Spore needed this. When the species you designed in the original game finally took to space, it found a frighteningly huge galaxy, but one without much real variety. The chunky planets and demented species were visually distinct but functionally equivalent. The idea that in Spore: Galactic Adventures, these planets could host little player-crafted adventures for you to beam down to and complete was perfect: different stuff to do with the different stuff to look at. ...

“I’ve always wanted someone else’s arm covered in Hitler’s feces and blood, so I’m considering this a wild success.” We can think of no more appropriate quote to encapsulate this indie adventure. ...

What does RailWorks have in common with a Class 57 diesel? Answer: both rely on a lot of recycled parts. The Class 57s – or ‘bodysnatchers’ as they’re known – were built with bits of the long-serving Class 47s. RailWorks is built with bits of 2007’s Rail Simulator. 

If you own Rail Simulator and buy RailWorks you’re going to end up with a lot of content you already possess. ...

Bungling through Trine’s side-scrolling levels of physics puzzles with two friends is definitely the way to go. In single-player, you transform between these three characters, using their abilities to solve puzzles step by step. Conjure a platform as the Wizard, swing from it as the Thief, then turn into the Knight to bash the skeletons on the other side. ...

Nostalgia? Please. As great as the original Secret of Monkey Island is, it’s a new adventure we’ve all been craving. Even though Tales is the first of the series not made by LucasArts (although Telltale have no shortage of people who worked on them, such as Dave Grossman and Mike Stemmle), make no mistake: it’s officially the fifth game in the series, not some farmed-out spin-off. ...

Our grand unified theory of sports games goes like this (Look, we were never any good at physics, so this is our one shot at scientific immortality): first, the controls need to be simple enough to pick up in a few minutes, but have enough scope so that the player can improvise and discover tactics. Second, the gamer needs to see enough of the pitch/court/field to be able to think tactically. ...

The Secret of Monkey Island is a fun, small, adorable adventure game. There’s a lovely cast of silly characters, and an almost coherent story about trying to become a pirate and rescuing a girl from the evil ghost LeChuck.

It’s been almost 20 years since Monkey Island first appeared. ...

Cat crapped in your slipper again? Hate your job at the box factory? Put away the scotch, mop up those giant man tears and visit a place where everything is pretty, gentle and wonderful. In fact, if you can ignore the flood of water rising at a worrying rate, it’s heaven. Welcome to Blueberry Garden. ...

There can’t surely be many people out there reading this who haven’t heard of or played any of the Street Fighter games before. One of the most successful and iconic computer games to ever be committed to memory, versions of the second game even appeared on the Spectrum in its dying days. Best not to imagine that though, as the images are still scarring our mind to this day. ...

If you know anything about Fuel, you’ll know exactly what you want to do first: grab a buggy and strike out north until you can’t head north any more. You’ll be forgiven for forgetting how many thousands of square kilometers the racer is supposed to have crammed into it, since Asobo kept changing the numbers while everybody else did their math wrong. ...