameplay

And speaking of AI, it’s likely worth pointing out that this is intended as a co-op game. You’ll pick either Kirk or Spock, and a friend will pick the opposite.

But what this really amounts to is a series of blocked doors that you can only force open with the assistance of a partner (read: spam Square over and over until the animation stops).

There’s little difference between the two characters, too: early previews suggested Spock would be a stealthier equivalent to Kirk, but for some inexplicable reason that was dropped in favour of equal footing.

There are just as many stealth sections as combat sections, and while they are optional it’s hard to overlook just how abysmal they are. Inexplicable detection – and just as often the opposite, complete ignorance – means stealth is a hit-or-miss affair.

If you’re playing in single-player then ‘luckily’ you won’t need to worry too much about your AI partner during these sections. Not because he’s particularly skilled in the arts of stealth, but that your enemies simply won’t see him.

Even when he races through the level – past any patrolling enemies – just to catch up with you.

The Cast Of Star Trek Into Darkness

It’s probably worth noting that the one quality that is included in Star Trek is its voice acting: during the cut-scenes the same voices you’ll hear in the film sound as you might expect them to, and that’s brilliant for fans of the latest Star Trek films.

But this quality is only present in the cut-scenes. At every other point it seems the voice acting – or worse still, the dialogue – has been phoned in, hurriedly put together as a level’s design has been finalised.

It’s often painful to hear these Hollywood voices bark comments without any real context – as though asking if we’re injured really needs any context.

Brilliantly, when playing as Spock, if you issue a move command for Kirk you’ll utter ‘I will follow your orders, Captain’. Except, you know, Spock gave the order.

Sigh.

This is the kind of problems that are inherent throughout Star Trek. As much passion as there might have been for the universe, that same love and care doesn't seem to have gone into making a game worthy of the name.

Star Trek Is Buggy

The amount of bugs you’ll encounter throughout is beyond acceptable and while many of them won’t spoil the game for you – such as using a ladder with your entire body glitching through the metal – others will require a checkpoint reset thanks to some hidden trigger not properly activating.

And even the things that do work – like the numerous hacking mini-games – are never explained, leaving you to fumble around the controller until you discover the solution yourself.

Which would be fine, if the hacking mini-games didn’t take too long, were even slightly entertaining and didn't appear with far too much regularity.

Yet these are just the problems of the game; we’ve spoken little of its repetitive, corridor-driven gameplay.

Star Trek has you follow a string of different corridors and even when it decides to break from these traditions it doesn’t do much to make up for it.

The zero gravity sections, for example, provide an initial intriguing element, until you realise the camera isn’t built for such a shift in dynamic and your character struggles to manipulate the new terrain without the odd glitch or two.

Is The Star Trek Game For You?

This is about as average a game can get and that is sadly the most positive thing we can say about Star Trek. Coupled with its myriad flaws and problems, Star Trek is a hard game to recommend.

It’s just so mind numbingly average that even when it isn’t breaking it’s not doing much to entertain.

There’s a bit of Mass Effect here, Uncharted and Dead Space, but as you might expect they're only lesser versions of their respective parts.

Maybe you’re surprised by this, or maybe even disappointed – but sadly this is not the Star Trek game fans wanted, and it is not a third-person shooter that gamers will get any value from.

Version tested: PS3

There is nothing more depressing in fighting games than watching your opponent standing at full screen, desperately flinging empty punches in the air as he's trying to get a fireball to come out.

You can both feel the slight sense of shame. It's just a quarter-circle forward and punch, you both think. Why is this so difficult.

And yet the ritual continues. Endless standing punches flung, not a single fireball. This is the big problem with fighting games. Accessibility. Not everyone can play them, as not everyone has muscle memory on how to pull off fireballs drilled in by hundreds of fighting games over the years.

Well actually no, there are two problems with fighting games. Accessibility and the lack of meaningful single-player content, which throws you through an arcade mode propped up with some text and victory music at the end. Fight this guy! Fight that girl! Hurray! You win!

Both have been big problems for the genre. Injustice: Gods Among Us solves both of those problems. And yet for its progress in tackling the two biggest problems the genre has, it lets itself down with a few minor niggles.

Injustice - Do You Even Hadoken?

First of all, yes, Injustice: Gods Among Us is essentially a reskinned Mortal Kombat. Netherrealm Studios knows what it likes in its fighting games and what worked for Mortal Kombat hasn't changed here - the combo system, the special moves, the inputs, the juggles, the chip damage on normals, and so on. It's immediately familiar.

The reason Injustice is so accessible is that special moves are incredibly easy to pull off. The inputs are incredibly lenient, allowing you a huge margin of error when attempting special moves. You can also switch the traditional Mortal Kombat inputs (back, towards + button) to Street Fighter style inputs (half-circle towards + button), a rare nod from a game to its rival. Whichever method you choose, Injustice has a remarkably low execution barrier. As long as you have working thumbs, you can play Injustice. You won't be that guy standing at full screen throwing punches at nothing.

Likewise with its attack strings. These are the core of Injustice, allowing you to mix up between overheads, lows and cancels into special moves. This doesn't have a Dead Or Alive level of leniency where all button presses translate into a flowing offence, but it's as close as a 2D fighting game has been.

And like Mortal Kombat, Injustice has the largest negative edge window we've seen in any fighting game. Before you run to your moon language translator, we'll explain - negative edge is when you performing a move by taking your finger off a button, not just by pressing it. That also makes Injustice easier to play (if negative edge gets in the way, you can switch it off in the options menu).

Finally, anti-airs in Injustice are generally quite poor and walk speed is fairly slow, which means new players can jump at other new players and get away with it. As we all know, new players love jumping. This at least makes it easier for new players to feel like they can make progress and get in on opponents without having to do too much work. Obviously, this changes as opponents get better who either find anti-airs that work or other ways around jumpy opponents, but the point remains. It's much easier to jump at opponents in Injustice than it is in, say, Street Fighter IV.

If you haven't gathered yet, what we're trying to say is Injustice is really easy to pick up and play.

Injustice - Mortal Kombat 10?

There are big changes to the old Mortal Kombat system. The universal overheads and wall bounce attacks are new, and both have significant parts to play in Injustice. Likewise stage transitions, where you can smash an opponent through the 'edge' of the screen and into a new arena. The animation for these is a little too long once the novelty wears off but it's a nice mechanic, helping differentiate Injustice from other fighting games.

Interactive objects! There's a mechanic that actually makes a difference to the gameplay, rather than merely being 'nice'. Each stage is stuffed with objects you can interact with in the background - tanks, cars, missiles, gas canisters, even the Batmobile. Depending on your character type, you can use these against your opponent. Fast characters like Killer Frost will divekick off hovering cars while powerful characters like Grundy will bring them down on top of their opponent.

It makes spacing important in that you have to fight over control of these interactive objects, often second-guessing when your opponent is going to attempt to use them and either interrupting or getting away from the danger. It adds a new dynamic to the gameplay and on a practical level, can make some fights unintentionally hilarious when you decide to pick up a car and smash it on your opponent's head like a comic book comedy sketch.

The biggest change from Mortal Kombat to Injustice is that the block button has been removed in favour of a more traditional holding-back-to-block method. This changes the dynamic of the game somewhat - blocking is 'easier' but blocking cross-up attempts means you have to guess where the attack is coming from rather than holding down a button - but overall, it's a change that makes the fighting more accessible.

This also has the Darkstalkers style of health, where you have two lifebars, with a break in the action and the opponent forced to back off once you've lost the first lifebar.

Injustice - The Clash

Breakers have been replaced by a new system called Clash. At high-level play, Mortal Kombat players simply held onto meter for Breakers, so Netherrealm has changed things a little. Clash sees you break out of combos and 'bet' your meter against your opponent. Whoever bets the most wins, eithe regaining health and doing damage to their opponent. Clash is also only accessible in your last round.

It sounds fine in theory but it doesn't quite translate to success in the game itself. There's no real meta-game over how much meter is wagered - it just seems to be that enough is always gambled to beat the other player. For that same reason, it's also pointless using Clash when you don't have more meter than your opponent, because you'll just end up losing.

Because of that, Clash is the opposite of Breakers. Where Breakers became a dominant part of Mortal Kombat, Clash doesn't look like it'll factor into Injustice in a signifcant way. Still, it does lead to some of the best lines of dialogue, as the two characters face up to each other (Harley Quinn: You're scary when you're mad! Batman: That's the idea)

So how do these changes work out, in gameplay terms? Like… Mortal Kombat. Because the actual core gameplay hasn't changed from that game - you still learn attack strings, all characters can zone their opponents, the combo system is still largely the same - it still feels very much like Mortal Kombat did.

The reason Injustice will be easy for beginners to pick up is that special moves are dominant and the interactive objects on each stage make a big difference, so it's easy to feel as though you're making progress with Injustice. Perhaps not so much when you're playing online and Sinestro is dropping thousands of rocks on your head, but we'll get to that. First, single-player content.

Injustice Story

There's a story in Injustice! An actual story mode in a fighting game. Praise the gods! (Among us). The story in Injustice is loopy and inconsistent, being anchored around the idea of an evil Superman regime versus the Batman insurgency, but it just about works.

You play as different characters across the storyline as the plot develops and it's peppered with mini-games throughout too. Fire arrows at Grundy to fend him off! Shoot the cars Black Adam's throwing at you out of the sky! Gimmicky, yes, but it helps break the endless fighting.

There's more effort in this storyline than we've seen in any other fighting game (bar, unsurprisingly, Mortal Kombat). It's probably just about the right length too, at three hours, because the real meat of the single-player content is found in S.T.A.R. Labs.

This is where Netherrealm really pushes the boat out. Variety is the focus of S.T.A.R. Labs challenges, which are eccentric, weird and bizarre. You have to fly through rocks with Hawkgirl, navigate a cat through a security system as Catwoman, dodge missiles with Cyborg, play a bizarre version of paper-scissors-stone with Joker (which is sword-shield-bomb) and so on. There are lots of bizarre mini-games and every fight has a twist on it.

There are also 240 challenges in total. That is a lot to get through.

The downside is that some challenges have slipped through the testing net and are ridiculously hard, to the point where it feels unfair. Also, some mini-games aren't nearly as fun as others. But given there are 240 challenges, that's probably forgivable in the grand scheme of things.

Injustice Balance

Some have already questioned the balance of the roster but for its first week, Injustice is more balanced than most. All of the characters bar Bane, Flash and Doomsday have projectiles - while not always effective, this means every character can compete from any range.

Some characters are clearly dominant (Superman, Killer Frost) while others are lacking (Cyborg, Hawkgirl) and everyone online seems to be picking Deathstroke right now. But Netherrealm will continue its system of 'background' patches and updates that was successful with Mortal Kombat. With that game, Netherrealm showed that it doesn't abandon its fighting games once out in the wild.

So balance should not be an issue. What is an issue is how long it takes to load anything.

For example, it's bizarre that Netherrealm can have the foresight to include frame data in its training mode options (although some of that data has now been proven to be inaccurate) and yet not include a quick restart for player matches, forcing you through needless loading times to have the same characters fight on the same stage.

Similarly, the long loading times makes going through S.T..A.R. LABS missions a chore when you hit a difficulty spike. You have to sit through the Mission Unsuccesful animation, wait for retry to appear, hit retry, wait for that to load, wait for the mission to reload, then try again. And if you fail again? More loading.

It's a problem that stretches to the online side of Injustice too but that's also where a bigger, more significant problem can be found.

Injustice Online

The big area of concern for Injustice was how it would hold up online. Mortal Kombat's netcode was notoriously poor - has there been enough time since then for Netherrealm to get this side of things right?

Almost. Almost. Injustice is a huge improvement over Mortal Kombat's netcode, keeping the best elements (King Of The Hill mode returns here) while the game itself is actually playable online.

However, the online performance still isn't quite there, and there's often a level of lag present that sees you having to adapt your combos and tactics slightly to adjust. Injustice online is still playable but 'perfect' connections are a rarity, and transitioning from offline training mode to online play in a long Injustice session is often bumpier than it needs to be.

Lag also creates some new problems - zoning characters become extremely irritating to fight. Deathstroke is popular online and his tactic of standing a full screen away and endlessly firing his guns becomes much harder to deal with when lag screws up the timing of your dashing between gunshots or jumping. Same if you eventually catch up to him and land a combo, only to drop it through lag. Frustrating. Same applies to Sinestro (endlessly dropping rocks on your head) and Superman (jumping and firing eye-lasers). The risk-reward of some characters gets distorted through the laggy netcode.

If we're being honest, it's still not quite good enough. We've been spoilt since GGPO has been brought to consoles and while that technology belongs to the house of Capcom, it's still raised the bar for what we expect from online fighting games. Injustice struggles to reach that standard. It's playable but it'll frequently annoy you too.

Injustice Conclusion

From the arcade to the sofa to playing online, fighting games are traditionally seen as multiplayer first, single-player second. If anything, Injustice: Gods Among Us is the opposite of that trend - it goes out of its way to please the sole player and in doing so, perhaps neglects the online side of things.

Injustice: Gods Among Us is really good fun. It's accessible, has a wealth of content, great characters and like Mortal Kombat, it feels like a distinctly unique fighting game in what is a crowded genre. It's just a shame the loading times and netcode take the shine off the overall experience but for fighting game fans of all abilities, this is still highly recommended.

Version Tested: PS3

Dead Island: Riptide is more of the same, and if you played and enjoyed the last one then in all likelihood that's all you want to hear from this review.

If you put any amount of time into the original then chances are you already know the praise and criticism that's about to follow.

That's not to say there aren't changes – improvements even – but Dead Island: Riptide won't appeal to those who were left feeling cold by the original.

Graphically there's enough of a cleanup job to make Dead Island: Riptide a little more presentable. Even on PS3 it's not quite as murky, and no longer like peering at paradise through a jar of Vaseline.

While the engine itself has had a lot of work done to it, there are still some of the same issues arising. Enemies glitching through environments, zombies flailing as they struggle to compete with the physics system and that same practically non-existent lip-syncing.

But then that was always part of Dead Island's charm.

