Ken Levine manages to combine difficult topics like guilt, atonement and racism while creating truly remarkable characters, best of all the equally charming and dangerous Elizabeth. Add to this the breathtaking visuals and tactical action (at least on the more difficult levels) and you get an extraordinary action experience.

Colorful, charming and full of atmosphere: The fluid rhythm of fighting, looting and upgrading has been a hit on the 360 and PC and is as convincing on the iPad.

Quotation forthcoming.

This is a beautiful monster of a game. It is as sad as it is remarkable that this PS2-classic might be the best thing happening to Vita users for the whole year.

You meet old friends and you feel at home on the Normandy. But this is the weakest and most monotonous episode of a futuristic adventure that went the wrong way over time. The action is not varied enough, relies too heavily on surviving wave after wave and rarely equals the tension of shooters like Killzone or Gears of War. On all levels I missed variety and challenge. If you started this odyssey with Shepherd a few years ago, you'll want to end this nonetheless – and you won't be disappointed. But after the credits I didn't think about a possible sequel but the missing headshot statistics.

It's not just the clever idea or the funky artdesign – it is the combination of everything, infused with a helping of Elite Beat Agents, a pinch of Rhythm Paradise and a teaspoon of Ghost Trick. Beat Sneak Bandit is as creative as intelligent.



Once you dive into the campaign, you can’t take your hands off this turn-based tactic gem, despite some downfalls in the story department with its’ sometimes corny dialogues.

Magical, impressive, inspiring – like an Arabian Nights' story. The world with its monumental vistas reminds you of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus while the game design continues the mysterious experience of Flower.

More Need for Speed, less FlatOut, more racing, less drifting. And it is simply one of the best looking racers in the AppStore. Unfortunately there is no local multiplayer while online play is still contaminated with lags.

Trials Evolution is pure addiction on two wheels with loads of improvements on the already highly motivating predecessor.

In times where Sam Fisher is a mere shadow of his former self, this two-dimensional ninja steps into the limelight, proving that old school-stealth is far from being dead.

For me this is the best and most important online role-playing game since Mythic's Dark Age of Camelot. ArenaNet managed to eradicate the grind-treadmill with simple but very effective attention to detail. This excursion into the fantasy theme park named Tyria, where on every corner there's a new ride to experience in form of the many things you can discover, is well worth its entry fee.

Once you get used to the new controls it is hard to get away from this excellent, incredibly intensive basketball experience.

You travel through an engaging world full of secrets and hidden clues. You watch, you take notes, you ponder, you think about what is happening on the screen. This is a mysterious journey through time and space – charming, fascinating, unique.

It is rare that games showcase deep emotions. And to be honest, I didn't think that Telltale would be able to pull it off. But they delivered. I am looking forward to the second season.

Pandora is more colorful and more vivid than ever before. The enemies act smarter and they attack in mixed groups so the team of up to four heroes has to work together - elemental damage and positioning are keys to survival. Unfortunately the storytelling takes a while before it gets interesting (although the humour is top-notch) and sometimes you get stuck in a mission treadmill.

Classy design, comfortable handling, challenging turn based strategy. This is the best board game conversion far and wide – 4X at its best!

When it comes to art design, the architecture and fashion in Dishonored are among the best I have seen in recent years. The stealth-action starts promisingly but you become too powerful too soon. Nonetheless, this is a thoroughly entertaining game.

Intense turn based tactics combined with challenging funds and army management – XCOM portrays Earth's defense as a comprehensive SciFi-thriller.

Under the goo-goo eyes and the rather clumsily animated characters hides a challenging old school role-playing experience that punishes every little mistake you might make in your battle strategy. But more importantly: The magic of an era long forgotten is still there.

This is exactly how a conversion from consoles to touch pad should look: You won't find any virtual buttons or triggers, the controls are fine-tuned and custom made for gestures, while the content is as huge as on its console brethren. The mobile Joe delivers on a large scale.

If you want a suspenseful crime story with sci-fi flair, dramatic conflicts and puzzles that are as varied as they are challenging, look no further. This is a grand adventure.

A little Tetris, a little GO and a lot of contested space: This mobile conversion of a classic boardgame is very entertaining.

The action is explosive, the direction of the story sequences is intense at times, but still I can't really feel at home on these islands. Far Cry 3 is the ultimate open sandbox: The player can do what he wants, where he wants it, when he wants it. But the credibility of the world suffers – and with it my motivation.

I played the 360- and the PS3-version. And still the level design with its bright colours and crazy ideas managed to captivate me. This was and still is one of the best jump-and-runs in recent memory.

