A low key revival of what should be one of gaming's biggest licenses, but the child-friendly recreations of the movies' battles are still fairly effective.

Although this fixes many of the problems with the original it then undoes all the things it got right, in one of the most inexcusably brief games ever.

The characterisation and presentation continue to impress, but they've yet to be emancipated from the repetitive and shallow gameplay.

It sounds, and to a degree looks, like the movies but so far this run of the mill graphic adventure lacks the soul of the film franchise.

Ratchet & Clank's less talented cousins show just how unimportant technical competence is when a game has no heart or ambition.

The glory days of Mario Golf and Tennis seem very far away, in this lazy and patronisingly simplistic sports compendium.

The graphics are great and the course design often inspired but in terms of depth and longevity all this nails is its own finger.

All the component pieces are here, but given the severe control limitations the subtitle here should have been 'lite' not 'refrain'.

Its explosive thunder has already been stolen (twice) leaving this unfortunately-timed platformer to arrive late for its own party.

An ambitious slice of interactive fiction but not really a very good video game, with unsatisfying and often perfunctory puzzles.

A promising rhythm action game is reduced to a curiosity for dubstep fans only - and all thanks to an unnecessarily high difficultly level.

The improbable plot ends up being almost the only point of interest in this vapid and hopelessly unoriginal first person shooter.

It's a clever idea but being in charge of a swarm of moronic blue midgets proves a fairly fleeting and frustrating pleasure.

Few PSP games look as good, but this is still a hugely disappointing return for Parasite Eve and the ruination of a once intriguing heroine.

The only Monster Hunter clone to try and break the mould, but it still suffers from all the old problems of repetition and poor controls.

It might be a 'proper' game this time, but this lacklustre Spore spin-off hasn't got anything like the same sense of fun or ambition.

There are some innovative ideas here but poor balancing, restrictive matchmaking and too little content overwhelm the positives.

A typical Fallout download that buries a few interesting new ideas and locations beneath a patchwork of overfamiliar, and increasingly outdated, content.

The intent is clearly there but a shortened development cycle prevents this from expanding on the solid foundations laid by War For Cyberton.

Simplistic to a fault, but considering it's little more than an interactive ad for Space Marine there are a lot worse ways to spend your money on Xbox Live Arcade.

Cheaply shovelled ports of four classic games, plus two awful new exclusives that do both their franchises and the 3DS an enormous disservice.

More an interactive hint at what could've been than a proper game, but more engrossing than the flat out disaster it first appears to be.

Nothing like the game implied by the trailer and an only occasionally interesting, and obviously low budget, attempt to marry Dead Rising with Fallout.

Never has so promising a game been ruined by such a perversely high difficultly level, which is a crying shame given the gorgeous 2D art.

If the Burnout name is to remain alive it'll need something with a bit more fire in its belly than this mediocre destruction derby.

Resident Evil 4 might get something of a free pass but Code: Veronica was flawed 11 years ago, and none of the issues are fixed in this HD 'update'.

Dragon Quest meets Pokémon but the resultant synthesis really only inherits the worst of both parents, despite some impressive visuals.

The exact opposite of what most fans of the TV show would probably want from A Game Of Thrones tie-in, but there are some interesting strategic ideas here nonetheless.

The official World Rally Championship game is looking tired on just its second outing, with very few improvements to the first game and far too many flaws.

An inoffensive way to waste a few hours with friends or family, particularly younger ones, but a waste of both Insomniac and Ratchet & Clank's talents.

A no-brainer for fans of the series, but although superior to its predecessor this is still too repetitive and shallow to convince newcomers.

Need For Speed is back to being a bland, middle-of-the-road racer - one so uninteresting it's hard to get too upset at th e shamefully short running time.

Still the least interesting inter-company crossover ever conceived and still just an outdated and unambitious mini-game compendium.

There's change at last for the WWE games but relatively little of it is for the better, in a game that is frustrating in terms of both action and wasted potential.

An interesting attempt at a Professor Layton clone, but one that has neither the charm nor the variety of its more scholarly inspiration.

It may look like Zombies but it certainly doesn't play like it, in a portable conversion that copies all the features but delivers none of the fun.

Despite a few interesting innovations it's not only the enemies that are passed their sell by date in this bland downloadable shooter.

It might look like Portal but it certainly doesn't play like it, which is a good thing in terms of the puzzles but not the dour presentation and story.

The same beautiful, laidback 2D adventure as it's always been, but now almost ruined by fiddly and unresponsive touch controls.