There's a weird hilarity to its bugs; Dead Island is a game that's happy to just be a game.

It's in the zombies that trip over and kill themselves, the uppercuts that inexplicably result in a meatbags skewered to walls or the simpering impossibility of your character's flailing legs as you struggle to walk.

It's the fact that John Morgan can flying kick his way through the entire game and feel powerful at the same time.

For Fans Of Dead Island

The defensive sections are fairly entertaining though, albeit they are ultimately unnecessary.

These highly scripted events pit you and your allies up against a horde of enemies, the conclusion of which obviously pitting you against a new monstrosity of some kind.

You get to set up barricades, mines and gas cannisters and the like but it's all for naught in the end. It doesn't matter a dot how well laid your plan is, it invariably results in a mad free-for-all as you race from ally to ally ensuring each zombie is decapitated.

You probably won't be surprised to hear that John Morgan's flying kick is particularly useful here though.

The paradise location soon begins to feel its limits, too. It doesn't help that we've already explored the likes of Banoi and Far Cry 3's tropical island from top to bottom, meaning another romp through a similar world has, unfortunately, lost its sheen somewhat.

It isn't helped much by a story that is barely worth paying attention to, voice actors that are irritable and scripting that is borderline b-movie.

Content-wise this is more than worth it's full priced retail release however, but a lot of assets are reused – whether from the original or repeated themselves within the game – so you will revisit locations of uncanny similarity.

On the whole there's more than enough hours worth to feel you've got your monies worth. Admittedly it feels more like a mission pack than a full sequel – which likely explains the convenient added sub-title – but pound per hour, Dead Island: Riptide holds its own.

Ultimately, the amount of fun you get out of Dead Island: Riptide will come right down to two important factors: whether you enjoyed the original, and whether you have three other friends to join you in the jungle.

Version tested: PS3

Pointless. Cynical. Money-grabbing. Why bother?

Even Kratos himself would have bowed his head at the onslaught of abuse that came his way when God Of War: Ascension was announced. Cynicism was the easy option. The question many asked is how far could the formula be pushed?

The short answer is: not very far. The slightly-less-short answer is: not very far but just about enough that it gets away with it. Just.

Kratos Origins

One of the big selling points of Ascension is how it’s an origin story of sorts, charting the journey of Kratos as he loses his humanity and becomes the murderous God we’ve come to know throughout the series.

Ascension is not quite ground zero for Kratos, as he comes into the story already carrying some obvious baggage, but the point is this – for all those promises, Ascension is still a game where Kratos wonders into empty homes and smashes pots for red orbs while growling and grunting.

Subtlety has never been a strength of God Of War’s narrative. Ascension doesn’t change that. After all, this is a game that opens with Kratos in chains, slashing at a harpy-esque demon who has insects crawling out of her chest. It’s not exactly God Of War: Emo Edition.

Size Matters

And with that selling point discounted early on, there’s a worry that the sense of scale would no longer wow us to the point where it can overcome the story’s lack of impact – how much bigger could God Of War realistically be on this creaking generation of hardware?

What Ascension shows is that it’s the design of the gargantuan creatures that excites as much as the size.

Without ruining things too much, the opening section of Ascension shows you what to expect. The way to fight a giant creature is to take command of another giant creature and pit them against each other, with an inevitable, bloody conclusion to the fight.

Other battles are similarly impressive, even against smaller foes, and it’s mostly due to the strong design of the creatures themselves and the satisfying, crunching feedback of the combat.

X-Blades

Kratos still has his Blades Of Chaos and in Ascension he can unlock four different elemental powers for them, which can be switched on the fly. They’re designed for use in different situations.

Quick example: Poseidon’s Ice powers is useful for breaking through blocking while Zeus’ Thunder attacks are fast (some might say… lightning quick! No? Okay, we’re sorry).

You can get through Ascension without ever really switching between weapons (at least on default difficulty) and even with those elemental powers, the combat framework is still very much what you’d expect from God Of War. Quick attacks, heavy attacks, launchers, kill moves and special weapons. So far, so usual.

Kratos' New Parry

The big change is that Kratos now has a parry move, deflecting incoming attacks and stunning opponents, giving you an opening to do damage.

It’s easy enough to land in combat, thanks to its generous design. The active frames during which the parry is triggered last longer than you’d expect, it works on all angles (you don’t have to be facing the attacking move for the parry to work) and the parry also counters projectiles.

The only real drawback of the move is its recovery period if the parry doesn’t connect with anything, as Kratos staggers before he’s able to move or attack again.

That stumble initially makes the parry clumsy and furthermore, it’s never really essential thanks to the evasive roll being an easy answer to the majority of tricky combat situations.

That changes on higher difficulties, when you need both the attack boost and brief invincibility of a successful parry to get through. Without it, you’re having to fend off awkward combinations of enemies (witches who can summon lightning spells from distance plus shielded minotaurs) and the increased damage you take dramatically trims the margin of error.

Ultimately, whether you’re playing through on default or forcing Kratos through the higher difficulties, learning the parry adds a new level of mastery to God Of War’s combat.

Those who felt God Of War was the button-spammy cousin of genre rivals Devil May Cry and Bayonetta finally have a new toy to play with to show off their skill.

God Of War: Ascension Has New QTEs

Given the progress with combat by adding a parry, it’s a shame QTEs aren’t treated with more care, especially as there’s an interesting new idea behind them.

When you’re fighting a larger creature, you can activate a QTE of sorts after weakening it, where Kratos is free to attack with Square and Triangle but also has to dodge any attempts by the creature attempting to swipe him away.

It’s half-QTE, half-actual player input. A smart way of having cinematic kills without reducing players to bystanders watching out for button prompts.

The problem is the existence of traditional QTEs alongside that, and it’s never really clear which one you’re in until it’s started and, often, it’s then too late.

Mash Square to get a headstart on the new style of QTE you could be in the traditional style of QTE, so you fail. Wait for the button prompt of a traditional QTE and it may never arrive because it’s actually the new type of QTE, leaving Kratos and boss both pose at each other, waiting for a button push that never arrives. It’s never a massive issue but it’s still a problem that adds a needless layer of clumsiness to combat.

And speaking of clumsy, the platforming is something that’s tolerated rather than enjoyed. Four games on and the lumbering Kratos is still not quite up to some of the more ambitious level design.

There’s one section a few hours in that sees you traversing huge, metallic snakes that are part of a gate mechanism leading to a temple.

It’s a visual feast as Kratos swoops through cliffs and valleys while battling enemies but awe is counteracted by frustration at missing jumps linking the various sections together.

By the time you hit solid ground an hour later, you’re exhausted from frustration as much as you’re invigorated by spectacle.

God Of War Puzzles Are Still Great

The clumsy platforming is redeemed by the puzzles, which pop up with satisfying frequency and are perfectly pitched exercises in head-scratching and experimentation to find the answer.

As with other games in the God Of War series, puzzles are mostly about manipulating huge objects in the room to create new platforms or gaps – pulling levers to see what they do, pushing blocks to see where they go and so on.

Without spoiling things too much, Kratos gains an item that changes the dynamics of the puzzles and forces you to think more than you’d expect of a game starring a man famous for shouting and scowling.

Just like with the bosses, there’s a clear, clever approach to design at work here that’s both consistent with the series and just about tricky enough to provide satisfaction when you find the solution.

Ascension Multiplayer - The Best Addition

The addition of multiplayer was an easy target for cynics questioning the point of Ascension existing but it’s surprisingly well done.

Multiplayer combat is built on a rock-paper-scissors system of priority. Quick attacks interrupt heavy attacks but lose to block. Heavy attacks beat block but lose to quick attacks.  Evade beats all attacks but loses to throw while throw beats evade but loses to attacks.

It’s not quite that black and white as there are also magic attacks, environmental traps, parry and special pick-ups to consider, plus other players.

But the rock-paper-scissors idea is a solid foundation for the combat that strikes a healthy balance between panicked button-bashing and strategy. It retains the manic, chaotic feel of God Of War’s combat without becoming tiring or tedious.

The life of multiplayer is tied into the usual system of gaining experience, levelling up and unlocking new moves. You can also find treasure during online matches that unlocks new customisation pieces, and there are four Gods to pledge allegiance to, who offer various stat boosts and moves.

There’s enough content to play around with to keep Ascension players busy and there were no issues when we played online (although it was strictly against other Europeans).

Most importantly is that thematically, multiplayer works. The map design isn’t particularly organic, the chunky block design clearly catering to balance as a priority over gorgeous looking levels (probably a good thing), but there’s no sense of multiplayer being tacked on for the sake of it. It’s clearly been thought about and treated with care.

God Of War: Ascension’s multiplayer is similar to that seen in Uncharted 3 or Mass Effect 3 – it won’t be the main reason you pick up the game but it provides another compelling reason to stay.

Just Another God Of War?

The tricky question to answer is how much you’ll enjoy God Of War: Ascension, which is an enjoyable addition to the series but doesn’t show any real ambition to change things up. It’s refining the formula rather than pushing it. It doesn’t feel stale but it does feel familiar and in places, predictable.

The parry helps freshen up the combat and multiplayer is a strong and worthy addition. It’s just a shame that there’s little else you can point to as evidence of progression.

Games don’t necessary need to provide checklists of where they’re pushing things forward (as this does lead to gimmicky innovations) but as said, Ascension feels predictable and it does so a little too often. It’s fun but it’s a journey we’ve been on before.

Ultimately, Ascension is another hearty slice of God Of War. Nothing more, nothing less.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is silly. You want that from a Platinum Games game. You expect it from a Metal Gear game. But is being silly the best decision here? As our Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance review will tell you, yes. Yes, it is.

These are the guys that made Bayonetta after all, and from the instant you pull off your first combo you can see that. There’s a level of depth, of fun and of insanity that few developers can mimic.

It’s all laid bare in the first mission, too. It’s a tutorial stage that ends with an epic battle against a Metal Gear capable of spitting a beam of plasma at you. Within 10 minutes you already know what to expect from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

But within those 10 minutes you likely won’t have much grasp of the combat system. While a lot of the system is very reminiscent of Bayonetta with a huge list of possible combinations of light and heavy attacks, there’s one major difference.

Rather than opting for an evade button, Platinum Games has switched to a parry system – yes, obviously that makes sense in a game all about swords.

Initially it’s a little tough to get to grips with, regardless of whether you’re a genre expert or newcomer. It’s so incongruent with current genre staples that it takes a bit of relearning before you can properly understand it.

You're either a cold assassin or a messy killer: hack or slice, there is no in between.

But when you do, that’s where it really starts to shine. A well-timed parry will lead to a zandatsu attack; basically a fancy strike that lets you hack your enemy to bits.

And when you hack, boy do you hack. Turning enemies – don’t worry, they’re cyborgs so it’s totally cool – into tiny little bits is a thrill only Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance has provided on this scale before.

Eventually you’ll cut back on the slashes, however, for two reasons. The primary one is the need to refill electrolytes: slice through an enemy’s centre and you’ll be able to rip out the juicy core, refilling your health and powering up Raiden’s sword.

Then there are enemies with special information stored in their left hand – that’s where all important info is stored in a cyborg’s body, don’t you know? – and you’ll need to be careful if you want to collect it.

In both cases hacking a body to bits destroys whatever contents you’re after, and more thoughtful, considered strikes will collect you more points (to spend on upgrades) than simply enjoying the brutality of turning big things into small things.

This zandatsu feature is kind of the like punctuation of a battle; the commas, the semi-colons and the full stops. They tie each combo together, enhance the combat in myriad ways and if you want to earn a higher combat rank you’ll really need to understand how to use them. Zandatsu, that is, not full stops.

There's a section where you get to control one of these. It's brief, but fun.

So parrying is pretty important. Even if you don’t time it perfectly, it’s the only way you can evade damage. Pushing towards the enemy and tapping Square initiates a parry when an attack is incoming, but this is where the system falls down.

Once you’ve figured out the intricacies of an enemy’s attack pattern, your confidence in dealing with them will, naturally, improve. But the parry system prevents all that.

As soon as an attack begins, however signalled it may be, if you use a light attack Raiden will be forced into a block. Aside from legging it, there’s no way of breaking this stance, leaving you to wait until the incoming attack lands.

Though it prevents you from taking damage, this can be frustrating for two reasons. Firstly, it halts your combo in its tracks. If you know you can get a couple more jabs in before the attack actually happens then you should be able to, not forced into watching helplessly.

Secondly, it means you can’t complete a proper parry, enabling the zandatsu technique that is so important for combat success. Once a parry is initiated, that’s it – there’s no alternative.

The obvious answer, then, is to not push towards your enemy. If you leave the left stick alone then the parry won’t be initiated until you do, but that’s not so simple.

It's features like this that really make Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance a blast to play. Leaping from rocket to rocket? Brilliant.

This is a genre built on the need to direct your attacks, and by opting for this method of parrying it makes Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance just a little bit awkward.

Gamers have been bred to make sure they’re always pushing towards the enemy, and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance casts that aside in favour of something that isn’t worse but isn’t actually better either – even if it is a lot of fun to use.

Even the Ninja Run action isn’t a suitable replacement for an evade button and will be a necessary distraction when enemies starting appear with rifles and rocket launchers with more frequency.

This isn’t helped much by an often-awkward camera, which seems to take pleasure at making it impossible to see the whole scope of each battle.

So we’ve gone on for some time about the combat system – but it is the lynchpin of the whole game and it’s highly likely that it will be as divisive as Raiden’s sword is to his opponents.

It’s a shame because everything in between is utterly superb. The pacing of the whole game is very well considered, with an endless torrent of one over-the-top battle after another.

Raiden is much less serious this time around too, making for a character you can actually appreciate. There’s a cut-scene in Mexico that’ll be impossible to not find entertaining.

He might not look it here, but Raiden isn't quite as serious as he used to be. He walks around in high heels, after all.

The boss battles are all brilliantly designed too, involving or culminating in some elaborate – and highly unlikely – sequence of actions only plausible in the Metal Gear universe.

And they only get better, too, with an insanely over-the-top final boss battle that will make or break a lot of players.