Especially in areas where Diablo III disappointed, this small gem from Runic Games displays its strengths: There is more than enough useful loot, thus motivating the hunt for the bigger better item, you need to make decisions when it comes to character development. Choice and balancing of the difficulty levels are also well-conceived.

The charming art-design has been refined, surroundings appear more lively, the battles are more diverse, the difficulty level is more challenging, while new towers, units, rewards and unlockables offer increased tactical depth – an installment which clearly surpasses its predecessor.

On the 360 Geralt shows all the strengths that made his voyage such a gem on the PC, but albeit all the additional content didn't lose all the weaknesses. On top of that the visuals show unexpected blemishes.

I hate you. More than anything else. I don't want to play anymore. Okay. One more time. Really. I promise. Okay, now only one more time. Damned, I can do better than that. This is really the last time. Oh man, that was close. Just one more time, I can do it. I hate you. I love you. One more time. Damn, you look good.

A decade ago Blizzard ruled the Hack&Slay world with an iron fist but its new expedition into hell is just one among many well-executed action roleplaying games. They rely too much on well known mechanics to set themselves apart from the competition. Is it an experience worth your time? Absolutely - especially if you have some friends to beat up the spawns of hell. But Diablo 3 missed the chance to move the genre into the future.

Charming, diversified and incredibly versatile. Sackboy's Vita adventure adds small, but well working touchscreen improvements to the powerful editor/game.

Great atmosphere, beautiful animations, skillful goals – this is top notch soccer.

Alien Breed was and still is very challenging dual-stick-action. Unfortunately the virtual sticks are not as accurate as needed to survive the tough enemies. Nonetheless even over 20 years after its debut Alien Breed is still cool.

Although it shows some flaws the Halo 4 campaign is one of the best within the series. And on top of that 343 proves that their enhancements of the multiplayer formula add some depth to the dynamic firefights.

Simogo takes you on a special, sometimes scary melancholic journey that looks like a Swedish winter wonderland at first, but leading you step by step in a dark world hiding behind its pretty façade.

If you label a game Max Payne you should put Max Payne in it. I loved Max, because he had style and character – like a good whiskey. But this tastes like a colorful cocktail and plays like an explosive military shooter with Latinas in their stringtangas dancing to the bullet-staccato. Nonetheless you'll get solid entertainment with cynical comments, convincing digital actors and the occasional bullet in the head.

At one point Max mumbles almost like Sylvester Stallone. And that's when I thought "Killing is as easy but also as boring as breathing". What once was a stylistic masterpiece with rough edges now becomes mass compatible mainstream action for the Call of Duty generation.

Lara matured from sex symbol to a person with character and feels more authentic as an archaeologist. But unfortunately Crystal Dynamics wasn’t courageous enough to incorporate real survival with hunger, lack of ammunition and desperation. They let you dive into a colorful, varied adventure filled with action, though. In the end with this Lara Croft not another “Survivor” is born, but rather another “Soldier”.

Ghost Trick is a clever adventure where you travel into the past of deceased to solve intelligent puzzles in order to investigate your own death – very entertaining.

This is one of the most atmospheric games I have played on the iPad so far, even though this isn't a RPG with dialogues, quests or plot but a simple turnbased game of dice against the clock that`s based on luck as well as rudimentary tactics.

Why is there no release of the complete trilogy for the launch of a new console? That would have been added value. Nonetheless this is basically the same game that you can get on other systems, give or take some interesting additions as well as nagging faults: An entertaining and sometimes tragic ending to a space shooter that doesn't live up to its potential.

Velocity is a small but nice shooter-puzzle-mix with a comforting retro atmosphere.

This game is killing me. After a few days with Spelunky everywhere I look I see arrow traps and giant spiders. But why does it have to be so damn hard? One wrong step and there it is again: Game Over!

At first glance Swordigo is simple and ugly. But under the surface you'll find a competent and challenging adventure, that reminds you of early Zeldas: A lot of combat, a lot of exploring, the occasional puzzle and a huge world.

At first I was skeptical, but Creative Assembly presents challenging and varied strategy, which has been improved on a lot of levels although some relevant areas like AI and diplomacy have been left out.

At one point I seriously asked myself if Sports Interactive pushed too hard when it came to depth as well as attention to detail. But then my team scored, I saw my tactics work out and I just wanted more. This game will keep you hooked for weeks and months.

This charming adventure still is fascinating – although the fun gets spoiled by framerate problems and the undemanding action.

Finally you’ll get a decent racer on Wii U. Criterion made an exemplary port, proving that Nintendo's new system is able to dish out beautiful visuals and break-neck speed.

