Features// Xmas 2012 - The Video Games Easy Buyers Guide

You’re definitely encouraged to plan ahead in this game, setting up traps for enemies and making good use of the secondary weapons like bombs and throwing daggers that in most RPGs would spend all their lives sat around eating up inventory space. The Witcher 2 demands quite a bit of attention and input from the player, and if that doesn’t sound like fun then you’d be much better off going with something a little more easy-going. Or do what I did and play on Easy.

Dragon’s Dogma (360, PS3)
Somewhere in the middle of the above suggestions lies Dragon’s Dogma. It’s probably most comparable to Kingdoms of Amalur, with a much smaller and less open world than Skyrim, but with plenty to do in it.

While it could have fallen into the realm of fairly standard medieval fantasy hack and slash fare, Dragon’s Dogma is picked up considerably by its brilliant battle system, which allows you to jump and climb all over larger monsters.

No other game comes to mind that allows you to cling to an ogre’s ass and stab him repeatedly in the buttocks while he’s distracted by your party of fancy wizards and the like. There’s a fairly unique party building system that involves you temporarily enlisting copies of other online players’ characters too, but if you weren’t sold at ‘cling to an ogre’s ass’ then this might not stand out from the crowd too much.

Mass Effect3 (360, PS3, PC)
This one’s been out a while and most of the fans waiting for the last chapter in Bioware’s space opera trilogy will have snapped it up and passed judgement already. But even for those not terribly interested in the conclusion to Shepard’s adventures, Mass Effect 3’s cooperative multiplayer mode might still prove interesting.

Barebones and limited at release, a series of downloadable packs have greatly increased the content available. New characters, weapons and maps have been added to the game regularly throughout the last eight months, and there are still more set for release.

All that has been free, which is obviously the best bit. If you’re the sort who doesn't mind dipping into a grand sci-fi adventure then Bioware has cunningly boxed together all three games and released the Mass Effect Trilogy just in time for Christmas.

The first game has admittedly aged quite badly however, and its clunky out-dated gameplay might put off newcomers. If you can get past that though, despite some of the series’ shortcomings, Mass Effect has still been one of my favourite new franchises of this generation and is well worth checking out if you haven’t already.

Pokémon Black/White (DS – Black & also DS White)
The Pokémon series has been accused of getting a little stale over its many instalments. Pokémon Black/White don’t do too much to rock the boat away from the series’ trademark plot formula. But the massive graphics overhaul and gameplay enhancements might be enough to win jaded fans back over.

Anyone new to the series shouldn’t have any reservations about jumping into this one, the Pokémon series] games have always offered some of the biggest and deceptively deep gameplay experiences on handhelds.

If raising a team of colourful monsters from cute little scamps into towering engines of destruction appeals to you then Pokémon series remains one of the best monster-battling franchises around.

Fighting Games

Street Fighter X Tekken (360, PS3, PC)
Capcom seemed to have already burned out people’s interest in its 2D fighting games by the time this crossover rumble was released, and it flew under a lot of people’s radars as a result.