One of the many factors that elevate WoG beyond mere construction puzzles is the excellent physics engine.

Despite there being only one major change to the game, and a couple of slightly smaller ones, Ratchet & Clank 3 is still an improvement and genuinely one of the best platforming games on PS2.

Grand, ferocious and full of drama, the battle elements combine with Medieval’s excellent take on diplomacy to create a fully-rounded experience – one that will pay off for years to come.

The controls are easy to pick up, which makes flying and combat both simple and fun.

A truly extraordinary game, and easily one of this year’s landmark titles. Evocative, unique, original, atmospheric and gripping – most contemporary releases struggle to lay claim to just one of Fahrenheit’s strengths.

It’s not as often as we’d like that a shooter comes along in which can you plough through the single player and then spend many more hours in the multiplayer without feeling like you’ve seen and done it all before. Battlefield: Bad Company is definitely one of those games, and the tongue-in-cheek tone and dialogue of the game is perfectly matched to the intense and chaotic action.

A great management game almost in the same league as Theme Park coupled with a fairly versatile and endlessly amusing movie-making tool makes for a compelling package, but the online options add the kind of polish that’ll potentially keep you coming back for months.

It’s easy enough for complete beginners to pick up and play, and it has more than enough content and depth for hardcore gamers to enjoy. It’s beautiful and engrossing with literally days of gameplay.

It may not be the most technically accomplished game to have graced our screens, but the plain and simple fact is that it’s so much fun to play, it’s almost indescribable.

It’s the kind of game that will get inside your brain, and several hours of playing will see you splicing together tactics that you would never have thought possible on your first few goes.

We'll happily put our hands up and admit to our slight over-reliance on the phrase “if you like Command & Conquer, you’ll like this” when reviewing the more arcadey RTS games over the years, but this time it’s a necessity. Fans of the C&C series will quite simply find this to be nothing less than absolutely essential.

Ultimately it’s shiny, it’s new and it’s a majorly streamlined edition of a much-played online game. The esoteric game modes are gone and there are considerably less maps, but those that there are are generally of the highest standard. If you meet the system requirements then it could be worth a look – even if you’ve moved on to other series – if only for the sensory aspect of it.

The story mode can be frustrating, but never fatally so, and in any case the combat is ridiculously moreish and often highly amusing.

Just another great basketball game, packed with features and modes that are sure to keep fans and determined newbies happy at least until the 2K9 comes along or a rival franchise gets its act together.

In fact, though a good bit shorter than the original Half-Life 2, Episode 2 quite possibly rivals it in terms of memorable sequences. These include some lengthy vehicle sections, some stunning scenery, some stand-out plotlines and a good few damned enjoyable fight sequences.

It’s by no means a perfect game and it’s stuck in an over-populated genre, but it’s just so enjoyable and refreshing that it really doesn’t matter. Persona 3 is yet another must have for JRPG fans, as the PS2 slowly shuffles itself out of the limelight.

A truly extraordinary game, and easily one of this year's landmark titles. Evocative, unique, original, atmospheric and gripping – most contemporary releases struggle to lay claim to just one of Fahrenheit's strengths.

Afternoon of Darkness feels at home on the PSP, with its battles short, sweet and addictive in exactly the right way a portable RPG should be. Its innovative nature might no longer be the cutting edge of SRPGs, but it stands alongside Final Fantasy Tactics as one of the best RPGs on the PSP, if not one of the finest titles you can get on a console adrift in cheap PS2 port hell.

It may not be the most technically accomplished game to have graced our screens, but the plain and simple fact is that it’s so much fun to play, it’s almost indescribable.

Whether borrowed, reworked or completely original, all the elements have been expertly crafted and put together.

Ultimately it’s shiny, it’s new and it’s a majorly streamlined edition of a much-played online game. The esoteric game modes are gone and there are considerably less maps, but those that there are are generally of the highest standard.

But perhaps the biggest conundrum of all is how to put the game down completely and do something else.

Perhaps only a third party can produce a title that so glorifies a series that revolutionised cinema, because it's Pandemic and not LucasArts that has created a game that lives up to the vast shadow created by the films.

This is a big, bold and brassy FPS packed to the rafters with ways to play and sure to last fans of the genre right through the holiday period.

It’s a shame that more wasn’t done with the story, as the shallow characters and lack of moral depth sits in stark contrast to the hard work spent on some of the most impressive game technology we’ve ever seen.

A general clean up of what was already a consummate package, with the addition of some incredibly absorbing new campaigns.

The beauty of the game, as well as the depth of the immersion and the fun of the gameplay, is still here in abundance. Knights of the Nine is an essential addition for any Elder Scrolls fan.