We had a blast playing the game here in the office, with almost everyone gathering to watch. But it is an inferior fighting game, no matter how oddly compelling it is to see two sets of fictional characters clash in such improbable circumstances.

We had a blast playing the game here in the office, with almost everyone gathering to watch. But it is an inferior fighting game, no matter how oddly compelling it is to see two sets of fictional characters clash in such improbable circumstances.

It's clear that Ubisoft had some big ideas for Shaun White Snowboarding, but many of these have been hampered by an overly difficult control scheme, cumbersome navigation, a terrible map, too much collecting and a disappointing frame rate. The recreation of the four ski resorts is excellent, the online functionality is well thought out, and at times the views are magnificent, but the game just isn't as much fun as it should have been.

It's clear that Ubisoft had some big ideas for Shaun White Snowboarding, but many of these have been hampered by an overly difficult control scheme, cumbersome navigation, a terrible map, too much collecting and a disappointing frame rate. The recreation of the four ski resorts is excellent, the online functionality is well thought out, and at times the views are magnificent, but the game just isn't as much fun as it should have been.

Road Trip is the best snowboarding game we've played in a long while (at least since 2005's Amped 3). It's better than Shaun White on 360 and PS3, too. It's no SSX, or 1080, but it's about as good as it gets for virtual versions of the sport these days.

It's hard to be down on a game that, when judged on its own merits, is great fun and addictive, but it's equally hard to look past the fact that this is essentially the same game we've been playing since it belatedly arrived on the GameCube.

Despite being an impressive achievement for the DS - just as the original game was earlier this year - we simply can't get on with the cramped control peripheral and tinny music.

With its spectacular design, dazzling polish and ever-compulsive gameplay, World of Warcraft seems destined to remain the everyman's pick of PvE-focussed MMO for the foreseeable future, and with the implementation of new PvP mechanics, Blizzard is no doubt looking to tempt back players who jumped ship to Warhammer Online and Age of Conan as well.

Still, we can't help but feel that there's going to be thousands of PES fans who embrace the power of the dark side this year, on account of the fact that it simply doesn't feel like Konami is putting much effort into the so-called 'next-gen' versions of PES these days - and that includes PC.

Combine a thoroughly entertaining single-player campaign with a stunning and challenging time trial mode and you'll soon forget that you managed to run through the story in six hours or less. There's depth here that you'll only discover hours into time trialling a single stage, and as we said, no other game released this year comes close to being as cool.

Combine a thoroughly entertaining single-player campaign with a stunning and challenging time trial mode and you'll soon forget that you managed to run through the story in six hours or less. There's depth here that you'll only discover hours into time trialling a single stage, and as we said, no other game released this year comes close to being as cool.

Nuts & Bolts offers true next-gen gameplay, with user created content being core to the experience. Simply making vehicles is good fun, and with the ability to instantly test them out you can sink hours into one creation alone. It certainly won't be for everyone, but with spectacular presentation, highly entertaining Robot Wars style multiplayer and a lot of good hearted humour, the bear and bird are back.

Lightsaber Duels will please younger fans of The Clone Wars movie who don't know any better, but for anyone else the combat system will be too frustrating to forgive. The wait goes on for that perfect Wii lightsaber game. Roll on spring 2009.

With record breaking as the foundation and a strong selection of fun mini-games to play, a well as leaderboards and multiplayer games, Guinness World Records: The Videogame is an excellent party game.

With record breaking as the foundation and a strong selection of fun mini-games to play, a well as leaderboards and multiplayer games, Guinness World Records: The Videogame is an excellent party game.

PES 2009 is a good game, but the times they are changin', and we're afraid that Konami is being left behind. Time for a reboot, Seabass.

PES 2009 is a better game than PES 2008, on account of the technical issues being ironed out and solid but basic online support, but, disappointingly, it's practically the same game.

A stunning game that doesn't miss a beat from start to finish and includes one of the most feature packed multiplayer components of any game released this year.

A stunning game that doesn't miss a beat from start to finish and includes one of the most feature packed multiplayer components of any game released this year.

A stunning game that doesn't miss a beat from start to finish and includes one of the most feature packed multiplayer components of any game released this year.

SDvR09 is better than last year's effort, no question, and it's a better game than TNA Impact! on account of it being yet another iteration of a tried and trusted game engine and packed full to bursting with features old and new. So yes, on the whole it has met the challenge.

SDvR09 is better than last year's effort, no question, and it's a better game than TNA Impact! on account of it being yet another iteration of a tried and trusted game engine and packed full to bursting with features old and new. So yes, on the whole it has met the challenge.

It's a game that is so hell-bent on being realistic that it's forgotten to be fun.

Given The Broken Bond's quite dazzling presentation it's easy to overlook its main fetch-quest focused flaw, so it's well worth a look. Just be aware that to non-fans some of the storyline will be quite hard to follow.

It's not as emotionally deep as other games on the market, it's not a 30 hour + epic and it's not art in video game form, but is arguably the greatest action game ever created. In a year full of incredible games, Gears of War 2 sits triumphantly at the very top.

If you fancy singing along to some classic tunes or have grown tired of the tracks included on previous releases, SingStar Legends is an essential purchase.

Once you get over the fact that playing EndWar makes you look and sound like a bit of a twat, you start to have quite a lot of geek-fuelled fun ordering your army about the battlefield, but we can't help but feel that EndWar is more proof of concept technical showcase than fully fleshed out triple-A title.

Once you get over the fact that playing EndWar makes you look and sound like a bit of a twat, you start to have quite a lot of geek-fuelled fun ordering your army about the battlefield, but we can't help but feel that EndWar is more proof of concept technical showcase than fully fleshed out triple-A title.