A technically sound conversion of the old Dreamcast fighter, but two of its most important features are absent - leaving little more than an empty shell.

While it lasts an entertaining and fairly imaginative tech demo, but none of the mini-games will have you coming back for more.

A downloadable spin-off that, while reasonably good value for money, manages only to underline how shallow and repetitive the combat was from the first game.

One of the more reprehensible examples of withheld content in recent months, although you aren't really missing much from the mission or character.

Borderlands 2D sounds like a good idea on paper, and this certainly looks the part, but it's an experience as vacuous and unrefined as its protagonists.

With every low rent sequel it becomes that much harder to remember why Silent Hill was so successful in the first place, as the series continues its descent into franchise hell.

It sounds, and to a degree looks, like the movies but this run of the mill graphic adventure lacks the soul and excitement of the film franchise.

Not an encouraging start for the first Harvest Moon on the 3DS, with a game that struggles to justify not only its own existence but that of the franchise as a whole.

There's an obvious love here for the genre, and retro gaming in general, but as strategic role-players go this is far from a grandmaster.

The fact that it's free-to-play is almost the only point of interest in this derivative shooter - and even that is far less appealing once you get into the details.

There's barely a single idea here that hasn't been borrowed from elsewhere, and usually done better - but as a compendium of other people's puzzles it still has its charm.

Gameloft's cloners have excelled themselves in replicating all the basics of Batman: Arkham City on a smartphone - albeit only at shallow, surface level.

The creature editor is still fun, but this is no more a video game than the first version and considerably less value for money.

If Resident Evil wants to be an action game then so be it, but it needs to be a good one – not this linear, patronisingly simplistic time waster.

Not a very satisfying or enjoyable video game to play, but still a fascinating one to experience – with some beautifully stark imagery and ideas.

There's lots of space for a more serious, realistic rally game but this doesn't fit the bill – with a distinct lack of excitement and innovation.

The story set-up is good and there are some interesting new gameplay features, but almost all of them are squandered by sloppy design and technical issues.

A wasted opportunity to redeem PlayStation Move, with a horribly uninspired range of sports that barely work any better than back when they were Wii Sports games.

A disappointingly direct reboot of the ground-breaking original, with none of the same ambitious appetite for innovation.

Formula 1 crossed with Mario Kart is almost made to seem an inspired idea, but the restrictions of the licence drag this promising racer down.

It looks and sounds the part, and it's definitely a better game than The Power Of 2, but this disappointing 2D platformer isn't half the game Castle Of Illusion was.

Not only is this is very clearly FIFA 12, not 13, but it's not even a very good version of last year's game – with missing features, pointless additions, and flawed visuals.

A flawed mix of shooter and Tower Defense, but a far great failure as an anniversary celebration – since it seems certain to decrease the chances of there ever being another.

The mix of influences seems like they should work very well, but the limitations will frustrate both shooter fans and Minecraft addicts.

The Wii U could've enabled a mini-revolution in karaoke games, but that'll never happen with the minimum effort and budget at work here.

An extremely poor port of what had been the highlight of the franchise up till now, with nothing added but plenty taken away.

A masterpiece of mediocrity and a crowning achievement in unambitiousness. The Devil’s Cartel has sold its soul, not to Beelzebub but to boardroom suits and focus groups.

A frustrating ending to what has become an increasingly disappointing download series, even though the premise remains one of the most imaginative for years.

It may have been cutting edge in 1997 but the Shin Megami Tensei series, and Japanese role-players in general, have moved on a lot since then and this entry is really only for completists.

A more immediately enjoyable game than Strike Suit Zero, but although most of the original faults have been addressed they’re still far from eradicated.

SOCOM suddenly feels very old, with a shabby, low content sequel that can't compete with modern shooters.

A shadow of one of the former masters of survival horror, that is better equipped to bore than scare.

Even committed fans are likely to be disappointed by this lazy and largely unnecessary rehash.

A brave mix of RPG, action game and spy thriller, brought down by too many design and technical faults.

It looks and sounds the part but this anime tie-in should've worried about more than just presentation.

Vin Diesel proves not to have the magic touch after all, with this technically inept Driver wannabe.

To add to its problems the game is also surprisingly ugly, often looking much more like an original Xbox game.

There's barely enough time to rail at the missed opportunities in one of the least substantial games ever.

The Drudge are a sadly appropriate named for the enemy in this artless grind of a first person shooter.

A game insensitive to both the subject matter and the need to offer any real variety or intrigue.

