NG2 is the perfect fighting-action game, it is the ultimate gaming challenge for 2008, and it's one of the best looking 'gore games' ever created. If you want to know why Master Ninja level NG players give no respect to anyone who hasn't achieved this level of action-gaming perfection, you must become one yourself.

An unrivalled showcase of imagination and creativity, Bayonetta is potentially 2010's game of the year before 2009 has even ended. [JPN Import]

Darwinia is the most refreshing, beautiful, frustrating, compelling and dare I say it original game I've had the pleasure of playing in many a year.

While a seven-hour freestanding Kratos adventure might be considered a little short by some gaming standards, God of War: Chains of Olympus is quite simply the finest slice of action to grace the PSP since launch and is an essential purchase on every level.

For the best part of seventeen years consoles have been trying to emulate the unparalleled experience of playing first person shooters on the PC. For the first time Crysis 2 shows console gamers that they can have the PC experience without the massively expensive gaming rig.

Despite a few incredibly minor niggles, Street Fighter IV arguably represents a new zenith for the series and puts every other beat 'em up in the shade. Visually and technically superior in every conceivable way, Street Fighter IV revives a much loved franchise and is unquestionably something genuinely special that will be appreciated for many years to come, much like its hallowed forebear.

Despite the original Assassin's Creed's less than well hidden inadequacies, we were bowled over by the sheer ambition of the title, the daring of the setting, plot and characterisation. That this sequel goes along way to addressing many of the previous gameplay concerns, while expanding on what made the first release such a wonderful slice of escapism, leaves us convinced that Ubisoft really are building a truly vital franchise that this sequel is a pivotal part of.

It's better than the first game, then. The biggest achievement, however, is that Valve - who are known to take their time - have managed to put such an enormous wealth of content out in a single year. Left 4 Dead 2 doesn't just add a few new levels and features, it fiddles and increments a formula that few thought needed changing in the first place. The team have managed to infuse their sequel with the exact same kind of nuanced creative energies that usually takes them years, and in doing so they've made last year's accomplished Left 4 Dead look like a simple mod in comparison.

While the squishy and squashy invention of the PSP's award-winning LocoRoco perhaps comes closest to Patapon in terms of creativity and originality, the genre-straddling ingenuity and intrinsic simplicity of Pyramid/Japan Studios' horrendously addictive rhythm-based, all-action, resource management God game successfully lifts Patapon head and shoulders above most of today's videogames - PSP or otherwise.

Assassin's Creed arrives as a glorious but flawed masterpiece that deserves to be praised for all that it does so brilliantly, not shamefully criticised for a smattering of minor detractions that never threaten to do anything but temporarily blemish an otherwise glistening gem.

Braid is the most gorgeous slice of chocolate cake you can possible imagine wrapped in a silk cloth and tied with a pink ribbon. It's a paradoxical experience of simplistic charm and over-bearing sensory and logical complexity. No one in the gaming world should miss out on playing this game, to do so would be a tragedy.

The entire production reeks of quality from the stellar voice work to the jaw-dropping visuals and intuitive control system - truly this is the Batman game we've all been waiting for. It is to games what "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" are to movies - Batman: Arkham Asylum is without doubt the most definitive videogame realisation of the character yet. It's also unreservedly brilliant to boot.

A prodigiously enjoyable title. It has lots of action, violence, crazed humour and simple gameplay for pick up and play moments. It might be too easy and the multiplayer mode is not the best, but apart from those two minute annoyances there is nothing else you can fault it on.

It might not be the utterly revolutionary Zelda title that we all expected and its not without its faults, but one thing is clear: Twilight Princess is worth the Wii's price tag alone, even if the fishing does put you at risk of a coronary.

A wonderful title that invokes the very best of both the RPG and adventure genres, incorporating exploration, puzzles, narrative and platforming into a extensive and splendidly formed package.

And don't forget: The blend of near-faultless quality and originality associated with the amassed content threatening to burst free of Valve's collection can be secured for the price of a single Xbox 360 title, which near demands that The Orange Box finds its way onto your disc tray at the earliest possible opportunity.

In this more emotional sense FIFA 10 nails football wonderfully, its near technically perfect depiction of the beautiful game presents you with the very best bits of football letting you live the dream better than any previous virtual incarnation of the sport. It does make you wonder what they'll find to improve for next year, though.

Those new to the Suikoden series and RPGs in general, you could choose no better series or game to start playing, this one has it all.

Some of the most engrossing combat and visceral action the PS3 has to offer - presented expertly.

Extraordinary. It's as if the word were invented for it.

Oblivion excels in almost every department but emerges as absolutely more than the sum of its parts. When viewed as a complete creation, the RPG genre can offer little else to compare; the console market has never known such deeply involving and open-ended imagination; and there's certainly nothing on the Xbox 360 that better deserves the 'killer app' motif to-date.

It loses a few marks for being so technically daunting, but if you haven't had the opportunity to play GTA IV yet, and you've got a PC that can handle it, then this is probably the best version of the game.

The content on offer is frighteningly good, and even more so because Namco-Bandai didn't simply scale the portable modes down along with the screen sizing.

Company of Heroes is superb; a perfect blend of intelligent strategy and powerful visceral action, delivering such a natural World War II experience you'll be left wondering if you're even allowed to enjoy it as much as you do.

How you like your racing games is a personal thing, for me the delicate balance between pedal to the metal racing and slightly dull car porn is something that GRID gets spot on.

I can't imagine a better RTS being released in the foreseeable future; certainly one has never bettered it before this. Everyone, regardless of whether you enjoy RTS' or not should own a copy - you're doing yourself a massive injustice if you refrain.

The replayability is immense and after spending a whole weekend blasting through both single and co-op campaigns, I still went back to perfect my speed and score runs as well as collect up missing upgrades and items.

The bold lines, simple colours and innocent aesthetic emphasises the idealism of the Zelda series at its finest: this tiny, wide-eyed boy can conquer unimaginable evil, and his stoic determination can achieve more than even omnipotent deities could manage. These games might be perfect for children, but they're as fine an example of gaming as any adult could hope to encounter.