These rough guides, grouped by Genre, introduce the basics about each game, to give both a taste and a guage of the experiences they deliver.

You can also view these by console.

Turn Based Strategy

Turn based strategy games are the video gaming equivalent of chess, risk and other board games. The player is presented with a tile based environment and a number of pieces which they can position and move. These games usually revolve around some military conflict.

When the player directs an encounter to take place the comparative stats of vehicles, characters and current landscape are used to calculate the winner. Forest usually makes you harder to hit, whilst tanks do more damage than infantry.

Real Time Strategy

Real time strategy games present the player with a resource rich environment and task them with developing encampments and units more effectively than their enemies. Once created, troops can usually be arranged into groups and directed in real time.

When the player directs an encounter to take , place the comparative stats of vehicles, characters and current landscape are used to calculate the winner. Forest usually makes you harder to hit, whilst tanks do more damage than infantry.

Because of these game's requirement for fast decisions from the player they were originally the preserve of the mouse and keyboard setup of the PC. More recently, intelligent control systems have brought them to home consoles and handhelds.

Simulation Sand Box

Simulation games focus their efforts on creating an ongoing, usually organic, environment in which players can exist. The fun of playing these games is in working with the simulation model and the various happenstance events that occur because of this interaction.

They differ from Real Time Strategy games in that they are not overly concerned with production or manhandling of troops and resources. Instead they look to the player to influence events (often indirectly) to obtain the desired results.

Pinball

Pinball machines are by necessity physical, and provide a real world tactile play experience. Although modern tables initially present the player with a daunting array of lights, ramps and scoops, they soon learn to pick their way through the maze to achieve maximum points. Most games usually progress by hitting targets to enable game modes that once activated provide specific tasks that accrue more points. Additionally, mulitball modes can be achieved by 'locking' the pinball in certain locations. Once triggered the player then makes use of all the balls to score jackpots and multipliers.

Brawlers

Brawlers focus on fast action fighting much akin to tag team wrestling. Here however you are not limited to a ring but progress through a horizontal scrolling level by killing the various henchmen that come your way.

Traditionally brawlers enable up to four people to play together. Players both compete for score and assist each other by killing enemies. Along the way there are usually a variety of weapons that can be picked up and used as well as other environmental interactions. Levels are ended by a big boss who must be defeated before players can progress.

Rhythm Action

Rhythm action games combine the enjoyment that comes from creating music with the challenge of video game scoring. The player is usually tasked with dancing on a mat, tapping a touch screen, pressing a button, singing into a mic or strumming a fake guitar controller in time with the music.

Fitness

Fitness games are only recently becoming a genre in their own right. Previously, rhythm action games would cover these titles. With the release of the Wii and related peripherals however, a new Exergaming genre is emerging.

Games that motivate you to exercise by making it entertaining, and tracking your progress, are usually intended to supplement existing exercise routines rather than replace them.

First Person Shooters

First Person Shooters (FPS) present a game world from the perspective of the in game character. As graphics have improved these games are now able to render realistic renderings of the game world, endowing the player with an added sense of immersion. FPS games usually involve single or multiplayer player missions where one team (or individual) has to complete a particular objective before the other. That the action invariable involves a combination of fisticuffs and gun based fighting which then dictates the violent nature of these experiences. Beneath this harsh exterior though is often a intricate tactile game - and this is usually what drives the player.

Edu-tainment

Edu-gaming titles combine the fun of play with the self improvement of education. As recent research and educational approach in schools shows, these two bedfellows work very well together. Titles usually consist of a series of mini-tasks around a particular subject. Some games in this genre simply use the topic as a theme for its games, whilst others are more obviously education or coaching based.

They all track various stats from the player's performance each day. This enables the game to provide feedback and advice about their progress or lack thereof.

Platformers

Platform games task you with getting from point A to point B. The world you journey through is usually based on different levels, and populated with enemies, switches and lifts to be negotiated. As you work through each level you pick up various collectables that accrue score, special abilities and access to hidden areas.

Stealth

Stealth games revolve around the player's ability to complete certain tasks without detection by the computer controlled characters in the game. The games usually provide an indicator of how visible they are as they work their way through the environment. In addition to camouflage and hiding in shadows these games also enable the player to perform James bond style silent assassinations to continue on their way. These games, although retaining a degree of combative violence, usually reward the player for more thoughtful peaceable progress.

Action Adventure

Action adventure games are enjoyed for two reasons. They provide a variety of fast action encounters where you are fighting, fleeing or evading some enemy. They also provide a large world in which to explore and adventure. This exploration is usually driven by some particular plot-tension introduced early in the game that you must resolve.

As you adventure through the world, you encounter the action sequences through encounters with enemies and general hazards. Success in these encounters opens up more of the world to explore and provide new equipment.

Sports

Sports games recreate a wide variety of real life competitive games. Depending on the sport, these will either have an action or strategy focus. Popular sports games are often released on an annual basis, each year the game receives new player rosters and game improvements.

Racing

Racing games, although sometimes seen as a sporting sub category, are a well established video game genre in their own right. They can feature a variety of driving styles ranging from the fantastical arcade racing focusing on thrills and spills, to the super realistic simulations that recreate every aspect of real life driving.

Party Minigames

Party games provide short bursts of fun themed around novel leisure activities. In contrast to sports games that try and recreate the whole experience, party games take one element and create a game around that.

As their name suggests party games are designed to be played with multiple players and work well in a party situation - either an after dinner event or a novelty in the corner of the room throughout the evening.

Puzzle

Puzzle games pose the player a problem to solve, and then provided a limited set of tools with which to solve it. This can be as simple as arranging 2D blocks on top of each other, or as complex as balancing objects in a 3D environment.

The initial interaction is what usually hooks players in for the first few hours, but it is the game's ability to scale both the size and complexity of each puzzle that distinguishes the truly excellent experiences.