As for the Metal Gear elements, it slots into the world almost perfectly. Platinum Games has seemingly understood the political undercurrents that Kojima has tried to fuel throughout the MGS series and implemented it just as well.

Though we use the term ‘well’ loosely here. The Metal Gear universe is more than a little bit mental, after all.

The inclusion of ‘stealth’ sections is surprisingly well managed too. The AI is ridiculous at times – spotting you for some inexplicit reason – but it’s a decent distraction all the same.

You’ll need to study guard routes, evade cameras and – where necessary – eliminate enemies to clear the way. It’s often as fun trying to figure out the best route as it is charging at enemies head-on.

They’re also entirely optional: if you prefer you can just wade in sans cardboard box and duke it out with increasingly tougher opponents, which means no one should ever feel bogged down by dancing to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance’s tune.

There's a variety of VR missions to take on too, which will add quite a bit of extra playtime to the admittedly short campaign.

There’s no denying that Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a brilliant. It’s the perfect level of crazy that anything with the Metal Gear name needs to be, but this is not Platinum Games finest outing.

The only element holding it back is this parry system, which is obtuse for genre veterans and tough to handle for newcomers. Bayonetta still remains the pinnacle of the genre this generation.

So while DMC was much easier – something fans will no doubt lament – it at least masterfully achieved what it set out to do, which was to make the series more accessible to everyone.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance provides just as much spectacle and gives Metal Gear fans a reason to get interested in Raiden – as hard as that is to believe – but the parry system is not perfect, and certainly not a worthy substitution for the Dodge Offset of Bayonetta.

Version Tested: PS3

Fist Of The North Star’s status as a legendary manga from Eighties-era Japan is well founded and it contains everything you’d want from a satirical, post-apocalyptic, Mad Max-styled licence.

Fist Of The North Star: Ken’s Rage 2 however follows on from Tecmo Koei’s original game and for those that dropped in to sample the delights of its spin on the Dynasty Warriors template will more than likely be left wondering what exactly has changed in this sequel.

Fist Of The North Star: Ken’s Rage 2, like the original Ken’s Rage, takes its inspiration from the iconic manga. Drawing on its violence and Ken’s ability to use the lethal martial art of Hokuto Shinken, Ken's Rage 2 revels in giving the player the chance to dish out huge amounts of extreme violence.

Instead of wandering the wastes of a scorched earth and dealing with the dwindling numbers of bandits he finds, as in the manga, here Ken has to deal with hordes of muscle-bound idiots all ready and waiting to be punched in the face.

Like the Dynasty Warriors series Ken’s Rage 2 follows a simple structure and divides its gameplay into two modes. Legend Mode sees a linear story as Kenshiro deals with the lawlessness of a post-apocalyptic world (losing loved ones and friends in the process) and Dream Mode, which gives you the chance of playing with the many peripheral characters and their back-stories.

What’s immediately striking about Fist Of The North Star: Ken’s Rage 2 is just how similar it is to the original game. Visually, and even in terms of level structure, there seems to be very little that’s changed between the two outings.

Once again, Dream mode lets you jump in and play as a range of Fist Of The North Star's excellent cast of characters.

This sequel does boast a more streamlined storyline compared to the rambling original, and it relays its melodramatic tale through stylised comic book panels, but it’s still very familiar.

And it should be, too, as it’s essentially the same story told in a different way. It's in-keeping with the manga's story and this repetition perhaps wouldn’t stand out as much as it does if the gameplay itself wasn’t also so familiar and only offering marginal improvements over the first game.

With its more streamlined storyline Ken’s fists are also given the chance at avoiding combat with the occasional stealth section appearing for very little reason.

In fact, there are a number of attempts to add to the gameplay that doesn’t involve punching people to death, but rarely are they properly enforced (you can usually just fight your way through the throngs of enemies) and rarely do they add anything meaningful to proceedings.

Ken’s Rage 2 is about taking on hordes of enemies and using the titular character’s martial arts skills to deal out death. If you’re familiar with the manga you’ll know that this usually takes the form of a flurry of fists or some other outrageous special move that involves finger thrusting and exploding heads in a gloriously messy bloodbath.

The combat has undergone a slight overhaul though, and combos feel like they flow a lot easier than before. It seems like you’re able to get Ken’s legendary fists moving in his customary blurry fashion with far less effort with some of the lasts game's special moves here rendered as part of Ken's average output of attacks.

Ken’s special moves can be interchanged on the fly and though the characters, stages and general appearance of Ken’s Rage 2 appears unchanged, the combat has seen improvements.

The camera hasn't changed though, and it suffers from many of the same issues as before, but much of Ken's Rage 2's tweaking are due to the inclusion of Scrolls that can be equipped to improve Ken’s stats during combat. Discover the chests sprinkled throughout the world and you’re able to equip ability-boosting Scrolls in something of a tricky visual puzzle within the menu.

There's still a weighty feeling to the combat with Ken's fists impacting on his enemies with a satisfactory 'thump' and gory results.

Gain enough Scrolls and you’ll eventually be able to vastly improve Ken’s fighting abilities with the Ultimate Nexus, which can only be achieved once you’ve equipped 5 Scrolls of the same kind in each of the rows. You’re also able Proffer your Scrolls for use with your other characters and each warrior can carry up to 16 of them.      

It’s an interesting addition to the combat that is ultimately redundant. With so much of Ken’s Rage 2 feeling, as well as appearing, like the first game it’s difficult to really see what justifies its sequel status. Additions to the story such as the odd QTE do little to make the clichéd (but wonderfully Eighties) story any more interesting.

And when Ken’s Rage 2 is making many of the same mistakes as its predecessor, fans of the first game are given very little incentive to dive back into Fist Of The North Star’s action.

Though the Dynasty Warriors action translates reasonably well into Ken’s world, and with focus on singular boss battles a unique take on the genre, Ken’s Rage 2's rough edges and re-treading of familiar ground won’t be enough to pull in new players.

Version Tested: PS3

Dead Space is not dead. But Dead Space 3 is not Dead Space, either. Not strictly, anyway. 

While Visceral Games’ third effort may try to convince you it’s another scary slice of what is arguably this generation’s finest horror franchise using dark corridor sections and a big ‘3’ on the box, it’s much more complicated than that.

Dead Space 3 has become infected with other elements; diluted by COD-lite soldier shooting, open-world blizzard sections and rappelling. Loads and loads of rappelling. 

Of course, EA’s flagship horror franchise has to try new things. At the tail-end of a generation, to put out another straightforward horror title without trying to do too much new would fall flat, lacking innovation. This is Visceral’s difficult third album, and it has to experiment or risk stagnation.

Lore Unto Itself

But it also risks the alienation of its core fanbase, right from the off. After a quick whiz through Dead Space lore in the opening clipscene (a vehicle which feels designed to attract new players who don’t know anything about the series’ history), you’re suddenly hurtling down an icy cliff-face, jumping around breaking ice floes and trying to avoid being squashed by a giant plane engine hurtling down the slope behind you.

It’s a far cry from the tense, claustrophobic fare the series is famed for. Perhaps it's fitting, then, that this first prologue section doesn't even see you controlling Isaac, but a Texas-accented soldier 200 years before the events of the rest of the game (don't worry, it does tie-in to the game's later story).

The next chapter is a similar affair in terms of its experimentation with the new. A few minutes in, we’re told Isaac is ‘heading to an uncharted planet’.

This doesn’t come off as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the series’ new direction. It’s an unfortunately, ironically-serious slice of dialogue.

Well, considering that certain parts of the game see you mashing X to make dramatic jumps and clamber inside trucks as they’re about to fall off cliffs, gameplay and clipscene melting into one like Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series.

It’s telling that one of the game’s most enjoyable and memorable moments comes not when it’s trying to impress with flash-bang ‘look at me’ newness, but is just being Dead Space. 

We’re traipsing through a dark, abandoned spacecraft, carefully managing health and ammo while screaming necromorphs burst from the walls, maniacally pushing us back into corners as we scrabble to reload.

The game lets us catch our breath on a quick (dull) puzzle section, before we’re running back towards the escape tram, necros jumping from every corner. 

During this desperate run, just as it feels Isaac has regained control, a massive scythe-armed necro-beast bursts from a box, while Ellie quips into your ear that it’s unkillable.

Ten minutes of blasting its limbs off and watching them grow back, time and again, the realisation hits that she’s probably right. 

We then run, blasting and dodging necros in equal measure while we desperately open doors and try to reach the tram that’ll take us to safety.

But the tram needs to be called and waited for. Cue running around in circles stasis-ing unkillable necros and ripping the limbs off others, trying to buy time and avoid death (watch us play the whole section here).

It’s set pieces like this that really work: sections fraught with real tension, Isaac seeming genuinely vulnerable, the dark claustrophobic environment working to raise the stakes.

Story-wise, the game focuses on a battle between human characters – with Isaac and his crew attempting to stop posh English baddie Danik from destroying the universe.

This allows the game to build on the relationships between its main characters and craft a more human tale.

After all, nothing is more compelling than the battle of wits and motivations between real people, rather than vomit-spewing aliens.

Gunning For Cover

One of the new additions which really does work and feels like it fits into the Dead Space universe is the weapon crafting system.

Using materials scrounged from corpses, storage lockers and scavenger bots (sent into the wild with the d-pad), you can build entirely new weapons from scratch at work benches peppered throughout each level.

These weapons can be built to blueprints, meaning you just need enough materials and parts to construct them, ready-made.

Or, you can craft every last element of a gun – choosing a core, a top and bottom firing chamber, a two-handed or one-handed handle, etc, picking and mixing until you’ve birthed your dream firearm.

It’s a system packing a lot of depth and nuance, but which is very easy to get to grips with. By about a third of the way into the game, we’d gathered enough parts to construct a badass plasma-electro shotgun.

Its top weapon blasted enemies in the face with a wide radius of plasma, its bottom shot a whirling blade of electricity which hooked onto enemies, slowed them down and blew them up. 

Some parts of the game feel almost Alien-esque, with Isaac rounding a corner to be greeted by the sight of a group of soldiers shooting at aliens which are trying to rip their faces off – do you shoot the men, or the aliens? They’ll both round on you, whichever one you shoot first.

Other soldier-only sections see Isaac taking cover behind boxes, shooting rifle-toting baddies stood on ledges and trying to clear a courtyard of gunner goons.

It feels like COD: Very Very Lite and doesn’t add much to the game other than weave in a co-op friendly section (the game tells you this section is available to play in co-op with a cheery pop-up notification midway through the action).

Leaving Fans Cold

A lot of pre-release attention has been focused on the snowy sections. These only make up about a third of the game, with a couple of chapters in the game’s middle dedicated to this brisk planet, while the rest of it is set across a handful of spacecraft.

Of course, the snowy setting comes after Isaac crash-lands the spaceship you’ve spent the previous entire chapter floating about in space on a zero-gravity fetch quest gathering parts for.

The crash itself is packed with oversized set-piece zeal; taking the helm, you’re tasked with piloting the ship through a minefield, dodging chunks of metal scrap and attempting to stay on a set course (i.e. fly through the squares). 

Suddenly, a chunk of unavoidable (read: scripted) metal slams into the ship’s side, forcing you to run to the back of the ship to repair the engine with kinesis.

Returning to the ship's controls, gameplay blends with clipscene as you attempt to dodge or shoot jagged rocks and spikes which fly ever more quickly towards the ship.

Eventually, no matter how sharp your shooting, the craft is ripped in two and you plummet to the ground, separated from the rest of the crew. It’s a slick, balls-out set-piece which neatly segues the game to its icy core: the freezing Tau Volantis planet.

As soon as Clarke clambers from the now-ruined craft, you’re tasked with battling through the blizzard to find survivors in a level which feels a lot like Lost Planet, mixed with the dynamic cut-scenes (and snow trudging) of Uncharted 2. 

Here, the only tension comes from trying to keep Isaac’s body temperature up. Every plodding step in the snow sees his gauge drop a few centigrade.

You’re forced to huddle beside flaming bits of wreckage every few hundred feed to keep alive.

Later, you have to dispatch aliens which burst forth from the ice quickly enough to move back towards the heat again without being ripped to pieces.

It has a certain tension to it, especially when aliens jump from behind crates in the whipping snow, limiting your line of sight. But it’s just not that scary.

As soon as you have the right suit for the temperatures, the body heat mechanic disappears, never to return again.

A Rappell A Day

Unfortunately, the rappelling doesn’t. Scaling up and down cliff-faces is often fun, with some parts calling on the use of stasis to slow down falling rocks and moving sawblades and others requiring Isaac to shoot at soldiers on a descending lift or aliens as they scuttle towards you.

Each one demands a different solution, and they work pretty well. The only downside is the sheer number of them – in one late chapter, it felt like all we did was shoot a couple of necros, scale a cliff-face, shoot, scale, scale, shoot, scale, repeat ad nauseum. 

Bosses, thankfully, are better rationed. A battle with a tarantula on an ice planet feels large-scale and dynamic, with Isaac desperately shooting at the glowing orange tentacles while scrabbling through the snow.

A later, much bigger baddie actually takes Isaac into its stomach, forcing him to shoot at its intestines, Story Of Jonah style.

But, unlike the rappelling, these bosses are enjoyable enough and rare enough not to feel tiresome.

Speaking of tiresome, puzzles rarely inspire and are almost always base trial and error affairs, ranging from slotting together spaceship jigsaw pieces, to moving power blocks from left to right to balance a machine’s voltage. 

One puzzle section left us baffled as to how it even qualifies as a puzzle. An alien door-unlock machine required three correctly-aligned symbols to open it.

A quick look to the right, and it becomes clear the three symbols are written on the floor, in the correct order, two feet from the machine. It’s not exactly Zelda, is it?

Dead Space fans may not like the new elements, but the game at least sticks to its guns and continues to introduce them. 

Towards the end of the game, you’re introduced to ‘amp pads’. Stand on them, and your stasis lasts much longer, while kinesis becomes powerful enough to rip off enemies’ limbs while they’re still using them. 

It’s also a great excuse for the game to throw wave after wave of enemies at you, knowing you’ve got the extra power to take them down, if used wisely.

