Simply a solid, family game that brings yet another TV show to the shiny black box. If you’re a fan then this game is definitely worth adding to your video collection.

I can’t see any compelling reason to buy this over any competing product. And if you are male and in a stable relationship, just forget it.

War Times is not a bad RTS. However, when you consider that other games are available that better do what War Times tries to do, it is hard to justify purchasing.

There's nothing actually wrong with Core Combat, but as it fails to offer a significant improvement over and above the original game itself, then there is no reason to recommend buying it.

Battle Engine Aquila could be cruelly summarised as a poor man’s Yager. It’s fair-to-middling, fun but shallow, and suffers for its missed opportunities.

Some "Diablo" fans might find it to be an okay diversion but most gamers will find the respawning issues and limited game save feature a bit too frustrating to deal with.

In the end, it works fairly well. Unfortunately, once you get the hang of "making" relationships, there is no reason to keep playing. If you are a diehard sims fan looking for something to tide you over until the sequel is released, you may want to give this a try.

The building and base development aspects are fun but the more you play the more the global overview feature feels like an unwanted distraction.

The development team should perhaps be reminded that players tend to take it personally when their progress is halted by poor design.

While it had the potential to be the best console war FPS game out, it is nothing more than a competent, but mediocre shooter.

If you are sceptical of games that feature co-operative multi-character play, you needn't worry too much; it's handled reasonably well.

The story is good, certainly, but if I wanted to watch a sci-fi tale I'd flick on Star Trek. Nexus is purely for the lover of slow paced space adventuring and combat, and those caught up in the Imperium Galactica series.

And Then There Were None is a pretty solid attempt to revive the long neglected point and click genre with some fiendish puzzles that even hardened wannabe detectives will have a hard time figuring out.

Even though Nightlife fits seamlessly into the Sims universe it just doesn’t seem like sufficient extra content has been included in the expansion. It feels as though Nightlife is more about expanding on what you already have instead of giving you more to work with.

If they had fixed the controls and camera I would of given it a [70], if they had extended the game and not forced me to visit the same old levels I would of given it an [80]

A fairly bland and generic first person shooter experience that proves repetitive even in a single episode. It gives little reason to look forward to further installments of the series.

If you’re looking for single player, "Call of Duty 2" is a better choice. If you prefer multiplayer, "Day of Defeat: Source" or "Battlefield 2" are better choices. If Pterodon Software does some patching this game has potential to excel.

Despite the spruced up graphics, hot swap and Xbox live features, there is quite honestly very little here to entice gamers who already have the Xbox or PS2 version.

Starts out fun but soon becomes a tedious exercise as one 'extreme' jump, boost or corner leads blandly into the next; the lack of variety quickly muting the initial pleasure.

Clever in oh-so-many ways and almost endlessly replayable but, the level of frustration on offer might pose a health risk to those with blood pressure problems.

An intuitive and hectic burn-fest. But it may well cost you some friendships.

The First Templar is uneven, inconsistent in tone and, to be blunt, wonky in execution.

If you're after a stop-gap before Gears of War 3 comes out, this might well fit the bill. Take your time, root around for secrets, play sporadically, and chances are good that you'll warm to the game. It's just a shame that the wonderful ideas aren't pushed nearly hard enough and that the game, as a result, feels overwhelmingly generic.

It's difficult to wrap my head around just who Dungeon Siege 3 is aimed at. It doesn't offer the depth that fans of dungeon crawlers have come to expect and, on the other hand, it refuses to incorporate enough modern elements to appeal to the new generation of RPG fans. The result is a game that generally functions as intended but largely falls flat and struggles to impose a sense of personality.

It's nice to see Dragon Age II content that avoids the pitfalls of its base game, but it's a shame that there isn't more to it.

An aggressively contemporary take on a classic series that'll divide as many as it conquers.

Driver: San Francisco would be an easy game to recommend if the mission design of the single player campaign were on a par with the quality of its technical elements. As things stands though, it seems that some good gameplay ideas have been wasted on level designers that simply didn't know how to make best use of them.

Driver: San Francisco would be an easy game to recommend if the mission design of the single player campaign were on a par with the quality of its technical elements. As things stands though, it seems that some good gameplay ideas have been wasted on level designers that simply didn't know how to make best use of them.

