This is a fizzing neon vision of the scrolling shooter: a limited left-right arena in which waves of beautifully abstract baddies come whirling towards you, spitting bullets as they go, and turning into even more deadly enemies if you don’t deal with them swiftly. In other words, Astro Tripper is pure videogame. ...

From the weird-merchants behind The Path comes the game of Salome – the princess who asked Herod for John the Baptist’s head. It begins in clunky first-person, with you in a dungeon with nothing to do but be tormented by randomly appearing snippets from Oscar Wilde’s play Salome. ...

The last few years have seen Defense of the Ancients devour millions of man hours, both in its original incarnation as a WarCraft III mod, and in its refined DotA Allstars evolution. League of Legends, by the original team, is here to provide the definitive version. It’s a multiplayer-only RTS battle between two teams. ...

According to the official website, Painkiller: Resurrection had “a Catholic priest advising” it and offers “painstakingly researched details” of its purgatorial setting. You have absolutely no idea how much we want to see those notes. The official word on whether Satan could have his bottom handed to him with a shotgun? That’s edutainment! ...

Three playable characters: a brute, an archer, and a mage. A town atop an endless dungeon that’s randomly stitched together as you play. Hundreds of enemies that die in a torrent of clicks. Scrolls. Health and magic potions. Quests. Leveling. Loot. More loot.

Diablo is the obvious comparison you could draw with this combat-heavy RPG, but Torchlight is more than a clone. This is like a super-clone with psychic powers. ...

Dwarves. We already know what dwarves are. Dwarves are short, but strong. They make for good warriors and live underground. We already know all about dwarves, elves, mages, and dragons. So we thought we already knew all about everything Dragon Age: Origins could possibly throw at us while browsing through the unsurprisingly wide selection of beards for our upcoming dwarf warrior in the character creator. ...

We were really impressed by the new Championship Manager, so big rival Football Manager has tough competition at last. And the final result is in… it’s a narrow win for FM after extra time and penalties. ...

Can FIFA Manager 10 follow in the footsteps of FIFA 10 with an all-conquering game? Almost. The slightly quirky alternative to Championship Manager and Football Manager, this carries loads of official licences so you can see the faces of your players and backroom staff. ...

There’s nothing like waking up after being unceremoniously dumped into a heap of scrap only to find your head and limbs have gone missing amidst the filthy debris. Making a crummy situation worse, mechanical hooligans have strapped a large, makeshift bomb to the central tower in the looming industrial city you were just booted from, and your shiny lady friend is nowhere to be found. ...

PES 2010 represents that moment in an aging footballer’s life when he realises his career is in a steady decline. The series has struggled over recent seasons, persisting with a struggling engine while rival FIFA has reinvented its own, and playing an increasingly stiff and mannered game of football as a result. Each year we hope the game will throw off its problems and recapture the old glory. This isn’t the year. ...