Overlook-able faults aside, Gearbox has delivered one of meatiest, most wholly satisfying hybrids yet.

The Darkness is all about the story and that's what you'll be buying this for. It does a great job of pulling you in to what's going on in the world. It's not often a game genuinely shocks you when something major happens but this will.

If BioWare can get over their identity crisis and make TOR increasingly more unique with future updates, this could be one of the best MMOs ever. For now, it's 'merely' excellent, and a bold experiment in bringing a worthwhile story to an online experience.

Buoyed by extra content, yet lacking a proper sense of real progression from the last outing, it nevertheless remains a well-designed foray that taps into parts of the gaming brain that habitually lie dormant. [PC Zone]

The game is so diverse that it'd take months, maybe years, to see everything.

Takes the old-school RTS formula and enriches it in countless cool ways, using the lessons of the past decade to create a single-player campaign that's as valid and exciting as anything else in the genre. [PC Zone]

Not the rally sim fans will expect, but despite a more arcade-like take, its huge selection of races and high-speed thrills, DiRT is fantastic fun.

The brief playtime and lack of innovation might put you off. Still, Metroid rocks so hard, if Samus promised you a night of intergalactic canoodling, you'd be happy if all she put out was a quick grope in the shrubbery.

The Firaxis tweak-stick has hit the main campaign big-time and if you're a veteran returning to Civ III, you'll find the main game more finely tuned and balanced than ever before. [PC Zone]

It's surely the best-looking traditional real time strategy game out there at the moment, and more importantly it's a real blast to play. Boom! [PC Zone]

Another brilliant online feature - and by far our favourite - is the hilarious Hall of Meat challenge, which dares you to wipeout around the city causing as much damage to your skater as possible. All this bone snapping is accompanied by an X-ray score sheet showing, yep, your broken bones.

A truly terrifying adventure that, while certainly not perfect, still brings a real sense of panic and dread back to the weary survival horror genre.

Like Austin Powers it adopts the faux-Bond villain theme very well, without becoming too camp or dampening the challenges. Above all, it's hugely entertaining and manages to keep dishing out the surprises all the way through.

For an arcade game, it's even surprisingly playable with a steering wheel, with near misses causing no small amount of amateurish flinching. If you can't afford to attach largely pointless gadgets to your otherwise moribund vehicle, this is the next best thing. [PC Zone]

One quibble comes with the ugly texturing of the player models - perhaps a hangover from the console versions, or maybe just misjudged artistic direction. Either way, they need fixing. And that's about that. [PC Zone]

Once upon a time there was a boy called Colin who liked cars. He liked them so much that when he grew up he drove them at high speed under strict competition conditions. Perhaps driven by rage at his unfortunate choice of name, he drove so fast that he was crowned Champion of the World.

What makes BG&E really fun is the way you use your camera to gather information and earn cash. It works very much like Samus' Scan Visor in "Metroid Prime," but it's faster and, if anything, easier to use.

Ultimately, Standard Tetris is still the best of the bunch on offer here. However, with all the high-quality additions and strong multiplayer options, Tetris DS offers serious value for money.

Basically more of the same game, with the addition of slightly improved graphics, analog stick passes and special moves, pucks that can bounce realistically and injure players, and a tweaked create-a-player function. [PC Zone]

By all means, enjoy the single-player game, marvel at its visuals, groan at its clichés and enjoy its firefights. However, I can guarantee that six months from now, as you fly through the air firing rockets and screaming in rage in an attempt to take out that railgunning bastard who's just fried your brains five times in quick succession - while all around bodies explode into a thousand blood-caked giblets - you'll have forgotten all about it. [PC Zone]

This game, while it lasts, is crazy genius and, as we've already said, will be the one you come back to when you've got a full house.

A thrilling and beautiful RTS that sucks you into its world of war and carnage, shakes you up with its intensity, plot-twists and booming aural assaults, then spits you back out into reality as the end credits roll. It's by no means a masterpiece, but it is one of the most tactical, rewarding and entertaining RTS games money can currently buy.

By far the most extraordinary feature of Blood has to be its sound effects. They are nothing short of incredible. 'Manamax and spear books,' the cultists shriek, alongside something not dissimilar to the word 'bollocks'. The zombies endlessly crow about 'Brainssssss'. Set a fanatic on fire and he screams like a girl: 'It burns! Oh god it burns,' before melting into a heap of steaming entrails accompanied by the appropriate popping and sizzling effects.

Are we too battle-hardened to sense the full impact of Vin's Xbox debut? More likely the game isn't packing quite the dynamite as its potential suggested.

A brilliant tracklist, excellent multiplayer modes and Freestyle elements are a hit, but single-player could still be improved.

More funny than any free game has a right to be, but it's free for a reason. There's basically just one play mode and you need four people to make it worthwhile. If only you didn't have to suffer R: Racing to get it.

Painkiller abounds with sublime touches, such as the boxes full of postcards that flutter down around you when shot and the fireworks that send multi-coloured sparks whizzing in all directions. I've said it once, and I'll say it again - there's nothing wrong at all with violent videogames. Disagree, and I'll send you to hell with a wooden stake through your eye socket.

It's a shame that the bosses require little more thought than simply chucking back what they throw at you, and it hardly qualifies as a platformer at times when you can just fly everywhere.