Demon's Souls asks much of you. For some it may ask too much, but, if you are prepared to rise to the challenges it presents you will be rewarded with one of the most satisfying gaming experiences of this generation.

Left 4 Dead 2 is a superb multiplayer game providing a great level of variety and replay value.

Left 4 Dead is a game which keeps things simple, but this to its benefit. It mixes all the right ingredients of tension, gore and rewards to make it thoroughly enjoyable.

What will sell Jade Empire (and something it has in spades) is Oriental charm; from the story to the environment, the fighting to the character interaction, it's all very enjoyable and immersive; which is exactly how an RPG should be.

This version should be rightly deemed as the definitive racing game of this generation, and one of the best ever made. [JPN Import]

Thankfully, longevity hasn't been sacrificed for the sake of beauty: the main quest alone will take the average gamer a minimum of fifteen hours and that's without spending a single moment delving into the fabulous subquests, which will double, even triple that time...A stunning and wondrous game.

Football Manager isn’t a matter of life or death. It’s much more important than that.

The very definition of sensory overload and outright escapism.

Perhaps it is time for the series to evolve again rather than looking inward, just as it did nearly a decade ago when SotN was unleashed on an unsuspecting world. [JPN Import]

As immediately effective the game may be, look beyond the surface and the game becomes surprisingly shallow.

But lost among the vast raft of offerings is a game that has grown, but barely improved, certainly not at the rate gamers really deserve. In so many cases it will be irrelevant, with those that have waited for its arrival so eagerly lapping it up, and being washed away with all its new twinkling extras.

The sequel throws players into the thick of battle almost immediately with only the faintest of reintroductions to the Wars world. The missions also get very hard, very quickly, with some of the later missions proving especially demanding, even for Advance Wars veterans.

It’s a stylish and remarkably addictive title that blends gameplay with relaxing tunes, and fits perfectly on its home platform. Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s latest game appeals to everybody who samples its future-retro vibe. Luminescent. Luminous. Lumines. [JPN Import]

All at once it feels very familiar and yet fresh. Indeed the visual clarity really does help propel the game to new levels of artistry but on the other hand, it feels like a game played many times before. Regardless it never stops being anything less than great fun to play and hugely engaging.

Online play: what an addition. Duel mode is the same as it ever was, only now with added strangers.

The ingenuity of design, the sheer level of fun, the warmth of nostalgia and the relief that 2D gaming is still alive and kicking, all combine to make NSMB an unmissable experience and show Nintendo are still masters of the platform game.

It joins the ranks of "Winning Eleven" as a title that can be truly decreed master of all it surveys. With the significantly improved gameplay over its peers and additional online elements, it must be considered as an essential purchase.

There lies the juxtaposition within Wipeout Pure: on the one hand, it's fan service of the highest order, returning to the roots that helped them fall in love with the series in the first place, while also suffering from rife conservatism intent on keeping the structure and handling of the play predictable.

Put simply this is one of the best games of 2009 and arguably the best game yet released on XBLA.

It's disappointing that a bad engine and rushed execution detract from the overall experience, leaving it with nothing really remarkable.

Dead Space should`ve been a run of the mill, copycat title destined for bargain-bin obscurity. As it stands, it`s a glorious introduction to a new game world.

In fact the only mode notable by its absence is online play and it’s a shame Tekken 5 didn’t take the opportunity to introduce an online function for players to battle across the Internet. [JPN Import]

More often than not there is no real feeling of threat from the various visions and flashbacks, the implementation and setting of which are continually reused. This gives the impression that figuratively speaking the player is doing little more than chasing ghosts and the result is them ending up very blasé about what is happening on screen.

Simply beguiling, a must-experience game, which will firmly cement itself in the mind of the player long after the system has been switched off.

It’s not for everyone, but those that want to try a game that mixes a bit of twitch with some brain-strain must step up and give Meteos the chance it deserves. [JPN Import]

Fast paced and full of relentless action, Uncharted: Drake`s Fortune is a pleasure to play from start to finish.

Unfortunately Vegas continues the spiral of descent for the franchise, and moves the series further away from what made it such a success in the first place.

It’s a shining example of how the arcade-racing genre should be done, and it is an essential purchase for all gear heads with an Xbox360. In fact you probably already own it.