There’s a lot of new stuff here, some of which works well (weapon crafting), some of which is overused (rappelling) and some which just feels completely at odds (soldier-shooting sections and dynamic QTEs). 

Graphically, it’s also one of the most beautiful games EA have yet published. The title has a clear contrast between the dark, foreboding murky black levels and the sections of blinding white.

Other sections see hues of orange cast an amber ambience across open courtyards, while space-floating bits pack in plenty of visual punch, recalling (though not quite matching) Halo 4 in terms of scale and spectacle.

None of the new gameplay elements are bad either, and in fact Visceral’s third effort has clearly been polished and feels incredibly varied, with decent pacing and new mechanics spread fairly evenly throughout the 12-hour(ish) campaign.

Dead Space 3 is at its best, though, when it’s not trying to appeal only to action-adventure fans or ram in countless badass Hollywood set-pieces, but when it strips the gameplay down: dark corridor, gun, alien. In fact, these more traditional sections feel as good as ever, perhaps because they’re spread thinly between the new stuff.

Dead Space 3 will upset some series veterans, but its variety, slick set-pieces and the inclusion of co-op will undoubtedly see it find a lot of new ones, too. 

The game may be a 'sell-out', and doesn't succeed at everything it tries, but it’s still very much a journey worth buying into. Even if it will leave some fans horrified for all the wrong reasons.

NB: Our review code wouldn’t let us try the co-op out, though we’ve been told the co-op is online-only, not split-screen.

Version Tested: PS3

Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch and its Studio Ghibli art design are working proof that there's life in the JRPG yet.

For a few years now Western developed action RPGs, such as BioWare's Mass Effect series, have combined story, character and stunning visual design to create worlds that just begged to be explored leaving many to criticise the JRPG of stagnating, relying on predictable characters, predictable stories and, ultimately, predictable games to try and compete.

With Ni No Kuni Level-5 and Studio Ghibli prove that it might not be the JRPG format itself that's been stagnating, but Japanese storytelling itself.

And that's really Studio Ghibli's speciality and exactly what makes Ni No Kuni such a joy to play. Like with many of Studio Ghibli's animated movies Ni No Kuni deals with complex characters and thier perception of the world and how it (and life) can change in an instant.

In the same way that Spirited Away's Chihiro Ogino is thrust into a fantasy world as her parents transform into slavering pigs, Ni No Kuni's protagonist, Oliver, finds himself walking into a bright fantasy world, only his mother's transformation is far more traumatic.

Oliver becomes an orphan after his mother dies saving him from drowning and it's the tears he sheds as he mourns the death of his only parent that brings to life a childhood toy that sends him on his fantastic journey.

Oliver's doll, hand-made by his mother, springs to life and exclaims in a terrific broad Welsh accent that he is Drippy, Lord High Lord of the Fairies and there is a way of saving his mother.

It's not hard to see why Studio Ghibli's art work is so highly praised.

And so, in slightly less than conventional JRPG fashion, Oliver's journey to become a wizard, save the world and save his mother begins.

In a gameplay sense what follows is a largely traditional JRPG, too. It's been emboldened in intelligent ways by Studio Ghibli's character and world design that simply makes many of the conventional JRPG mechanics feel fresh and much more inviting than they have done in the past.

Becoming a wizard isn't easy for Oliver, but under Drippy and the Wizard's Companion's guidance spells quickly form a central part of pushing Ni No Kuni's story forward.

Unlike the Japanese DS original (not to mention Japanese the PS3 port), the English language version comes complete with a digital version of the Wizard's Companion.

It's in here that you'll see many of the spells that would have originally required to be hand-drawn with the DS's stylus, but now you're reduced to selecting them at the appropriate times.

The spells form a central part of the problem-solving Oliver is tasked with throughout his adventures and though Ni No Kuni's skin is wrapped around the JRPG framework, it's such a beautiful and well-conceived skin it's easy to work with the game.

Oliver travel's the world, meeting new people, pushing the story forward in a largely linear fashion with the only chance at digression through side-quests that only offer simple distractions.

What impresses the most about Ni No Kuni is the fabulous world in which it takes place and the central story of Oliver and his friends as they battle the evil that grips both Oliver and Drippy's worlds.

This well-developed storytelling should really come as no surprise give the pedigree of Studio Ghibli, but when everything has a natural order and an explanation, it's easy to get caught up in Oliver's struggles.

The world from which Drippy hails is connected to Oliver's in many ways. Each character he encounters has a 'Soul Mate' within the real world and many of the games more complex puzzles task you with traversing back and forth between the two worlds.

Combat's fast and frantic, but comes with its own unique set of problems.

Oliver's relationship with this new world opens his eyes to his grief, but equally gives him hope (potentially false) that saving his mother's Soul Mate will bring her back to life.

Ni No Kuni's story is beautifully told through a mixture of Studio Ghibli's traditional animation and Level-5 in-game cutscenes.

There's not quite as much animation as you'd expect with most of the game relying on the game's engine to relay its story, but this isn't a bad thing considering how stunning the actual game looks.

In fact, Studio Ghibli's cinematic moments are sprinkled rather sparingly throughout Ni No Kuni, but it is testament to Level-5's in-game designs that the two meld seamlessly.

With Oliver's child's eye-view of the world painting a colourful and yet seemingly harmless vision, Ni No Kuni perfectly captures the essence of Studio Ghibli's films.

But, this is still a traditional JRPG and as such it brings with it many familiar issues that Japanese developers have been dealing with for years now.

Combat for instance, and the insistence of levelling up, are core tenets of the JRPG and here Level-5 finds an interesting balance between action and strategy that only marginally misses the mark with a few irritations.

Like any half-decent wizard, Oliver relies on magic and 'Familiars' to fight in battle for him. Familiars are parts of a person's heart or creatures so impressed with your battle prowess that they can be convinced to join your ranks.

As such, battles are given a Pokemon twist as you eye-up potential fighters to be converted to an ever-growing arsenal.

This is Drippy, possibly the best videogame character for some time. Plus, he's Welsh.

Levelling-up is central but, unlike many RPGs, whenever Oliver does gain a level his stats automatically increase with the bulk of the customisation occurring in the paths and tweaks you choose to apply to your Familiars.

With three characters eventually filling up your party, and with each character bringing with them three Familiar's slots, the decisions you make here can really make a difference.

The system ultimately begins to feel limited. Though you can have a number of different Familiars, the fact that they can only 'Metomorphise' a maximum of three times (increasing their level cap after a brief reset) means there's only so much that can be done with them.

The true breadth to the combat comes with the number of Familiars you get through to the final evolutionary stages and what they can do for you in battle, but its simplicity can feel rigid.

It's not the only problem you'll face with the combat, though. With three characters to jump between and unreliable AI, depending on your companions during a fight can hamper your progress.

Micro-managing becomes unrealistic when all you really need to do is focus your attacks on an enemy's weak point. When relying on Oliver's skills to block and parry attacks is the only thing you can count on, the later battles that prove a real challenge can end up feeling unfair.

Never mind the frustrations that can arise from characters failing to move through a hectic battlefield or becoming stuck underneath a larger foe's feet.

As in many JRPGs boss battles will test your skills and believe us, they will test you.

But these a trifling criticisms in the grand scheme of things; Ni No Kuni and its translation from Japanese into English is a real triumph and it's only now that the game has been finished that it's understandable why it has taken quite so long.

Written dialogue, of which the game primarily relies on, has been given a stunning treatment.

With characters, like the Welsh-tongued Drippy, pulling Oliver and the player through such a striking world, it's proof that taking the time to treat a translation with the care and attention it deserves can pay dividends.

Ni No Kuni's storybook style, wonderful characters and traditional gameplay focus on Japan's strengths. This is a JRPG with Studio Ghibli's blood running through its veins and though you might baulk at the idea of grinding or question Level-5's decision to make you wade through so much written dialogue, Ni No Kuni makes the journey more than worth the effort and deserves a captive, thankful and willing audience.

You’d probably think there’s something wrong with us if we told you Ratchet & Clank: Q-Force is a brilliant game, and we don’t blame you.

Sony has done little to market the next Ratchet & Clank game from Insomniac leaving most – ourselves included – confused as to what it’s actually supposed to be.

But, honestly, Ratchet & Clank: Q-Force is a great game. It might be priced in the budget range, but from the quality on show here you’d not notice it.

The twist here is the inclusion of tower defence gameplay. Each level features a Q-Force base, but there’s more to it than sitting around waiting for the enemy come to you.

The Ratchet & Clank universe works well in this set up: the myriad weapons turn into entertaining and diverse towers while the various enemies fit well into the staples we’ve come to expect from the tower defence genre.

To build defences you need bolts, and collecting those requires a little bit of scouting outside of your base. It’s an interesting dynamic that requires you to risk your base defences while you hunt for the finances to further bolster your base.

You won’t start a level with a weapon either, those are out in the wider field to collect and it’s here that the traditional Ratchet & Clank gameplay kicks in with hectic combat courtesy of the excellent weapon design and the odd spot of platforming.

Watch us take on the first Ratchet & Clank mission for an example of how it evolves two distinct types of games.

There’s more to all this than the added bonus of extra firepower, however. Your ultimate objective is to activate the planet’s defences, preventing additional incoming enemies and thus saving the day. Easy peasy, right?

The challenge comes in balancing the scouting with base defence, often resulting in a mad dash to your base from one end of the map as dangerous foes start marching on your towers.

It’s an almost-too-perfect blend of two styles of gameplay and, as we’ve already said, works really well in the Ratchet & Clank universe. 

In many ways Ratchet & Clank: Q-Force is the natural extension of the franchise, and is a style of gameplay we truly hope Insomniac and Sony decide to stick with.

There’s less of a focus on storyline for obvious reasons, but even the cut scenes that are here retain the genuine humour the series has become known for.

Unfortunately there is little in the way of content to really keep you hooked. Five levels – one of which isn’t a real level – means you can see most of the single-player content done in around five hours.

Admittedly that’s better than a lot of FPS campaigns these days, and Ratchet & Clank: Q-Force does only cost 15 quid. It’s just a shame that such a clever idea has been restricted in this way: more levels would be really help to make this a must-have game.

You can play as Ratchet, Clank or Quark. Of course you'll choose Quark.

There’s plenty of replayability to the levels that are there, however, whether it’s aiming for that perfect run or trying to complete it in under the time limit. If Ratchet & Clank: Q-Force’s gameplay pulls you in, then you’ll appreciate the desire to replay each level.

Then there’s multiplayer. We expected competitive gun-on-gun action, but what we got was a MOBA. DotA 2 and League Of Legends have been popularising the genre for some time, and Ratchet & Clank: Q-Force brings its on spin on it.

It utilises the same gameplay seen in the campaign content, except separated into three stages: Scouting, Squad and Assault.

While there is a finite selection of crates (and, therefore, bolts) to smash through, in multiplayer you’ll have nodes to capture. During the Scouting phase you – and any partner you may have – must vie for power over these nodes to earn you additional bolts.

The more you have, the more bolts you earn, making this process the most important of the lot. AI towers defend them, however, so it’s not as simple as racing around and collecting as much as you can.

In the Squad phase you build up your attacking forces, spending bolts on amassing the right unit types – divvying them up between each of the two lanes – while preparing your base for your opponent’s equivalent.

These things are a bugger to defeat. If you see one coming, you better hope your defences can handle it.

Then there’s Assault that – as you might expect – requires attacking your enemies base. You’ll need to accompany your troops (or Creeps, to use the MOBA lingo) to ensure they reach the enemy base safely, protecting them from the enemy and assisting them in the attack.

It’s a surprisingly well thought out system and, though it likely won’t draw in many players, is unique enough to provide something truly novel to PS3 gamers.

Even the weapon selection – which is done through acquiring each node – is akin to a MOBA player levelling up their character and picking the abilities they need for the task at hand.

It’s all very well considered – impressively so – but even still, there are only three maps available for the multiplayer mode, again hampering the game’s hopes of longevity.

Is it Smash Bros or is it not Smash Bros? That is the question.

It’s a question Sony faced as soon as PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale was announced, it’s a battle that the marketing team has been fighting for the past few months and it’s an identity crisis the game itself wrestles with. The good news is that this isn’t an uninspired, by-the-numbers Smash Bros clone. The bad news is… well, we’ll come to that.

There are obvious similarities between PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale and Nintendo’s Smash Bros series but they don’t stretch far beyond what you see just by watching the game in action. Each match sees four characters plucked from Sony’s back catalogue (plus notable third-party guests) fighting each other.

The levels are broken up with platforms, the characters are floaty and the action is, for want of a better technical term, button-bashy. There are items to pick up and use, random hazards from the environment to avoid and the special moves are flashy, over-the-top and colourful. So far, so Smash.

Spot The Difference

But the scoring system is different enough that it sets PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale apart. The only way to score points is by eliminating an opponent and the only way to do that is by landing a super.

You build up meter for a super by hitting with special moves, which are assigned to face buttons used together with different directions. Without any light punches or medium kicks to cancel into supers as in 'traditional' fighting games, and with jumping a largely evasive manoeuvre, this is really all about the special moves.

There’s a huge variety of them on offer too, all tying in with their respective character’s games and history. Big Daddy has a drill attack and super-armour on most of his moves, allowing him to absorb one hit and reflecting the behemoth's high health. Sir Dan Fortesque has disembodied hands, a shield and all his weapons from Medieval. Nariko has swinging air attacks and quick combos, Sly Cooper can turn invisible to escape danger, Dante has moves taken straight from DmC including his new Osiris and Arbiter weapons, and so on.

Each move has its own purpose, ranging from dishing out more meter to crumpling opponents to counters. There’s a block button amidst all the chaos but the frantic, haphazard nature of PlayStation All-Stars means blocking is more of a desperation measure than anything else, particularly as jumping is such a good way to get out of danger.

Tactical Edge

Eventually, you can enough meter for a super but you can keep going and build up to a level 3 super. This is what gives PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale its tactical edge.

When you attempt a super, you commit to spending all your meter at once, so you have to weigh up what your options are. Where are your opponents? Are they grouped together? Should you risk your meter now on a level 1 super or build up for an almost guaranteed level 3 kill? How far behind are you in the match?

