Need for Speed: Shift is far from perfect, however it has real soul and you can tell the developers have a real passion for racing. A little more EA polishing would make this the best racing game around.

There’s one hell of a game here, and we can’t find a single thing we’d really want to change: whilst it’s not perfect, it’s as near as we’re going to get right now. Wonderful stuff.

Neversoft have polished and tweaked the franchise to a very high standard, but I still can’t help but thinking that there is nowhere else to go now for the inevitable Guitar Hero 6.

A fantastic video game, worthy of all the praise it receives. Although there are a couple of minor flaws in its execution (lack of sound-awareness in the poor AI and a relatively cheap final boss stand out) there really isn’t a lot that you could fault with this game. It is certainly one of the best releases this year.

A fun and very well-balanced game with great potential but it is let down by a repetitive stunt mechanic and a scarcity of content.

It would be nice to have a few more types of enemy rather than ninety percent being standard soldiers but what there is comes thick and fast. It is certainly not the most accomplished example of the genre though and for those people who like an FPS but are on a limited budget it might not be worth the ticket price.

Try singing Fat Bottomed Girls or We Will Rock You without pretending you are at Wembley Stadium or I Want to Break Free without pretending to do the hoovering. This is great fun especially after a few drinks with a group of friends and a far better bet than Next Gen and Vol 2 for an all round good time.

Fat Princess offers some of the most addictive and rewarding gameplay in recent times and can be a fantastic joy to play with friends online. Over time, it wouldn’t be at all surprising for Fat Princess to get better and better as players settle down into their roles and really engage with the teamwork – much like has happened in Killzone 2’s multiplayer.

Eurocom have captured the look and feel of the film perfectly and the characterisation (complete with the real cast doing voiceovers) is superb.

For a tenner this is an absolute no-brainer – an utterly wonderful online fighter and one that shouldn’t be missed by anyone.

Its replay value is extremely high, and although you’ll unlikely play it for huge stretches of time a couple of rounds with a few friends is incredibly entertaining. It may be on the slightly more expensive side of the PSN content, there are few that offer such a fantastic online experience.

Not quite a triumph, then, but it’s leagues ahead of The Order Of The Phoenix – and if we’re being cheeky with the scores, hardcore Harry Potter fans should treat this as an [80].

Thematically the game succeeds with aplomb, the story line works well, the co-op and alternative routes through sections with your brother never feel forced and there’s some welcome appearances of both characters and plot twists during the campaign.

BlazBlue is a wonderfully presented game which should appeal to the more casual audience thanks to its easy and accessible control system. It also looks absolutely fantastic and is a blast to play. If you’re after a 2D fighter then you will certainly not go wrong with this one. Outstanding stuff.

Despite a smart, exciting start, towards the end you’ll be tired of the game.

Bomberman Ultra is exactly as expected and should be merited for that, although it’s very similar to the Xbox 360 version if you have that already. Regardless, Bomberman is just like riding a bike, you may not do it for years, but you never forget how to blow stuff up. Nothing overly ground breaking, nothing unexpected, just great fun.

Unfortunately they’ve been over ambitious and so in taking in as much as they can, they’ve lost out on what really matters - detail, interesting missions and polish. You feel like you’ve seen everything within the first 4 hours and so finishing the games begins to feel like a chore.

For fans, this is a first service short of unmissable.

If you like a challenge and your games with a large portion of character, then this is definitely worth a punt.

An essential purchase for anyone after a massive game with plenty to do. That is, once you have gotten over just how much fun blowing stuff up in this title really is.

With Codemasters publishing this title you would expect a decent end product. But as it stands this game is in need of a new title, such as “Damn-we fluffed that one”.

Recall your fondest sandbox memories: discovering The Truth, learning to fly, or climbing the central tower in Crackdown. There’s nothing like this in inFamous. Sure, there’s some nice boss battles, some great shoot-outs and, when it’s all said and done, a decent overarching story, but the moments, the single sections that must piece together to form a whole, are rarely that enjoyable and you certainly won’t be discussing most of them with friends around the watercooler.

The gameplay, whilst initially entertaining, quickly becomes tedious and incredibly monotonous after it has been rinsed and repeated over and over again.

It is just possible that everything is falling into place at the right time for this title. An affordable, massively fun and entertaining take on an old classic done with real class and prowess. This might just be the beginning of another golden age of pinball.

I would like to give this game a higher score to reflect this, but the bugs mentioned in this review are unforgivable and can ruin an otherwise great gaming experience.

Ragdoll Kung Fu is a witty, charming and frantically fun game that suffers from a puzzling lack of online multiplayer and is perhaps a little bit light on replay potential.

So, another quality PSN title just perfect for those afternoons when all you want to do is take our your anger on a pack of hungry zombies. Burn Zombie Burn! is well produced, smartly priced, great fun and a nice addition to anyone’s XMB.

The Wheelman isn’t perhaps the prettiest game on the PlayStation 3, but it’s certainly not ugly: Barcelona looks fine, there’s plenty of variety and lots to explore but everything has a slightly flat feel to it.