Still, it's a generally fun romp, so let's close on a high note: the ending sets the stage for a sequel with plenty of scope for fantastic areas. If Hothead continues to work on the gameplay side of things and gets the environment back up to par, we'll be in for something truly spectacular next time.

For once, I think the experience can be summed up by the main menu. It's very pretty. It also has a transitional animation, in between sub-menus, that lasts four seconds. Want to change your graphical settings, then load an old game? You're going to spend about thirty seconds just watching a transitional animation repeat. Pretty, functional, and then hopelessly irritating for no good reason: that's Hard Reset.

Perhaps more than any other long-running series that has featured on the current generation of hardware, Madden NFL 12 has that classic end-of-console-era feel to it. The team have seemingly stopped trying to improve the game in any major way and are waiting for the next generation to take things to the next level.

Perhaps more than any other long-running series that has featured on the current generation of hardware, Madden NFL 12 has that classic end-of-console-era feel to it. The team have seemingly stopped trying to improve the game in any major way and are waiting for the next generation to take things to the next level.

To be blunt, TS2012 is a hard game to score. It's a fearsomely niche title (and I play Paradox strategy games for heaven's sake) with a fanbase who'll be judging it by a completely different set of criteria. To them, the interest may be in how accurately the Horseshoe Curve is represented or the potential for inclusion of their favourite engine. My job is to critique it as a game.

For a contemporary take on the Sim City formula, CitiesXL 2012 is probably the best option around. Just be aware that it holds this title by virtue of being pretty much the only option around.

So, in conclusion, GoldenEye 007: Reloaded packs one of the worst single player modes of any FPS to appear on 360, PS3 or PC in recent years, but it goes some way to making up for it with its split screen multiplayer. Its biggest accomplishment is that it demonstrates there's still a life for such games and that multiplayer in an FPS doesn't have to exist exclusively in the online arena.

Decent flying/shooting action with inertia, humour, and a number of design decisions that combine to provide endless amounts of frustration.

If you're hankering for some PS1 platforming of old but can't find the console in the clutter of the attic, this title should fulfill that need for the day or two it takes to complete.

Right now, Grand Slam Tennis 2 echoes the debut of the Fight Night series, a franchise that has consistently galvanised its quality. Would you bet against EA to do this again?

Syndicate is by no means a bad game, many of its elements work perfectly fine - the problem is that they don't work that well when combined, resulting in a grinding of the individual cogs rather than a smooth clockwork motion.

A sizeable free slice of casual flying.

An ambitious narrative, with some uneven characterisation and halfway successful puzzle design.

While it's inarguable that Ridge Racer was very much in need of a makeover, Unbounded's formula is far from the required antidote. The focus on destruction has overshadowed everything else to the point where other elements are merely along for the ride. It's all well and good designing a game with a specific focus in mind, but not when that focus renders everything else pointless.

An enjoyable pirate adventure for those who can tolerate its innumerable flaws.

It's full of problems, but it's also full of charm and ambition. Undoubtedly some of you will fall in love with it, viewing even the input issues as the latest in a long line of challenges thrown at you by From Software. Others will regret their purchase nine deaths into the first mission, unable to even think about how difficult the rest of the game could be.

Once the game picks up speed, it does broadly provide the kind of high-speed explosive thrills promised; but it sure takes its sweet time getting there.

It's more Zuma, and little else.

Flawed, but does just enough right to be worth a purchase if it sounds like it's up your alley.

On a conceptual level Hybrid stands out as an above-average shooter in a packed genre, but its reality is dogged by inconsistent matchmaking, server problems and an inessential devotion to some contemporary multiplayer fads. Seeing its true potential one match in every three just adds to the frustration.

A perfectly decent game that lacks variety. It's worth a look now, but if we see some new maps and game modes in the coming months, those should buoy Ghost Recon Online up significantly.

Caught between game styles, it'll only make the podium for a very specific audience.

Amusing and usually quite entertaining, but let down by location repetition and some poor puzzle design.

Big Game Hunt is certainly worth a play if you've got the Season Pass, but if you're buying it by itself then its numerous weaknesses make it harder to recommend. It's not bad, but it's not Campaign of Carnage.

