Conquest offers much sound and fury but little substance.

Ubisoft has delivered an incredibly polished, tremendously enjoyable and utterly lovable experience here. It takes all the best elements of previous franchise entries then expands and refines them to create an absolutely unforgettable adventure. It’s magical in every sense of the word.

Ubisoft has delivered an incredibly polished, tremendously enjoyable and utterly lovable experience here. It takes all the best elements of previous franchise entries then expands and refines them to create an absolutely unforgettable adventure. It’s magical in every sense of the word.

Despite its failure to move the series forward, Underworld is still fundamentally an incredibly enjoyable experience and a real return to captivating tomb raiding on a grand scale. It might be the same Lara we’ve enjoyed over the years but there’s no denying the lady’s still got style.

Despite its failure to move the series forward, Underworld is still fundamentally an incredibly enjoyable experience and a real return to captivating tomb raiding on a grand scale. It might be the same Lara we’ve enjoyed over the years but there’s no denying the lady’s still got style.

Though FM09’s 3D match engine is Sports Interactive’s one real attempt at breaking from its comfort zone this time around, it’s also this latest iterations biggest disappointment. We can certainly see the potential of Sports Interactive’s newfound interest in 3D and we hope it all comes together more gracefully in FM2010. In the meantime though, its relative failure doesn’t detract from the fact that FM09 is still easily the most in-depth, enjoyable and addictive way to pretend you manage a football team.

One of the finest zombie games ever made, and one of the finest co-op games ever made. The potential for everything to go so, so wrong without warning, or conversely to pull off the most spectacular escapes against all odds, means this is an online shooter you can tell your finest anecdotes about without boring everyone else to tears.

One of the finest zombie games ever made, and one of the finest co-op games ever made. The potential for everything to go so, so wrong without warning, or conversely to pull off the most spectacular escapes against all odds, means this is an online shooter you can tell your finest anecdotes about without boring everyone else to tears.

Even if you've worked your way through previous iterations, it's as compulsively addictive as always although its easy to resent the familiarity of it all.

More than just unique, it’s a thrilling and stylish venture to untapped territory that’s assured in its firstperson take on platforming. Though an inane plot and limp combat see it falter briefly, the strong visual design and dynamic mechanic ensure it still emerges as a game to be celebrated.

More than just unique, it’s a thrilling and stylish venture to untapped territory that’s assured in its firstperson take on platforming. Though an inane plot and limp combat see it falter briefly, the strong visual design and dynamic mechanic ensure it still emerges as a game to be celebrated.

There’s a great idea at the core of Nuts & Bolts and, from superb construction tools right through to lavish presentation, there are plenty of individual elements worthy of praise. When it fails though, Banjo fails badly and the lack of any fundamentally engaging framework to support the game’s creative elements renders the game pretty much obsolete for anyone looking for something to appreciate beyond the incredibly flexible building component in isolation.

For all its problems off the pitch, there’s no doubting that PES 2009 is the most fun football game on the market.

The WWII setting compounds the wearying feeling of over-familiarity, but the solid engine that powers the game ensures that it’s often the most spectacular take on the conflict yet, and one that’s certainly the most exhilarating.

Although World at War too often feels like a refit, it’s a refit of one of the greatest games of the current generation - and one that’s, by and large, been confidently handled by Treyarch.

It provides a truly electric action experience, building on the original with intense, astonishingly epic set-pieces. What's more, the presentation is the closest we’ve got to starring in a full-blown action flick. However, the game is also bereft of any genuine surprises and for all of its stunning visuals and masterful firefights, it’s all a little too predictable.

A true blockbuster of a game, Quantum of Solace is loud, dumb but sadly all-too-forgettable. The Bond licence goes a good way to hiding the game’s lack of ideas and for the four hours the single-player campaign lasts there’s no denying it’s a solid blast, but ultimately there’s better ways to spend your money this autumn.

Though it’s certainly a competent package, the overall feeling engendered by Resistance 2 is underwhelming. For every breathless set-piece that powers the single-player campaign, there’s another moment not far behind that peddles mediocrity, and every glorious vista is offset by sometimes derivative play.

It’s the big Christmas action game with brains and choices, and with an interest in constructing a refreshingly different world from all those austere near-future manshoots that clog up the shelves. In many respects, it’s a far better game than "Bioshock," most of all because you get the endless choice that promised but didn’t deliver. So it’s tragic that the often awful production values make a fool of it so regularly.

It's the big Christmas action game with brains and choices, and with an interest in constructing a refreshingly different world from all those austere near-future manshoots that clog up the shelves. In many respects, it's a far better game than Bioshock, most of all because you get the endless choice that promised but didn't deliver. So it's tragic that the often awful production values make a fool of it so regularly.

It's the multiplayer that perhaps been given the most love since the last game.

It’s a celebration of inspiration and human interaction and a hugely welcome, utterly invigorating experience among usual roster of nihilistic shooters jostling for shelf space this Christmas.

Invest in Albion, its inhabitants and its history; embrace the power you’re afforded to shape yourself and the world around you and Fable II is an astonishing achievement. It’s not an easily definable, singular vision but an impressive, unparalleled attempt at empowering the player in ways no other game has before.

Unfortunately, it’s these failings that defined our experience of the game, though for anyone keen to sample a shooter that dares step into the leftfield we recommend endeavouring to get to the heart of what feels like an uncut diamond – rough-shorn but not bereft of value.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles is unarguably a high quality racer that admirably bridges the gap between a freeform gaming world and a more structured race setup. Yet for all its visual thrills, extensive (if never exhaustive) customisation options and high production values, it feels as though Rockstar San Diego has played it a little too safe here.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles is unarguably a high quality racer that admirably bridges the gap between a freeform gaming world and a more structured race setup. Yet for all its visual thrills, extensive (if never exhaustive) customisation options and high production values, it feels as though Rockstar San Diego has played it a little too safe here.

More than any other ‘Wii’-branded Nintendo offering, Wii Music truly demands an open mind to appreciate. Join the party with too many expectations – in either direction – and you’re likely to walk away either bewildered, disappointed or disgusted.

Ultimately it’s difficult to see, really, what it adds to the original Saints Row, or indeed, the GTA-formula and the macho posturing and po-faced moral bankruptcy is likely to infuriate as many people as it enthrals.