Without a doubt, rest assured this is the best game yet for this generation. The only reason we've resisted giving it full marks is that in the same way GTA III’s template was blown out so much further in "Vice City" and "San Andreas," we're confident the next GTA on this generation will up the ante considerably.

A momentous gaming experience; one that marries artistry with supreme design rarely seen. If there's a textbook on how to be referent to a classic genre while always pressing forward, Red Dead Redemption is the byline. Wonderful.

Without a doubt, rest assured this is the best game yet for this generation. The only reason we've resisted giving it full marks is that in the same way GTA III’s template was blown out so much further in "Vice City" and "San Andreas," we’re confident the next GTA on this generation will up the ante considerably.

A hugely impressive achievement. It takes everything we loved about the original game and improves upon it.

Rapturous. There is simply no better word to describe this game. It’s a joy to play from start to finish; jam-packed full of both inventive new ideas and nods to Mario past, with a difficulty curve that climbs slowly and steadily.

Playing co-op with other humans truly brings the game to life. Whether your hunting squad is running like a well-oiled machine, or you're all screaming abuse at the one guy who keeps dying, the unpredictable nature of play always make co-op feel like an occasion.

As DLC, The Ballad of Gay Tony is an incredible offering, but when combined with The Lost and Damned in 'Episodes From Liberty City' at retail, it's irresistible.

Like the game's maniacal entrepreneur himself loftily aimed, Irrational put art and intellect above and beyond schlock of the common game. They accomplished something wonderful.

But where MGS4 really succeeds is in delivering an experience unlikely to ever be surpassed by Kojima ever again, providing fans everything they want to see, twists you won’t expect and more raw, lavish creativity than the video gaming medium probably deserves.

There are few flaws. It's incredibly addictive, sure, but that's not a bug; it's a feature. Likewise, you can't save, or even pause the action mid-mission. Thus the stakes are raised, and the experience heightened. Each new challenge is maddening at first, and a cakewalk in hindsight — and each hunt is a thrill.

Damn you Valve. That's what rival game publishers must be thinking.

It's a staggeringly impressive achievement; a rollercoaster ride of shoot-outs, action set pieces, compelling traversal sequences and light puzzle solving. It ups the ante in every respect from the original, and while it may be all about the action and the stunning vistas on the surface, the reality is that it's the game's personality, and the game's heart, that is its driving force.

If you can put in the time and commit to exploring this detailed and carefully designed wasteland, then Fallout 3 can't help but satisfy and engage you in ways that very few games ever have.

Absolutely one of the most rounded gaming packages of 2009. The single player campaign – while not long – is well-paced, with plenty of variety in settings and gameplay, and will definitely be a steep challenge on the harder difficulty levels. The multiplayer component is fully featured, with an expansive set of modes and maps, and it’s great to see persistent stats returning. Rounding it out is Spec Ops, which is very much the icing on the cake.

It might not have the lengthy feature list of certain other shooters, but there’s no denying that COD4’s strength is KISS – Keep it Simple, Stupid. By not trying to reinvent the wheel, Infinity Ward has done what it does best – build a shooter that is unrivalled when it comes to the sensation of being in a real warzone.

Absolutely one of the most rounded gaming packages of 2009. The single player campaign – while not long – is well-paced, with plenty of variety in settings and gameplay, and will definitely be a steep challenge on the harder difficulty levels. The multiplayer component is fully featured, with an expansive set of modes and maps, and it’s great to see persistent stats returning. Rounding it out is Spec Ops, which is very much the icing on the cake.

Even if God of War III isn't going to cause a massive rethink on the way you play action-heavy platformers, Kratos has earned an enviable position at the head of his genre's ladder - and we don't think there's going to be another hero quite like him, in a series as consistently outstanding as this, for a very long time.

Charming and clever in equal portions, Brütal Legend is a classic example of cohesive game design...In an age of ever-increasing monotony and creative stagnation, a game like Brütal Legend is brash, proud, subversive and triumphant - and it deserves to succeed. Get on board, crank it up and make it so. Two horns up.