Omerta is not a title I have plans to revisit, but the single player campaign had a definite spark to it that kept my attention. My advice: keep an ear to your digital download platform of choice and wait for it to make you an offer you … well, you know.

It’s not going to blow your mind, but if you’re happy with a total disregard for realism then Ace Combat: Assault Horizon will keep you happy and entertained for a good few hours.

Perfectly decent and enjoyable enough, but the lack of scares hurts it more than you might think.

Crysis 3 is a decent set of free-form mechanics trapped, like the New York of its embarrassing sci-fi plot, within the bubble of an all-too-often constricting design.

Despite its shortcomings, SimCity is proving a compelling and absorbing city builder. Given a few months to implement community suggestions this could be everything we had hoped for from this beloved franchise.

If Molyneux's Bullfrog had pulled an all night coding session while watching re-runs of Eurotrash, this is probably the football management sim they would’ve made.

StarDrive is a collection of solid ideas and features waiting to be unified by the necessary finishing touches.

Impressive tech, uninspired game.

I like you, Gatling Gears, you seem like a well intentioned fellow, and it's admirable that you're trying to build on the work established by your brother Greed Corp. But I'm afraid I can't just overlook some of these offences. The jury and I are sentencing you to six hours community service, which is about the time most players will spend completing you on medium difficulty.

Sluggish controls and a failure to capitalise on the free-climbing potential leave this feeling generic and joyless. Here's hoping the second episode fares better.

Fun in the early stages but quickly becomes a grind as clumsy, derivative level design and a lack of creativity completely overshadow any enjoyment to be had from controlling a giant, badass robot.

Archenemy is a neat concept, but one which doesn't quite come off due to balance issues. So while DotP 2012 will provide an engaging distraction, it's unlikely to hold you spellbound.

It falls short, sadly. What was a wow in the early 90s is merely pedestrian today.

Coded Arms nails the controls and graphics but comes up short where it really counts and that’s in its gameplay.

Maybe the game should be renamed NBA Live Roster Update as it's basically the same game as NBA Live 05 with the up to date player transfers.

As more was revealed, however, numerous bugs caused the game to become unbearably frustrating.

Many more teams and some minor improvements under the hood, but not enough to justify a full price re-release.

If you're not bothered by the prospect of paying £12 GBP for something that needs a few more months in the oven, you'll be rewarded with a fun and unique arena battler.

It is, however, a game with truly stunning production values. There's some great animation, fantastic voice acting, and the levels have jaw-dropping visual design. It's also painfully repetitive.

Beneath the crashes, the clumsy mission design and the comically inconsistent environment lurks a perfectly average stealth adventure.

Any half-decent Windows machine will give you a far better range of Ghost Recon goodness for less money. Over here on the PS2, this stand-alone expansion pack just isn't very filling.

It's a shame to see one of your favourite franchises shrivel up and dry out. Rainbow Six Three on the PS2 is in so many ways the dumbest version of the series yet.

It suffers and revels in both gaming and horror-story clichés, but still succeeds in creating a sense of wonder and unease.

This is definitely a game for hard-core Scooby fans. Or children under the age of ten. Or children under the age of ten with a short attention span. Or, ideally, all of the above.

Let's not beat around the bush (no pun intended), it's the so-called titillation factor that gamers will go for. Remember, when you start looking deeper than the brand and packaging, there's little substance. Oh, the irony.

Unfortunately the game misses the mark on so many issues that gameplay is behind even the current market leaders which are at least 2 years old.

Little more than a routine, seen-it-all-before FPS. For all the imagination, originality and excitement on offer it could have been written by a robot.

City management was never meant to be adrenaline-invoking, vein-busting excitement. On the other hand, we’ve seen the genre served so much better, and look better, too. Make no mistake, madam: this here Medieval Lords is cut from very ordinary cloth.

While not quite horrid, the Alpha Black Zero experience feels too empty to get us excited. For the most part, the gameplay mechanics are in place, but ABZ’s very slow pacing and merely mediocre storyline just can't separate it from the millions of other ordinary shooters.

The action is predictable, clichéd and, ultimately, unsatisfying. There’s probably a good hour or so of entertaining game play here.

If, however, you enjoy tongue in cheek sports spoofs, scantily clad girls and, ahem, volleyball, then you’re in luck.

