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.