With simple to use but tricky to master controls, a useful handicap feature and a staggering variety of great characters, Brawl is the perfect competitive party game.

Charming and clever in equal portions, Brütal Legend is a classic example of cohesive game design...In an age of ever-increasing monotony and creative stagnation, a game like Brütal Legend is brash, proud, subversive and triumphant - and it deserves to succeed. Get on board, crank it up and make it so. Two horns up.

Mass Effect 2's greatest strength once again falls upon the beauty of its universe and the carefully interwoven character dramas underpinning the action. It's a fascinating and hugely enjoyable experience that serves not only as a reminder of how wide the valley between a 'great and an 'excellent' game actually is, but why BioWare is still one of the most vital and important developers out there today.

For Nintendo-only gamers out there – and these days, there are more of you than ever – this is an authentic Grand Theft Auto experience. It isn't watered down; it's as fun and foul-mouthed as any series-proper installment. While not perfect, it'll suck you in and keep you up at night like a chronic addiction. Hook it to our veins.

A game of impressive depth and considered content, with A-grade presentation and production values and only a handful of quirks that prevent it from significantly pushing the genre forward and propelling the game straight to the top.

We're confident in saying that the flight simming genre has been given a second lease of life almost singlehandedly by this one developer. Kudos to Eagle Dynamics and its beautiful rendition of Kamov's deadliest chopper.

An incredible package. It’s claustrophobic and sinister, yet utterly action packed and arcadey at the same time. It’s completely gorgeous, yet the visuals serve the gameplay at all times, whether that’s through subtle changes to the presentation to alter the mood, or the fact that you’re playing so much of the game at the end of a flashlight.

There’s just so much to collect, so much explosive firepower to wield, and so much charm to the environments and characters that you’d be crazy to let this game pass you by.

The creative options on offer here live up to the three-and-a-half year hype, and Spore genuinely revolutionises the way user created content is implemented on a global scale.

For all its flaws, Fable II is still a masterful piece of game design, and utterly compelling.

Where LittleBigPlanet stands out is in the genuinely amazing integration of deep, deep content creation tools and incredible variety of objects with a community mode that truly makes content exchange and rating not just easy, but practical and even essential.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii demonstrates one more time why Nintendo are masters of the all-ages gaming market, relevant and refreshing but at all times reverent and above all, incredible fun.

Despite some flaws, Far Cry 2 is almost an essential purchase this holiday retail season. The only reason to excuse yourself from picking it up might be if you're just shootered-out, which frankly is an understandable possibility.

In raw gameplay terms, BioShock 2 improves on the original in everyway, with a deeper combat system, a broader set of enemy types and the addition of a fully-featured multiplayer mode.

Chrono Trigger DS is a faithful port of the wonderful original, with subtle improvements to the script and a little extra gameplay. If the very, very minor sound issues, or the moderately-retro graphics don't bother you, then is a must-own, especially if you've never played it before.

Valkyria Chronicles is a truly magnificent outing for Sega. It dares to be different, it scoffs at genre conventions and finds its own path, and in doing so succeeds brilliantly as both a deep strategy experience and a wonderfully story-driven RPG.

This is going to be the cult-hit DS game of 2008. Jupiter and Square Enix have developed a game that nails just about everything it tries – and it tries quite a lot of new or carefully lifted ideas.

Very possibly the Wii's longest adventure - and certainly one of the most varied. So many side-quests, hidden areas, collectables, characters, classes and things to do. A boon for RPG fans, so buy it.

Despite some flaws, Far Cry 2 is almost an essential purchase this holiday retail season. The only reason to excuse yourself from picking it up might be if you're just shootered-out, which frankly is an understandable possibility.

Zack & Wiki is very much what happens when talented Japanese game designers decide to revisit classic point-and-click adventure gameplay, and proceed to inject it with their own aesthetics and sensibilities, all with a modern coat of paint.

In raw gameplay terms, BioShock 2 improves on the original in everyway, with a deeper combat system, a broader set of enemy types and the addition of a fully-featured multiplayer mode.

It is slick in production, providing a lot of what one could reasonably ask for in a fighting game. The game is as accessible as ever, pretty to look at and arcade-perfect to a T.

