A traditional side scrolling platform shooter, Uprising is a successor to the Contra series. It is as hard as the original games too, but with a play mode that includes a level up mechanic that makes the game progressively easier in an incredibly satisfying way. Watching enemies that made levels near impossible on the first pass die in an instant with new a newly powered up character provides a sense of achievement that was never reached in the original Contra games.

This is all toped by animated hand drawn characters and environments that makes Hard Corp: Uprising feel like an anime brought to life. While in some games attractive art is a bonus, in Uprising it is vital as they game style necessitates regularly repeating levels. It is all a perfect throw back to the early nineties in terms of gameplay, but with beautiful modern HD graphics.

The game features 13 classic Williams tables all of which are presented in great detail and offer some of the best table physics I have ever seen in any pinball game. This, along with some excellent challenges make this the best pinball title I have ever played.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution certainly felt simplified from the old PC game, but with improved combat controls and a sleek futuristic Blade Runner style. Certainly in some ways the original has remained superior to me, with a greater willingness to force permanent choices on the player in terms of upgrades with choices between powers. But Human Revolution does allow character specialisation in a less binary way, allowing players to adapt a character to suit their own play style and play as they want, making use of improved combat and stealth mechanics.

Most importantly though for Human Revolution is that after years of playing my RPGs in wastelands and fantasy worlds, the future noir world is a breath of fresh air. Hopefully it is a style more games will look to adopt, especially if they can keep it this beautiful, as it is a fascinating setting if done well and is relatively under utilised in games.

In it’s defence I have not included MW3 simply as I must be one of the only people yet to play it. One reason for this is that I am finding the multiplayer of Battlefield 3 truly engaging thanks in no small part to the epic action scenes and intense battles over some superbly designed maps.

The single player may not quite live up to the multiplayer but both are presented superbly with incredibly detailed war zones and some of the best graphics I am yet to experience on the system. 

Gunplay and bosses were not brilliant, but this is the game that Alpha Protocol should have been, all in a beautifully realised near-future setting, with the best plot of any game this year, hands down (yes, even better than Skyrim!)