The PS3 equivalent of a summer blockbuster, scripted and directed by a silver screen Goliath, makes Naughty Dog's anticipated sequel a landmark in gaming.

The two halves– the rewarding combat and the massive role playing element – will provide something for everyone. If you’re a fan of both camps, then you really need to get this. A wonderful, immersive tale that sets things up superbly for the finale, which, based on the evolution Mass Effect 2 has showed, should be magnificent.

What is a simple fact is that this is a must purchase if you own a PS3. My local retailer has entirely removed its ‘Coming Soon’ section for the PS3 so there’s nothing to wait for. This is, by far, the best game on the system and certainly a serious contender for game of the year.

While other Rockstar games have delivered experiences that have often been frenetic and hectic, Redemption inversely succeeds by replacing a bustling, breathing city with the bleakness and emptiness of the old west. Don't confuse the terms bleakness and emptiness with lacking content, because Redemption has the potential to deliver an almost endless list of things to do and see.

A simple premise, brilliantly executed, makes World of Goo one of the year's best puzzle games.

This is a leader in the genre and a must own for anyone who enjoys online combat, and although a longer solo campaign would always be welcome, you can’t accuse what does exist of being underwhelming.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is a monster, multi faceted game on a mini-system. It is as well designed as a game could be, makes wonderful use of the system it is for and is by far and away (and I mean very far away) the best game I have played on the DS.

While it’s a little buggy in places, and even though Capcom have not acknowledged the existence of a third dimension, there’s nothing wrong with SF4 that cannot be quickly patched out, and even the most distractible of gamers will find it hard to put the controller down for long.

But really, those why find the missions a little repetitive are missing the point, because while Fallout 3 is certainly not perfect, the goods outweigh the bad to such a degree that the negatives really can be ignored. Whether you want to trade, rob trade caravans, become a melee combat specialist or perfect killing from 500 yards, the possibilities are endless.

Action fans everywhere are going to adore it, but I recommend everyone play it. It’s big, brash, loud and full of ball-shrinkingly deadly scenarios and for that, we can forgive the predictability of the rest of it.

God of War III is an exhilarating tale, and one which showcases just what a good development team can do with some predictable mechanics. Most of the other games that exist in the genre have been blasted if not into obscurity, then certainly into irrelevance. Although God of War III remains unapologetically a hack 'n' slash title, just about everything has been improved, tweaked, expanded, polished, and refined.

Favouring the animation series over the movie for setting was an inspired choice, and the depth of detail and maximum use of the source material make this a game that will remembered for a long time.

From a gaming era that you would think was long forgotten comes a remake of one of the best RPG games ever to be released, now available on the DS, and a must play.

I don’t believe there will be much distinction between the franchises apart from the DLC tracks available. With both expanding as fast as we can report, and with names like The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix being added to the fray, I honestly reckon there’s enough music out there for both to be successful, and that if Harmonix can do something about their terrible staggered worldwide release schedule, they may still be in contention.

The undisputed champion of the MMO world has delivered the ultimate sucker punch to all its competitors; delivering a visually outstanding, totally engaging and massively entertaining new expansion.

Drop dead gorgeous visuals and Guerrilla getting adventurous with the multiplayer makes this one of the must-play games on the PS3.

By being better in almost every department than its predecessor, Assassin’s Creed 2 does exactly what a sequel should.

It’s easy to overlook the flaws because there are so many good things to pay attention to, although it’s still not perfect. Having it a little shorter and not repeating the enemies so much would be a start. Still, it’s hard not to recommend because there is just so much here for the player to do and doing it all is awesome.

It might weigh in at a massive 1.78Gb of a download, but the sheer volume of new content is the reason why. The Lost and Damned has set a new benchmark for the quality of downloadable content and other developers take note. Two or three hours game time in an unrelated zone hardly comes close to matching this. Quite simply, anyone who enjoyed GTA IV should make downloading this their highest priority.

The expected trickle of tweaks implemented has turned into a torrent, and all across the board there are improvements. As a football game, this is the best of the bunch, and a great experience.

If you haven't done so already, get stuck into this, because it has depth, fun, excitement, and longevity. If you were to pick between formats, maybe the touch screen would swing you in the DS direction, but the improvements made on the whole for the PSP cannot be ignored, and the PSP version stands out for all the right reasons.

