Playing through the game you can't help but be aware of the minds behind this marvel. This is not just ingenious, but also well balanced, always fair and never inconsistent. You know where you are with Super Mario Galaxy 2 because you are spending time with some old friends. Not really the characters themselves - familiar and cute as they are - but the creative talents behind it all.

Galaxy opts for a slow strong confident delivery rather than the showy tricks of its impostors. This may mean it takes a little while before you are really convinced. But, spend a little time and we are sure that you will be coming back again and again, just to be reminded of what it takes to make a great platform game in every sense of the word: running, jumping and exploration.

An ephemeral and controversial ending, along with the few issues described above, means that for me, Half-Life 2, while a compelling and highly enjoyable game, falls short of the size of impact that the first title had on the gaming world.

By far and away the very pinnacle of first-person shooters, with 2K achieving those heady heights by braving to not just push against established genre barriers and expectations but to rip them out and place BioShock atop the pile as a landmark pseudo-RPG first-person shooter that will be a benchmark of quality for many years to come. Staggering.

A game that manages to feel like a genuinely significant step forward while retaining everything that was so great about the original. The addition of a stunning multiplayer component and the creative freedom of the Cinema mode are like the enjoyably overindulgent pudding after a wonderfully satisfying main meal that make you thankful for elastic waistbands.

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.

I'm constantly reminded that this is effectively five fantastic games for the price of one. If you're even a casual fan of the FPS genre then there is no reason not to add this to your collection. Hell, I'd probably buy it for Portal alone!

Mass Effect 2 is a work of unreserved genius that not only surpasses its predecessor in almost every conceivable department, but also deserves to be listed alongside the greatest science-fiction properties in any medium. The perfect blend of rich, lustrous visuals, an evocative soundtrack and pure gameplay quality make Mass Effect 2 without question one of the best games of this or any generation, and anyone who believes otherwise, is just plain wrong.

GTA may be looking its age and some of its more favoured structural ideas are beginning to feel a little dated, but Rockstar continue to revel in the mastery of presenting a consuming environment to the player and inviting them to do within it what they wish.

LittleBigPlanet is one of the most inviting game world's ever imagined, the concept is a masterstroke, the implementation slick.

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.

Perhaps not only the best game Rockstar has made thus far, but it's one of the best games we've ever played - an unreserved work of genius. It has its flaws and is by no means perfect, but Red Dead Redemption is to the Western what GTA is to the crime genre and should be held up as a definitive example of how open-world games are supposed to be made.

A joy to play. There is no other way to describe it.

One of the most polished FPS titles I've ever played, it does not redefine the genre but simply shows others how it should be done. An immersive storyline captures the imagination but falls down by being too short.

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.

This is still the Big Daddy of action games, the benchmark by which stories and environments will be measured. An essential purchase.

Bizarrely Mass Effect 2 on the PS3 seems more unstable than its Xbox counterpart with it actually crashing the normally well-behaved PS3 when the Xbox 360 version would keep on going.

It refines and codifies the advances that prior titles have made before it and packages all these lessons in what are undeniably sumptuous visuals.

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.

The single-player is a little short, but the action is relentless and polished to the point of reflection, the multiplayer, meanwhile, will keep you coming back time and again. This is the next-generation. A bona fide masterpiece.

While Halo 3 doesn't look as good as games like "Gears of War" and "BioShock" it makes up for that with superb lighting effects, an engaging storyline and a multiplayer mode that will be played countless times over.

With, literally, entire discs full of extras, a new camera within the main game, the two original Metal Gear titles and an Online mode that finally makes full use of the PS2 broadband adapter, Subsistence is a game that should be in everyone's PS2 collection.

The cinematic appeal of the singleplayer action makes it infectious and hugely memorable in a way few if any other games can manage. That this is bundled with the best multiplayer experience of any game really leaves us in little doubt that this is the complete package.

While Guns of the Patriots boasts lashings of in-game invention and creativity that's largely wrapped up in superb style and execution, it's all so unforgivably tainted by jaw-dropping gameplay brevity that it's truly difficult to raise the many, many good points above what is, for the most part, a succession of cut scenes that leave the player with an overwhelming sense of disconnection from one of gaming's most compelling characters and interactive franchises.

Firaxis have managed to thoroughly overhaul one of the classic games of all time and drag it up from its dark ages into the renaissance era. Even with its speedier gameplay Civ IV will be the cause of many sleepless nights and damaged relationships.

The most intense online racing experience? You'd better believe it.

Despite its absolutely luminal reception, there is a strong argument that Brawl will appeal to the two polar opposites of the gaming community but fall flat to the majority of 'middle class' gamers in between. The very casual gamer will enjoy the chaos and the pyrotechnics, the hardcore gamer will love the bizarre mojo they can discover to gain their edge, but the middle of the road party player will probably soon tire of the impetus of play without being able to access the deeper mysteries.

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.