It's taken far too long for non-American, English speaking gamers to get their hands on Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. But the good news is, largely Square Enix has managed to live up to incredibly high expectations.

I do have some complaints; namely a short campaign (seven hours), cowardly AI Spartans, an undercooked plot, and it's obviously disappointing that Bungie is no longer at the bleeding edge of graphics technology (as it was with Halo and Halo 2) but at the end of the day we've got an absolute treasure trove of gameplay for shooter die-hards.

Perhaps the best way to view Street Fighter IV is as the perfect complement to Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. This is classic Streeties – good pace, nice and accessible and yet with a truckload of depth. SFIII: 3rd Strike is always there if you want to delve into an intensely technical 2D fighter – and remains one of the greatest fighting games of all time, but SFIV is going to be the game that reinvigorates the series in the eyes of lapsed fans and newcomers alike.

A great action RPG. Solid, ever-evolving combat meets solid, ever-evolving puzzles in some really evocative environments.

It is slick in production, providing a lot of what one could reasonably ask for in a fighting game. The game is as accessible as ever, pretty to look at and arcade-perfect to a T.

It is not, however, a flawless experience by any means – and we think the series' finest hour is still coming – but for fans of the original, it's the step forward we were rooting for and just tempting enough for new players to savour.

Outstanding. It is consistent in every respect and is testament to the talents of the developer as well as the power of the PS3 in the hands of a team that knows how to use the hardware - and who have the full support of Sony behind them. In the same stroke, it is not the be all and end all of console shooters, or even shooters on the PS3.

It's a brilliant game and – despite not offering the weightiest selection of modes, and failing to incorporate replay functionality for launch – deserves huge success.

With so much provision for purist racing as well as arcade thrills, it's a delight to report that Shift strikes a fantastic balance between the two. From a thoughtful introductory race that helps define your style and skills through to a compelling career mode and constant back-patting, Need for Speed Shift is a delight to play.

The basic fusion of the core puzzle gameplay and the dynamic spin that the music applies to this is delightfully successful in itself, but is stretched even further by a drive for perfection.

With so much provision for purist racing as well as arcade thrills, it's a delight to report that Shift strikes a fantastic balance between the two. From a thoughtful introductory race that helps define your style and skills through to a compelling career mode and constant back-patting, Need for Speed Shift is a delight to play.

There's a real sense of cohesive design and polish at play here, something that we feel is missing from ports of PC titles. This is truly a console RTS, rather than a rethink on an existing title and that shines through in the intelligent interface, the interesting campaign and the multiplayer and co-op friendly gameplay.

Its larger than life sci-fi world and speedy, explosive gameplay really work on console and the whole thing runs like a dream. A great PS3 port, and a ready demonstration of what the system can do in the right hands.

A great action RPG. Solid, ever-evolving combat meets solid, ever-evolving puzzles in some really evocative environments. There are a few clumsy or lacklustre moments – the flying sequence is dull, for instance, and this isn’t in any way a revolutionary game, but it is good fun and it is well-designed.

A Crack in Time isn’t a revolution, but it is an impressively solid and fun game with a number of new gameplay hooks to enjoy. Plus, it continues a story set in motion back in Tools of Destruction that you’ll want to see through to the end.

Suffice to say, MCLA is the sequel we were hoping for; a ballsy, fast, challenging racing game set to a killer soundtrack. It may be a little frustrating at times, but it gets an awful lot right. Plus, it makes L.A. an appealing place, and that’s harder than you might think.

Suffice to say, MCLA is the sequel we were hoping for; a ballsy, fast, challenging racing game set to a killer soundtrack. It may be a little frustrating at times, but it gets an awful lot right. Plus, it makes L.A. an appealing place, and that’s harder than you might think.

It effortlessly captures the feel of a classic, rollicking pulp adventure film through charming, fallible characters, great dialogue and voice acting, over-the-top action sequences, and a story featuring plenty of twists and turns.

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift has been a long time coming - and has had other off-road contenders like Pure nipping at its heels - but the old magic that made the first one a ripper is back, with more vehicles, loads more tracks and a better implemented online feature set. Unless you hate off-road car games with a venomous passion this is pretty much a must-have.