Provided you have some patience, and a computer with enough horsepower to run it, the game is addictive, rewarding and a lot of fun. It would be nice to see Creative Assembly support this title following release, particularly given how much “character” Empire has. A few bug fixes and overhauls could turn this into one for the ages.

A brilliantly realised world means Lionhead have come closer to delivering on its lofty promises than ever before, and the players are the ones who reap the reward.

In short, this is a frantic thrill-ride, as fast paced as anything you are likely to endure. Even for those that were not fans of the original, I’d suggest giving this a try. For those that loved the first, this game is a must-have, polished and refined in every way, infinitely re-playable and guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Where "The Club" and "Shadowrun" were online-only games that faded quickly because they were fun for a few minutes, Left 4 Dead has the potential to become a cult classic, like Counterstrike. It doesn’t matter that the levels are the same every time you play, because when you’ve mastered the various elements of the game, that’s what brings its own rewards.

It's always uncomfortably close to the real, and in the real world it's so much worse to be this horribly intimate with something so nasty. If I had to complain about something I'd say the game was a little too long for me, but everything has to take 15 bloody hours these days, and bloody hours they are.

MGS fans rejoice, the bang-for-buck ratio has never been higher than in Metal Gear: Peace Walker, and those of you who are new to the series, or gave up when it all got too ridiculous, give this one a go, I doubt you'll be disappointed.

If ever there were a sequel for a sequel’s sake, this is it, a stable, hectic shooter that has developed through a variety of tweaks, but never scales the heights of our first trip to Rapture.

It is engrossing, and it is thorough. It has simple plug and play exhibition game mode for casual fans, and in depth stats, analysis, and career modes for the die hard. If you are a hockey fan or a sports game enthusiast, this is the game for you.

The unique Battlefield experience returns and is bigger, better and more destructive than anything else in the series, or on the market, and will be a massive success online. Bad Company 2 had a lot to live up to, and despite some small issues, it has. A more stable and genuinely engaging single player campaign is bolstered by the most engaging and complex multiplayer in the genre.

The FIFA series has been stuck somewhere around Division Two for the last few years, but the 09 version is the best yet.

Ultimately, the technical issues tainted the experience beyond what I’m prepared to take, which is a terrible shame considering the level of effort that has been put in to craft an engaging and thrilling storyline. Offering a multitude of endings is redundant if I don’t want to go back and play through the game again, and I had a strong desire to see this work. In a way, I still enjoyed my time with it and can definitely see myself returning to any similar games that come along, and with smoother controls and no technical issues, there is every chance that future titles could become masterpieces.

Although it follows exactly the same formula as most other Mario games, that's exactly why we love it. Adding four player co-op is just the icing on an already amazing cake.

With plenty of other driving games either fresh on the market or soon to drop, it would appear that Colin McRae DiRT 2 has the off-road side of the fence stitched up. If you’re a fan of racing through mud and dust, you’re not going to find a title out there that’s better than this.

The biggest ever multiplayer for a console game, coupled with a simply massive storyline, means that despite its faults, Resistance 2 is worth a look for anyone after a hardcore shooter on the PS3.

The gaming equivalent of watching Saturday morning cartoons, this is an easy-going marriage of puzzle solving and shooting in a game that never tries to box above its weight class, and it never has to.

EA's Fight Night 4 is the best looking boxing game ever made, and it also handles brilliantly. Unfortunately, we couldn't load it up without pulling out our network adapter, and found some inherent flaws in the career mode. But for boxing action online or with friends, this is an essential purchase.

Although there may be other games in this genre on the shelf, I don’t think any of them come close to doing what Dragon Age Origins does. There are times when you really wish you had a mouse and keyboard but all in all, this is about as functional as it can get.

Whether you’ve never played an MMORPG before or you are an avid fan, this game is an absolute must play. It took me a few weeks to come to this decision and a fair amount of game time. In that time I turned from being completely underwhelmed at the start, massively frustrated with game glitches in the middle to relishing logging back in for another session of all out war.

Splinter Cell: Conviction is a fun game to play for most of the time, frustratingly disappointing at others. It’s far too easy, has some poor AI, but above all it’s just not expressive enough. Cool as it may be, visually and conceptually, you can only get excited about infiltrating another warehouse or mansion in the dead of night so often.

This game is about brutally beating your opponents into unconsciousness with your fists and feet, shooting them, burning them and electrocuting them, over and over and over again. The title music sounds just like my little sister’s 10th birthday party. We’re in for some fun here.

