The sequel is out in Japan. The sooner it arrives, the happier I will be. If it’s not as good as the first, I may resort to self-harm.

Brings the previous generation’s top gameplay, injects it with a few Sixaxis treats and pumps up the presentation to a top standard for a package that few will want to miss.

Not to be missed, in short. Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s an abyss of self-reproach I should be wallowing in.

Smart and thrill a minute really can go hand in hand and strategy fans used to more hardcore options should try World in Conflict.

Whether you enjoy one of the many solo modes or take on friends with the excellent and – in my experience so far – lag free online multiplayer, you've a football game that's going to stick with you all season.

Screw it, buy the thing as it’ll give you geometry wars beating action, and cheaper than a couple of beers. (At my local anyway).

The real joy of PGR action is online and the racing is brilliant, especially with friends.

The best game in the series so far and well worth adding to your collection. If you are new to the series however, I would recommend starting with an earlier iteration, simply because the learning curve is quite unforgiving for an absolute newcomer.

Far Cry 2 is phenomenal fun and brings new meaning to the term open world. It has surpassed my expectations and without a doubt Ubisoft Montreal have taken an uncut diamond and worked it into a nearly flawless gem.

The tracks do a good job of combining a load of remarkably great songs with the simple fact that they were released in the same decade.

All of the new additions that Lich King provides are expertly executed and will provide hours of new content to seasoned players.

It fails to reach perfection, but Empire Total War is the definitive strategy game. I can't think of any other game that even comes close to it.

Saints Row is an explosive mix of gameplay elements that will always provide you with something to do, something to see and something to destroy.

While you’ll be afraid for the majority of the time, the save game and checkpoint system is quite generous so that you’ll never be too frustrated at a death and having to replay large portions of the game, though this takes away none of the fear.

Reinventing the franchise in a simplistic but addictive manner, the self-proclaimed interactive screensaver is a surprisingly addictive game that will confuse onlookers and anyone within earshot.

For such a beautiful, engrossing and challenging game, it almost feels wrong to pay just 11.99 for it, but the price tag is just the tip of a spectacular iceberg.

While far from faultless, this is one game PSP owners cannot afford to miss, and hopefully one that will capture the hearts and minds of developers for years to come.

The words stunning, engrossing and addicting just don't do this game justice, and if it wasn't for my belief that no game will ever be truly perfect (as well as the vehicular silliness and the occasionally suicidal squad antics), the score you see below would have crept into double figures.

Race Driver GRID is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played and certainly one of the most exciting. You'd be a fool for missing this one. With better handling this would have been my first 10 score given for a very long time.

The game looks and sounds as good - and with moderately decent hardware looks even better.

I'd go as far to say LotRO would have perhaps been a better game without the 'O', as it remains one of the best RPGs I've ever played, and the Mines of Moria and all it's hidden depth and majesty only adds to what is an otherwise already superb experience.

The most pleasure from Gears 2 has to be in multiplayer, and I’ve very much enjoyed playing the campaign with friends in ever more challenging difficulties.

The game concludes with a satisfying outcome, but really doesn’t make much of a big deal of your course through the game and final decisions on what to do, and unless you’ve got a save before the unexpected point of no return, you’ll have to start again to explore more of the world. Of course that’s the beauty of the game. You’ll want to.

Warhead was great fun and even the ending is better, and certainly less annoying than that of Crysis, but I did find it slightly too easy.

EA have really thought about NHL 09 and with the introduction ‘Be a Pro’ this year, they have taken things further. The bar has well and truly been raised by EA and others will have to respond.

I know that no game is perfect but I can honestly say I had no technical issues with Dead Space at all. It did what it said it would and scared the hell out of me on a regular basis. Dead Space is one of the best survival horror games I have played and I look forward with baited breath to the sequel.

This PSP inception of the franchise will definitely be remembered as an important part of it, rather than a bastard child desperate to cash in.

Even the achievements are well thought-out – what began with Pacifism in Retro Evolved has expanded to the point where eight out of the twelve achievements require you to play in a non-standard manner, for example Wax On and Wax Off – gained for completing one and two complete circuits of the arena walls in Pacifism mode – or Phobia – scoring 1,000 points in Waves mode without collecting any geoms (much harder than it sounds).

What Battlestations Pacific delivers is something that is all too rare these days. This is a game that's fun and action-packed without treating the customer like a fool. The blend of realism and arcade fun is beautifully balanced - think of this as the warfare equivalent of Project Gotham Racing.

