Action

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance sent up some red flags when it was announced; it didn't have Snake as a playable character, it wasn't part of the main Metal Gear storyline, and it was an action game with very little of Metal Gear's genre-defining stealth gameplay. However it was developed by Platinum Games, the studio behind Bayonetta, so it wasn't such a surprise that Revengeance turned out to among the best action games of 2013. Alas, it was only available for consoles, leaving PC Gamers out of the loop until now.

Persona 4 Arena, developed by Arc System Works and published by Atlus, takes the stars of the critically acclaimed JRPG Persona 4, and places them in a 2D style fighting game, where they are forced to do battle with one another in order to progress, and must discover why their close friend Teddy is hosting the fighting tournament, P-1 Grand Prix.

Killzone is one of Sony's staple franchises, partly because of how fantastic they always look. The gameplay is always hit and miss, you'll either love it or hate it. The heavier weaponry, the harder-to-kill enemies - this isn't Call of Duty or Battlefield, and it never tries to be. Killzone: Shadow Fall is the latest in the series and one of the lead launch games on PlayStation 4. Can it hold the next generation on its shoulders?

The biggest mistake people made concerning the Call of Duty franchise this year was in presuming that it would be "next-gen." Call of Duty is one of the biggest entertainment IPs in the world, they're not going to do anything that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 can't handle. That's not to say that the PlayStation 4 version of Call of Duty: Ghosts isn't worth playing, or even upgrading to. You just have to expect a cross-gen Call of Duty sequel.

There are people claiming that the PlayStation 4 launch was weak. Those people haven't played Resogun. With its fast pace, easy-to-pick-up gameplay, beautiful graphics and fantastic soundtrack, it's the surprise hit of the early part of this generation. While it might not alone convince anybody that it's worth investing in a brand new console, it'll definitely keep you busy for the time being.

Where do I begin? Where do I end? Where do I middle? When it comes to The Stanley Parable, there's no real way to review it, just as there is no real way to play it, or finish it, or even describe it on a basic level. In the spirit of The Stanley Parable, allow me to go a bit meta – when I write a review, I like to spend the first couple of paragraphs giving an overview of the game. The story, the setting, but here, there is no proper story, there is no proper setting. Do you see the quandary? Maybe there's only one way to review it...

The general interest in Splinter Cell Blacklist seemed to be practically zero ahead of its launch. A change of pace in its predecessor, Conviction, as well as a new Sam Fisher and a series of generic trailers meant that release came and went with little fanfare.

Last gen the action adventure genre evolved into something far more controller, more linear than it ever had been before. The likes of Uncharted and Tomb Raider put personality and story ahead of pitting you against a cave and tasking you with getting to the end. It's funny then that it's so easy to see Deadfall Adventures as a bad copy of these games when actually the developers have gone back to the source.

Bioshock Infinite was one of the best received games of the last year, and it's no surprise that the DLC has caused something of a splash. Placing both Booker and Elizabeth in an alternate timeline in Rapture, the city beneath the sea from Bioshock and Bioshock 2, Burial At Sea is another slice of story that'll leave you open-mouthed, mostly for all the right reasons.

There have been quite a few beat 'em ups in recent years, and you can't swing a semi-rotten cat without hitting a zombie/nightmarish creature game. That doesn't mean that the two combined can't be something interesting and special, it just means that its harder to have the title stand out. That's unfortunate, because Final Exam probably won't get the attention it probably deserves.