In the end, the game really is just too human: flawed, ageing but with the potential to do great things.

Getting a head start in terms of money and items will appeal to Fable fanatics, but for everyone else, it's not worth the gamble.

Braid is a beautiful game and an amazing experience, and whether or not you think games can be considered works of art – or if it even matters – you simply owe it to yourself to play Braid.

Geometry Wars 2 is both an evolutionary and revolutionary sequel, taking all the things that made the original great and tweaking it where necessary, as well as adding stacks of new content.

The amount of characters and styles is huge but, the Story mode is greatly lacking, and the other modes can be incredibly frustrating at times.

Civ: Rev is a great game, and I think most people will have a great time with this game, both online and offline.

Beijing 2008 is not a good game. Despite the extra coat of gloss, an impressive roster of Olympic events, a practice, competition and Olympic modes, and even offline and online multiplayer, the majority of players simply won't derive much enjoyment out of its extremely repetitive and often overly punishing gameplay.

As such it really boils down to that third group, the Guitar Hero fan who doesn't care about Aerosmith one way or another, and sadly this game won't do anything much to win them over either.

While some may fault it for only including a single map for the asking price, this XBLA iteration remains the cheapest way to enjoy the full Ticket to Ride experience!

Alone in the Dark has enough innovations to warrant being experienced by most gamers, but is crippled by poor design at the most basic levels.

Battlefield Bad Company is a great game and continues the excellent fun found in every game in the Battlefield series that I've played so far.

Kane's Wrath does well on expanding what Tiberium Wars did to benefit the strategy genre.

Unfortunately the truly shoddy product that shipped to retail is unlikely to please anyone: it's buggy, glitchy, poorly optimised and visually unimpressive from a technical standpoint, and the missions are boring and the combat is repetitive too.

It delivers a well-paced and intense experience that is ultimately very satisfying and surprisingly faithful to its film counterpart, provided that you accept that it doesn't set out to reinvent, or even excel in any one area of gameplay.

Fans of the original will probably love it, newcomers will probably divided, but either way it's a faithful sequel to one of the Xbox's favourite sons.

A deep, engaging and somewhat varied experience, Race Driver: GRID should offer something for most players.

It's a faithful recreation of one of the better animated movies of the year, and nothing about it feels like a cheap rush-job. The graphics are great, the gameplay is surprisingly solid and it's a lot of fun to play.

Although quite a fun game, LEGO Indy shrinks in stature when compared the previous LSW games.

It's effectively a dumbed-down version of a fairly engaging PC release, one that removes a lot of the depth, strategy and team-oriented gameplay of the original.

Check out the demo if you're on the fence, but episodic gaming is here to stay, and there's little doubt Penny Arcade Adventures will be one of the best of the bunch.

If you can persist though, the frantic arcade pacing and frenetic aerial combat in large open areas is quite enjoyable while it lasts.

It is as if every great game you ever loved came together in a tantric orgy to birth the second coming of the Lord, it's just that good.

Chosen One is a decent enough romp for a couple of nights play, however it's hard imagine you'd invest any more time than that. It fails to exceed the fun factor, and overall quality, of similar games to come before it.

Its faster-paced take on the Gears of War formula, coupled with the novelty of the bladed glaive mechanic, pull Dark Sector above the mire of mediocre shooters that it could so easily have become.

There's some solid innovations here as well as a good looking game, and if it wasn't for the stifling lack of variety, almost silent musical score and patchy framerate, it could have triumphed over being "decent” and transcended into the hallowed halls of greatness.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 is a great game. It captures the Rainbow Six ‘feel' and delivers high intensity gameplay both on and offline.

Condemned 2 is a worthy successor to a great game, and fans of the original will no doubt have rushed out to buy this without even waiting for reviews.

The simple fact of the matter is Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 should have been released last year. But still, it feels a bit like we're getting the same game over and over.

As aforementioned, Army of Two does have its issues. It's got a flawed partner intelligence system, some horrid hovercraft piloting sequences, and not to mention the game is region-locked for online play.

For some, Bully has a few minor glitches and hitches, for others, the game is virtually unplayable and broken. But if you're lucky enough to only get a mild dose of this, Bully's view of the world through a child's eyes will amuse and entertain you for hours.

The game is not without its many shortcomings, however, and those easily frustrated by lousy checkpointing or undercooked and simplistic gameplay elements should steer clear.

Overall, the multiplayer options are a fantastic addition to the series and make N+ an even better value buy, especially if you've got a couple of mates who also dream ninja dreams.

Well, to be truthful, you'll probably tire of The Club long before you'd get sick of some new cool restaurant as the variety on offer here in this game is even more limiting, but we hope you see the point we're trying to awkwardly make.

It's obvious that Dynasty Warriors 6 is a game made for its long-term fans, and there is little doubt that they will lap it up even while they complain about it being simplified. For everyone else, there probably hasn't been a better time to try out the series, but if you've played in the past and it wasn't to your liking, version #6 won't change your mind.

For better or worse, Commanders: Attack of the Genos is a high-definition homage to Advance Wars, but at a bargain Arcade price rather than a full retail offering.

