Chances are that if you’ve played Virtua Tennis 3 you may be slightly disappointed, as the usual high bar that is the VT series hasn’t been quite reached this time round, and 2009 is quite similar to VT3 to begin with.

Virtual Tennis 2009 is definitely a more detailed experience than what we’ve seen in Wii Sports.

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings is all the more frustrating because there are tiny, oh-so-brief sprinklings of entertainment to be had - they're just padded wall to wall with frustrating gameplay and below average presentation.

It’s fun, accessible to all gamers, challenging and very easy on the eye graphically.

The audio also deserves a mention, with detailed commentary from ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt and the Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman. If it impresses me, then it is safe to say that fanatics of the sport should be able to while away many hours of their time with it.

Packed with extra activities, secret areas and a decent if not overwhelming adventure, The Legendary Starfy will no doubt have satisfied all those eager gamers waiting for it to appear in a language they could understand.

In the end the single player, while enjoyable, will get repetitive and the online community is almost non-existent at this time.

The single-player missions (with a few activities added) clocks in at over 20 hours of captivating gameplay. Add to this the multiplayer aspects and replay value with the dynamic style of play and you have a very worthy title for your hard-earned moola.

The living, breathing world of Sunset Valley, the town that comes pre-packaged with the game, is a fascinating one.

Fuel feels like one giant exercise in proving a point, a huge technical achievement that manages to eschew the fundamental rules of a good racer and drive itself, tragically, into mediocrity.

inFamous is amazing. The feeling of "ability" engendered by the game's openness and the soft-lock system that allows you to go exactly where you want to and land precisely where you intended is genre-defining.

There is little doubt that this game is likely to be picked up by fans of the extreme sport. It is detailed, well presented and has a fighting control system that is both challenging and rewarding.

Visually Terminator: Salvation matches the gameplay and is an equally dull affair.

It can be especially useful for busy people, stay-at-home parents, the self-conscious, or people who simply dislike the gym atmosphere.

In the end the high difficulty will drive away casual gamers so trying the demo first is a must. But between the tough bosses and fast gameplay, this is a worthy successor to the NES original.

In the end the high difficulty will drive away casual gamers so trying the demo first is a must. But between the tough bosses and fast gameplay, this is a worthy successor to the NES original.

If you've been hankering to cheat in poker, there maybe something here but that has got to be a pretty small market segment; smaller still when the market is restricted to people within that group that can handle the awful graphics. Not recommended.

All in all we've got a pretty simple game with very little content and no single player of any substance whatsoever. It's fun enough but it feels pretty expensive at 800 points.

The new story elements, while brief, are still welcome, and features like the new dog types and the Colosseum will keep people coming back.

If you can overlook a few big problems, or just can’t afford to upgrade your PC, the console port of Sacred 2: Fallen Angel still provides a solid action RPG with top notch visuals and a truly epic soundtrack thanks to Blind Guardian.

Lots of places to go, lots of enemies to see. The bosses are a joy to battle, and you ought to take a great deal away from these enormously fun interactions.

For a movie tie-in game, X-Men Origins: Wolverine has a surprisingly long 13+ hour playing time.

As an XBLA download, Tooie is fantastic value. Much cheaper than the actual cartridges go for these days.

Some of the gameplay can seem a little restrictive compared to modern titles (much as Bionic Commando Rearmed did) but once you get into the swing of it (not as literally as Bionic Commando...), the rule set of the game becomes habit and you'll enjoy flexing your mental muscle as you navigate each level.

Ultimately this version of OutRun isn’t the most complete, and doesn’t have a huge amount of depth. What it does do well, though, is boil down the most exiting parts of the racing genre and deliver arcade-style thrills to your living room.

It's a gorgeous curio, well worth the asking price.

If you're a hardcore Puzzle Quest fan you'll probably be disappointed initially but once you get past the graphics, sound and some of the gameplay (!), the twists on the game are a smart extension on what came before it.

Personally I’m afraid that Flock’s gameplay quirks will harm the experience for many gamers. I didn’t find them game-wrecking by any stretch of the imagination, but there will be some people who will throw their hands up in despair.