In the end, Hammer and Sickle was just not fun for me. And for a game, that is not a good thing.

Although not terrible, Ultimate Spiderman is not the ultimate action game. Bogged down by tedious missions, a confusing plot and predictable boss characters you might want to rent this before you buy.

The fact is that nutmegging an opponent a couple of times can solicit a quiet smile of satisfaction. But after the zillionth time, you will find yourself getting pretty bored with the whole thing.

Cuban Missile Crisis will only appeal to hardcore RTS fans or anyone who has a strong interest in playing a hybrid RTS/Turn-based title.

Until someone can come up with better controls, more interaction at key gameplay points and still keep a rugby game playable, rugby fans will have to struggle through with what's available. The only other option is to make rugby like football, so simple that anyone can pick it up in 2 seconds, but I hope that day never comes, you have to separate the men from the boys right ;).

Oh, and whatever you do, don’t do the tutorial. It’s a punishment from God or some other cosmic being.

A bitter disappointment in almost all accounts. The game’s physics are laughable, characters forgettable and audio too generic. The main reason to play games in the first place – the fun aspect – is sorely lacking here and a few hours of gameplay will be more than enough for most people before becoming seriously bored.

A big disappointment for me. The control was unreliable and I could not configure it to my liking. In addition, a game of this type should be easy to pick up and fun to play. Instead, Battle of Europe is uninspiring, boring and ultimately very frustrating at times.

SOCOM: Special Forces was obviously designed to be a more accessible experience than its predcessors, but I suspect this will prove to be a mistake. Long-standing SOCOM fans are likely to protest against the changes to the mechanics, while those new to the series are going to wonder what all the fuss was about.

WFaS still has the core of a Mount & Blade title, but it fails to distinguish itself as a standalone game. Everything feels too much like a retread of old territory, and it's questionable whether the addition of guns really benefits the single player combat system. The multiplayer side of things is as excellent as ever, but (Captain mode aside) unless you're eager to roleplay as a 17th Century Swedish musketeer, it makes more sense to just pick up Warband on the cheap and apply a suitable firearms mod.

Granted, this is a budget arcade title, but that doesn't justify the attempt to get away with a bare minimum of content. Vehicle numbers and the variety of game modes are adequate, but the paltry five tracks are a grievous error that put paid to any longevity.

But while Sengoku has the stable basis of a game, its biggest problem is a feeling of emptiness.

So while single player is pretty much a write-off, and none of the game modes really do the Game of Thrones license justice, multiplayer House vs House offers a relatively original take on medieval power struggles. Pray that enough of a multiplayer community sticks around, because this is a title where you'll want to wait for a sale.

I can't really recommend Okabu to anyone who plays a lot of games or who fancies a real brain-teaser, but those wanting to introduce a younger non-gamer to your favourite pastime may have a way of doing so.

Might & Magic: Heroes VI can still be fixed with adequate patching, because the bugs really are its biggest problem.

Well, I certainly had a better time with it than with Serious Sam: Double D (an indie title, like this one, commissioned by Croteam to help promote Serious Sam 3), but the game doesn't quite live up to the potential of its premise.

Like a smoke filled wheel spin, it looks good but it gets you nowhere.

Taking into account that All Zombies Must Die! will set you back only about £8, it's not a terrible purchase. But it isn't one that is easy to recommend, even at that price. If you're desperate for something to play while you wait for new post-Christmas content to hit for real then give it a shot.

A brave attempt to fuse battlefield strategy and tank sim, let down by baffling UI and feature-starved maps.

This is a genre that is hardly lacking for content. Unless you're a true hack 'n' slash nut, I recommend you look elsewhere.

Raccoon City isn't really Resident Evil as we know it, then. It's trying to be something else, which is fine in theory, but it doesn't quite manage to pull it off. The campaign is sloppy, repetitive and devoid of narrative intrigue. When playing as a group of four it's fun to the same extent that most co-op games are, but there are much better alternatives waiting to take your hard-earned cash.

Podracing is decent, but nowhere near enough to save the entire package.

A well constructed core, in need of more finesse and better editing.

Mad Riders is Nail'd with better stunts, disappointing tracks and a fresh set of inconsistencies.

Fray is a promising plan that never quite comes together.