Intelligent Systems wears its name with pride: The puzzles are as elegant as they are tricky. Fallblox is a small but enthralling addition to the 3DS download library.

It looks great, it plays surprisingly well, but there is still quite some distance to the likes of Infinity Blade 2, which simply offers more of everything.

This is a very good expansion, but be aware that the focus on improvements is to be found in multiplayer, while Kerrigan’s revenge campaign delivers rather solid entertainment.

Ninja Theory had big boots to fill. But they mastered the reboot of the iconic stylish action series. The fighting system manages the balance between traditional dynamics and contemporary combo madness. The art design is close to perfect. The narrative though is sometimes losing focus and refuses to give the characters room to grow for most of the time. Nonetheless this is the first big action highlight of the year.

The seemingly simple puzzler quickly becomes an avant-garde masterpiece asking clever questions and challenging you with a hard to master and astonishingly complex principle.

This is an excellent action adventure game design. At its best, it is full of surprises, dynamic battles and logic puzzles. Once you enter the haunted house you don’t want to check out until the last ghost is caught.

The motion recognition works well, the choreographies are as varied as they are challenging, plus you can import the predecessors' tracks (for a small fee). And even this year Harmonix moved forward in terms of party-play there is still lots of room for improvement in this area. Four players simultaneously anyone?

What a charming adventure. The beautiful backdrops bear the inimitable hand writing of Studio Ghibli's artists. The wonderful story carries big emotions without pathos. And the role-playing game opens the doors to a wide land full of fantasy and danger.

I've waited a long time for real time strategy that combines the intuitive iPad controls with the complexity you expect in the genre. Now a student project became a great game – congratulations to Touch Dimensions.

This turn based strategy is not for casual Caesars but a very ambitious project for sophisticated generals. The creative formation system and the challeging campaign will keep you busy for weeks – one turn at a time.

It should have been the same experience as on other consoles. But technical issues, mainly the pop-up distance and frame rate issues hold this assassin back. Not to mention the underutilized GamePad.

Lunacy, anarchy, drastic violence and stealth tactics wrapped in absurd amounts of pixelblood and psychedelic electro. You can love this game. You can damn it into the deepest hell. But you can't ignore it.

It is tremendous fun to cruise through a breathtaking virtual Colorado, explore and listen to the fantastic soundtrack. On top of that the brilliant driving physics show that the Forza-DNA is still intact and working. But AI problems, a missing split-screen and the reduction to a maximum of eight players online eventually show that there is still room for improvement.

There is no doubt: On Wii U 2K13 celebrates the same magnificent basketball as on 360 or PlayStation 3. But be aware that the engine is not as fluent as on other systems and that the new features for the Wii U GamePad are either unnecessary or well conceived but implemented halfheartedly.

Arkham City is one of the strongest games in the Wii U launch lineup, mainly thanks to the original content that's as fascinating as it was about a year ago. But this port also benefits from good implementation of the touch pad controls that seem tailor-made.

The charm of this pixel adventure won me over fast. While it is a brilliant idea to stage it like a theatre with the party sitting at the table with the dungeon master, the role-playing reminds of the good ole days.

Despite problems like the resolution limitation and the missing PC optimization this game is still excellent. Courageous heroes can delve into a mysterious and dangerous world where greed and impatience are bad companions.

This is the most dramatic episode of the season so far.

Rejoice, hobby generals: Battle of the Bulge is the first strategy highlight of the year. Alongside Ravenmark this is the best you can get in turn based strategy for your iPad.

If you know Death from another console there is no reason for you to ride with him again. But as a launch title for Wii U this as close as you will get to a game in the tradition of the Legend of Zelda-series.

Chaotic, frenzied platform action with loads of entertaining online modes: This is a dream come true for sociable jump&run fans.

The new submission system copies a page out of EAs MMA conceptbook, but it works well and adds depth to the already convincing fighting system that gives you loads of options to try and dominate your opponent, regardless where the fight takes place in the octagon.

When it comes to two-stick action this is as good (or bad) as any. But with its comic style and the sheer amount of enemies it reminds me positively of an isometric Serious Sam.

The zombie sequel is an impressive lesson about life after the apocalypse with moral questions.

Within the overcrowded genre of "endless runners" Whale Trail stands out thanks to its psychedelic artdesign, while the mechanics are similar to the likes of Tiny Wings or Jetpack Joyride.

The narrative mix of historical facts and fictitious involvement of the main characters is more believable than ever. The new engine has its flaws but paints beautiful vistas while presenting more detailed characters than its predecessors. But even though this is a package loaded with content, it is far from perfect and lacks connection between all the interesting ideas.