The free web toy gains little from its transformation into a retail game - or in its move to the DS.

Turning Castlevania into a one-on-one fighter is a dumb idea but at least this tries to be different.

It certainly looks and sounds the part but this downloadable game is just as shallow as most retail tie-ins.

Disappointing sequel that manages to undo the relative successes of the original and dishonour the film.

It's all a shame because the central idea of a constantly transforming dungeon is a good one. The actual game that's been constructed around it though is nowhere near good enough.

One of the best looking DS games ever made, but the gameplay just dosen't live up to the visuals.

Mama's sideline in gardening proves to be just as shallow and repetitive as her cookery courses.

It doesn't do anything new, it doesn't fix any old problems and it's not very substantial. There are a lot of better ways to spend £6.80 on Xbox Live.

3D graphics may be the future, but this dull beat 'em-up is unlikely to convince you of the fact.

A step in the right direction, but still nowhere close to being the ideal Transformers game.

For a Dynasty Warriors game this is fairly innovative, but only if you have three friends to play with.

The switch to turn-based strategy works perfectly but only fans will tolerate the endless cut scenes.

Flawed racer which finds little of interest in its massive open world - least of all the race cars.

Another classy retro conversion but Rare's platforming sequel feels older than it looks.

If Crystal Skull made the original films look better, then this does the same for Fate Of Atlantis.

A pale shadow of the original turning a perfectly constructed platformer into a bland retread.

Hopefully the future of Fable won't be any more downloads, as this is another waste of both time and money.

The trailers may make the film look like a live action Halo but the game plays nowhere near as well.

An interactive movie where the gameplay is as basic and two-dimensional as the story and acting.

The final slice of downloadable content is just as shallow in its gameplay and ambition as before.

Virtual On on a budget, with a fully functioning online mode but very little depth or longevity.

The last of the Fallout 3 expansions is also one of the worst in this bafflingly dull abduction yarn.

Even if you enjoy Roguelikes this must be the worst special edition ever, with almost no new features.

The worst Guitar Hero spin-off yet with a half-hearted tribute to a band who barely deserved one anyway.

For those that don't remember the original this retro remake will likely prove a little too old school.

Some thought has clearly gone into making this an entertaining game, but sadly not enough money or time.

The limitations of the PSP and a wrong-headed emphasis on combat ruin an otherwise promising spin-off.

The movie quiz series goes multiformat and low budget with less features and generally less fun.

A real misstep for Level-5, with tedious battles and an equally uninteresting plot and characters.

Yet another slice of downloadable content that's well below the quality of its parent game.

If you're tired of music games this peculiar platformer is no reason to keep your plastic axe either.

One of the Wii's best-looking games, but this role-playing hybrid is all atmosphere and no substance.

The real survival horror here is enduring the repetitive scares and gameplay all the way to the end.

Despite a few interesting ideas this never manages to relive the glory days of top-down racing.

Bizarre sliding block puzzler that despite numerous issues is oddly more tolerable than it should be.

Only the smallest of improvements on the original game and still a shameful waste of the license.

Compare The Pikmins.com will be overloaded once people tire of this well-meaning but dull wildlife sim.

The corpse of Symphony Of The Night proves far too putrefied to work as a co-operative platformer.

A class BioWare download: short, pointless and missing everything that made the original interesting.

Another big budget game more obsessed with impersonating its favourite films than creating any genuinely new script or gameplay ideas.

Red Dead Redemption is a great single player game, but this only emphasises the mediocre multiplayer.

By no means the worst mini-game collection there's ever been but in terms of genuine party entertainment it's only a few steps above the Tory Conference.

You don't need to be a Front Mission fan to get upset about the wasted potential in this lifeless, one-dimensional shooter.

Unquestionably the best Dynasty Warriors style game so far, but at its core it's still just as shallow and repetitive as any of Koei's games.

Every year this moribund franchise goes without a complete overhaul the more obvious and unacceptable its half-decade old problems become.

No matter how the new movie turns out this tie-in makes all the usual mistakes with bland, unoriginal action and an incoherent narrative.

It's good to see Assassin's Creed having a positive influence on game settings but this historical would-be epic has little else to recommend it.

Three obscure lightgun games and the world's most unpopular online shooter do not exactly prove a great showcase for PlayStation Move.

Innerspace meets Smash T.V., except retaining only the worst elements of both in this slow-paced and tedious dual-stick shooter.

A poorly thought out attempt to take on Call Of Duty and Battlefield, whose main gimmick is as a flawed as its other elements are overfamiliar.

