If Alpha Protocol’s dialog system is to be believed, all super spies work by uncomfortably modelling their lives around DVD boxsets they’ve picked up with leftover Christmas money. Michael Thorton is our super spy of the moment, living the jet-set life of international espionage and wooing ladies with (in my case at least) a massive hobo beard, but every few minutes a dialog pops-up and poses Alpha Protocol’s all-important question: do you want to be suave like Bond, professional like Bourne or aggressive like Bauer?

The logic is sound, and on paper Alpha Protocol reads like a rather tip-top action RPG; Mass Effect with spies instead of space. But all is not well in the world of video walls, plush hotel rooms and shady back-rooms, with the game having some of the limpest and counter-intuitive opening levels from any RPG in the last few years. It doesn’t hesitate to kit you out with an arsenal potent enough to make a gun fanatic swoon, provided they’re fond of a bog-standard weapon selection, but the problem comes from when you want to use those guns to actually shoot someone. Until you’ve funnelled hours of time and money into levelling up your skills you’ll have better luck taking out your enemies by jumping up and shouting “bang”.

Because of this, the game is radically different at the ten-hour mark than when you’re two hours in. You can actually fire in a straight line by this point, provided you’ve not spent your points on levelling up the shotgun or SMG abilities which have been added as comedy joke options. Despite the awkward teething problems, and the initially overpowered enemies, by the time you’ve sunk some time into your character sheet each subsequent trip to the levelling up screen becomes a guilty pleasure, and unlocking the bounteous wealth of fancy bits and bobs becomes a bit of a guilty pleasure that nicely spurs you onwards.

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As far as I’m concerned, Monster Hunter Tri was conceived in a smoky Nintendo backroom whilst Satoru Iwata, Reggie Fils-Aime and Shigeru Miyamoto played a bi-monthly game of poker. The game well underway, Fils-Aime mentioned to Iwata how many Wii owners criticised the console for lacking in respectable hardcore titles. There was an off-putting silence in the room after that, but as Cammie Dunaway brought Miyamoto his sixth mint julep of the evening Iwata tipped his poker visor and announced if fans wanted a hardcore game, he’d make sure they got the most hardcore game of all.

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Square Enix don’t just build games – they fashion entire worlds. Since the series took the leap from obsessive import fodder to mainstream success with 1997′s Final Fantasy VII, there’s been an ever greater focus on regenerating their recognisably familiar story tropes into unknown worlds and new battle systems, rounded off with a ever-changing cast of characters that have proven themselves diverse enough to pad out the occasional misguided attempt at a fighting spin-off.

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What a difference a year makes. Back in the archaic days of June 2009 – back before the iPad, Jedward and when Wii’s were only available in white – Star Ocean: The Last Hope seemed like a decent investment for the Xbox 360 crowd. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was entertaining enough to whittle away the dreary summer holidays. Eight months later, Star Ocean: The Last Hope – International unceremoniously arrives on the PS3 with almost all of the flaws of the original and no new content. It’s also a damning indictment of the ear-bursting Western voiceover work that the option to select the Japanese voice actors is International’s main selling point.

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Returning to Resonance of Fate, after previewing it last August, was like having a good time with an old friend I didn’t realise I’d missed. Tri-Ace’s steampunk fantasy continues to hiss, puff and chug out a universe that, whilst familiar, is continually endearing.

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It will probably come in very handy, the game says. It’s referring to the Spirit Flute, and is making the understatement of the year. The latest Zelda might happen to be called Spirit Tracks, and its imagery might be suffused with steamy, quasi-industrial iconography, but it’s the magical pan pipes which underpin the entire experience. It’s the game’s equivalent of the Ocarina or Wand of Wind, just without receiving nearly as much recognition in the game.

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Dragon Age is big. Really big. Over fifty hours big, and that’s if you skip tons of side quests. Then your eye creeps over to the suffix: Origins. BioWare’s latest unashamed fantasy epic, which once again pits you against impossible odds to decide the fate of the entire world, is – sales and reception permitting, I imagine – the equivalent of dipping your foot in the pool to test the waters.

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