An absolute treasure, that reacts to what you do and supplies you with meaningful choices that have real emotional heft. I'm playing with a pair of good friends, and it is not an exaggeration to say that at one point in our campaign, we were genuinely saddened (me to the point of tears) by the unexpected culmination of a side quest that we had (unknowingly, at the time) started near the beginning of our game. This is brilliantly written, fiendishly clever and dripping with atmosphere. Simple, but draws you in like the call of a siren. Unequivocal recommendation.

The Swapper is a lovely little example of what you can do within the constraints of a single mechanic. Press the RMB to create a clone, press the LMB to swap to it. Sounds simple, right? But every minute of this game is dedicated to exploring all of the little ways you can exploit this deceptively straight-forward gameplay loop to do the impossible.

All the best platformers have that mechanic. You know the one. Mario's head stomp. Sonic's spin dash. DKC's animal buddies. Super Metroid's screw attack. Meat Boy's clingy wall jump. The simple thing that makes traversing their worlds unique. The one that gives you that little thrill of satisfaction every time you use it.

Rocket Knight's jetpack must certainly rank alongside those classics. When you squeeze the right trigger, launching your opossum avatar across the screen like an avenging angel riding a missile, it feels amazing. The game knows its strengths, giving you great sprawling levels in which to dart around, careening off solid surfaces like a pinball made of fire and steel as you hunt down gems and enemies.

Other aspects don't quite hold up to the central mechanic. The enemies themselves aren't anywhere near the heights of Donkey Kong Country's Kremlings, the soundtrack is merely servicable, and the story gets the job done with minimal fuss. The package is an excuse to blast through an alternate reality where the early-to-mid 90s never ended; where all you needed for a classic was that mechanic, and a game to put it in.

But what an excuse. They don't make games like this anymore, so if a trip back to the 90s sounds like any kind of fun, you won't regret picking up Rocket Knight in the slightest.

As with so many brilliant games, Duet begins with a simple mechanic. Shift a pair of orbiting dots around their circular path to avoid obstacles. Moving one moves the other the exact opposite direction. Deceptively easy, but intensely satisfying once your muscle memory kicks in and you are are flowing like water through a tide of geometric obstructions.

The minimal aesthetic and superb music really compliment the game - everything has been stripped down to its essentials, leaving nothing but a pure, radiating core of fun.

This is a game about moments.

Like the moment you were dangling in a vent, suspended upside down above criscrossing laser-beams by a grappling hook, as three sharpened bamboo darts hit seperate power control boxes, destroying them and leaving your way clear.

Or the moment that you erupted like an avenging angel from beneath the feet of a mercernary, choking off his screams and dragging him back through the grating to meet his maker.

And the moment where, in one fell swoop, you killed a guard, broke his dog's neck and flying kicked both of the limp bodies over the edge of the platform, where they landed in front of his colleagues, so terrifying them that in a spray of panicked gunfire they killed two of their number, leaving the third a shattered and broken wreck, running in terror from the shadows until one reached out and, with a thread of hanging silver, ended his sorry existence.

Very few games truly make you feel like a complete bad-ass in everything you do, and even fewer of them can claim the sheer, silken smoothness of control, beautiful and unique art style, or divine animation that makes playing this game such a delight. Watching the play of light and shadow as you move through a level is a joy within itself.

Best played with a 360 pad.

But honestly, just best played. Worth every cent, and then some. The team behind this masterpiece deserves every bit of praise they have gotten. It just feels...right.

Aside from the boss fights, it's bloody brilliant.

Why haven't you bought this? Seriously. It's AU$2.99 (or whatever the equivelant is in your local (inferior) currency), and comes bundled with a whole 'nother game (Breath of Death VII).

Top down absurdity and RPG madness awaits you.

You're a British escapee, flying a steampunk spaceship, fighting evil Spaniards on Mars in the 17th century.

If none of that caused you to become excited, then I think it's about time you fully departed the human race.

Fun, polished, well-thought out and addictive. If you haven't played this already, you're doing yourself a massive dis-service.

There...are no words to describe the level of insanity this game operates on. It's as if the insanity from one dimension overflowed into another dimension which was full of highly illegal substances, and those two dimensions said 'screw it' and jumped off a building. This isn't a game, it's an experience.

I'm going to have a lie down.