Players looking for a pure stealth game will be disappointed, but everyone else will find in Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena a healthy mix of action, stealth and heavy weapon gameplay.

Players looking for a pure stealth game will be disappointed, but everyone else will find in Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena a healthy mix of action, stealth and heavy weapon gameplay.

In the end, The Godfather II has the recipe for an excellent game filled with action, mindless violence, great characters and strategic thought. But you just can’t help but shake the feeling that it doesn’t quite feel 100% finished.

In the end, The Godfather II has the recipe for an excellent game filled with action, mindless violence, great characters and strategic thought. But you just can’t help but shake the feeling that it doesn’t quite feel 100% finished.

In the end, The Godfather II has the recipe for an excellent game filled with action, mindless violence, great characters and strategic thought. But you just can’t help but shake the feeling that it doesn’t quite feel 100% finished.

Players looking for a pure stealth game will be disappointed, but everyone else will find in Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena a healthy mix of action, stealth and heavy weapon gameplay.

It's definitely worth a look if you're the type who keeps their DS for long plane, train or automobile journeys, and I've no doubt that Beyonce's relaxed endorsement of the product will see it enjoy some success.

An incredibly fun (albeit seriously depraved) experience. If you're a fan of side-scrolling games and aren't easily offended, grab the demo at least - just be sure and play it long after the kids have gone to bed.

Apart from the difficulty, this is a solid purchase if you’re looking for a boxing sim on the go that has really stayed true to the spirit of the DS. This is the sort of game that, if it had come out during the handheld’s infancy, game journos would have been praising for its use of the touch screen.

If you’re new to Metallica, this is a great introduction to classic metal, and a showcase title for Neversoft, who have really begun to ride the lightening.

Unfortunately, while on paper it might have sounded like a Fast and Furious calibre idea, in reality Wheelman is barely a Pacifier.

Unfortunately, while on paper it might have sounded like a Fast and Furious calibre idea, in reality Wheelman is barely a Pacifier.

Unfortunately, while on paper it might have sounded like a Fast and Furious calibre idea, in reality Wheelman is barely a Pacifier.

Overall it is hard to recommend for Smackdown! Vs. Raw fans under the age of 27; short of The Rock, HHH, Shaun Michaels, Stone Cold, and Hulk Hogan, most of these wrestlers have been dead or out of the spotlight for years. For anyone with a taste for some classic WWF you can't get any better than this – game wise, anyway.

Overall it is hard to recommend for Smackdown! Vs. Raw fans under the age of 27; short of The Rock, HHH, Shaun Michaels, Stone Cold, and Hulk Hogan, most of these wrestlers have been dead or out of the spotlight for years. For anyone with a taste for some classic WWF you can't get any better than this – game wise, anyway.

While the game never comes close to the level of daring and invention within that work, the good news is that it is at least on par with the film, and probably better. In the world of comic/movie tie-ins, that in itself is as unlikely as breaking the laws of physics.

Phenomic Studios and Electronic Arts have done a fantastic job in presenting a game that is both original and fun to play.

If you’ve played the real thing, you’ve all but played Hasbro Family Game Night’s version. Aside from a few differing modes and an online portion it is an extremely authentic replication of the game many of us have played at some point in our lives.

It’s a shame I can’t recommend this download, as it is entertaining to dabble with while you wait for other people to come online, have a chat with a mate or kill some time between downloads.

800 points seems pretty steep for such a tiny amount of content but then again, what is there is a heck of a lot of fun to play. You'll need to make your own mind up as to what value that represents.

The presentation of the game is nicely polished for the most part. From a distance, everything looks really good in-game. Up close, however, H.A.W.X kind of suffers from what most flight games do – bad terrain!

It's an essential purchase for any PSP owner and represents an unmatched value on the system.

Overall I think PES 2009 has the makings of a great game that’s just been held back by the lack of forward momentum.

It feels strange playing such an adult and violent game on the Nintendo DS, but at the same time, Grand Theft Auto feels right at home here. If future titles are announced for the DS then Chinatown Wars is proof enough that skepticism of Rockstar's ability to deliver on the platform is completely unjustified.

