Art of war

June wasn't a great month for game releases it must be said, but the long-awaited arrival of Pokémon Conquest netted it our Game of the Month award in June.

A blend of Japanese strategy series Nobunaga's Ambition and Nintendo's beloved pocket monsters, it straddles the middle ground between the two RPG approaches, creating something engaging and unique in the process.

As Joe Walker put it in our Pokémon Conquest review:

Pokémon Conquest is a game that no one asked for, but many will enjoy — fans of either series will be drawn in by the familiar and be taught to love what’s new. It does just about everything right, though there are shortcomings: more Pokémon being included would have helped, as would a deeper story — these are little more than nicks in the armour. Pokémon Conquest absolutely stands with Pokémon Snap and Pokémon Puzzle League as one of the best spin-offs the franchise has seen.

European Pokémon fans have to wait a few weeks to get their hands on Conquest.

Honourable mentions: Bomb Monkey and The Last Blade.