Wreckateer offers some chaotic catharsis, but it's got too many problems to be easily recommendable.

Resident Evil 6′s main achievement is that it makes me worried about the future of the franchise. I was looking forward to Resident Evil 6, I'm not looking forward to Resident Evil 7.

Cheap and fairly entertaining, but Primal Carnage needs to solve some rather large problems before it lives up to its sizeable potential.

A combination of a not particularly good puzzle game and a not particularly good platformer, helped out by strong writing and animation.

This third-person, multiplayer cover-shooter has firm foundations, but an uncertain life-span.

The game is rift with technical glitches, interface issues, obscene content, and frustration instead of fun. It is not the worst game I have ever played, but that is not saying much.

The gameplay changes, ludicrous storyline, clunky controls and horrible presentation, however, may have polarized the game’s potential audience.

Broken gameplay, shoddy graphical and sound work, and terrible combat all combine to make this title a little more than bearable.

You would be better served, I think, purchasing an old copy of "Fallout." As for me, I will be uninstalling this game as soon as I save this article.

But it is a game, and as a game Duke Nukem Forever doesn't succeed at being a good modern shooter, a good retro shooter, or even a worthwhile successor. The shooting is bland, the level design is uninspired, the jokes and ideas are old and tired, and the synthesis between old-school PC shooter and modern console shooter has resulted in a hideous chimera that rarely works as either. It's not utterly without merit, but it rarely manages to raise itself above mediocrity and often falls well below. Unless you're desperate to once more kill the aliens and save the babes with Duke, there's little here for you.

Not even an army of laser totting, one eyed martians can save X-Files Resist Or Serve from being confined to gaming mediocrity.

Repetitive, basic, and banal.

If the game's not fun, nothing else matters either: no amount of flying drone cameras, techno-gadgets and female curves designed by teenage boys can make up for it.

Intolerable loading times certainly detract from enjoyment of the game, but putting this aside for a moment, the developers have failed to imbue their creation with a soul. Devoid of any discernable character, during the most dramatic moments of the story Suikoden feels like it is simply going through the motions.

Given its derivative premise and simplistic styling, Future Tactics was never going to do great things. Even so, the execution is awkward and lumbering, and falls short even of the limited vision.

This is not to say that Dead to Rights is a damned awful game. Its just not a good one and has very little original thought behind it.

I should probably have undergone some therapy before writing this review, as the game left me frustrated beyond belief.

While the action can be borderline frantic, there’s just not enough content to satisfy anyone except maybe the very young or those who desire a full price game that struggle to be entertained for more than twenty minutes.

The collision detection is ridiculous. Occasionally, you will get hung up on things as ordinary as steps!

You quickly realize that Death Jr. is the right character in the wrong game. The erratic camera control and the resulting difficulty factor stop the game dead in its tracks when it comes to the fun factor.

Total Overdose tries to blend a bunch of different gameplay styles into an over-the-top action game but the final package just comes across as being cheesy and a weak imitator.

Overall, it is difficult to find a reason to recommend this game over, say, "Age of Empires III." A higher learning curve, more micromanagement, dated graphics, and an interface that could use a bit of fine-tuning make this a mediocre game.

Unfortunately Zathura plays like it was won in a car boot sale. Avoid.

When you look at the poor quality graphics, short gameplay and relatively empty environments, it becomes rather obvious that King Kong for the PSP was rushed to coincide with the theatrical release of the movie.

I'm not sure the Understone Quest Pack counts as content in any but the most literal interpretations of the word. Or does DLC stand for Downloadable Cynicism?

The spark of a fine idea, extinguished by fussy mechanics, jumbled ambitions and tonal inconsistencies.

There are much better Men of War games out there. This one is a gruelling quagmire.

It's difficult to work out exactly who Little Deviants is aimed at. The system is too flash and fragile for kids, but the games are too simple and irritatingly cutesy for adults. Further work on each of the games would improve this no end, as would a cast that packs a bigger punch.

If you're desperate for a competitive tower defence game and have between one and three friends who feel similarly, Defenders of Ardania might give you a few evenings of entertainment, but that's about the only way I'd ever recommend this. The single-player campaign is just plain bad, and when you compare this to the solo offerings of Defense Grid, Plants vs Zombies, or any of the other good tower defence games out there, it's hard to think of a reason why you'd want to shell out for this.

