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Made in less than a year with the same engine as Yakuza 3, you'd be forgiven for thinking Yakuza 4 would be a rehash or a lazy update. The similarities are plain to see; there's not much to differentiate the teeth-smashing, limb-snapping combat or fastidiously detailed setting from its predecessor's, at first glance. The differences, though, particularly the introduction of three new characters with which to roam the neon-lit streets of fictional Tokyo, have a huge impact on a series that's notoriously resistant to change. It's a notable improvement.

Even better than Relentless' idea of what a family game should be is its idea of what a family itself should be. Mum, dad, perhaps a granny or a weird uncle: all gathered in the living room on a Sunday afternoon, wanting nothing more than to play on the PS3 together. They're not intimidated by PSN, they're not fazed by online stores and virtual wallet purchases, and when they reach for the DualShock, ready to pass it back and forth for an hour or so, they're after a game that will give them puzzles, a rambling cast of eccentrics, sprightly cliff-hangers, and a gentle, twisting narrative - all handled with a modest gift for ghoulishness.

There's an apt flourishing of joy at the start of a Settlers 7 map. All the sprawling empty space and untapped resources stretch lazily into the distance, the landscape rendered in gorgeous, cartoony perfection. Virgin territory, pleasant olde worlde music and the simple rules of the game lead you on to dizzy, stupid dreams.

Two Tanks at once! Two of them! I understand that a word like "overkill" could never have a place in a horror game that's always taken pleasure from pitting players against harrowing odds, but still. I'm surprised Valve didn't go the whole hog and layer both Tanks' signature horn music over one another, very slightly out of sync, to create a horrible, unlistenable cacophony.

There's a sensation familiar to anyone who knows adventure gaming well. It's that moment when you've cracked a puzzle, and the game opens up. Suddenly there are two or three new locations to explore, new objects to find, and new puzzles to solve. Those mysterious inventory items make more sense in this new context, and previous unsolved puzzles receive that vital clue.

It is, perhaps, the most expensive videogame ever made. Not in the financial sense: Treasure, Japan's small yet consistently brilliant boutique developer has nothing like the resources of its high-profile Western counterparts, as the often-rudimentary graphical assets in this Space Harrier-style shoot-'em-up testify. But in creative terms Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies is a high-speed conveyor belt of valuable, distinct ideas, scenes and flourishes that dizzy the mind with their density and inventiveness.

As you may know, we withdrew our original review of Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer shortly after publication last month. In short, we didn't give the original reviewer enough time with the expansion, but this only became apparent to us once the piece was live. We're very sorry about this, and we're happy to present a second look at the game to make up for our mistake.

Tow trucks. Proud whales of the highway. Gruff weightlifters of the road. Tanks in the war that is everyday life.

Shhh! Keep it down, would you? And don't read so loud, it's upsetting. Not to me, no. But to it. That big, angry, metaphorical eye sweeping the galaxy, just waiting for an excuse to get up off its arse and clean the insignificant smudge that is human existence off the windscreen of its war machine.

Street Fighter IV is the Beethoven's Fifth of fighting games. All weighty drama, considered changes and measured movements, it's an experience that heaves and builds to a studied climax. There are fireworks and flames, sure, but they are yoked to tradition, and for all the screen-filling Ultra finishes the game maintains a Ryu-like distinguished grace.

I'm so stupid. With my review account for Bloodline Champions, Funcom included some in-game cash so I could see what spending money in the game was like. With all the restraint of a Casablancan libertine, I wisely invested it in sex-change outfits, a character portrait and some weapons with faces on. Now they've released a frog suit for the Ranid Assassin. It's Kermit with knives and it's 3000 Funcom coins, 30,000 in-game coins, 18 Euros or one kidney to you and me.

If you enjoy Stacking, you probably have amnesia to thank for it. It's a condition games have been exploiting for years, but with Double Fine's latest, the connections are a little more imaginative than usual. In most games, memory loss simply means that your grunty protagonist has woken up in a motel room and forgotten how to double jump. This time, however, the roots lie a lot deeper.

I'm in two minds. Which means I fit in well with the world of Edna & Harvey. An adult woman and the toy rabbit she talks to are trapped in a padded cell, with little idea why they're there. And as the title suggests, it's all about trying to break out.

"This desk lamp knows a whole lot more than he's telling me..."

Warhawk developer Lightbox Interactive has come out of the woodwork to tease its mysterious PlayStation platforms project – a game rumoured to be called Starhawk.

Duke Nukem Forever on PC uses Steamworks, developer Gearbox has announced.

A Nintendo 3DS version of LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean will launch this May, Disney Interactive has announced.

Had you heard? Us games reviewers, we get high off innovation. When it's your job to play games, all the games, every game, you end up craving anything that you haven't seen before: games that put your expectations in a paper bag and set fire to them.

MMO maker Cryptic Studios has once again propped up parent company Atari with money made from Star Trek Online and Champions Online.

EA has confidently proclaimed its in development massively multiplayer game Star Wars: The Old Republic will cause a sizeable number of World of Warcraft players to jump ship.

54 per cent of all illegal game file sharing takes place in France, Spain, Italy, China and Brazil, according to new research.

"Well over" 100,000 applicants have registered for the upcoming closed beta of studio-killing MMO shooter APB: Reloaded, its new custodian has revealed.

With over-exposure cited as one of the key factors behind the demise last week of Activision's once mighty Guitar Hero franchise, industry talking heads have now turned their attentions to the publisher's other cash cow – Call of Duty – and asked if it's hurtling towards a similar fate.

A substantial update has just gone live for sci-fi MMO EVE Online: Incursion, developer CCP has announced.

The next iteration of Apple's iPhone will see its screen increase in size from 3.5 inches to four inches, so say loose-lipped component suppliers.

Sony has taken the lid off a new initiative to highlight the best downloadable titles available for PlayStation 3 and PSP: the PlayStation Network Gamers' Choice Awards.

Pre-production on the movie version of 2K's BioShock franchise has ground to a halt after no studio was found who was willing to invest in an R-rated version of the tale, the flick's producer has explained.

The latest Battlefield 2142 update makes the Northern Strike booster pack free to all players, developer DICE has announced.

Ubisoft's 2010 console blockbuster Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood finally gets a PC release on 18th March, the publisher has announced.

PC strategy sequel Total War: Shogun 2 gets a demo next week, publisher SEGA has announced.