A beautifully presented exploration-centric 2D sidescroller with distinctively weighty, deliberate combat... but it is a tad short and some of the mechanics feel a little superfluous.

While many western-developed visual novels are drenched in irony and insincerity, Class of '09's witty writing and excellent voice acting make for a highly entertaining story about truly awful people.

Lovely art, great soundtrack, very likeable cast and super-solid mechanics. Mary Skelter 2 is an excellent dungeon crawler let down only slightly by a rather janky English translation.

While its English localisation is notorious and the soundtrack is far from Yuzo Koshiro's best work, Streets of Rage 3 is still a solid beat 'em up at its core, and worth checking out.

The legend. An all-time classic of the beat 'em up genre that, like its predecessor, benefits enormously from being designed for the home rather than the arcade. Game balance -- how about that?

The dawn of a beat 'em up phenomenon, and still a great game in its own right -- even if it is superceded somewhat by its sequel. Benefits hugely from being designed for console rather than arcade.

A fascinating adventure game that deals with very human responses to extraordinary situations -- and acknowledges that disasters bring out both the very best and worst of humanity.

While obviously a port of a mobile game, the core Boulder Dash joy is intact, and there are some fiendish levels to challenge. Any new Boulder Dash games built for PC and console should be fab.