If you are an Xbox 360 owner and a fan of Japanese role-playing games, chances are you are already playing Lost Odyssey.

Everything a hack-and-slash should be and then some. Sadly it falters with repeated level design and a moderately troublesome camera; but in the grand scheme of things, these are only minor flaws. Devil May Cry 4 delivers an experience that is second to none on Xbox 360, so far. Held together by a solid narrative, it makes your blood boil with every fight you encounter.

If you're an avid rail-shooter enthusiast, I do recommend you play Rez if you haven't already, because it will draw you in, only letting go when it's ready.

While the new found liberty is costly, in that there are some issues with the new ‘open nature' of the game, they're only minor, and If you're a fan of arcade racers, or the Burnout series, you won't want to look past this.

Omega Five is the kind of game that if you stick with, will reward you with some sense of accomplishment when you take down a boss or just get better as you replay levels.

This is not a game for the faint of heart; you may throw your controller at the television screen, but this game is a classic, and it was bound to find its way on the XBLA collection list, next to games such as Sonic 2, Golden Axe & Bomberman.

Last year, Space Giraffe came out. It was a 2007 version of tempest with some improvements and surprisingly enough the original just doesn’t compare.

As expected Square Enix has produced something lack of what a standard expansion would expect, in this case Square Enix has produced its own standard of expansions, ones which lack creativity and stream out repeated content.

In a year that has seen more than its fair share of outstanding titles in the action/shooter genre, Kane & Lynch manages to set itself apart with an outstanding compilation of levels that are a joy to play through. Therefore, it is all the more disheartening that at the same time, it manages to fumble some of the fundamentals, chief among them the broken hit detection.

Monster Jam is a simplistic arcade racing game that is below average in all areas.

If you are a serious fan of the original game, you may wish to purchase and play through this expansion pack, but there's a pretty good chance that, by the end of it, you'll have had more F.E.A.R. than you'd C.A.R.E.D for.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is one of those rare games that actually lives up to, and even surpasses, its own hype. Both the single player and multiplayer experiences are deep and engaging, showcasing an impressive variety of combat situations and intense, visceral action.

Timeshift is a simplistic and vaguely enjoyable shooter with an unfortunately scheduled release. It's a shame about the other shortcomings Timeshift brings to the table, otherwise it could have been a sleeper classic.

Naruto: Rise of Ninja is not the kind of title many gamers would pick up from the shelf and give it a look, because let's face it – those anime titles tend to be a bit rubbish unless you love the show. Thing is, this is a game that stands on its own as a worthy action-adventure or fighting game.

The Simpsons Game is easily the family's best outing yet: genuinely clever and with a devilish ability to spot gaming's weak spots and exploit them for massive laughs, it's the kind of game that will appeal to fans and gamers of all ages.

Guitar Hero III offers few surprises and it feels like NeverSoft decided to ‘tread lightly' and not upset the apple cart (so to speak).

The game combines a tired formula of spawning wave after wave of mindless enemies in the same room with you with the clumsily-executed 'squad-based' combat, which is enough to stave off any fan of the genre aside from stout Barker fans in it for the intriguing but sadly unrealised plot.

Conan appeared on the Xbox 360 out of nowhere like a thief in the night, and like its titular hero, it is brutal, powerful, and very rough around the edges.

It seems the guys over at Neversoft never got the memo. You know, the one that said, "Hey all, there is this other game called Skate coming out around the same time as ours so we better do our best to make this Tony Hawk game as good as we can.”

As it is, FIFA 08 is a football title that has plenty going for it, but also plenty of annoyances and offers a realistic experience that further breaks the mold of FIFA's past poorer efforts from the last few years.

FlatOut Ultimate Carnage is fun. Immense fun. It's hectic, action packed, violent and features plenty of stuff that no other series offers.

With its many accessible difficulty options and forgiving career mode, PGR4 manages to be a very fun arcade racer.

NBA Live 2008 is a considerably decent basketball game. EA's efforts this year are much more noticeable than previous outings, as the game reeks of realism.

The jury's verdict is in, and CSI: Hard Evidence has been found guilty of being boring and bland.

Billions of hours are destined to be lost online as it slowly takes over the world because the multiplayer alone covers the retail price, and features such as Forge and Saved Film only further justify the purchase.

Better looking, better sounding, and better gameplay should be a winner in anyone's book, so if you liked Blazing Angels but hoped for more, then your prayers have been answered. It isn't perfect, but getting to fly futuristic jets and take down giant Nazi zeppelins goes a long way to balancing out the problems!

Warriors Orochi is nothing more than fan service from Koei and Omega Force.

In the end with Juiced 2 we have a game that is much more enjoyable than Juiced was as it controls better (but still needs some work in that area) and is a fairly solid arcade street racing game.

Skate bursts from the gates, ollies over the competition and lands an impressive grind across the noses of jaded gamers. It's an addictive, compelling and downright impressive first effort from EA and we can't wait for the sequel.

Fatal Inertia is certainly a respectable racer, for what it brings to the table. Though there are far too many shortcomings for it to really deserve a place in a collection alongside a Project Gotham or Forza Motorsport of current acclaim.