Relic’s last few titles have been a triumph, and there were high hopes for Dawn of War II. At the end of the day, it just doesn’t quite measure up to the previous iterations of the series or Company of Heroes. Relic are capable as ever at implementing some thoughtful and well-designed game mechanics, but the campaign design and multiplayer balance are both severely lacking.

It really comes down to this: if you are going to buy a band kit, which do you buy, Rock Band or Guitar Hero World Tour? I say the latter. Better drums is the big thing if you’re getting the whole kit, because if you’re not, the Rock Band has more songs to play, if you have the money to download them. But if you are after drums, there’s only one answer: and this game is it.

Pure exploded into the limelight by stealing the Best Driving Game award at E3 this year, and only weeks later it’s on the shelf. And, you know what? It’s an awful lot of fun.

It’s hard to recommend this to people who aren’t fans though, because the single player is completely underrepresented and I see no value in it for someone new. Online play will give it some legs with the fans but really, I think this is a case of fanboy love gone too far.

A diverse tracklist means there really is something for everyone, and sticking it on Party Mode to play random songs is great with friends. New competitive modes are also well executed, meaning there’s enjoyment to be dragged from it everywhere.

A sandbox game that turns you into a superhero, maybe, is a surprisingly entertaining jaunt despite it not immediately capturing our imagination. inFamous does a lot of things right.

A picturesque, open world environment and some simply brilliant fire physics make up for incompetent AI and a lot of repetitiveness in the missions.

However, the new approach to World War II adds a surprise at every turn and World at War delivers a good single-player experience, and even manages to hold its own against some of the toughest multiplayer competition out there.

If Dawn of War II was Relic’s attempt to reinvent the genre, Chaos Rising is an evolution of the ideas they previously put forward. It’s fun, atmospheric and over-the-top in all the right ways. Those with reservations about the first title would do well to check this one out – it does everything the previous game did, and does it better.

Just remember: when possible, aim for the head (if it has one); don’t be afraid to run like a little girl; and this being a Resident Evil game, expect everything living to mutate horribly with the expressed purpose of using your internal organs as a hat. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Despite the irritations, the fighting is still immensely emotive. You get a great feeling when you pull off a complicated move, and your heart rate increases dramatically when trying to get your character out of a clinch or submission attempt. If you love everything UFC, there is a lot to like here, but unless some improvements are made in the next installment, this franchise might not be able to go the distance.

We’re not here for the story, we’re here to be wowed, challenged, infuriated, awed, and rewarded for our brute strength and cunning. In spite of the technical limitations of the Wii, Monster Hunter Tri does all this, minus the pretension, and it does it in spades.

As something built for the fans, you can’t really fault it. It’s the best guitar game out there at the moment, and anything coming after this in terms of band specific titles has a high benchmark to be measured against.

This is a game to be played with one eyebrow raised, because that's how the game's looking at you. But for all its snide Gen-X affectations, its often puerile humour, its sarcasm, and insults to gaming and gamers alike, it never insults your intelligence. That's a precious, rare thing in games.

Spore is a mishmash of many existing game concepts held together by the innovative creature evolution process. It must be aimed at a younger and less cynical audience than I, or one than has a lot of free time to spend in the model designer.

Still one of the prettiest games ever, Crysis: Warhead improves on its predecessor in every way. It's just a pity that there isn't more of it.

There is wonderful groundwork here, a lot of things are handled well and it will appeal to all ages, but until players can pick the songs they want to mix then it really is nothing more than a glorified prompt-reaction exercise. Should the personalisation be upped – and that’s not going to be an easy thing to do – then the potential for this is pretty high.

Grinding and flips have never been so much like the real thing, and despite being rather complex in the controls department, most of the time, it always comes off.

Tiger Woods 09 is like a visit to a strip club – you know what to expect, but it’s always worth a look.

For an online multiplayer experience, 1943 is up there with the best of them. With some more add-ons and expansions, which we’d gladly pay for, it can become amazing. But even as it stands, it’s pretty much an essential purchase if you’re a fan of multiplayer combat.

To consider buying ODST, particularly for full RRP, will feel more or less like value for money depending on whether you already own the multiplayer from Halo 3 and the various expansion packs. If you don’t then the 24 maps, including three new ones and plenty of game modes offers potentially months of gameplay, and value. If it’s just the campaign mode and Firefight multiplayer you’ll be buying for the cash, which I suspect will be a lot of people, then maybe not so much.

