Punching people repeatedly in the face might not be the most traditional of festive pastimes, but Batman: Arkham City (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) makes such bish-bash-bosh action utterly irresistible. As the titular superhero, you must restore order to a section of Gotham City overrun by Arkham Asylum inmates, cracking skulls using the intuitive (and astoundingly satisfying) combat system and wielding Batman’s various gadgets to solve a series of physical puzzles. It improves on 2009’s Arkham Asylum in every way, and that was a five-star game to begin with.
PS3 owners, on the other hand, will no doubt want to get their action fix from Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (PS3), which builds on the success of its already impressive predecessors to be, basically, the greatest action movie never made. It features a plot that’s tighter than most Hollywood flicks, great characters that are genuinely witty, a more satisfying and chaotic combat system than previous editions, and probably the greatest graphics ever seen in a videogame. All that, plus the usual jaw-dropping action set-pieces make Uncharted 3 both enthralling and unmissable.
Speaking of thoroughly immersive and addictive cember 2011games, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) is the latest in the long-running, absurdly enormous RPG series. Bethesda Game Studios have tackled the two biggest complaints about its forebear by equipping it with a gorgeous new graphics engine and an improved combat/character development system that takes its cues from the developer’s own Fallout 3. And with stacks of quests and hundreds of miles of terrain to explore – including snow-capped peaks and gorgeous, mammoth-filled grassy plains – this is a rare combination of breadth and depth that should keep you occupied well into the New Year.
If scaling virtual mountains sounds too much like hard work, take to the road with Forza 4 (Xbox 360). Long regarded as the sole province of car bores, this edition ups the fun quotient by throwing pleb-pleasing TV car show Top Gear into the mix, complete with wacky mini-games and a voiceover from professional gobshite Jeremy Clarkson. The very tweakable options should please arcade fans and serious sim players alike, though the paltry number of new tracks – five – is something of a letdown.
Elsewhere in the world of sports, Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 (PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360) and Fifa Soccer 2012 (PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360) continue to battle for supremacy, though their fanbases remain as steadfast as ever. We’d peg Fifa as the better game this time around, with PES suffering from poor physics and the usual wonky animation. Still, PES has been rejigged to hark back to its PS2 glory years, and is better for more frenetic, unpredictable action.
Kids and adults alike will truly appreciate Zelda: The Skyward Sword (Wii), which will be the last Zelda game to be released on the Wii before the next-gen Wii U is released in 2012. But the series is going out on a high note, with the MotionPlus controls breathing new life into sword-swinging and bomb-lobbing, and beautiful, painterly graphic design bringing to life sumptuous, enthralling worlds. Recalling moments from earlier Zelda titles while never failing to invent its own, the game is a stunning climax to both the series so far and for the Wii console itself.
And for young children, Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster (XBox 360 Kinect) is a must-buy. Exemplary use of the Xbox 360’s motion-sensing/voice-recognising Kinect system sees kids leaping, shouting, clapping and posing along with Elmo, Cookie Monster and a swathe of furry friends to give new monster Marco ‘the best birthday EVAR’ (sic). There are only about three hours of gameplay here, but kids will delight in playing them over and over and over again – even if parents don’t feel the same way.