Resident Evil 5 offers some great level designs as well.

Resident Evil 5 offers some great level designs as well.

If you're not a hardcore PC super-score hunter, the controls are fine (and you're competing in a walled garden with other 360 gamers anyway) and the addition of an excellent online mode only adds to the already comprehensive depth of content on offer.

I am just one reviewer who found it far too pointlessly violent.

Codename: Panzers Cold War has some good things going for it but it feels like the developers were rushed to get the game completed.

The control fiddling has worked, so hats off to the new Pikmin team, and I can recommend this one to any Wii owners, of any age.

After the ball drops it seems strange that the game’s biggest flaw is a control issue that could have been avoided so easily if they just left the original controls in as an option. Unfortunately this will be remembered as an oddball in an otherwise great Tennis series. Camelot dropped the ball on this one.

Halo Wars is the most accessible traditional RTS game we've ever tested - it works, and works well.

Even by the standards of the series, Empire: Total War is epic. It takes the combined real-time and turn-based strategy, and pushes it out into the eighteenth century in style. It's bigger, and it has a hell of a lot more bang.

The multiplayer likewise suffers a bit from a lack of variety.

The multiplayer likewise suffers a bit from a lack of variety.

For all its guts and glory, for all its taxing, gritty fortitude, Killzone 2 adheres too strictly to the rules of its genre to send itself into the stratosphere. What will stand the test of time is its pitch perfect grasp of said genre, its wonderfully taxing, take-no-prisoners assault on your senses and your trigger finger. It is the ultimate conservative First-Person-Shooter, whether it wants to be or not. And this is why it’s worth your bucks.

The game is quite difficult to master, which will leave a lot of challenges unbeaten while you're still learning and that will extend the life of Stoked quite nicely, so long as you don't hurl the controller down and stalk off cursing Bongfish's name.

Developer Swordfish Studios have delivered a game as blunt, as fun, and in your face as… well, as a sold-out 50 Cent concert.

This is recommended for fans of the series, or RTS nuts looking for the latest fix, but for more casual, curious folk, I reckon it could be worth waiting for the first expansion pack.

One of the most enjoyable experiences I have had on Microsoft’s Live service. Games are usually full of accidental hilarity punctuated with the odd showcase of raw skill.

The deepest fighting game ever released. It's combat engine is incredibly in depth, with even the hardest of the hardcore likely to be discovering new possibilities years from now. Even if you're new to Street Fighter, you can get up to speed with the training system and there's plenty of challenges to keep you entertained offline, with the best online implementation ever seen for those that like to spar over the internet.

With such a wealth of characterization, exceptional narrative, side-quests and good old-fashioned homicide on the sprawling Liberty City streets, Rockstar have delivered us a title that is the first worthy piece of downloadable content of this generation so far.

It’s not the best title for newcomers (who should try Path of Radiance on Gamecube or Sacred Stones on GBA if they want an easier route into the series), but veterans of Fire Emblem, or strategy games in general, should at least consider this purchase.

Flower is magical. There really isn't another word to describe it. It's fresh, it's new, it's fun and it has a whole lot of heart. Don't pass on the opportunity to pick it up.

The game would have been better suited as an Easter egg in the next NHL franchise title, as its enjoyable enough gameplay would have provided great relief for a long season or playoff campaign.

Minesweeper Flags is a great ‘pick up and play’ live arcade game. The extra mode, content, multiplayer are a welcome addition to the series. Best of all you know what to expect: hours of addictive gameplay and it’s only 400 points.

FEAR 2’s core is essentially a heart-stopping first person shooter, filled with memorable scenes and terrifying action. It makes shooting people fun again, unlike a lot of FPS titles where it feels like you’re killing mindless drones over and over. But the game also has mystery, suspense, horror and a brilliant storyline driving the whole experience that takes it to a new level.

Those that sold their originals, or are just wanting to play some of the games on here will get great value out of the disk.

When the last zombie limbs fall, the additional multiplayer modes are passable in the face of cooperative play in the story mode – dual wielding is great too. The only thing letting this down are the frame rate dips. This is a great single and multiplayer title, worth a rent at the very least.