Slick visuals and an addictive scavenging approach doesn't save Borderlands from eventually slipping into the realm of almost-great.

The presentation, combat mechanics, visuals, physics, roster, character creation and development, and having a proper matchmaking function are all gold stars. The online lag and saving messages are the only real distractions. It may not have the speed and sense of urgency that the real sport has, but it comes close.

As with many games like this, despite all the complaining I seem to have done, I can still see this enjoying plenty of success. This is either from a simplistic approach appealing to a greater audience, or the legions of Madureira fans being able to ignore the tearing and movement issues. If you allow yourself to become immersed in the story then perhaps you will find more here than I did, but I can’t however, and that’s why Darksiders is more Too Human for me than God of War.

It’s extremely easy to sit down intending to play for a few minutes, only to look up and see that two hours has gone by. The few balance and graphical issues really don’t detract that much from what is as solid a first release as you could hope for from a new company. Torchlight is ambitious, well-executed and, most of all, some of the best fun PC gamers can get for the price.

If you love your football, and plan on having lots of people over for World Cup parties, then this could be a perfect addition to your library.

Alan Wake is a fun jaunt across a variety of stereotypes and offers some new gameplay ideas. Unfortunately it’s just not entirely scary, and I find it hard to see where the five years went in making it. Good, but not stellar.

Requisite whining about copy protection aside, this is a solid title that offers some fun and addictive game play, with lots to discover and plenty to do. It’s ridiculously easy to sit down with the intention of playing for a few minutes, only to look up and see that two or three hours have gone past. There’s a lot of character in the animations, the voice-acting is superb and the setting is fantastic. Dawn of Discovery deserves to be checked out by anybody who has an interest in exploration and the classic city-building titles of old.

While still pretty and all, Trouble in Paradise doesn't move forward enough to warrant a purchase if you've played the previous ones.

It is with a sense of dismay then that I say that this: all things considered, it’s hard to call this a brilliant title. It has one of the most enjoyable 10 hour campaigns I’ve played, and if it were to be scored on that alone, it would have done a fair bit better. If you’re a fan of the genre of music, like I am, then the single player would be somewhere in the low –to mid-90s. The fact remains though that bolted onto this wonderful experience are sub par multiplayer and some terrible navigation issues.

The definite arcade nature of play sets this up to be experienced with friends or online. Everything is so simple – the screen is uncluttered with trivialities like a speedometer or map, and the controls are limited to just a few buttons. It really should do well as a casual title to play with mates. Restarting a level takes only moments, allowing players to retry levels in a snap, and the awesomeness starts right from the minute the level loads. As a single player experience it may not have the longest lifespan, but it could become the most popular arcade racer out there.

That’s not to say it’s a poor game, because if you’re one of the following: a massive Halo fan; someone who needs to learn how to play an RTS; or you’re under 10 years of age, then this would be an awesome game to play, I’m sure. And although it’s a solid release, stick it beside some of the other RTS titles out there, and it just doesn’t have the depth.

Great gameplay combines with a strong control scheme, superb visuals, and light-hearted music to make de Blob not just a great puzzle-come-platform, but a great game.

Returning to Stilwater may not be the prettiest experience in life, but the sheer level of mayhem contained in the game makes it noticeable for different reasons.

It’s fair to say I was more than impressed with Just Cause 2. After 26 hours I had completed the core missions, but had only found or completed 25 per cent of things to do on the island. It retains an appeal to jump in and keep searching for those missing crates, completing locations, and causing havoc. One of the best open world games ever made.

A dominance of circuit based racers means Midnight Club: Los Angeles is quite a breath of fresh air in the run up to the Christmas season.

The Prince’s debut on the PS3 and 360 may be impressive, but changes in the formula mean that it’s not going to appeal to everyone.

By taking the best elements of the previous releases, blending them with borrowed features from the competition, and adding entirely new elements, we are now presented with a whole new experience, and the injection of longevity into a game that has expanded the boundaries of its genre. This is hours upon hours of fun and an absolute must-have for anybody who has ever enjoyed martial arts-based games.

Combining superb atmosphere, setting, and visuals with a learning curve that will appeal to casual gamers and experience simulation pilots means that this is the best all round console flight combat game, bar none.

So here's the problem, exactly how much do you get out of waving your arms around? For me, especially with the Wii Motion Plus, the answer is: Quite a lot. It's probably the most motion-control fun I've had with the Wii yet.