It’s well worth the price of admission, in other words; just don’t expect the perfect shooter. Epic made a lot of good calls with Gears 2, but one can’t help but think that the team is still honing its level design, its pacing, its combat and its storytelling. Should be one hell of a third installment.

There's no denying how awesome the replay and Forge features are – but they're not the core of the game. Don't get me wrong, the single player campaign is very strong, the action is tight, and the AI is F.E.A.R.-killing. But for every positive, there was an area of the game that left me wanting more – the backtracking, the overly cheesy storyline, the underwhelming visuals. And multiplayer feels too much like a HD-version of Halo 2 with a few gadgets you can toss around.

With the right blend of attitude, solid gameplay and an unapologetic focus on making a really entertaining co-op experience, Borderlands isn't just an alternative to Valve's co-op zombie-blaster this holiday season, it's really the alternative.

If you can deal with some minor shortcomings, Pure delivers exactly what the title promises: pure gameplay. Almost all aspects of the racing, tricking, physics and ATV creation come together seamlessly and the result is a rock-solid racer that aims to please and thrill in the same sweep.

LocoRoco 2 may not stray too far from the original, but it’s a fantastic and utterly charming piece of game design nonetheless.

Its repetitive and lazy single player sins vanish beneath the screams of your mates’ laughter across your Xbox Live headset. The multiplayer might be a totally unoriginal rip-off of everything that CoD 4’s online game did so well, but why wouldn’t it when the original is so brilliant?

If you can deal with some minor shortcomings, Pure delivers exactly what the title promises: pure gameplay. Almost all aspects of the racing, tricking, physics and ATV creation come together seamlessly and the result is a rock-solid racer that aims to please and thrill in the same sweep.

A charming and compelling hands-off strategy-music-RPG. It's one of the few games on the PSP that really stands out on shelves, mainly because it isn't a port and it's just so darned unique on the platform.

This game represents some fine character development and storytelling. The further in you get the more involving it all becomes, and when you finish you’ll be raring to start all over again, and that’s always a great sign.

You can finish it in less than 15 hours and then there’s not much else to do other than play it again - but it’s so bloody good you probably will! Intelligently written, beautiful to look at and actually genuinely scary - not to mention gory beyond belief, Dead Space is a stunning survival horror/action title and well worth a gander.

It is not, however, a flawless experience by any means – and we think the series' finest hour is still coming – but for fans of the original, it's the step forward we were rooting for and just tempting enough for new players to savour.

With the right blend of attitude, solid gameplay and an unapologetic focus on making a really entertaining co-op experience, Borderlands isn't just an alternative to Valve's co-op zombie-blaster this holiday season, it's really the alternative.

You can finish it in less than 15 hours and then there’s not much else to do other than play it again - but it’s so bloody good you probably will! Intelligently written, beautiful to look at and actually genuinely scary - not to mention gory beyond belief, Dead Space is a stunning survival horror/action title and well worth a gander.

Devil May Cry 4 is still excellent stuff – thoroughly entertaining, mostly well paced, despite the on-off-on battles.

A rare breed of game. Not only is it a licensed title that really makes the most of the license, with gameplay mechanics that cater to Batman’s character, a compelling setting and story, and a host of well-known characters, it’s also a very polished product.

As much as we enjoyed our time as Prince and even gave into the somewhat forced love story, we came away wishing for a little more to do. Still it's by far better to do a few things really well than to try your hand at everything and succeed at nothing. Prince of Persia is arguably the best classic adventure game of 2008 – with a little room to improve.

This review has been quite negative but that’s unavoidable when you’re discussing a good game that follows on from an incredible one.

It's a game that prides itself instead on the glories of the chaos you create, the freedom of exploration and a goof-off action story to keep you in money, weapons and women. It's not for every gamer we wager, but if you're in need of a dose of true sandbox action, there are few better ways to invest your buck.

It's a game that prides itself instead on the glories of the chaos you create, the freedom of exploration and a goof-off action story to keep you in money, weapons and women. It's not for every gamer we wager, but if you're in need of a dose of true sandbox action, there are few better ways to invest your buck.

