For every person that hates this breath of fresh air for gaming, a dozen will love it. For me, Heavy Rain has been the highlight of the last ten years and a ground-breaking event in video games that I am glad to have experienced; a masterpiece of gaming.

Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing may not be perfect, however it shines in all the right places offering hours of endless next generation entertainment and adrenaline pumping racing that even the mighty Mario Kart would be envious of.

The issues are, to be perfectly fair, countless. One could nitpick problems forever and write a novel regarding them, but stepping into a game of this style you have to expect a little roughness – and unfortunately that is found in spades.

Aliens vs Predator is a very mixed bag. Whilst the single player is fun and a surprising change to what we'd expect, it just seems a bit lazy.

It's complicated enough playing on PC with so many menus to navigate and things to keep check on. However, Tropico 3 does a good job of having things accessible despite having a terrible tutorial.

If you're seriously considering paying over £40 for a game that has barely changed since 2000 then you're probably better off putting that money towards a psych evaluation.

The thrilling single player lives up to the standards originally set by the predecessor and the addition of a very strong multiplayer takes Bioshock 2 to another level. It may be too soon to call Game of the Year, but Bioshock 2 is certainly a contender and a very strong one at that.

The thrilling single player lives up to the standards originally set by the predecessor and the addition of a very strong multiplayer takes Bioshock 2 to another level. It may be too soon to call Game of the Year, but Bioshock 2 is certainly a contender and a very strong one at that.

If you can get this game on the cheap or rental you’d be damned not to check this game out - even if it is for stunning CGI sequences, epic bosses, the odd boob shot and the brainless bashing of the undead.

If you can get this game on the cheap or rental you’d be damned not to check this game out - even if it is for stunning CGI sequences, epic bosses, the odd boob shot and the brainless bashing of the undead.

A brilliantly-designed title that players can easily sit down and relax to. Whilst it lacks in terms of content, the title can be enjoyed in short bursts and the donation to charity makes the Xbox Live Arcade title a deserving purchase, especially at the 400 Microsoft Points price tag.

Looks like Level 5 have conjured up another RPG gem.

It turns out that, as further progress is made through the levels, KrissX becomes a challenging, engaging game, that's actually quite delightful.

If you're considering making an investment in a massive time sink of a game, then Blood Bowl could be your answer. It is definitely a game for the reserved thinking man - there is no way it can be beaten with simple button-mashing.

Mass Effect 2 is a worthy successor to the original, and whilst it's a surprise to see the legends of hardcore RPG developers BioWare take a step away from the RPG and into the third-person shooter; it's one that will appeal to a far larger audience and when it's at this level of brilliance - everyone should be lucky enough to enjoy it.

MAG certainly tries to raise the bar over the competition, and in some senses it succeeds. Unfortunately it has numerous faults that simply shouldn’t be there considering the game is lacking a campaign mode, and should have an emphasis on refining online play to perfection.

A surprise hit. Whilst there are better titles of a similar nature available on the Xbox Live Arcade, the game provides great enjoyment amongst a vast amount of frustration, mostly caused by the high difficulty setting. If you enjoy the trial, Death by Cube is a worthy purchase, even at 800 Microsoft Points.

Vandal Hearts represents a good thirty hours of gaming, though much of it remains quite repetitive, the story really isn't particularly interesting and is also quite slowly paced.

Dark Void is a pile of disappointment.

It's not the greatest shooter ever made, but who doesn't love being chased by zombies with bombs for hands or a gigantic six armed monster shooting fireballs to then take them down with the biggest rocket launcher you've ever seen. I know I do!

Army of Two: The 40th Day is a significant improvement on the first title, developing some of the original’s best techniques and features further. Unfortunately, the lack of anything particularly unique within the gameplay is disappointing, and isn’t helped by the poor EA servers – a crucial factor for a co-operative title.

With most of the tracks, events and overall gameplay remaining similar over all areas of the game it certainly wouldn’t have taken a lot of time to develop.

Aqua Panic is bright cheerful and likely to put a smile on your face, even in the deepest of saturated situations.

Divinity is a game that really gives back what you put in but if all you have is a few hours spare, it will slap you in the face and tell you to return to your hussy, Modern Warfare 2, before telling you it didn't know what it was doing with you anyway and that all its friends had been telling it you were no good.

I cannot give the game the ultimate praise it deserves. It isn’t perfect (and with its satirical humour, it knows that!), and it certainly isn’t Shadow Complex, but what it is, is a nostalgic piss-take of the things we used to love.

How shocked I was to find that the more hours I spent investing into Darksiders, the more rewarding it felt. Darksiders feels like a breath of fresh air, a step in the right direction and a reinvention of formulas that are sorely missed when used at this level of quality.

How shocked I was to find that the more hours I spent investing into Darksiders, the more rewarding it felt. Darksiders feels like a breath of fresh air, a step in the right direction and a reinvention of formulas that are sorely missed when used at this level of quality.

It certainly is one of the best action titles to release for a long time.