With platforming games being somewhat of a rarity these days The Maw is a welcome addition to the Xbox Live library. The game is both charming and fun, especially the main character Maw. If you look beneath the charming surface you'll find quite an ordinary platforming adventure though. But with a reasonable price tag we can't but recommend this title for those in the mood for a new platforming experience.

Conquest is yet another movie tie in game that utilizes a famous brand to push a rather mediocre experience. This is a hack and slash action title where the campaign feels like a multiplayer game with a story shoehorned on top of the experience. The presentation is bland and the challenge is uneven. In multiplayer the game does gain a bit ground, but the fun doesn't last for long. It seems that we'll just have to wait a bit longer for a great game based on the LoTR-franchise (not counting LoTR Online that is).

Interpol is a game that few will return to after the first session. The game's main strength is that it's easy to understand, but when the overall experience is monotonous, short lived and lacking in the challenge department there isn't much to motivate a buy here.

Crash Commando offers a lean yet deep gaming experience all at once for up to twelve players online. The controls work brilliantly and the expansive arsenal of weapons is greatly suited for the experience. The different modes available in the game are great, but a few more wouldn't hurt. This is one of the absolutely best downloadable games from the Playstation Store and with some more content the grade would easily have jumped up a notch.

Even though it's been over ten years since Banjo and Kazooie made their triumphant debut on Nintendo 64 their adventure still holds up very well when released again on Xbox Live. Everything from gameplay to level design is ingenious and this game is still one of the best in it's genre. A few flaws mar the experience though, such as aged presentation and an unwieldy camera, but overall this is a must buy on Xbox Live.

Prince of Persia is reeks with atmosphere and appealing graphics, definitely one of the graphical highlights of the year. It's an easy going adventure where you utilize the ever so limber prince and the beautiful princess in order to traverse the courses and their obstacles. Fighting enemies certainly looks good, but they seldom turn out to be very exiting, a feeling that can be applied to the overall experience. This is a beautiful gaming experience but you won't find much in the way of excitement nor challenge.

One of the best roleplaying adventures ever made is revived for the Nintendo DS, and it's as fantastic as it ever was. Despite being 14 years old this game still manages to wipe the floor with most games released in it's wake. Design, script, sound, characters, the time traveling mechanic and a number of other features are simply so ingenious that more than a decade of subsequent games has seen few titles to rival this experience.

Speed, pacing and quick reaction skills is what we've always associated with Sonic. And when you go for your first run in Sonic Unleashed everything feels just right. But then night comes and all of a sudden Sonic turns into a werewolf. And here's where ugly turns to bad. Sonic Unleashed becomes an uninspired action title, completely bereft of any finesse. When you're actually out running on the fast levels the game is pure fun, but the dull button mashing moments as a werewolf is enough to destroy the overall experience.

EA's latest skateboarding foray, Skate It, does a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong. The only part of the formula that truly impresses is the controls, everything else is limited by the technical limitations of the Wii. Skate It does share a lot of what made the original Skate great, but if you want the full experience you're better of with Skate for the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3.

Underworld is yet another solid title from Crystal Dynamics featuring the adventurous dame Lara Croft. Levels are as grand as they are beautiful and they certainly feed the urge to go o an adventure. The puzzles are well designed, and Miss Croft gets around well thanks to well implemented controls. There are some issues though, the game is a bit on the easy side, something badly balanced by less than stellar camera angles that will put you in a pickle from time to time. Despite this, Underworld is still a fantastic adventure.

We would have loved to see Lips give Singstar a good run for it's money. Singstar as a series is in need of a good kick in the behind, but alas Lips is not the game to force any innovation in the genre. The major problem we have with Lips is that there are way to few modes and features, rendering the game useless for anything other than a simple karaoke experience.

Metal Slug 7 offers you a fantastic action experience wrapped in two beautifully pixelated dimensions. You'll have to enjoy every minute you can though since the content being offered is meager to say the least. Seven levels in total is all you get, and even though you can challenge yourself with three stages of difficulty there is just way to little content to motivate a full retail price. It's a great game though, so keep an eye on the bargain bin.

The 2009 edition of Football Manager is yet another solid title in the series. Having to interface with mass media is a welcome addition, as is the new streamlined interface, improved playability and the new 3D engine for match presentations. Even though all these additions are welcome they are also in need of some extra levels of polish, but put these flaws aside and you've got a great footy manager title.

Compared to a lot of the other games released this fall the content offered in Left 4 Dead is on the meager side. You can breeze through the campaign in one sitting, and the multiplayer versus mode isn't all that interesting in the long run. Left 4 Dead should be enjoyed with up to three other players in co-op, a mode where this game really shines and offers you intense non stop action where cooperation is a must. If you enjoy playing with others, this is a must have. If not there are more meaty games to invest in this fall.

