The crescendo of the plot builds to a ludicrous point - the influence of (now canceled) 24 is extremely apparent, but as the one-man-army that is Sam careens towards his final goal the narrative goes a little over-the-top - not Metal Gear lunacy, but certainly a climax uncharacteristic of the series.

It's unfortunate that the story is so incredibly mundane, with a bad case of structural repetition for each main area. Oliver's grief is a valid emotion to ride, but it takes a back seat to so many hours of grinding.

An expertly refined, craftily created fighting game which builds on an already outstanding base to deliver an all-around outstanding experience.

With new features like Backtrack and old features like Superstar and Franchise mode, Madden 09 is probably the best Madden yet.

One of the most complete sports simulations I've played and by far the best in the series. If you're after the quintessential boxing experience, you've found it.

A great game. Even with the few bugs it released with DoW2 is a recommended purchase for any PC gamer. It will run on archaic computers fine and still look fantastic, it plays well in both MP and SP - even if the two are very different - and the core decision to switch things up from the previous Dawn of War is a brilliant way to keep the series from becoming stale.

Pure, unadulterated joy.

While there are slight drawbacks preventing Pure from being an absolute winner it is nevertheless a well executed racer and another excellent addition to the off-road racer genre from the Black Rock team.

Ultimately however the extra fruit is aimed at making you stick with the game longer (logically enough). And while I wouldn't go as far as to say SC4 has reached the exalted heights of Virtua Fighter it does pretty good in it's own right.

The sense of dread washing over you as you crouch in a corner in almost total darkness with your vision swimming, heart pounding and breath comes in short gasps as a humanoid creature with flayed skin instead of a jaw stands just metres away from you is more intense than any other video game has managed and if you even marginally enjoy the horror genre you owe it to yourself to pick it up.

The sense of characters being real emotional beings is far above most other releases, even if the actual emotions being displayed are not particularly new. If you've never played a Devil May Cry game, this is a somewhat lighter but far more entertaining offering. For series devotees, give it a chance - there's humour here plus action and depth if you crave it.

Will Boom Blox fill the void when you finish Grand Theft Auto IV? Will it replace your World of Warcraft addiction? No. It’s a budget priced title though, it has hotseat multiplayer (you can pass the remote on to the next person to play) and it’s a great distraction allround.

The Secret Armory of General Knoxx is by far one of the best pieces of DLC out there and will give you a minimum of ten hours of gameplay, significantly more if you want to hit the new level cap, and with more Borderlands DLC on the way, they certainly know what the fans want, and how to deliver the goods.

A flawed masterpiece. It has so much to offer on so many different levels, and while it does fall down in a few places I'd heartily recommend it to anyone.

The other thing hampering this games replayability - and playability - is the repetitive nature of the side missions. While thought has definitely gone into the main story missions, the side missions are taken from a stack of about ten different options - kill 14 of these guys, find 12 of these transmitters - and they tend to get tedious fairly quickly.

Far Cry 2 is what you might call a risky move. In a culture of playing it safe with first person shooters, Ubisoft Montreal has created a title where you have to essentially make your own fun.

Crysis 2 might not be exactly the sequel most people expected after Crysis, but it's definitely an improvement. There's room for more, but the game delivers an absolutely stunning atmosphere - and even if the middle of the game bogs you down the ending will definitely pick you up.

F1 2010 ran the risk of merely being merely a competent racer - fortunately it tried to be something more... and in most cases it succeeded.

If you only listen to Cradle of Filth or Jay-Z you will probably find very little to enjoy about the game. But if you like your music a bit softer and a bit more electronic and if you like the idea of making music and then sharing it with your friends (and the world) I can't imagine a better game for you.

The teammate AI is painfully bad and it will go down as one of the biggest mistakes in video gaming history. To take you back to the painful train analogy from before, Resident Evil 5 is a train where the engineer is retarded and steals all your god damned ammo. Replace that engineer with a human and you'll have fun with the game.

An expertly refined, craftily created fighting game which builds on an already outstanding base to deliver an all-around outstanding experience.

Monster Hunter Tri is well worth a look for JRPG aficionados and a welcome new step in the right direction for the Wii, though casual gamers may not enjoy the opening grind.

There is a thin line between telling the player a story and letting them experience it, and it's one the previous games parkoured along with only the occasional misstep. Assassin's Creed 3 however, falls flat on the side of telling you its story - and it would be unforgivable if it weren't for the billion other things you can do in the game.

At the end of the day Guitar Hero: Metallica offers just enough to justify it not just being another track pack - just barely offering enough to be worth purchasing yet another Guitar Hero game.

A great game for both newcomers and old school players alike. It’s not the perfect Civ experience for either party, but the compromise is well worth your time.

If you can ignore the early level frustrations you’ll feel with the controls and develop a creature which is truly yours Spore is an experience like no other game. A perfect game wouldn’t make you combat clunky controls, but imperfect is still great.

Pretty much exactly how I expected it - epileptic, frantic fun. Sure, it has a few balancing issues (Sentinel) and it might be a little too frantic at times, but at its core it's a great fighter for those who don't have the patience to learn SSFIV's endless move lists.

Need for Speed Most Wanted does a great job at what it's supposed to - the cars feel good, the game looks pretty and the multiplayer is phenomenal. Some curious decisions hurt more than they help, and I'll never get used to the LSD inspired intro videos, but overall it's evidence that Criterion are getting ever closer to nailing that balance between arcade and simulation racing.