A Monster Hunter clone that copies most of the key features but fails to properly balance any of them - or add any proper new ideas of its own.

In summary we don't think we've ever seen so many good ideas in such a bad game. The spell and crafting system really is amongst the best the genre can offer, but everything else is amongst the very worst.

The laidback atmosphere and gentle flower tending hide a game that is far too predictable and frustrating to offer any lasting entertainment.

As a quick and dirty port this is no disgrace but it doesn't make any meaningful use of the 3DS's functions or the concept's potential.

An ill-conceived port of a game that seems to make little sense on the 3DS, especially given the compromises in controls and graphics.

It looks and controls like the originals, but this lacks anything of the challenge, design flair or variety of a really super Monkey Ball.

Micro Machines meets Geometry Wars, but so phenomenally less interesting than that sounds it's almost painful.

It doesn't lack for ambition, but in terms of finesse, innovation and execution this remains a poor advert for HD style shooters on the Wii.

Gears Of War meets Diablo turns out not to be a classic pairing after all, or at least not when it comes to this low rent hotchpotch of other people's ideas.

Backwards sequel that sabotages or removes all the best features from the last game and wastes one of the best arsenals in gaming.

Outdated action platformer that despite all its talk of madness is far too mundane in both design and visuals to justify its mammoth playing time.

As repetitive and predictable as any movie tie-in, but the core combat is sound and Green Lantern's powers are handled well.

An acceptable enough lightgun game, but a poor Ape Escape title. More importantly it's still no reason to own a PlayStation Move.

A silly premise with some very clever ideas, but unfortunately none of them are implemented well enough to help this one-on-one fighter make history.

Horribly disappointing spin-off that replicates the formula but not the soul of the low budget rentakill shooter.

All its best bits are clearly stolen from Batman: Arkham Asylum, but for a movie tie-in this still counts as above average.

There are number of clever concepts here, but they're left drowning in a sea of mediocre first person shooting and action movie clichés.

An interesting and original shooter, but one that never has enough ideas or challenge to justify the price of admission.

There are some clever ideas in this strategy role-player but they're suffocated beneath a weight of banal storytelling and tedious battles.

The excitement and flow of rugby is there, but the numerous technical and budgetary limitations see the game's aim go wide.

An admirable attempt to create a 'real' game for Kinect, but despite the simple arcade style gameplay the technology just can't keep up.

Disappointing follow-up to the already lightweight Shattered Dimensions, which seems to go out of its way to waste all the potential of the character(s).

The motion controls work well enough but this is an unambitious and needlessly simplistic on-the-rails adventure that does nothing to help Move's cause.

A peculiar multimedia bundle that features a near worthless HD update, a paid-for demo and a terrible CGI movie. Fighting game fans can do a lot better.

The cinematic approach makes sense on paper but it means Telltale Games aren't able to play to their strengths and the end result seems doomed to extinction.

It's nice to see someone is making a new Pikmin game, but this half-hearted clone has neither the variety nor the imagination of its considerably cuter inspiration.

The production values seem to justify the high price but this is an annoyingly awkward mix of third person action and Tower Defence, which never really gels.

An unbearably bland arena-based shooter that only manages to make the Quake-style action seem more old-fashioned and irrelevant than ever.

The laziest HD collection yet, with just two titles from an eight game franchise, neither of which have been recreated with anything like the effort and care they deserve.

It's been a long time since we've had a decent Star Wars game though and this miserable misfire is very much more Attack Of The Clones than it is Empire Strikes Back.

It's a great idea, and filled with some top grade Suda51 weirdness, but Kinect is nowhere near accurate enough to make even such a simple game work properly.

There's plenty of potential and good ideas here but very little fun, in a game that tries to make a pirate's life seem as frustrating and repetitive as possible.

A classic case of a racer that doesn't know whether to be a simulation or arcade game and in the end never ends up a satisfying example of either.

The visuals are amazing but the game's moral quandaries are impossible to care about without any context, let alone any decent gameplay or controls.

A disappointing misstep for Harvest Moon's sister series, where neither monster fighting nor crop planting offers any real entertainment or variety.

First person shooters clearly do work on the PS Vita, but proving that fact is the only real achievement of this otherwise insipid portable experience.

There's a decent a story to be salvaged here, and one that could happily be adapted for the show, but as a video game this fails miserably.