All up Dimensions is a solid remake of an all-time classic, and is much more convenient than plugging in old systems to give the game a blasting. If you like R-Type, or shooters, then this game is a must.

What it comes down to of course is do you like Mahjong? Are you interested in learning it? And would you like to play it online? If you answer yes to these then yes, Funtown Mahjong is well worth a download.

There is still no denying that Afro Samurai is an entertaining visual treat. The aesthetics of the game are a joy to behold and when you get into the zone you are bound to witness gory scenes of pure awesomeness.

The problem is that once you move past the initial learning curve, the strategy basically consists of planting plants, waggling around and keeping your animals happy. Ultimately, while collecting new animals is definitely appealing, and the baby animals are particularly cute, the game was too limited for it to be one that I’ll add to my collection and continue to play.

Sure, there is still room for improvement with Skate 3 with regards to the customisation and off-board controls, but it looks like the days of the Tony Hawk reign might be finally gone. Whoop!

Sure, there is still room for improvement with Skate 3 with regards to the customisation and off-board controls, but it looks like the days of the Tony Hawk reign might be finally gone. Whoop!

With highly polished graphics and music which is unlikely but suits the game to a tea, The Maw certainly is a lot more polished than your average Live title. The levels themselves are a little plain, but some of the animations and scenarios you come across keep you wondering what’s around the next corner.

As I say, for its target market, PKMT could be a really good thing, provided parents use it and, more than that, make sure their kids use it.

The music and dialogue is standard fantasy epic fare, although delivered flawlessly. The locations and graphics are adequate, without being spectacular, and the character models are smooth and serviceable, perhaps a consequence of the game’s online focus.

This sort of gameplay, while not being too terrible with a controller, is still much more suited to a DS stylus or a mouse. When you throw in a lot of repetition amongst objects and a general lack of varied gameplay, Interpol is hardly a game I’d recommend.

The main reason I would buy Meteos Wars is if a mate or two already own it.

Grand Theft Auto IV is very much a console-friendly game, and the PC port brings enough problems – albeit ones that won’t apply to everyone – to make me hesitate to recommend it over the original.

Elika is awesome, as you may have picked up by now in this review. Sadly though, the same cannot be said for the hero of the story.

We managed to tear through over half the songs before my voice starting shutting down from overexposure to my bad falsetto. We were anything but bored. The songs are fun, the videos are hilariously bad, and a good time was had by all involved (except Tristan, who just seemed a little awkward through most of this).

Just keep in mind that the d-pad on the 360 controller is probably the worst thing since cancer (seriously, it's that bad) and that the game has a few issues that really do need resolving. If you're lucky enough to have a decent controller, however, don't let the bugs stop you getting on board - it's solid Street Fighter action to its very core.

This is better than Sonic’s last main game. But that doesn’t make it good. I’d like to think Sega is on the right track, and that the next game might cut out a lot of the padding and focus on speed.

The game is plenty big enough to satisfy even very demanding gamers, but I would be concerned about those controls. Not everyone wants to spend too long getting to know a difficult control system, these days. Often, immediacy is key and this is a step away from plug and play.

This has been an exercise in balance that has proved to be worth our while. While this game might not be up to much if you’re the owner of one of the hulking beasts that are Microsoft and Sony’s consoles, if you’re a Wii owner, don’t be put off by what you’ve read.

If you're a multiplayer fiend and like the thought of mowing down zombies with chainguns, this is definitely worth checking out. The thrill of obliterating hordes of screaming bad guys that just want to gobble up your brains really is quite unique and fun. Just don't expect to be getting very good value for money because there's really not very much inside the box.

While the quest to catch the crims sort of takes a back seat to the initial pick-up-and-play aspect of NFS: Undercover, there’s plenty of fun to be had re-doing challenges to try and best your score, and collecting the reputation you deserve, dear gamer.

Unbalanced characters and a very steep difficulty curve can cause an unnecessary amount of frustration. The Story Mode (playable from either the DC or MK point of view) was interesting to progress though and had some well thought-out storylines. But eventually you’ll come up against a near unbeatable foe like Scorpion who will put a dampener on your enjoyment levels.