Complicating matters is that meter can be stolen via special moves and throws while each super is drastically different too – Heihachi sends Kuma after opponents while Nariko jumps behind a cannon and opens fire.

Online runs smoothly too, which is important given the fast pace of the action. There’s nothing here that demands 1-frame link combos as in Street Fighter IV, as the fighting is extremely easy to grasp and understand, even if the scoring system of needing supers to score points isn’t quite as intuitive.

But regardless of the simplicity, it’s still good to see how smooth netplay is. It’s too early to judge how well balanced the characters are but based on our online play so far, it seems that players will drift towards Kratos, with close-range brawlers who can mash Square far easier to grasp than the long-range fighters like Radec or Sir Dan Fortesque.

Not Enough Content

It’s a shame that having fought and won the difficult battle of finding a new identity, PlayStation All-Stars doesn’t have the content to see it through. There’s nothing all that involving for the single-player side of the package. The ideas are there but nothing feels substantial.

Arcade mode has story but it’s little more than narration and artwork bookending a series of meaningless fights. Combo challenges are present but they’re really easy to blitz. Unlockables are present for every character but they’re aesthetic tweaks rather than anything fundamental that will motivate you.

Yet the bigger problem is highlighted by the online community using Kratos ad nauseam – the character select screen needs fleshing out out. There’s a pleasing variety of characters from the metallic bulk of Big Daddy to the nippy Sly Cooper but there simply isn’t enough of them. A big part of the appeal of games like Super Smash Bros or Marvel vs Capcom 3 is dipping into a huge cast of characters to find your favourites

This feels a few characters too short – Crash and Spyro are the notable absentees from Sony’s glory years and while we’ll never know the full story of what hoops Superbot had to jump through just to get the characters here, DLC notwithstanding, this end result needs more faces on the character select screen.

This doesn’t quite feel like the end game for Sony then but rather, the birth of a new series that should prove to be as long-running and successful as Smash Bros, if this debut is anything to go by. And that’s one comparison we’re sure Sony won’t mind at all.

After only a few races in LittleBigPlanet Karting, it soon becomes clear that United Front Games has wasted its time. Not on crafting a racing spin-off for Media Molecule’s increasingly-ubiquitous play, create and share universe – on the contrary, it’s one of the most accomplished kart racers of recent times – no, we’re more concerned about the time and resources that the studio poured into 2010 PS3 offering ModNation Racers. With an LBP-style remit at its core and by no means a terrible game, ModNation Racers failed to capture the collective imagination quite like its platforming counterpart - in spite of intuitive track-creation tools and an abundance of customisation options. After the success of LittleBigPlanet which launched two years prior, anticipating a similar reception for ModNation might’ve been somewhat unrealistic, but left us with the cautious notion that a LittleBigPlanet racing game might have fared better.

Skip forward two years and perhaps United Front’s work on ModNation didn’t go to waste after all. The core of the game is alive and well in LittleBigPlanet Karting, Sony’s new family-friendly racer, and the result is a little more than the sum of its parts. Everything you know about LittleBigPlanet is here in abundance; Sackboy, the craftwork-inspired visuals, Stephen Fry’s typically English narration, the poppit’s customisation tools, the cardboard pod and interplanetary navigation. Add to that the kart-handling and track-creation mantra of ModNation and you’re someway to understanding what LittleBigPlanet Karting is all about.

The boxing-glove boost: like the Chain Chomp in Mario Kart 64

Most of the competitive races pit you against seven other Sackboys/girls/bots in a race to the finish across the various tracks that populate each themed planet – think confectionary, jungle and urban cityscapes to name but a few. In the great tradition of kart-racing, your vehicle can drift around corners (doing so for an extended period earns a mini-boost) and even perform a small jump, vital for collecting the hundreds of materials, costumes and object icons dotted around each course which will become so important to your very own creations. Your racer and kart are also ridiculously-customisable, but only cosmetically.

Being an amalgamation of all things LBP, ModNation and kart-racing, offensive and defensive tactics also play their part, and United Front has included a canny mix of genre archetypes and innovative ideas when it comes to on-track battling; there are goodies here, available via your Sackboy’s ‘Weaponator’, which take us all the way back to the original Mario Kart, from heat-seeking rockets, to explosive boxes, while other weapons include electricity bubbles and short, steamrolling speed boosts. You can even slap adjacent racers if they get too close, or use your current weapon to neutralise an incoming rocket.

Races quickly become frantic three-lap dashes for the finish line, as the pack quickly disperses in a melee of explosions and crashes, thanks in part to the environmental hazards (think moving obstacles and jumps) that litter the tarmac/cardboard, but also the randomly-charged Weaponators which present themselves on specific parts of each track. Combined with a varying number of shortcuts, races rarely play out the same way twice – but the sensation of on-track activity isn’t exactly perfect; karts fly through the air almost as often as they’re on the road with occasionally frustrating results as you end up off the track to be reset, or worse, stuck behind scenery and unable to rejoin the track.

Making an ugly, poorly thought-out track like ours can be done with ease.

Elsewhere, the huge jumps that require you to employ Sackboy’s grappling hook often correct your path for landing via seeming invisible walls, a jarring effect given the mostly physics-based action elsewhere. Rubber-banding plays a small part too, most evident when you find yourself in last place and receive a rocket/boxing-glove/VHS-style FFWD boost up the placings.

The niggles are as much about track design as anything else though, and it’s here where LittleBigPlanet Karting’s most potential lies – like ModNation Racing before it, but (hopefully) harnessing the power of LBP’s sizeable community, creators are invited to do their worst with the in-depth selection of track design tools. Unsurprisingly, they’re initially similar to ModNation too, enabling you to ‘drive’ out your desired path with minimal fuss – that comes later, with the LBP poppit which enables you to choose, place and tweak objects to your liking.

LittleBigPlanet Karting's Battle Modes offer some of the game's best competitive moments.

The track-building community is definitely the most exciting aspect of the game, if not for creators then for players looking for that killer new track; LittleBigPlanet Karting is packed with content and the system of playing and unlocking tracks (versus versions of each course are a constant reward) is solid enough, but we did encounter a few weak mini-games, such as an oddly simplistic first-person grand prix circuit, which seemed shoehorned and failed to match the quality of the core story offering.

That said, the campaign’s learning curve steps up significantly after world three or four, the excellent eight-player, arena-based battles are - at their best - reminiscent of Mario Kart's various battle modes, and the pop/indie soundtrack of familiar-sounding pop is one of the best of 2012. Yep, it’s really that good. Ultimately, LittleBigPlanet Karting is a solid family racing game, much like ModNation Racing was. This time it has extra polish and an exceptional license behind it, but better than that is the promise of new creations for months - perhaps years - from the LBP community.  

It might sound weird, but booting up Need For Speed: Most Wanted manages to evoke a surprising amount of excitement: the glare of the sun, the crescendo of sound effects, the clean, empty UI and, best of all, the roar of a supercar bursting into action.

It’s a celebration, a welcome home party for one as you get ready to tear up Fairhaven in what could well be the best racer of this generation. And that isn’t a claim we make lightly.

But considering that Criterion’s Burnout Paradise still remains one of the best arcade racers out there, it’s hardly surprising that the same team - now in control of EA’s behemoth Need For Speed franchise - has managed to craft such a superlative racer.

It is the culmination of everything the team has worked towards this generation, fine-tuning every element it knows so well to make something very special indeed.

Take the open world, for example. Criterion has learnt from its mistakes with Burnout Paradise - most notably the initial lack of a retry function - and built upon it.

Fairhaven isn’t a grid-based template like Paradise City, with roads that feel like roads and make for far more interesting races.

Frostbite 2.0 is better than ever. This is one of the best looking game's this year.

The result is something more akin to Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit: a selection of winding streets, fast-paced highways and carefully situated crossroads.

Fairhaven is much more detailed however, and though many of the areas share similarities with Burnout Paradise - the abandoned airfield, the industrial district, the docks - the level of fidelity means you can instantly tell when one area blends into the next.

The distinct flavours of Need For Speed: Most Wanted’s open world helps craft your racing, too, mind-mapping the best cornering techniques for each section or intuitively identifying the right jump or shortcut to shave off a few seconds.

The driving mechanics themselves are considerably improved, too. Gone are the ‘slippy’ controls of Burnout Paradise in favour of something more like Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit.

There’s a resistance to the vehicle at first but you soon learn when to use this to your advantage, helping to recognise when to simply drift around a long corner or when the handbrake needs to be applied.

Each car you use comes with its own style, too. A heavier muscle car - like the Corvette - will need to be coaxed around bends, while quicker and nimbler vehicles like the TVR Tesla can dominate corners but are likely to get crushed just by looking at a passing car.

Finding new vehicles dotted around is an excellent reward for exploration.

This doesn’t mean there’s a ‘best’ car, however. Need For Speed: Most Wanted enables you to pick any car you want from the very start of the game, providing you can find it.

Jack Spots litter the city of Fairhaven and once found that car is forever yours. Initially each vehicle lacks anything in the way of options, but beat the first race and you’ll unlock nitrous boost.

Additional unlocks can be acquired by completing and winning later races, with each car having five possible events to take part in.

It might seem limiting at first, but this is actually a clever decision on Criterion’s part: though you may encounter the same race with a different vehicle, you’ll never be completely overwhelmed and nor will you find yourself unnecessarily over equipped for any particular event.

There’s more to it, as well. As you explore the city in between race events and new cars are found, the temptation to switch out for something new is impossible to resist.

Even more difficult is the allure of other collectables in the form of billboards, security gates and speed cameras.

The former two most will remember from Burnout Paradise, and are as moreish as ever; each new billboard or gate you destroy leads to a search for more, adamant that where there’s one there must be others. You’ll likely spend as much of your time exploring the city as you will racing.

Dirt tyres can be equipped for more off-road based racing, though admittedly these events are rarer.

It’s just as well that exploration isn’t hampered in any way, then: everything from car swapping, race events or even vehicle customisation is accessible from a single button press.

The EasyDrive menu is the evolution of AutoLog, tracking friends’ achievements as well as ensuring every option you might need is quickly and easily accessible without ever leaving the game.

Which leaves the cops as the only criticism to be found in Need For Speed: Most Wanted. During events their inclusion matters as they work to put both you and your fellow street racers out of commission.

Roadblocks, PIT manoeuvres and spike strips are dangers you’ll often need to overcome in certain events - and that’s fine, fun even - but it’s in the open world exploration where this becomes something of a nuisance.

Sometimes you just want to get on with it, and the police hounding your every move while you try to escape can become bothersome.

Honestly, though, that’s a minor concern in the grand scheme of things. Need For Speed: Most Wanted is Criterion’s magnum opus, blending the absorbing sense of speed from Burnout Paradise with some utterly fantastic visuals, super slick racing mechanics and a better-than-ever AutoLog system.

Version Tested: PS3

Pro tip: if you need to include an objective to “exact revenge”, then you’ve done your game wrong.

We’re not asking that videogames suddenly learn the art of emotional manipulation - lord knows that’s not going to happen anytime soon - but if developers are going to go through the motions of creating a ‘powerful’ and ‘meaningful’ storyline, then at least give it some heart.

This is the biggest criticism of Medal Of Honor: Warfighter, which is admittedly a little moot: asking a first-person shooter to provide mature emotion is like asking cake to stop being delicious.

But, for all its flaws, 2010’s Medal Of Honor reboot did have a modicum of respect to it. Sure, the characters were almost entirely gruff soldiers belching ‘Oscar Mike’ and ‘Roger that’ at every turn, but then what’s to say soldiers aren’t like that.

At least it felt like a soldier’s story.

Medal Of Honor: Warfighter is little more than yet another in a long line of shooters trying to ape Call Of Duty - and let’s face it, COD’s single-player is hardly that compelling in the first place.

Take the opening section, for example. It starts well, promising even. But after a bomb is placed and subsequently detonated, all hell breaks loose and you’re simply moving from explosion to explosion until you defeat an enemy helicopter. With a rocket launcher.

Gameplay and our dulcet voices telling you what is good - and what isn't - about Medal Of Honor: Warfighter.

Even Michael Bay isn’t this ridiculous, and while Danger Close has tried to make the introduction to Medal Of Honor: Warfighter as exciting as it can be, the only response is a slow and sombre headshake.

After that it tones itself down a bit, moving from mission to mission with disparate connections and flitting between characters. It’s a little hard to keep up with Medal Of Honor: Warfighter’s story, truth be told, and while it is all explained in high quality cut scenes, none of it really matters.

Basically, it does what Call Of Duty does. There doesn’t need to be a reason to set a mission during a monsoon in the Philippines beyond the fact that the developer wanted to. Why Dubai? Why Pakistan? Why Poland? Ask Danger Close.

So yes, you will spend most of your time following a man to an obscure objective, breaching doors, aiming down sights and generally kicking ass and taking names. Sounds alright for a first-person shooter, right?

Well, yes, actually it is. The solid gunplay of the last Medal Of Honor - and there’s probably a hint of Battlefield 3 here as well - has carried over and this part is just as enjoyable as ever.

The Frostbite 2 engine is put to good use, though as with Battlefield 3 the real show is on PC.

It’s the enemy AI that’ll really throws it off kilter, however. For the most part they’ll just sit in cover, waiting for you to shoot them in the head. Every so often, though, they will have the common sense to run to open ground and point their gun at you in a mildly threatening way.

The times they will catch you off guard are from behind, however. You’ll advance through a debris-strewn room only to find one pesky little sod blast you full of bullets when you’re not looking.

We could be generous and compliment the AI here, perhaps claim that it was smart enough to lie in wait and get the jump on us when our guard was down but when the rest of the enemies possess as much intelligence as your average coffee table that would be a little hard to believe.

Elsewhere there are tweaks to the game over the last one. The new breach mechanic, for example, enables you with unlocks as you score headshots during the slow-motion assaults, letting you pick and choose the way you want to tackle each breach.

Which would be fine, if it wasn’t just a glorified animation selector. The difference between choosing to kick the door in or use a shotgun is simply whether you choose to shoot the door handle before booting it in.