Providing all the features of its predecessors and more, NHL 2K8 serves as a worthy purchase for any lover of ice hockey.

At the end of the day, Airborne is a competent addition to the series. If you're a fan of these games then most of our complaints will be nothing new to you, and you'll probably approach the new jump mechanic and ostensibly open levels with gusto.

Blue Dragon is wading into a difficult market; any veteran Japanese RPG player will feel like they've seen and done it all before – better too – while newcomers will likely be overwhelmed by the sheer scale of what is on offer.

The atmosphere is second to none, the action frantic and fun, and the ease of access means you can play the game however you want without being punished for it.

But at the end of the day, there's nothing on offer that actually changes the core Hexic experience, and as such it's difficult for us to recommend a purchase at its current price.

Carcassonne is the sort of board game that the Arcade needs more of: simple to pick up and play, but plenty of scope for competition and strategy for hardcore gamers. The games are quick, lots of fun, and the whole package is well polished and easy to use.

Transformers: The Game is fine for a weekend rent, and with a few beers the easy achievement points may justify the hire fee.

Overlord is already shaping up as the sleeper-hit of 2007 – underpromoted by its publisher, barely hyped by consumers and critics, yet it delivers a unique and enjoyable experience on the Xbox 360.

With an absolutely wonderful presentation and a refreshing take on the first-person-shooter genre, it easily ranks as one of the most engaging and accessible single player action games on the Xbox 360.

Order of the Phoenix is another inoffensive entry into the Harry Potter videogame archive. It does little to frustrate or impress, but there's plenty here for fans of the series.

DiRT does plenty right and features the most realistic forest and desert environments ever seen in an Xbox racing game.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is yet another example of movie tie-ins failing to even come close to their potential.

Unfortunately for Tenchu Z there are games that do the stealth action genre a hell of a lot better, and with nothing else going for it other than ninjas, this one is best left in the dark.

There's plenty of extra goodies to keep you busy if you like to eke out every scrap of play-time for your money, but multiplayer is a fairly token addition that is underwhelming and under-populated as a result.

The career mode, with its leveling system and the way you're forced to collect various vehicles, is enthralling, that is until you realise that it's only elongated through extra laps and slightly longer course variations.

"Spider-Man 2" was leaps and bounds ahead of the original, but the third outing tinkers with what made the second so great without improving on any of the things that sucked. This wouldn't be so bad if it didn't add a host of new suck in the form of dodgy camera control, frustrating combat and dull missions.

Catan is an odd choice to lead the board-game charge onto the Xbox Live Arcade, but Big Huge Games have done a phenomenal job of recreating the experience on the console.

Eets: Chowdown is about as unusual an Arcade title as you can get.

It looks great, it's dangerously addictive, and most importantly the wealth of professionally presented and enjoyable content makes it a value-packed purchase for anyone who likes a good puzzle game.

Aside from a few misgivings about some of the track choices, I enjoyed absolutely everything about Guitar Hero II. The practice mode ensures there's always that option there to improve yourself and master the game on hard and expert and also provides a great way for beginners to get into the game.

A surprisingly solid movie-to-game effort, one that is quite refreshing given the usual level of substandard trash that usually gets trotted out to cash in on a popular film.

You're definitely in for a good 30 hours of questing here, which is significantly more than most games at full retail can claim. In actual fact, The Shivering Isles is so beautifully executed that you'll fall in love with the game all over again, and that's gotta be priceless.

While Symphony of the Night was served up in the nineties, it's still welcomed with open arms today by XBLA enthusiasts.

There's two ways to interpret Earth Defence Force 2017: you can love it for its campy B-Grade trappings, or dismiss it as a crap quality game and go back to your Gears of War.

It's repetitive, the controls are simple, the graphics aren't that great, even for an Xbox 1 game but TMNT should be a hit with the under 10's that love a nice simple action game aimed at them.

A faithful adaptation of the popular series, and while it isn't without its faults, is some of the most fun you can have in multiplayer on Live.

For me, there's too much 'on paper' that is wrong with this game – the music, the characters, the clichés, the lack of options and lack of variety. Yet, in practice and in spite of all this, I did enjoy Def Jam Icon.

Something about it just feels too clinical, too rehearsed and at the end of the day this is a sequel in the strictest definition of the word. It doesn't take any risks, it doesn't give players new, exciting or exotic flavours and it tends to focus more on the multiplayer side than the single player experience.

There is no doubting that Alien Hominid HD is one of the most challenging and difficult games you will ever play, but that is an integral part of its charm.

It is buggy, ill tested, and not much better than draft material. With that said genre fans may find a little something to admire with Bullet Witch; whether it is Alicia's magical powers or some of the lively boss encounters.

It's a shame that the game is fairly light on other activities, rooftop foot or street based races are the only two, because after all the action stops and the explosions settle, you really do wish that there was a bit more to do in the game.

One of the finest soccer games I have played. Everything when playing a match feels fantastic. Scoring goals takes hard work, and when you do you feel as though you really have earned it.

It's cheaper than the PC version, and when you take into account the challenging story mode, enhanced visuals and features, as well as a slew of other options and robust multiplayer, it's hard to not recommend Heavy Weapon.