The presentation, while certainly more mature, has lost that almost imperceptible 'something' – personality or individuality perhaps – and you'll either dig the change, or you won't really care. And why won't you care? Because the gameplay is still just as solid, entertaining, compelling and addictive as ever.

An adventure that, for all the self-important dialogue and forced morality, is unquestionably worth your time - particularly for fans that can differentiate between action/platformers and stealth/RPGs.

A rare breed of game. Not only is it a licensed title that really makes the most of the license, with gameplay mechanics that cater to Batman’s character, a compelling setting and story, and a host of well-known characters, it’s also a very polished product. You can tell that a whole lot of love has gone into this one.

This is a game you have to own because it presents its brutal killing, incessant swearing and bleak world with such humour and such style. It’s tongue-in-cheek the whole way, and at times quite hilarious. Great fun, too.

As much as we enjoyed our time as Prince and even gave into the somewhat forced love story, we came away wishing for a little more to do. Still it's by far better to do a few things really well than to try your hand at everything and succeed at nothing. Prince of Persia is arguably the best classic adventure game of 2008 – with a little room to improve.

This review has been quite negative but that’s unavoidable when you’re discussing a good game that follows on from an incredible one.

It has as much depth as we can ask for a true real-time RTS based in Ivalice, with some of the best production values this side of a first-party Nintendo release.

Less a sequel and more the definitive version, you can't really go past Trouble in Paradise if you've got the Viva Piñata bug.

We just wish Monolith had produced a slightly more progressive or challenging backdrop for the horror that is this game's mojo. It's absolutely worth playing, but that's the difference between a game that scores 9+ and a game that scores 8.6.

A pristinely polished package that owns old-school twitch shooting. Not only does it look ravishing, but the new vehicles and features round it out as a near faultless package. Our only main concern is that its chaotic gameplay lies on a road well trodden, and the game's prized mode – Warfare – at times feels as much laborious as it us fun.

Most importantly, the movement and combat mechanics are fantastic, while the firefights (and the starring role of electricity) are a true spectacle. In this game the city is both your playground and your plaything, and you'll feel like a bad-ass.

We just wish Monolith had produced a slightly more progressive or challenging backdrop for the horror that is this game's mojo. It's absolutely worth playing, but that's the difference between a game that scores 9+ and a game that scores 8.6.

Alan Wake is not quite the revelatory experience we hoped it would be, but it’s a solid and entertaining game that’s rich in atmosphere, with good combat mechanics and an intriguing story.

Unbounded may not have much to do with the things that defined Ridge Racer, but if you can get over that, you'll discover an energetic, entertaining racer, with gratifyingly destructive environments, challenging gameplay and interesting online. Ridge Racer was due for a reboot, and here it is.

Unbounded may not have much to do with the things that defined Ridge Racer, but if you can get over that, you'll discover an energetic, entertaining racer, with gratifyingly destructive environments, challenging gameplay and interesting online. Ridge Racer was due for a reboot, and here it is.

Unbounded may not have much to do with the things that defined Ridge Racer, but if you can get over that, you'll discover an energetic, entertaining racer, with gratifyingly destructive environments, challenging gameplay and interesting online. Ridge Racer was due for a reboot, and here it is.

It’s great to play a game that – in many ways – is so pure. It’s not about collecting. It’s not about leveling up. It’s not about getting a bigger and better gun. It’s about movement, style and momentum. Combat aside, DICE has taken a significant step forward for the first person perspective with this game, and you should all check it out.

There are issues with the sensitivity of the motion controls – as there are in almost every Wii title, and the overworld is a vacuous waste of memory with some terrible pop-in, but when you excise that from the combat scenarios, the humour, the style and the creativity that seeps out of most elements in No More Heroes, we can't help but get enthused about this game.

There's something undeniably more approachable and mainstream about the Guitar Hero franchise that Rock Band simply can't quite match.

Drop in multiplayer campaign battles add a human element to proceedings. However, the freeform campaign mode feels limited in only offering four nations to choose from.