Undercover is in almost all aspects a return to the well for the Need for Speed series. Adrenaline filled races with the police hot on your heels is as fun as it always was and the online mode Cops and Robbers is a blast. The presentation is also solid, building on top of the foundation laid with ProStreet with a design more resembling Burnout Paradise. Unfortunately the framerate occasionally grinds almost to a halt, a big problem in a game so utterly focused on speed. Undercover is also way too easy, not offering any form of challenge until the very end. It's an unfortunate example of great potential gone to waste.

Once and for all the iconic figures in the Mortal Kombat franchise squares off against the heroes and villains of the DC Comics. It's a novel idea and done right it could have been an interesting reboot of the Mortal Kombat franchise, but alas it isn't so. The violence has been toned down and gameplay wise it's just not that much fun or varied. It can entertain for a short while, but at the end of the day the only redeeming thing about this game is the ability to play as (or beat the crap out of) your favourite character in either Mortal Kombat or DC Comics.

The basic mechanic of riding a snowboard down a mountain covered in white bliss is pure fun and beautifully framed in Shaun White's Snowboarding. Unfortunately, the actual meat of the game is severely flawed which cripples the overall experience. Competitions and other game modes are riddled with issues, bad AI and poorly designed challenges being two of them. Shaun White's Snowboarding does the actual gameplay right, and just about everything else wrong.

The third iteration of this lovable franchise makes it's way to the Wii, but not much has happened since the days on the Gamecube. There are few new features or content to be exited about this time around, but if you liked the previous games this is more of the same.

The main sales argument of Decades is the ability to play against a friend with a copy of the game, or it's predecessor On Tour, anywhere via wireless networking. This game is a whole lot of fun playing with a friend, and it works for solo sessions as well, but unfortunately the grip around the keys will be straining for your hands during longer sessions of play. The presentation could also have been given a fresher coat of paint and a more rock like aesthetics. This is a good supplement to the more mature siblings on the stationary consoles.

The second expansion to the gargantuan behemoth of a game that is World of Warcraft, titled Wrath of the Lich King, sets you on the quest to defeat the evil Lich King Arthas. The presentation has been improved and the overall design of the new continent Northrend is nothing short of impressive. A lot of the caveats found in World of Warcraft, and the expansion The Burning Crusade, have been removed. The only major issue is that it feels as though World of Warcraft is becoming a tad bit too easy, but nevertheless this is a fantastic expansion and a must for gamers everywhere.

This is not a game for everyone, but a truly revolutionary title for the true believers. There isn't a wealth of content to be found here, but what you do get is wrapped in a beautiful presentation with amazingly fluid controls to boot. Controlling the protagonist Faith is as fun as it is rewarding. If you've got the patience for some serious trial and error gameplay, this is one of the most original games released in a long time and a revolution for the platforming genre.

In this third iteration, Rare has morphed the platforming roots of Banjo-Kazooie into a racing game where player imagination is the main tool of the game. You build your own vehicles and in that process you decide how to tackle an obstacle. The main problem with this game is that a lot of the challenges simply aren't that much fun and there is too much emphasis on building vehicles. Nevertheless, this is a solid title.

This isn't necessarily a bad game per se, but it's simply uninspiring. The content is meager and what's in here doesn't really do it's job particularly well. There are a lot of minigame collections on the Wii that offer you a whole lot better content than this.

When it comes to playing soccer with your friends at home, few games can rival this version of PES. The tempo is higher and the player movement is a tad bit more realistic that it's new gen console counterparts. But with few additions and a lot of licenses lost it's hard to recommend this to anyone. Shame on Konami for basically letting us pay for the same content as last year.

Sticking with the premise of previous titles, the meat of this title is in the online mode. If this isn't your cup of tea the longevity of this title is limited to say the least. Treyarch were handed the best console fps-controls and online mode and all they've really done with it is to set it in a new era. If you're up for a great fps experience set in the WWII-era, this is a great title to buy.

Ubisoft's second game about Naruto for the Xbox 360 is very similar to the first game, Rise of a Ninja. There are few news to be had here, so if the first one didn't fit your bill this won't fare any better. It's a solid sequel, but the next iteration better offer us new content and ideas.

If we were to summarize Gears of War 2 in one sentence it would be "intense and impressive action, preferably experienced together with a friend". There are some flaws here, such as a somewhat uninteresting storyline and some uneven levels, but when the overall experience is nothing short of outstanding we're ready to ignore these minor annoyances. Everything in Gears of War 2 is bigger, better and more bad ass and with an improved online mode this is the game to buy for all action buffs.

Even though this game is built on top of a great mythology, the one about Pandora's Box unleashing chaos onto the world when opened, developer Spark never manage to make the actual game interesting in any way. The game structure is linear, the presentation is bleak at best and the gameplay is rather poor. This sums up to one mediocre experience.