The problem with the latest Kingdom Hearts is not a lack of new ideas but that almost all of them are awful, and that's before you even consider the script.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater in name only, this will infuriate old timers reliving their youth and seem archaically simplistic to everyone else.

A distressingly old school movie tie-in which instead of making imaginative use of the movie's setting creates only a bland copy of the Lego games.

The cinematic atmosphere is highly impressive throughout, but that's about the only thing that is in this weirdly inconsistent 2D survival horror.

Hearthfire is certainly a download that shatters preconceptions, but only in the sense that it never really allows you to do any of the things you thought it would.

There are some fun ideas here, and Arkedo are clearly a very talented team, but this action platformer is neither as amusing nor as fun as it likes to think.

The world needs a top notch open world samurai adventure, but sadly it's not to be found here in this strange mix of the perverse, the peculiar, and the downright boring.

Depressingly banal in every way, it's not impossible to be entertained by Warfighter but it is impossible to be surprised by it.

One of the least worst Kinect games this year, which although it suffers from all the usual control issues is at least mindless fun while it lasts.

A horrible disappointment that not only fails to capture the magic of its predecessors but seems oblivious to what made them popular in the first place.

The most disappointing Mass Effect 3 download so far, which once again emphasizes overfamiliar action instead of meaningful storytelling.

There are some great ideas here, with clever use of the dual screens, but the game in which they find themselves is far less entertaining than it should be.

A beautiful-looking space combat sim with many fine ideas… all of which are almost ruined by horrendous difficultly spikes and the galaxy's stupidest spaceship pilots.

The Wii U version has slightly less control issues than the original Kinect game, but also less of the novelty – although it's still mindless comic book fun while it lasts.

The whole idea was probably doomed from the start but this is a disappointingly slipshod effort, with a story campaign that somehow feels more old-fashioned than the decades-old movie it’s based on.

There’s probably no way to make After Burner interesting again without turning it into a completely different game, but there was no need for Sega to prove that fact yet again.

It’s a genuinely revolting vision of the future, of a games industry that treats its players as enemies to be bullied and manipulated – not customers to be entertained and attended to. If SimCity really was a city we’d realise we weren’t welcome and move out immediately.

Cheap, obvious, and unambitious but the zombie theme does at least help to circumvent the technical problems of the original, and offer up some novel co-op options.

A hugely disappointing side venture from the creators of Pokémon, which barely seems to understand the rhythm action genre let alone try and evolve it.

A mix of low budget, (relatively) high ambition, and mediocre execution, Defiance is a hard game to hate but an easy one to lose interest in.

It’s clearly been made in a hurry and with no more care than the deeply flawed original, which means only the truly zombie-obsessed should apply.

Impossibly slow 2D shooter whose only worth is to prove what artistry goes into its betters.

There's a real lack of magic in what is essentially Harry Potter And The Half-Hearted Mini-Game Collection.

The spiritual sequel to Shadow Of Memories has the same time travelling intrigue but less gameplay.

The very obvious problem with using The Sims template on animals is that they don't do very much all day expect eat, sleep and procreate.

A music game so bad you genuinely feel pity for Konami. Just stick to Guitar Hero or Rock Band.

The original god game will find itself short of worshipers, with gameplay that's as old as Methuselah.

You'll be laughing at, not with, this parody - which perpetuates every cliche it sets out to mock.

If you aren't sick of zombies yet, you will be after this new attempt at a revamped Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

Horribly unrefined historical romp whose few positive features are outweighed by dull, glitchy questing.

Rock Band's first band specific release is the epitome of dirty deeds done (but not sold) cheap.

A very disappointing comeback for the creator of PaRappa The Rapper, that shows none of his earlier style.

Nintendo hobble their excellent old GameCube sports game with dreadful new motion controls.

For a game that won an amateur game design contest, this lacks in both imagination and implementation.

Bad film tie-ins are nothing new, but this seems more of a waste than usual given the subject matter.

A steaming pile of robot parts that seems to go out of its way to appear more repetitive than it is.

The first new Star Trek game in years doesn't boldy go anywhere in this cheap and tacky tie-in.

Spore hits an evolutionary dead end, as the "everything sim" becomes just another dull platformer.

LucasArts may have turned a page lately, but it's still got its cheap and nasty tie-in days bookmarked.

No matter how much you like your Japanese role-players this convoluted crossover has little appeal.

By-the-book cartoon tie-in, which ticks every box on the list of obvious mistakes. Some of them twice.

The anti-Chinatown Wars shows everything that could have gone wrong trying to make Grand Theft Auto on DS.