Even though I was hoping for a little more creativity on Wii U when it comes to the touchscreen controls, this still is a magical and extensive adventure.

The experience on the track is more refined and better than ever. But why am I restricted in a lot of areas, e.g. game modes? Why can't I just take Michael Schumacher and go for the eighth championships? If you don't need the up-to-date license you might as well go back for last years' version.

This is not quite Need for Speed nor quite Burnout Paradise. But nonetheless this is an entertaining high gloss racer with adrenaline injection. Solo you might want to look for something else, but if you're into wild and crazy online chases you will get lost in Fairhaven.

I was very skeptical, but after finishing the first episode I have to give kudos to Telltale. They captured the spirit of the saga in a very convincing manner. The mix of classic point&click virtues and more recent elements like realtime action and quicktime events reminds me of Heavy Rain.

Colorful, charming, challenging and full of humor: Guacamelee celebrates classic exploration, fighting and jump&run on the highest level.

You want to explore space, push your crew to the limit and improve your vessel. From sector to sector you find new challenges, although none is bigger than the save system. You die, you have to start over.

Zelda meets Robotron: Isaac celebrates old school topdown action in randomly generated dungeons.

The audiovisual presentation with its retro flair is charming and thanks to the constant challenge the motivation starts on a high level. It is replaced by frustration though, because challenge quickly becomes routine, which in turn made me go back to more classic jump&runs.

Nintendo rediscovers fun for the core gamer: New Super Mario Bros. U is hardly surprising, but delivers quite a challenge with its classic jump & run roots.

As good as the concept was three years ago and as entertaining a successful coop session may be, in the end this is little more than an interesting design study.

The manual boost results not only in a more dynamic offense, but forces you to anticipate on defense. With the enhanced mechanics and the improved AI there's no way around NHL 13 if you're remotely interested in this sport.

I wish I could love Kid Icarus more. Because in theory it has everything: A top-notch presentation, loads of minigames and stuff on the side that is almost more interesting than the campaign, a brilliant soundtrack. But there is one thing that overshadows everything: The frustrating controls!

The dynamic fights could have been more challenging but the bosses deliver and in the grand scheme the fighting is just a small part of the complex Darksiders mosaic. If you like exploration, puzzles, secrets, the hunt for the bigger better loot plus the occasional scythe wielding, this year it will probably not get much better than this.

Once you get into the principle that is slightly inspired by Plants vs. Zombies, this mixture of tower defense, strategy and charming puzzles is quite entertaining.

This is a lot of fun! Like Words With Friends the back and forth of challenges is quite entertaining.

The basic concept might be a bit outdated by now but it still is as addictive as it is simple. And with the addition of gravity and indirect hits it gains a lot of creativity, although luck plays a bigger part than ever before.

A gorgeous presentation, motivating gameplay and amazing depth – the gathering of these beat-em-up-heavyweights is a sure hit regardless of your experience.

Right now military shooters share the problem of the WWII action games from about five years ago: Eventually you have seen everything and played everything, over and over, again and again. Sure, the campaign has its moments, but nonetheless Black Ops 2 would love to be Modern Warfare – and that is a five-year-old game. And so it is once again the established multiplayer with its plethora of modes and personalization option (all of which are basically known) that comes to the rescue of this run-of-the-mill shooter.

Kudos to Grasshopper and Digital Reality: I didn't think that a side scrolling shooter could look this marvelous. This is a well-executed take on bullet hell action with a clever integration of slow motion.

The fighting mechanics work well, collision detection is right on the money, online duels are as accurate as offline battles. The narrative though suffers from incoherent styles and a tendency to be drawn out.

I always emphasize how much I like Tekken Bowling – and keep forgetting how much I missed Tekken Ball. With the extra content this would be the first choice for Tekken aficionados – but just if you use the ProController. The standard Wii U GamePad is made with a lot of games in mind but not beat'em ups.

Combining little blocks was never more stylish than with Lumines. Unfortunately this rendition is a mere shadow of its former PSP-self.

A lot of games tried to copy Minecraft – or at least participate from its' success. But this two-dimensional take on the well known formula is the only game that is able to step out of the shadow of the indie phenomenon that inspired it. It leads you into a unique world full of creative magic.

Its over-the-top presentation as well as the sardonic smirk after dozens of enemies died in a well-constructed labyrinth of traps make most tower defense contenders look bland. However while an update of maps, tracks, weapons and game modes is a welcome addition to the original, the sequel offers too little to be considered a full-fledged successor.