Impressive tech undermined by generic level design and a complete disregard for providing something unique.

It won’t scratch the Dungeon Keeper itch because it has no ecosystem – it’s an RTS rather than a dungeon-building game. But it also won’t scratch the RTS itch because it’s repetitive, offers little strategic challenge, and is deeply, deeply tedious.

Objective: Follow Diaz. Objective: Do everything he says. Objective: Buy a different game.

A bland experience that does nothing to increase the appeal of a struggling genre. Avoid.

A lazy, irritating, muddled mess of a package. Despite a degree of enjoyment to be found in the serene arena of Sega Bass Fishing, none of the four games on offer have any right being here.

Cy-Girls may pretend to offer a path through interesting virtual worlds, but delivers nothing like that. The choice to play as Aska or Ice, or both, is just like having to choose being punched in the face or in the gut. Or both.

Most gamers will feel cheated by the boring combat and atrocious camera work. Thus leaving the non-hardcore crowd focusing on a writhing, grinding, and silly second-rate strip act by a virtual Oscar winner.

Unfortunately, it’s an uninspiring, flawed and ultimately a failure. Avoid the like the proverbial plague.

I am sure there are some Gameboy Advance fighters out there that would earn a higher rating when compared side-by-side with this one. As it stands, this game is exactly what its title states, and nothing more: Imperfect.

Sanctum of Slime is a bad top-down shooter with problematic co-op elements that makes terrible use of a beloved license. The game design is banal, the online co-op has issues and the single-player is an exercise is pained frustration.

But enthusiasm alone can't cure fatal problems with the flat, tedious gameplay; and while almost everything about Serious Sam Double D sounds and looks fun, it is barely any fun to play at all.

One step forward, two steps back...

It's a cruel irony that the one major change made to the Worms formula over the years only serves to erode the fun of the original incarnation. Implemented differently, perhaps 3D could have worked. Yet when its presence adds camera issues, reduces the power of weaponry to destroy scenery and elevates water-deaths to an art form, it's only reasonable to conclude that it is a failed experiment.

A re-tread of Mashed's multiplayer, with reduced tracks and a superfluous single player mode.

Offroad racing never felt so mundane.

Fairly inoffensive and pretty, but not much fun to play and filled with characters more loathsome than sexy.

Wedged between survival horror and arcade shooter - but succeeding at neither - Descent is a poorly designed, camera-hampered end to an already weak trilogy.

With such a lack of moves comes an obvious lack of depth, and it soon becomes apparent that most of the story mode and the arcade mode can be completed with pure button-mashing.

The stupidly executed barriers would not be such a problem if the AI made up for it. Unfortunately, it appears both your allies and enemies are capable of doing only three things: run, shoot, stop.

When all is said and done, Get on da Mic fails at just about everything it sets out to do.

A shambling 3D monstrosity.

Give this to your kids only if you hate them, or want them to stop gaming, or feel like being asked how to solve "the next bit" time and again. Life’s too short. Play something else.

A poor showing. Costing £10 to purchase just the add-on pack it is overpriced for the extra content it provides. You can download a hell of a lot more extras from The Sims 2 community sites online and these are free in most cases.

There's no discernable ironic enjoyment to be gleaned from this game, and it's certainly not fun-bad like Deadly Premonition. It's just plain old depressing bad-bad. Like drowning.

Gettysburg: Armored Warfare is a broken, bleeding mess. Do not buy this. Not even to laugh at it.

As clear a warning as there has ever been about the risks inherent to pre-ordering games.

More irritating than Neelix: Star Trek is a buggy and broken cover-shooter with cover that doesn't quite work and shooting that's no fun.

Lucha Fury is a prime example of video game design gone wrong… very wrong. From the opening 'tutorial' to the repetitive, lacklustre levels that make up the rest of the game, there's almost nothing endearing, charming or enjoyable about this experience.

How generic can a game be? How devoid of charm, ideas, or entertainment? How relentless in its march towards cliché and boredom?

It’s hard to think of anything since the turn of the millennia that looks this bad. Not only are the textures bland and hazy but several levels suffer from what can only be described as "big room syndrome." Large hallways and walls will be monochromatic and feature single furnishings like a lamp, door or sign.