Cut scenes that highlight the more personal side of Preacher's story unfortunately fail to achieve their goal.

It could’ve been a fantastic mechanic, resembling the SOCOM strategies of old: flashbang, explosive grenade, quietly pushing the door open or simply finding an alternative route into the building. As it stands, it’s entirely throwaway.

Elsewhere there’s a new system of aiming. By holding L2 (or left bumper on Xbox 360) you’ll enable a free aim of sorts. It locks you in position, letting you slightly alter your aim along the x axis: it’s brilliant for picking off targets without getting hit, and a must if you’re playing on harder difficulties.

It’s not all bad, then. Some sections of the game are genuinely entertaining, and mix up the usual man-following more than most FPS games try to. As is typical of most games of this ilk, however, these good ideas are overused.

There are only two bot sections, for example, but when it comes along the second time (where the hell does it even appear from?) it does kind of tar the experience a little, highlighting the lack of original ideas more than anything else.

The vehicles sections are well done too, with solid driving mechanics and the right amount of freedom. You’re directed down certain routes, but you’re given the right level of control to make you feel as though you’re in charge.

There aren't enough missions that feel like, well, missions. It's a greater emphasis on action, rather than elite hardcore soldiering.

The biggest disappointment of all is the short runtime, however. On Normal you’ll likely see the credits at around six hours and for forty quid that’s just not good enough, whether you’re planning on spending most of your time in multiplayer or not.

Scratch that, actually, the real disappointment is the way it respects the soldiers. You can plaster quotes on the heroism of warfighters all you like, but if the only way Danger Close can get us to care about its characters is through forced flashbacks then it doesn’t quite understand the possibilities of mature narrative in videogames.

Which is a shame, because the previous Medal Of Honor genuinely had moments of squad-mate camaraderie: fighting alongside your fellow soldiers, and doing what needs to be done for them, was was a constant feeling throughout, however muted it may have been. 

It’s disappointing that, in an effort to chase the Call Of Duty crowd, Danger Close - or, more likely, EA - has severed the human touch that showed so much promise in its last Medal Of Honor outing.

Version Tested: PS3

Doom 3 has never been that good. Sorry. We’re not the types to jump into the past and scream in the faces of reviewers of yesterday “YOU WERE WRONG,” but, well, they were.

Because playing through Doom 3, its expansion pack Resurrection Of Evil and the new eight-level Lost Mission mode, it’s clear to see this has always been a game bereft of much in the way of ideas.

In short: it’s dull. You waddle through a dark corridor, something jumps out at you so you shoot it with a gun that sounds like its barrel is muffled with cotton wool. Sometimes you use a computer.

There are no puzzles, there are no mazes to work out, there is so very little of interest, there is so much bathed in pure simplicity. Now the simplicity angle is one we’re fans of a lot of the time, but Doom 3 – in all its three incarnations – doesn’t back up its simplicity with satisfying mechanics, unrelenting enemies or even much of a challenge.

Just to reiterate for those not listening: it’s dull. It’s not bad, it’s just mediocre. The HD treatment doesn’t do much, but then the game hadn’t exactly aged badly to begin with – it doesn’t look amazing, but the atmosphere is solid and the game world believable.

Doom 3 was the Crysis of its day; you needed a hefty rig to play it.

Combat settles into a familiar pace and one that can provide a nice, relaxing afternoon of play (in stark contrast to how terrifying we found it first time around: its scares haven’t aged well), circle-strafing and mincing up demons with your chaingun until you decide to play something that actually involves your brain in some tiny way.

Fortunately, you don’t have to go far for that: the BFG Edition includes both the original Doom and Doom II, from 1993 and 1994 respectively. These are the PC ports and not a conversion of the PSone version, meaning they’re a bit different to what you got if you’ve only played that version.

One thing it does mean though is that the first level has the original, amazing music. Great days.

The original two releases show up all three versions of Doom 3 constantly and consistently: inventive, maze-based level design, enemies that overwhelm you rather than queue up to be killed, more than just monster closet scares (though still plenty of them) and a palpable feel of speed and excitement that just doesn’t resonate with what is apparently the main attraction in this collection.

Rallying is special. Not in the insulting way - we don't mean, you know, special. But special. Hardcore. Insane. Dangerous.

It's car versus slippery road, with the added distraction of your co-driver shouting numbers in your ear and the threat of flipping over a tiny rock into a ravine down below to think about.

And therefore, rallying games are a special breed of game, because again - it really is just you versus the road. There aren't any cars you can bang into to slow down around corners while pretending it was a mistake, no slipstreams to take advantage of on the long straights, no shameless attempts at cutting corners from driving over the grass on u-bends.

We're mentioning this because the lack of extra fluff and spectacle means rally games rely on their handling more so than other racers, and the good news is that WRC3 has the handling absolutely spot-on.

There's a tempting raw aggression in rallying games, because of the dramatic powerslides you can throw around each corner, yet in WRC3 that is tempered by so many extra factors - your angle, your speed, your car and most of all, the surface.

Sudden appearances of loose gravel ahead is frightening because it temporarily yanks you of the tarmac safety zone you've become accustomed to but this threat only works if the handling reflects the slippy, unpredictable nature of the surface.

And that's why WRC 3 is fun and strangely hypnotic to play. You constantly need to re-adjust your handling, accounting for what's under your tires while trying to stay fast.

The physics are a little wonky when it comes to collisions, your car suddenly chopping around the air like an empty crisp packet in a breeze, but the tire-to-ground stuff is perfect.

It's good the handling is perfect because there's little else going on here. The presentation is an odd mixture of amateur and awkward. Someone has tried to push a sense of style and character into the menus and has come up short - it doesn't have the vibrancy of Dirt Showdown or the class of Gran Turismo 5.

It's also a little flat visually. The sound of dirt and gravel being crunched before

Career mode is a cut and dry affair, where you unlock stars to progress through the ranks. There's a nice variety of challenges that throw different tracks and cars at you, while it's easy enough to unlock stars that you won't hit many frustrating difficulty spikes. Yet with no personality or variation on the actual in-game action itself, WRC3 is relying on you being a hardcore rallying fan.

And if career mode fails to entertain you? You're out of luck, as there are no other modes here worth poking around with besides time trial if you're extremely dedicated to the cause.

That sums up WRC3 - it's for hardcore fans, not those on the outside looking in.

WRC3 should have been more aggressive on the presentation side (and we don't mean more dubstep) because it does little to endear you to the game, and the overall package needs an injection of creativity and daring in the modes.

And that's a great shame because it's hard to recommend this to those who aren't die-hard rallying fans anyway.

Raise a glass for Jeff ‘Mack’ Po: left to slowly bleed to death in the corner of an unfamiliar part of the world, his teammates within whispering distance but utterly unable to stop his inevitable demise.

Bow your heads in remembrance for Gary ‘Smokes’ Busey, whose shuffle from this mortal coil was expedited somewhat by the injection of a vast amount of chryssalid poison straight into his chest cavity.

And lest we forget Monumentous ‘Plinthy’ Thuggery – she didn’t even know her teammate’s mind had been taken over by a sectoid commander until he unloaded half of his heavy laser clip into her from close range.

XCOM hates you. XCOM wants you dead. And XCOM will see you dead, over and over again. XCOM relies so much on the mortality of your team – the fragility of humans – that it provides players the chance to view a memorial to all the troops lost in defence of the world.

And unless you’re superhuman, playing it on easy or cheating, it will be quite a list. And you will remember your best troops with a heavy heart. It’s still so bizarre that a turn-based strategy game can evoke such a reaction from us, but XCOM does just that.

In the era of ultra-budget mega-blast 9000 ManShooters, you would be forgiven for simply expecting a game like this to simply not exist – or at least never make its way beyond the boundaries of PC gaming.

Taking on a very difficult mission in fact means 'no rookies allowed'.

But here we are with a strategy game that really lives up to the genre title, a full release not relegated to PSN-level obscurity, something not hastily crammed onto the console but made with all the format’s positives and negatives in mind.

But the best part of it all is simply this: XCOM: Enemy Unknown is one of the best games on PS3.

It’s so lovingly crafted, so incredibly deep, so absolutely involving that even when your team of veterans – majors, lieutenants, captains and all – are being minced up by the far superior technology of the unrelenting alien threat, it doesn’t damage the experience. It lifts it. You live, you learn – you die, you learn more.

But it all could have fallen so quickly – a genre not totally suited to pad control, thrown at a console and expected to stick, means instant put-off for all but the most committed.

This isn’t the case, with a slick interface easy to navigate and making it so any mistakes you make are mistakes you make.

With regards to how that works out in the game, it’s pretty straightforward: you have two action points per soldier, per turn. The first can be used to move anywhere within a blue region, then the second follow-up turn can be used to shoot, to use an item, to use a special power, to set yourself into overwatch or to move again a bit further.

Cinematic cameras help make the action a little more exciting than man points gun, misses, dies.

Then, of course, you can run beyond the initial blue area, allowing you to travel further but not allowing an action at the end of it. 

Sprint too far and forget about cover and, well, you’re lucky if you haven’t got another name to add to the wall of remembrance. Or you can shoot/use an item and so on in your first go, but that takes up your whole turn. We said straightforward; we seem to have gone deeper than we expected – but trust us, it makes sense in the game.

What this system leads to is a fine balancing act of strategy and movement: overlapping units to cover one another, the mad dash to rescue a civilian in peril, the hunkering down of the sniper because he can hit anything your team can see so that guy can afford to be lazy.

Two simple points of action leads to dozens, hundreds of outcomes. And it’s a flexible enough system that you can play to your own style, fielding a team of heavies to eliminate the opposition with weaponry that weighs more than a small family car, throwing a bunch of nimble, grappling hook-sporting assault class troops in there or, like we do, actually going for a spread of classes and abilities. Because, you know, the latter option actually makes sense.

Thinking doesn’t start and end with the battlefield though – you’re always having to plan, manage and strategise, and it’s always up to you how you go about it.

These things will save your life. Promise.

Base management is a case of building new facilities (more research space, for example, or maybe another satellite array), studying new tech or alien corpses (do you want to learn how to build your own plasma rifles, or chop open a floater?) and a number of other elements to keep you on your toes.

All funding for the XCOM project comes through the world’s governments, and if you piss off an individual nation enough they will leave, cease funding and never return.

If you are bad at the game, in other words, you will lose. That’s something that shouldn’t be a surprise, but we can’t think of many games this generation – or even last – that totally embraced the notion of abject failure.

And believe us, we know about such monumental breakdowns. Stupid Yanks, pulling their funding just because the poxy panic level got too high… Just save often, is our advice.

Because if you don’t adopt saving as a part of your strategy, you will lose your best troops. You will end up underfunded and under-equipped, staffed by rookie youngsters who can barely shoot straight, with no ability to intercept invading UFOs and, well, with what can only be referred to as ‘an absolutely bollocksed planet earth’.

Yes laser guns will save your hide, but only for a couple of missions before you're quickly outmoded. Again.

Difficulty is one thing we adore – the chance to cock up so much we can totally fail? It’s the most powerful incentive there is.

This is, of course, an update/reimagining/remake of the original X-Com: Enemy Unknown, released way back in 1995 on PSone. While other games have appeared (on PC, natch) that have tried to carry on the legacy of what is often cited as one of the best games ever made, none have succeeded.

It seems all it took to carry the baton on – to take it to greater heights still – was to throw the licence to one of the best strategy game developers in the world and have the team headed by a man both obsessed with the original game and taught by one Sid Meier (if you’re not aware: that man knows his strategy games). Simple, really.

Alright, so it’s not simple. But this combination of factors – skill, knowledge, fandom, budget – means we’re left with not only a fantastic, deep game of strategy but a very sympathetic update to the core tenets of the original.

The features that made the first game so brilliant to play – the Geoscape, research, base-building, combat, fear, permadeath – all return, albeit in modified form.

Find solid cover. It won't guarantee your safety, but it'll keep you alive a little bit longer than a park bench could.

Though if they presented us with 1995 all over again there would be questions. And any updates and new features, such as the satellite system, fit the setting and actually add (even more) layers of thought to the game.

So it’s brilliant, yeah? Perfect, right? No, of course not. The biggest point has to be that, despite its quality, it won’t appeal to everyone.

That’s not a statement meant to patronise, but there will be people out there who simply cannot get on board with the central principles of taking your time, planning, thinking and coming up with a reaction on the fly as you get rushed by a muton beserker and a cyberdisc suddenly appears in a flanking position.

But nothing appeals to everyone. Maybe we’re starved for this particular genre, which is making us love it more than we otherwise would, but there hasn’t been something this special in the genre since… well, since the original. Or maybe Valkyria Chronicles – from which XCOM takes some cues – at a push.

From a more superficial perspective, it’s fair to point out that the game can look a bit off at times.

It’s very much an Unreal Engine title and it shows – big, chunky soldiers (made to look like action figures, of course) and textures that decide to load in a few seconds after the level has actually loaded might be cause for some to criticise.

Satellites will help lower panic across the different countries. That's very useful, by the way.

It’s fair – they’re imperfections. Sometimes your soldier will shoot in entirely the wrong direction but still score a hit. If your troop can see an enemy and hit them then you can shoot at them, regardless of the obstacles in your way – things like that pop up and can knock you out of the experience somewhat.

But really, that’s all we can think of. Some superficial whining and the traditional, obvious claim that you might not like it, especially if you hate both thinking and losing. They’re not problems. They’re straws to be grasped at.

They’re balance in a critique that we’re trying to achieve – they’re all we can do to hold back the torrent of sheer, unfettered praise-soaked joy that wants to spring forth from our happy glands.

Because XCOM: Enemy Unknown is special. It’s a labour of love that has paid off massively. Every element comes together, every angle is covered, every little control quirk that could have existed has been ironed out.

A few hours in you’ll be making progress, a few dozen hours later you’ll barely have scratched the surface. You’re not just playing: you’re planning. You’re using strategy. You’re not being patronised. You’re being treated like an adult.

But the best part? The best part is that XCOM hates you.