Lock’s Quest is a hugely entertaining twist on the traditional tower defence game that will keep you glued to your handheld for hours on end.

Much as it may well be technically possible to perform a heart-lung transplant with your DVD remote, or teach your dog to fill out your tax return, one can’t help but realise that there’s a much easier way to go about these things. By cramming this massive suite of fully-featured audio tools into the PSP, Rockstar have unfortunately led us ultimately into an endless web of frustration, with context-sensitive assignable sub-menus within sub-menus within sub-menus; with painful load and seek-times; with scrolling around the bloody screen again and again for the bloody knob-or-button that’s right bloody there.

It may be out of the question if you’ve got a PC and have MAME, where I’m sure all these games are available for free, but if you’ve got the cash and the memories, then this can provide a lot of what games used to be all about – fun.

It’s hard to emphasize what a refreshing thing it is to play a game that’s so completely ... different.

King Arthur is the kind of title big game companies just don't make anymore. Challenging, ambitious and quirky, this is certainly a game that deserves a look, particularly if Neocore continue the fine job they're doing with addressing a few of the game's issues.

LHP seems to indicate that the franchise has got its Mojo back, but whether it keeps it or not is another matter. Still, for the time being, Potter's superiority should ensure that old fans will be cheered up and new devotees welcomed into the fold. There is not much here that can be called fresh and inventive but enough minor adjustments have been made to the formula to revive the waning gameplay and provide a decent story and a welcoming return for the classic Lego game.

House of the Dead: Overkill may be a bit short on content but it more than makes up for it by achieving exactly what it set out to do, supplying a gruesome blood splattered shoot’em up, with its tongue firmly in its rotted cheek. Now if only I could import some of the other Wii characters in to replace the mutants.

Prototype could have been amazing, and in some ways it is, but it just doesn’t come together in the way we’d hoped. It’s scattered, confusing, and finicky, and lacks a depth of detail to go with its ambitious reach. Yes it is fun for a while, but lacks the sort of replay value we’d hoped for, and that’s a shame.

It may not compare to SSX Tricky, Amped 3 or 1080 in terms of sheer arcade enjoyment, but the Wii version is better than the 360 and the balance board is the reason why. It’s fun for a moderate amount of time and looks good. Worth a shot.

A solid cast added to a recognizable storyline in familiar surroundings will let you almost share and feel the ghost busting experience. Wonderfully created cut scenes and down time in the HQ adds intensity and authenticity to that experience. One for fans and newcomers alike, Ghostbusters is a game that won’t take an age to play, but never takes itself too seriously and as a result was a pleasurable experience. Different from the rest of the herd, it begs to be played and deserves to be enjoyed.

The Wiimote is designed to let you feel like you’re playing the game, so you need to let it. You also need to spend a lot of time learning the ropes, because you didn’t buy Grand Slam Tennis for it to play like Wii Sports. It may be tough to master it but master it you can, and to be fair the Motion Plus does a remarkably good job of recreating what you want when you know how to use it.

If you’re a fan of the western genre and era but are unsure about investing in Bound in Blood, worry no more. Without a doubt the best game in its genre for now, it’s a worthy investment. Rich single player, functional and enjoyable multiplayer which will be supported with downloadable maps, it ticks all the boxes.

Zeno Clash is what a future cult favourite looks like. With a wickedly brutal melee engine, and some jaw-dropping visual design, this gorgeously demented indie brawler is short but sweet.

While the Supreme Commander universe is interesting enough, this probably isn’t the game that fans of the first installments in the series were expecting. Really, Supreme Commander 2’s cardinal sin is that it offers less than the games it follows on from, and fans of the original titles are probably best served by continuing to play those.

The campaign may suit co-op a hell of a lot better than on your own, and will certainly provide plenty of game time for those who prefer their realistic combat simulators with the realism right up there. There’s not a lot to it, it’s bent and warped with problems, but at its heart lies something that those committed to the game will love.

If you played the first Red Alert and the various add-ons for that, then you have a much better idea of this latest release than you might think you do. If you liked the first one, you’ll love this. Its modernisation hasn’t come at the cost of playability, and while it’s not the best game out this Xmas and it’s not the best RTS on the market, it’s still damn good fun.

So, Endwar has a novelty feature that works really well and is fun to use. It’s just a shame that there are some small issues, because this really could be the next step in console warfare.