Games

Okay, so Rockstar's latest isn't exactly enlightened in its depiction of women. And, yes, it contains a rather troubling torture scene. But these are ultimately small concerns when placed in the context of what is surely the most outstanding, exhilarating and multilayered open-world game ever.

Having already sewn up its domination of the serious simulation side of the racing genre with its Formula One games, Codemasters now sets about doing the same for the arcade-style racer with this long-awaited sequel to 2008's Race Driver: Grid.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Superman – and he wants to kick your ass in this latest beat 'em up from the developer responsible for 2011's Mortal Kombat reboot. And, clearly buoyed by the outlandish combat opportunities provided by having players take control of a bevy of DC Comics' superheroes including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and Flash, NeatherRealm Studios has developed what may well be the best one-on-one brawler ever crafted outside of Japan.

It's safe to say that not many people pick up a Triple-A first-person shooter in the hopes of being treated to a storyline concerning metaphysics and the nature of choice. But that's just what Irrational Games has delivered with this blockbuster sequel.

Surely nobody really expected that a franchise as lucrative as Microsoft's third-person shooter would end when Marcus Fenix hung up his gun at the end of Gears of War 3? After all, the Locust War established that there was a whole universe of narrow corridors and waist-high barriers for soldiers to battle through...

Released in late 2008, the original Dead Space was a chilling reminder of how terrifying the survival horror genre could be in the right hands. Easily on a par with the most spooky entries in the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series, Dead Space gave gamers something to be frightened of. But, like any good horror film, sequels were inevitable, and over the course of two more games and two animated movies, the Dead Space franchise has transformed like one of its monstrous Necromorphs to the point where it only occasionally resembles its original form.

Few films have had quite as big an impact on videogame design as Alien and Aliens. The influence of H.R. Giger's xenomorphs and James Cameron's gung-ho space marines can be found everywhere from '80s shooter R-Type to the rather more recent Gears of War.