Identity – the bane of every assassin. Remain unseen and you’re a deadly killer; become too recognisable and you’re out of employment, sitting in the job-centre for an everyday 9 to 5 flipping burgers at a fast food stand.

For a game that encourages shadow stalking, sticking you behind a badass metal mask at every available opportunity, Dishonored has absolutely no problem establishing its own instantly recognisable identity, all whilst retaining a stealthy edge.

In a time when fresh IP is a rarity – no, a luxury – Dishonored shines.

But despite its freshness, comparisons to familiar names are immediate. Dishonored plays somewhat like Mirror’s Edge, with its first person jumping, climbing and bounding across rooftops.

There are stealthy splashes of Thief, and a sinister atmosphere that’s entirely reminiscent of BioShock. RPG-style levelling and a concise loot system also enforce stronger visions of Rapture’s underwater corridors, but the gameplay execution is so fresh and precise that you never feel you’re treading over covered ground.

You are the man behind the mask, Corvo – faithful servant of the city of Dunwall, loyal bodyguard to the Empress and her young daughter, Emily.

Dishonored is nothing if not gruesome.

As Lord Protector, you are the Empress’ first line of defence, and you’re one of the most deadly men in the entire city. However, you’ve just been framed for the Empress’s murder, which changes things a little.

Disgraced, you’re made an enemy of the state by the tyrannous Lord Regent; a radical, wealth-obsessed maniac who’s comparable to a propagandist caricature of David Cameron drawn by an impressively artistic Labour MP. 

After springing from prison you set up base at the Hounds Pit Pub, joining with a band of Loyalists who are fervently opposed to the Lord Regent’s rule.

From here you devise plans to slowly bring the world down from around his ears. But the Loyalists aren’t your only companions through Dishonored’s 15-hour story.

You’re regularly visited by the Outsider, a supernatural being who gives you magical abilities and an ominous beating heart that you can equip to highlight magical runes, the currency for upgrading your powers, and bone charms, which grant passive abilities. 

Dishonored’s nine missions are all heavily open-ended, and exploring the city is an unrivalled delight.

This heavily corrupt, plague-infested hellhole isn’t likely to make the front page of any holiday brochures – it feels like Sin City meets steampunk – but it encompasses an entirely jilted sense of beauty that completely offsets the dark tone flowing through Dishonored’s veins.

There's a plethora of abilities, all of which are great fun to use.

For all the bubonic disease, sunlight bathes the streets and architecture to create a sumptuous and stylised game world that’s hard to look away from.

It is as diverse as it is cohesive, too. The wealthy districts and various houses of nobility display a sense of class, decadence and style, with colour becoming more vivid and vibrant.

Meanwhile, the flooded financial region and decaying underbelly of sewers portray the city at its utter worst. A brown, putrid green colour palette starts to take over and the claustrophobic atmosphere closes in around your ears.

Hulking metal trains drop the dead into quarantine ditches by the dozen, zombie-like plague victims – or Weepers – stumble the streets attacking anyone still alive, and the rats scurry in swarms, violently consuming dead bodies and gnawing at the ankles of the living whilst they still stumble across the cobblestones.

In guarded areas, deadly Walls of Light incinerate anyone foolish enough to step into their blinding rays, and mechanical Tall Boys patrol the streets with a watchful eye over their surroundings below. It feels like a city-wide prison, and it’s Dishonored’s crowning achievement.

Every area you visit is packed full of alternate routes, and the maze-like structure feels so dense that you’re always thinking about where to go next and, more importantly, how to get there.

Stealth is just one of the ways you can play Dishonored.

While you can just dart from objective to objective, you’re continually encouraged to wander off the beaten track, and doing so rewards you with extra gold, hidden trinkets and secondary optional objectives that can completely alter how a mission turns out.

Only by going back and repeating missions – which you can do from the main menu – highlights how subtly dynamic Dishonored is.

But for all its freedom and supernatural eeriness, Dishonored’s plot feels oddly paced, at times even one-dimensional – as if you’re simply following an assassination bucket list.

There are a few twists and turns that attempt to throw you a curveball, but the main “surprises” feel predictable due to the by-the-numbers vibe that still lingers from the first half.

Even the presence of the supernatural Outsider doesn’t manage to catapult the story into the grand ethereal light it so desperately searches for. By the closing stages, the story has prematurely climaxed, and the Outsider is revealed to be little more than a glorified narrator.

However, as a mute, mostly faceless character, Corvo is an impressively strong lead. He acts as a blank canvas for your decisions to paint colour onto. His interminable silence is your voice; your opportunity to react in a way you deem suitable for the situation.

Guns are available if you want to use them, but we'll think less of you if you do.

The characters and environment around you make your actions feel all the more important, but some pale in comparison to the rich game world. Young Emily is the most integral of them all, and she serves as a walking moral compass for you to assess yourself against.

Play as a righteous, merciful assassin and she looks up to you, pledging to continue your way of peace when she is finally on the throne. Do bad and she spirals into darkness, like a kid who’s listened to too much My Chemical Romance and overdosed on Slender Man mythology.

She’ll draw you haunting pictures of her in power, slaughtering innocents, and tell you how she smells the blood on you when you return from a mission. It’s menacingly dark, but entirely engrossing to actively shape her persona.

Dishonored succeeds in making stealth a fun and viable way to play, even if you’re not stereotypically good at stealth games. Adaptation in combat is key, and there’s a constant toss-up between lethal and non-lethal methods of neutralisation.

With a deadly short blade locked to your right hand, your left hand swaps between magical abilities, ranged weapons and grenades. Lethal melee take-downs result in a gory animation that spurts gallons of blood across the walls and floor.

This ability lets you summon a swarm of rats to nibble your enemies to death.

Non-lethal takedowns cue a suitably less violent animation, and you just chokehold your enemies until they’re snoozing like babies, but your mercifulness is rewarded in the long run. 

Out of stealth, if a few guards see you, melee combat is serviceable but considerably less satisfying. Your blows are noticeably less impactful, and lack clunk when you connect with your enemies.

You can feasibly just hack away at the right trigger, occasionally blocking against a few swings that come your way, until everyone lies dead in a pool of blood. Whilst this quenches your blood lust, it breaks the illusion of precision that every other aspect of play creates.

Your ranged weapons let you rain death on your enemies without being close enough to lick their elbows. The crossbow has multiple types of ammunition; standard bolts for lethal takedowns, sleep darts for non-lethal and incendiary bolts for extra spicy destruction.

Standard bolts and sleep darts are silent, providing the perfect way to pick off a couple of enemies before moving into an enclosed space. As for the pistol, think of it as a deafeningly loud last resort that blows away anyone who’s unfortunate enough to have it aimed at them. It’s not sneaky, is what we’re saying here. 

Improvements to all of your equipment can be done back at base at the Hounds Pit. Here, tech-proficient Loyalist Piero will upgrade your sword, crossbow and pistol with various add-ons to aid you better in battle.

Dropping from the rafters is something Dishonored gets very right.

Your ammo and bolt pouches can be expanded to hold more ammunition, and you can buy potions, grenades and other traps providing you have enough gold.

Thanks to the Outsider, you’ve also got a little something else under your sleeve, which gives you a supernatural edge over your opponents.

The go-to power is your ability to Blink, which teleports you onto any surface or ledge in an instant. It’s perfect when traversing high-up areas, jumping between buildings, or when you need to escape a particularly tricky situation. 

Other powers include the ability to see through walls handy for exploring interiors; the ability to unleash a swarm of rats for brutally gory rodent murder; and the power to slow, and eventually completely freeze, time – our personal favourite.

You can also possess rats and fish, using their tiny disease-ridden little bodies to infiltrate vents and underwater passages that your human body could never hope to fit through.

All Corvo’s personal abilities can be put to use in a multitude of different ways, and it’s extremely satisfying to experiment with your powers until you really get to grips with using them in an expert way.

Corvo’s personal abilities are upgradeable at any time, but you need a certain amount of runes to afford the level up. Investing in each power is a real commitment, and you’ll feel incredibly adept with your personal skill set by the end of the game.

Dishonored doesn’t perfect everything, but it provides enough fresh ideas that you’ll overlook a few missteps entirely. Dunwall is a fabulous artistic achievement, and the characters that inhabit its stinking streets react to you so naturally that you feel directly involved in their lives.

Revenge, it seems, is a dish best served with a sprinkle of excitement and a dash of fresh ideas.

You can’t be all things to all people. We don’t know who said that phrase. We even spent at least ten seconds looking it up on the internet and if the internet doesn’t know, then it means no-one in the world knows.

All we can say is that it definitely isn’t someone who has seen the insides of Capcom’s hallowed halls, which instead resonate with famous quotes like “Can we put Ryu in it?” and “We can sell it as DLC!”.

But lo! Capcom is taking on mission impossible and decided that Resident Evil 6 can be all things to all people. Love Resident Evil 4? We’ve got your back! Obsessed with testosterone-soaked cover shooters? We’ll hook you up! Quietly a fan of Operation Raccoon City? Well, quite. Best keep it quiet. You’re just weird.

The point is that Capcom has carved Resident Evil 6 up into four huge slices, each with its own distinct flavour of action and quirks, each designed to appeal to a different audience.

Leon and Helena, Jake and Sherry, Chris and Piers, and Ada Wong. Four separate sections, four ways of playing through Resident Evil, one cute marketing bulletpoint.

There’s obvious crossover here as ultimately, it’s still a game where you point your gun at zombies and pull the trigger – it’s not like Leon and Helena have the tennis mini-game while Ada Wong has the karting bit.

Fight or flee? You’ll soon have that question answered for you.

Even so, there are enough distinct differences that you can enjoy them as fully separate campaigns, each with their own identity.

It also helps that sections are kept entirely separate, so much so that they’re actually offered up as different menu options before you start playing.

There’s no starting off as Leon, now you’re Jake, now you’re Chris, now you’re... yes, back to Leon! Instead, these are walled-off campaigns, with only the storyline and cut-scenes linking the three together.

Leon and Helena are up first in the tutorial- disguised-as-a-prologue, as you’re whisked through how the combat and inventory system works.

The former is easy enough – aim gun, shoot gun, melee if they get close – but it’s the latter that shows the first real signs of progress for the series. You scroll through your weapons on the D-pad, while tapping Triangle brings up your items.

You can combine green and red herbs in traditional Resi-style, before slapping your herbal concoction in a pillbox, ready to heal you with a quick tap of R2.

It’s a slick, sparse and minimal system that sees the series finally have the confidence to sever ties with its cumbersome inventory system of old.

Jake has learnt Paparazzi on piano. Listen to him play!

Anyone who played Resident Evil 5 will know that selecting the right item under pressure demanded inventory dexterity that required painful gymnastics from your thumb, as you ended up selecting a proximity mine rather than a first-aid spray, threw it on the floor in blind panic and then blew yourself up.

Online co-op means no real way to ‘pause’ the action to sort through your pockets and it’s an area Capcom never quite solved. With Resident Evil 6, everything is quickly accessible with a few D-pad taps.

There’s nothing about “They got the inventory system right!” that will make you punch the air in shoulder- popping excitement, but it’s an obvious plus that Capcom has managed to solve one of modern Resident Evil’s biggest weaknesses.

When the tutorial ends, it’s likely you’ll want to continue with Leon and Helena once you’re given the choice of who you want to begin your real Resident Evil 6 adventure.

Following a dramatic intro introducing us to the pair’s storyline, the duo quietly plod and pick their way through the spookily empty Ivy University, questioning where all the students have gone, as thunder throws quick flashes of light across the mahogany halls and abandoned dining tables.

This is why nobody likes visiting the dentist, ever.

It’s a masterclass in building tension. Capcom is in no hurry to get to the action and the setting is so dense with detail and atmosphere, neither is the player.

That you’ve clearly been dropped in the middle of something only adds to the mystery of the situation, giving your brain time to play amateur detective, piecing together the clues in the environment around you, steeling yourself for the moment when zombies smash violently through the quiet.

Eventually the inevitable happens, as Leon and Helena encounter zombies in the most dramatic of ways. It’s here that the difference between Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 is most apparent.

Where the former suffered an identity crisis and tried to reach for big, ballsy action yet refused to abandon its stiff, survival horror roots, Resident Evil 6 has the slick control that allows Capcom to really crank

up the pace. Zombie ambushes, tumbling buses, dogs snapping at you from behind gravestones, dodging trains... it’s the sort of action that never would have been possible with the old Resident Evil framework, seeing as that had to be designed around the stilted movement that the series grew up with.

Leon and Helena can turn, shoot, fight, and attack as well as in any third-person action game, with only the slightly awkward turning-while- running mechanic that sees you hitting walls more often than you like being a real giveaway of the series’ past.

Ada’s sections start stealthily before exploding into crossbow-firing action.

Sometimes you’ll catch yourself groaning (like a zombie HA) at the cheap tricks inserted to trip you up. Lifeless zombies are scattered around Ivy University but even though you know they’re going to try the old oooh-we’ve-come-to-life-we’re-trying-to-grab-you-oooh routine, headshots don’t work until you’ve walked close enough to trigger them.

Sometimes it’s all too easy to spot a jump scare lying behind a slowly opening door, which saps those sections of surprise.

What’s lost in cheap tricks is made up for with different types of enemies. The zombies progress from the hoodies-and-hats attire of the campus students to the skinless freaks prowling the catacombs that Leon and Helena land in, while special zombies also show up and force a change of tactics.

One type can only be killed with a direct shot to its heart, the rest of its body impenetrable muscle and bone. Another distorts your view with screams, lungs flapping around outside of its chest.

When crossing rope bridges linking underground tombs, you’ll be stopped by a fat zombie jumping up and down to throw you off balance, knocking you out of your aiming animation and demanding shots to the leg to cripple it.

It’s nothing revolutionary but it allows Capcom to keep things fresh and mix up the tactics demanded of you.

The explosions put this on par with the best-looking games on PlayStation 3.

Jake and Sherry are next, and their time in the spotlight is host to Capcom’s more ambitious ideas. Jake is a mercenary and the son of Wesker while Sherry Birkin, who first appeared in Resident Evil 2 as a 12-year-old, is now an agent for the DSO.

