In small bouts and when playing with friends, War in the North is not devoid of any redeeming features. Compared with the big RPG of the moment, Skyrim, it comes off seriously lacking, but by offering mindless multiplayer fun and split-screen, it manages to carve its own niche and save itself from being instantly consigned to the bargain bins. Give it time, though.

Revelations does add extra features to the series' existing template of great environments, atmosphere and visual flair propping up weak gameplay mechanics, which helps offset the effect of diminishing returns. Players who didn't mind the limited platforming and simple combat of the previous games will likely come back for more. However, we're hoping for a more radical overhaul and refocusing of the series by the time the next instalment arrives.

It's unfortunate to see Nuclear Dawn suffer from such simple errors, as underneath these tiny flaws is an above-average game with some new, interesting ideas at its core. If you're playing with friends or get lucky with a random server, it can be a lot of fun - but often that's not the case and as a result Nuclear Dawn doesn't quite earn the recommendation it's otherwise capable of receiving.

The lack of humour is the real wound; Serious Sam 3's violence often made us smile, but it never made us laugh. So, while there's still gleeful carnage on an impressive scale, the game is still a little dimmer than it might have been if not for the sadly slightly straightened face that Sam wears.

The pacing does slow at points, undermining the constant destructive anarchy that the game strives to achieve to some extent, but there's loads to see and do. If you think you can handle, or enjoy, the crass tone and humour, then you'll have a blast with this; if not, best avoid it.

Modern Warfare 3 is ultimately a zero sum game when compared to its predecessors, and the only deciding factor is the disappointing amount of time it's taken to change precisely nothing...Or, in other words: M'eh.

We can't knock the ambition of LA Noire, and the MotionSense technology certainly makes game characters look much more realistic without the need to install a rendering server in your home, but the game lacks fun. LA Noire aims to makes you feel like a real-life police office, but real-life police-work is actually quite dull.

While Double D's one-tone puerility won't appeal to everyone, the game does offer a refreshingly in-your-face scale of violence that will endear it to long-term Serious Sam fans. If you fancy a 2D action fix to help you wile away the hours until Serious Sam 3 arrives, then look no further.

Lume isn't going to be a game for everyone and will seem downright slow in the eyes of the YouTube generation. Those who can remember how adventure games are supposed to be played will find it to be a rare treat, however.

Payday: The Heist has a brilliant concept at its heart, and that's further rounded out by some great art direction and some solid level design that makes a few of the missions real fun to play. Unfortunately, though, budget production values are evident in the graphics and limited selection of levels, and these factors inevitably come into conflict with a higher-than-expected price point.

Xotic still retains a moreish, arcade charm despite the excesses of the design team and patience is all that's really needed to unlock an extra level of fun. The fact that Xotic's primary appeal gets so lost is enough to take the score and accessibility down a peg or to though.

Both an immensely enjoyable, and immensely frustrating experience.

To release this game in such a poor state is almost offensive. What's there is great when it works, but the bugs should have been fixed by now. To follow the rules of a review, we can only score the game on its current state, which means it falls way down the all-time rankings. The caveat, though, is that if you give Red Orchestra 2 a little more time and you're willing to overlook the faults, it's likely capable of breaking into the top five games of the year so far.

Despite the steep learning curve, Star Ruler is a very impressive game that will instantly appeal to ardent 4X fans. It is a pain to have so much information unexplained, but once you've let Star Ruler sink its claws into your time, it doesn't let go easily.

There are plenty of flaws, such as the iffy aiming, average graphics and poor story, but Dead Island still claws back ground with the variety of weapons, the scope and the pleasant progression path. Zombie aficionados won't be wowed, but they could also do a lot worse.

Hard Reset's main strengths lay in its graphics and its consistent delivery of combat which, while moreish and dully enjoyable, lacks the precision or scale of its competition. Thus, while it's a solid game that delivers on a pure blow-stuff-up basis, it doesn't have quite the level of inspiration or finesse needed to make it stand out from the crowd.

When you consider the accomplished start of the game, it feels like a shame that Relic hasn't been able to carry this quality throughout.

Let down by the poor combat and the long, tedious segments on land, Pirates of the Black Cove struggles to stand out from the crowd.

With superior AI, higher-resolution graphics and some more forgiving soil erosion, From Dust would be an outstanding title. As it is, it has enough personality and interesting ideas to make it a reasonable game if you feel like playing something different, but its myriad flaws prevent us from recommending it.

Proves that a co-op combat-based RPG can work and, while it's not perfect, it's definitely worth a look.

It's not horrible, broken, offensive, unfair or anything like that - it's just completely bland. It doesn't do anything new, and it doesn't excel in anything either. Plus, while the combat is fine, it doesn't offer the fun, blast-through action experience of games such as Torchlight, Diablo or even Titan Quest.

Functional, but unexciting, Shadows' will fill the rainy Sunday mornings of ardent Suda 51 fans, but doesn't have any specific grounds upon which to recommend it. This game really is just painfully average in every way, and you shouldn't let Garcia's accent and tattoos deceive you into thinking otherwise.

Definitely an interesting and visually-attractive take on the standard four-in-a-row colour matching formula, but in practice it's just too fiddly for us to truly recommend. With some more tweaking to the gameplay mechanics and notification area, this game has the potential to be a great-looking, addictive puzzler, but at the moment it's simply too frustrating to play.

If it weren't for the endlessly brown, generically sci-fi and personality-deprived caves of Mars, Armageddon could be hugely enjoyable.

If you're going to 'go modern', do it. If you're going to 'go retro', do it. Just don't go half-and-half and end up failing to appease fans of both approaches. While DNF is kind-of fun, is playable and can be enjoyed all the way until the end, it's far away from what it should have been.

The game really represents a missed opportunity for Bethesda. With a little more polishing and thought the game could have been great, rather than merely good.

It's dreadfully average and far too quickly finished, providing nothing more than the most basic type of fun on the first run-through and little incentive to revisit. Not because it's broken; just because it's boring.

All the staples of the series are back, including the drop-in drop-out co-operative play, and it's these which define the title more than the new features.