Far Cry 3 is all the best things about open-world gaming. It's a glorious anecdote factory, where you manufacture brilliant new memories every time you wake up in a safehouse and head out into the jungle. It's an astonishing technical achievement, as comfortable revealing incredible landscapes over the brow of a hill as it is when the setting sun winks at you through a canopy, or when the heavens open as you stalk wildlife through the trees and long grass. And it always lets you play, but it also controls the tempo - sometimes a little heavy-handedly, but always with good intentions.

BioShock Infinite doesn't blur the lines between your reality and the game's to quite the same extent as its predecessor, but it's a more complete and polished story, and that's the thing you'll remember.

This is a special game. The kind that makes you stop and think for a long time about whether it's ever been done better.

Reinvigorate your childhood fantasies of living in a cartoon and pick up MDK2 - there ain't much better in the genre.

Somehow Third Law have managed to take the best elements of old fashioned pure action shooters and build on them to make something that is entertaining and nostalgic for us old fogeys, while still managing to stand up against the rather higher standards of modern games when it comes to plot and gameplay.

The length of the game might seem a little short for some of the more dedicated RTS players out there, but then remember that "Homeworld" only had 17 missions!

Improved menus and controls make it rather less intimidating, and the open-ended nature of the game and the massive range of units, buildings, technologies and strategies on offer means this is one game that you can play time and time again without ever repeating yourself.

Everything about the game smacks of good research and authenticity, down to the ability to select a Japanese voiceover with English subtitles rather than having English voices all the way through.

With the inclusion of a Software Development Kit in the package, the door is also wide open for user modifications and new missions for the game, which should extend SWAT3's life for the foreseeable future. I couldn't recommend your acquisition of this game any more.

Much-improved this time around, the only things I can hold against it are the car's questionable propensity to stick to the track even when you steer it markedly off-course, and the rather sizeable learning curve for newcomers.

A solid storyline backed by hauntingly good graphics and sound, with entertaining combat and weaponry make this a hard game to put down.

One of my biggest problems with Nocturne was its system requirements, which placed the game frankly rather ahead of its time.

Although its strength lies in depth, longevity and gameplay rather than in artistry and atmosphere, it still deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with ICO in the rankings of "the best games you've never played".

While it arguably does little in term of innovation, it has some classic puzzles, far more satisfying combat elements than ever before, some truly horrifying sections, fantastic visuals, gruesome audio and a quality storyline that kicks most of the embarrassing competition out of sight.

That, then, is the real triumph here; an RTS game that allows you the ability to do very complex things but doesn't have an interface which it'll take weeks to learn.

A game that will live long in the memory, and needs to be played from time to time just to refresh the senses and reinvigorate the gamer inside us all.

I'm going to cheat, and simply provide a score for the multiplayer element of the game...and bearing in mind that this game probably won't run shockingly well without major tweaking, because it's one of the most demanding games in terms of system specs that we've ever seen.

You've probably done a lot of the things you'll do in Prince of Persia before, but never to this standard, and apart from the innovations, the consistency, the logic and the spell-binding presentation, what makes it so special is just how well made it is.

We couldn't have asked for much more than has been delivered, and I doubt Maxis could have done much more with a formula that they've improved upon time and again.

We haven't played a more atmospheric single or multiplayer tactical action game since "SWAT3," and despite its shortcomings there is still nothing that comes close to rivalling it for sheer breathe-down-your neck tension.

An engrossing and highly entertaining adventure game with characters that you can care about, an involving storyline to keep you hooked, and settings and characters that are both beautiful and bizarre.

It's not without its gripes - it locked up on me several times during our brief relationship, and I'm not a big fan of its commentary, but once it has you in its grip it won't let you go until you've utterly exhausted it, and vice versa, and that should be enough for anyone.

One of the best games ever thanks to its gameplay, it also happens to be visually stunning, with beautifully designed 3D polygonal characters, all animated exquisitely with very few (if any) perceptible glitches in the modelling.

One of the most impressive strategy games we've seen in years.

It is, apart from a few choice technical hiccups, a marvellous game...[It] leaves you feeling warm and happy every time you finish playing it, and in this medium there can be no greater triumph than that.

It's stylish, fun, challenging and you really do feel as if you're playing a part in a sequel to a cult classic. That's all we were after.

The combat intensive dungeon romping is fantastic fun, and recreates the table top AD&D experience like no other game before it.

Just buy the sodding game - it's one of the best of the year.