Without spoiling things, their storyline and interaction is actually the most interesting of the three and the scenarios they end up in are a reflection on that.

Jake can flip himself around on monkey bars while Sherry can’t, which means Jake and Sherry’s levels sometimes suffer from a conveniently-placed-bar- to-split-up-the-duo tactic.

Fortunately, Capcom has other ideas that stretch beyond that. One section sees Jake protecting an unarmed Sherry Birkin using a remote gun camera, with a clever puzzle solution for Jake if he pays attention to what his partner is doing.

Jake also has a melee style, selected in the same way he’d choose a gun. Holding down L1 puts him in a melee stance and holding R1 allows him to charge a palm strike, and when released he runs at his opponent to smash them in the face.

There are further combinations he can do using melee strikes, including elbows and flip-kicks, and it’s more practical than it sounds – it serves as an interesting way to save on the scarce ammo in their scenario and provides a refreshing change of pace.

Leon and Helena’s adventure takes them far underground.

Sometimes the ideas work (Jake’s melee style) and sometimes they don’t (an ill-fitting motorbike section).

What’s consistent is that the moment-to-moment gameplay in their sections constantly change, a refreshing showcase of Capcom’s ambition rather than going through the same old Resident Evil mentions.

Which, oddly, is what threatens to puncture the package when Chris Redfield and new boy Piers show up to take their turn in the spotlight.

The duo have come to represent the series’ shift from horror to action, the cynical attempt to appeal to those gamers raised on a diet of Western cover shooters.

The first few hours in the company of Chris and Piers do little to discourage that thought, as they rattle through inane dialogue and meaningless shooting gallery set-pieces with gusto.

The funnelneck design leaves little  room for exploration or tactics or anything besides racing forward towards the next encounter, where it’s often the speed of your trigger finger that separates success and failure.

There’s not much variation in what’s demanded of you, while co-op interaction is rarely more than the two partners meeting up at metal doors.

Different enemies require different tactics, keeping you on your toes.

It’s not awful, thanks to the satisfying feedback of the guns themselves, but it’s more Time Crisis than Resident Evil. The atmosphere is oddly flat and while the pace is high, it’s at the expense of substance.

It’s a move that leaves their sections feeling hollow, as you’re either shooting down a corridor or you’re wheeling around a room firing at everything that moves.

Then Capcom suddenly remembers this is its biggest game since forever and it pulls its finger out, unleashing a barrage of set-pieces ranging from boss fights against giant snakes to outrunning helicopter gunfire across rickety boats in China to on-rails shooting sections that actually feel engaging. Gasp!

Their chapters become a brutal survival challenge, with the two placed under extreme duress and forced to rely on their muscle

and firepower to get out of trouble. It’s not horror but it’s strong, confident co-op action powered by some of the best-looking visuals on PS3.

Finally, there’s Ada Wong. Unlocked after completing the campaign, Ada is there to add extra context around the story and fill out the sections where she swoops in (sometimes literally) on the other characters as they play through their levels.

Some areas you visit are genuinely stunning.

She’s the most confident of all the cast and her crossbow means the gameplay feels different to everything that’s come before it, the fire-then-reload mechanic forcing you to approach enemies with an air of caution rather than the out-and-out chaos of the other sections.

Capcom even toys with the idea of stealth but it doesn’t work too well, given the nature of the cover controls. In Uncharted, you take cover by pressing a button.

In Resident Evil 6, you have to aim, then push into the wall by aiming, then move to the edge of the wall to see around the corner but you have to stop immediately otherwise Ada spins around, crossbow poised, with “LOOK I’M HERE!” written on her forehead in bright, neon letters.

It’s not the most successful of stealth mechanics and mercifully, it’s neither a forced game over for any alerts nor is it an idea that’s too persistent.

Ada Wong is alone, too. With no co-op partner in tow, it’s surprising how much of an impact this has. There’s the obvious difference, such as how the tension and drama is cranked up simply because you can no longer fall back on the luxury of an extra pair of hands backing you up.

No partner to split up the enemy’s attention, no second gun to double your firepower, no helping hand when you tumble to the floor.

These things need to be shot right in the chest several times.

It’s also the impact on level design, as Capcom no longer needs to cater for two players. Ada’s chapters are tightened up, and maze-like labyrinths, swimming sections, all sorts are thrown in.

Given Capcom has recently been slicing up its games into bitesize DLC ribbons – Street Fighter X Tekken deserves its own section on PSN Store for the continuous vomit of DLC spraying from its general direction – Ada Wong’s campaign is a surprisingly generous addition.

When you consider that each section already weighs in at six to eight hours long, there’s a lot of meat on Resident Evil 6 ’s bones. This is before we even take the collectibles, Mercenaries and Agent Hunt into consideration, stretching its life even further.

The inevitable question – is Resident Evil 6 a return to the horror roots of the series? You know the answer already. You knew it when you saw the trailers, heard the interviews, saw the screenshots and we can confirm it now, this isn’t a game that will have you cowering behind the sofa in fear. It’s an action game with a horror theme. There are some effective jump scares. There are tense moments.

However, there isn’t anything that really makes you dread what lies ahead. It’s a game that has now slipped away from horror territory and into action territory. Your biggest fear is running out of bullets, not running into disfigured creatures.

A rare moment of calm before the storm in a Chinese alleyway.

This is balanced to some degree by the difficulty. It’s not scary but it is surprisingly tough, thanks to a scarcity of bullets and abundance of enemies who can soak them up.

One saving grace is how strong melee moves are and you can plough through small crowds of weaker zombies with fist and foot alone, something that wasn’t an option in previous Resident Evils when you were rooted to the spot, swiping the air with a knife like you were swatting flies. Yet you’re always aware of how many bullets you have left and the need to think about what you’re doing.

What all the sections share in common is the same theme that runs through Resident Evil 6 – this is a brilliant action game, marred only by rough patches where Capcom attempts ideas that don’t quite work.

It’s not the best Resident Evil game but how could it be after Resident Evil 4? Instead, this is arguably the best co-op game available on PlayStation 3 alongside Borderlands 2, and while long-term Resident Evil fans might still be disappointed by the nod towards action over horror, Capcom finally has the confidence and know-how to pull it off. It’s big, it’s brutal, it’s ballsy and most of all, it’s back.

Odd rough patch or misfire aside, Resident Evil 6 is bursting with innovation, content and confidence that shows Capcom knows exactly what it’s doing with its series. Now fully tooled up for co-op, this feels like a Resident Evil worthy of modern times.

If you’re not one of the six people who actually enjoy this kind of game, then The Testament Of Sherlock Holmes must confuse you a lot. There are no guns, you can’t headshot anything and, despite the endless amounts of conversations, there aren’t even any stats to grind or roles to play. 

It’s a hidden object game, basically. Once more popularised thanks to the iPad, this genre of videogame puts you into a series of enclosed spaces where you must hunt down every item and – if you’re lucky – solve a few puzzles.

The voice acting is awful, the controls are clumsy and the puzzles often fail to provide you any logical clue to help you solve them.

But if you like puzzle games then you’ll find mild enjoyment through each of the challenges themselves and, truth be told, even tracking down each of the clues can feel bizarrely gratifying.

Even the world of Sherlock Holmes is – dare we say – keenly observed, with references to past escapades from the illustrious history of the world’s greatest detective.

None of this actually makes The Testament Of Sherlock Holmes a good game, of course: it’s still very awkward to play and the endless yapping can make getting to the puzzles a bit of a chore.

The biggest problem is its hamfisted level design, which literally forces you to track down every clue - however unnecessary - before enabling you to proceed.

It's moments like this that Sherlock makes you think it could be something quite special. It's not.

It's almost as if you already know the answer, you just need find the right route there. Which, obviously, isn't the best way to work a puzzle game.

The best example is in the deducing feature, which sees Sherlock take to a notepad to write down every possible solution to a problem. All well and good, until you discover that none of the suggestions really make sense.

This inevitable leads to classic puzzle solving skills: in other words, trying every possible option until the game tells you you're right.

Perhaps we're being overally negative, but you deserve to know how awkward the puzzle solving can be. That said, somehow it manages to draw you in, regardless of how painfully put together it all is.

If you ever find it for a tenner and like this sort of thing then you’ll probably get value from it, but everyone else should just stick to Call Of Duty.

Back in the not-so-distant past, you would’ve been forgiven for thinking you were a rock god of the gaming world when you were able to bust out the full 7+ minutes of Dragonforce’s Through The Fire And Flames’ on expert Guitar Hero.

Nowadays the market is unfortunately less fruitful in the guitar-based rhythm genre, and players need something fresh and exciting to have bragging rights over. Rocksmith could well be the answer, but with it comes the use of the fabled ‘real instrument’.

Claiming to teach actual guitar knowledge, Ubisoft has created a teaching aid for all you wannabe rock stars, in the guise of a videogame. Finally, you can honestly say you can play a riff from a well-known song, rather than losing face in a failed attempt at strumming a chord.

Rocksmith teaches you from the ground  up, beginning with the basics; how to position your guitar, tune the strings, and hold the pick. You’re taught really simple note progressions, working through the career mode until you’re finally able to play a song to the end perfectly.

It’s pretty intuitive to how well you’re advancing, becoming more difficult with each playthrough of a song, or slowing down if you stumble. You play much like you would Guitar Hero; the strings are marked as colours, while the fret numbers indicate where to put your fingers and when to strum.

Look at how complicated that is! Guitar Hero would have never taken off if it looked like that.

It even comes with stickers for your guitar’s fret board so you don’t get lost, and a unique lead: USB to a quarter inch jack, so you can play using any electric guitar you find lying around. If you fancy a jam, rather than playing the set list, you also have the option to use your TV as an amp, which includes a range of pedals and effects – perfect to annoy the neighbours with.

The set list is always open for those who want to show off what they’ve learnt, or for those who believe they already possess the musical prowess of Clapton or Hendrix and want to jump right in.

Mini-games aim to build on certain techniques while giving you a break from the career mode, and split-screen multiplayer is available for you to rock out with a friend if you want to go public with your skills.  With a multitude of classic and more recent rock hits available, Rocksmith can definitely teach anyone a thing or two about guitar playing.

It’s not a chore to learn using the game, and with a host of DLC on the horizon, Rocksmith definitely has longevity. Keep practicing and with time you can almost certainly claim to be a rock star.

What’s the biggest and best new addition to FIFA 13? Well, it’s a subtraction, actually.

No longer do we have Wayne “Pretty Boy” Rooney’s face staring at us all the time when the game is loaded up. Instead we’re now met with the handsome young face of one Lionel Messi.

It’s a big change, we have to admit. Alright, that’s possibly slightly facetious on our part, as EA Canada has once again gone out of its way to improve and iterate upon what came last year.

As it did the time before, the time before, the time before, and so on and so forth. But unlike last year where these changes resulted in the rather divisive addition of ‘tactical defending’, FIFA 13 instead sees us returning to the realm of smaller, more iterative updates.

There’s no knockout punch feature that makes this a must-buy for owners of the last game, nor is there enough to draw back lapsed fans who might have given up.

There’s still a damn good game of football, though. There’s still the chance to take part in some beautiful, flowing and satisfying kick-ball. There’s still the satisfaction of sneaking that last-minute flukey winner you absolutely did not deserve.

There’s still Tony Hibbert. Still, back to those changes. The big one this year is the first-touch control system, which makes for more realistic takes by players when the ball comes to them.

The changes tp tactical defending are among FIFA 13's finest additions.

In practice? Well, it means sometimes they miscontrol it. And sometimes it happens for no discernible reason. It adds a touch (pun!) of realism, no doubt, but it also adds something we sort of assumed existed anyway in the game for years.

Who knew? But the best improvement (that’s barely been talked about) we can think of is the modification to tactical defending.

While last year it broke the experience for many (regardless of EA’s “95 per cent of players preferred it” non-scientific random number nonsense), this year it has had systems built up around it to support the framework introduced in FIFA 12.

While last time out you would see defenders stabbing their feet aimlessly in whatever direction they were facing, this time around they make the effort to at least swing in the direction of the player they’re trying to tackle. It’s the little things.

Not only do they lunge better, but there’s a push and pull system that – when used intelligently – can impact seriously on the effectiveness of your defence or attack, and the simple act of muscling a smaller player off the ball is far more natural a process than it was before.

Basically it seems as though problems introduced last time around have been fixed – whether that’s a totally good thing, we’re not entirely sure (should the problems exist in the first place? Hmm).

FIFA 13 retains EA's edge in the visual department.

Then there are other little nips and tucks that make attacking a more rounded process. Close control dribbling has been included, brought in from FIFA Street (though toned down, naturally) and allowing players to face up to defenders all the time while holding onto the ball.

Then there’s swifter, sometimes-automatic implementation of neater control when approaching the edge of the opposition half, meaning the players that can – your Ibrahimovic and Agueros of the world – can skip through defenders if those controlling them are quick enough on the sticks.

It’s well-balanced against the new defensive initiatives to help make neither side of the coin feel overpowered. And the middle of the park? Well, it feels as irrelevant and ignored as it always has in FIFA.

The fact this is the better game than last year’s FIFA 12 may make for confusing reading when scores are compared.

But while the improvements are there – they are both necessary and well implemented – backing it all up is a game that just isn’t changing in any real way.

And that introduces more confusion: does EA need to mix things up a great deal to justify these yearly, full-price releases? Maybe it’s the fatigue of this generation catching up with us.

Maybe it’s an irritation with the iterative process of updates – and the fact you’re expected to shell out full price every time for what could realistically be called a patch (admittedly, it would be a content-rich patch).

Do you feel bored by FIFA, or do you think it's gameplay is just about right?

Maybe we’re just getting a bit bored of playing the same old FIFA. Maybe the series needs a PES-style kick up the backside to push it into action so it can be truly great again. Maybe this, maybe that. The fact of the matter is FIFA 13 is brilliant fun, noted complaints aside.

It’s just this time around the competition has done a fine job of highlighting the cracks and seams in EA’s patchwork of updates and ideas. FIFA’s still great, but it has to be looking over its shoulder more than it has been in recent years.