It's a gigantic, beautiful game, but it's one that irreparably hurts itself with an unforgivably slow introduction.

At its heart, Red Alert 3 is classic Command & Conquer. The art style is fantastic, the presentation is silky smooth and the core gameplay is as satisfying as it was over ten years ago. The game dances so close to being quintessential, but consistently falls short of the mark, and that's almost entirely because of the abhorrent decision of including the co-commander system.

Thanks to genuine challenge, bruising A.I., a significantly improved Manager Mode, and more involving evolutionary player aspects, this year's FIFA emerges as yet another successful edition to EA's once vilified football portfolio.

We'd get rid of power-ups completely, or at least, implement them so they don't murder the flow of each race.

Enslaved is a worthy adventure title that overcomes its own minor shortcomings with an excellent narrative and glorious visuals.

What Ensemble have achieved is nothing short of astonishing. It may not prove to be the finest example in presenting lasting appeal – single-player certainly doesn’t last all that long – but ultimately, Halo Wars stands out as an RTS experience that works incredibly well while ticking all of the right boxes for the fans.

Where it excels, and where it innovates, all is rosy, and occasionally exceptional - but where it falls down it can chafe, and it still isn't as balanced and polished as it might be. That being said, Evolution do more than enough to make this a good purchase for fans of the genre.

But it is the simplicity of the gameplay that is both a boon and a curse. For while BfME will appeal to many causal gamers or LOTR/RTS fans looking for some light entertainment it will seriously disappoint all those people who have been patiently waiting for the chance to lead the forces of light against the hordes of evil in a satisfyingly deep and engaging strategy game.

Played in the spirit in which it is intended, Hitman: Blood Money proves that even in the series' fourth installment it still has the means to impress with its gameplay, freedom of exploration and high production values. Although there are still one or two little annoyances, there's no doubting that there's more than enough here to satisfy even the most experienced of contracted killers.

The only thing stopping it achieving a better score are the aforementioned niggles coupled with some below par AI. Their computer-controlled abilities switch from laughably amateur to 'one mistake and its race over' Terminator-style brutality in a matter of moments which seems more than a little unfair.

Like a bullet to the face, Saints Row 2 is a brash, over the top, occasionally childish but actually quite lovable foil to the convention-breaking seriousness of GTA. It isn't perfect, technical glitches and imperfections abound in places, but Volition score big with the explosive, water-tight action, the user-customisation elements and in offering such an incredible amount of content allowing players to spend tens of hours immersing themselves in Stilwater's many attractions. Bling bling.

It more than holds its own against the perceived heavyweights of the genre.

A surprisingly satisfying and original first-person survival horror game that really shows off the Xbox 360.

Infinitely playable and any fan of the series will find it a greatly rewarding experience.

Gruesome, bloody and at times compelling - even if you might admonish yourself for thinking it.

Perhaps this easiness stems from the fact that despite the huge number of games featured it's hard to escape from the feeling that a tad more variety would be welcome.

Sure, it's never better than GTA itself and isn't going to win any awards for originality, but Saints Row does measure up to 2001's "GTA III" pretty well.

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.

One of the most exhaustive, expansive and compelling RPG experiences on the market.

The Witcher is a bit of an oddball. Genres exist, over many years defined and redefined, but successful games rarely detract so heavily, while still claiming to be a part of one genre. The Witcher is an RPG is spirit rather than in practice. It'll suffer because of this.

It is a finely constructed, accessible real-time strategy game with a brilliant soundtrack, tactical warfare with intricacies too long winded to go into here and highly addictive gameplay.

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.

Whenever a game of such craftsmanship actually gets a release in Europe, you would be a fool not to grasp it tightly and treasure its unique and original interactivity.

Its more of a single player experience than it is for multiples of people, and in that sense it works nearly perfectly. Car handling is simple, the frame rate is speedy, but more than anything Coast 2 Coast is fantastic fun to play - a quality that many a game bogged down with FMVs and unnecessary complications neglects.

You're effectively getting two games for the price of one with Just Cause 2. The first is a creative but flaky action game with a criminally stupid story. But the second is a budget-priced holiday to the most remarkable and culturally diverse nations in the world, one where hilarious cartoon violence is just a part of everyday life.

New features help give the game a little extra spice. I especially like being able to force other nations into becoming protectorate states and demand they fight in my wars with everyone else.

Pong's fabulously simple gameplay may have been used as a blueprint during Rockstar's development of Table Tennis, but that's certainly a positive attribute and only further enforces the notion of aspiring to create a comparably addictive experience that's completely free of unnecessary padding.

If you have an interest in golf but aren't too bothered about realism and are after a challenge then Hot Shots Golf Open Tee is one PSP launch title you must get.