With a dark and sombre atmosphere, multi-layered, fluid and ferocious combat and deeply engaging stealth, Batman: Arkham Asylum is the game Batman fans have been waiting for, and more. It's simply a fantastically told, superbly acted and brilliantly realised action adventure.

Buy this game. It's as simple as that. It's a masterpiece of design from concept to execution and is my game of the year so far.

The game's story and dialogue, while full of plenty of macho nonsense, is humorous and never takes itself quite seriously - giving great credibility to the engaging characters.

This really is one of the best looking console shooters I've ever played.

All versions of Just Cause 2 are great - but the PC version just has enough to nudge it up to the next score threshold. Kudos to Avalanche for not fobbing off PC gamers with a poor console port.

To be honest this is pretty much a no brainer if you like Wii Sports, and that's most people really, the selection of sports is nice and varied, as are the methods of playing.

A thrilling action adventure, with plenty of varied tasks, more variable combat, engaging characters and it all taking place in some of the most beautiful locations ever recreated in a videogame. What's not to like.

While Niko's adventures were drab and often lacked thrills, The Ballad of Gay Tony is a return to classic over the top Grand Theft Auto destruction.

Capcom has really pushed the boat out here, not only does it play like a dream, but it looks and sounds the part too, with beautiful cell shaded visuals with nary a drop in frame rate, it's almost like playing an anime.

One of the best sports simulations ever released, the on pitch action is convincing and more importantly a lot of fun. Played with friends the game is even better.

Ratchet & Clank fans didn’t want this to be remarkably different; they wanted something recognisable that sent the series off with a bang. And it does just that.

It is an oddity in the gaming world which is mercifully free of the shallow obsession over improved graphics. Instead the focus is on fulfilling your managerial fantasies and the gaps are filled in by your own knowledge and love of the game. If you aren’t at least mildly obsessed with the results on a Saturday then you’ll never understand the appeal of this.

Expertly crafted resourcing and development tools prevent stagnation of the game's simple conquest objective, and the sheer scope of ships, maps and difficulty levels – not to mention co-op – is likely to keep this gem afloat for some time. RTS fans rejoice.

Nintendo has good effort to make a multiplayer platform game here, but it just doesn't feel quite right, it's not bad but if you think of it as nothing more than a tacked on extra to a single player game then that's about right. But as a traditional 2D platform game it's the business.

SCEE Cambridge has skilfully followed in Media Molecule's footsteps in creating the platform, and though the final result is marginally easier than LittleBigPlanet PS3, there's no doubting this is one of the best titles on Sony's handheld.

Even out of Lucasarts' hands, Tales of Monkey Island remains right a staple of the genre. Any adventure fan should have this in their collection. We recommend you buy the whole package right now.

The key to God of War III's success, though - continuing on from that of its predecessors - is how finely balanced it is. So expertly administered are its parts that the repetition one would expect never emerges.

It's been an utter delight to play the game again, especially as the conversion to Xbox has been handled so well. No self-respecting Xbox Live player should be without this game.

I asked you at the start of this review to buy a copy of this game - buy two - and not to let it become another "ICO." If it does, it's YOUR fault, dear reader.

Ultimately, Tecmo have created a game that recreates, and in a none too shallow way, the martial arts action movie experience.

And while the devil is in the details, the game as a whole forms such a genuinely immersive and unique experience that to let it go unnoticed would be a disservice not only to Lovecraft but one extremely talented bunch of developers.

Valve has worked wonders translating this game over to Xbox. For Xbox owners who've not tackled the PC original, this is a must-buy game.

If you’ve been searching for a strategy game that really puts you in the line of fire and in which you always feel the consequences of your actions, look no further than this.

It chooses not to innovate in the racing genre but smartens up its looks and sounds enough to look like an evolution.

Only one thing stops us from awarding top honours to this game: the lack of a co-op mode, which would have been an obvious inclusion.

This is the perfect game for deep-thinking military strategists and an awesome ride for those who just like to blow stuff up.

With around 50 hours (if you play both sides) of immersive RPGing and several different possible conclusions for both Dark and Light side players, you're getting good value for money. Just try not to sweat the ending too much.

Super fun races with interesting AI and that surprisingly great customisation section.

The historical period is beautifully realised, and the included onscreen encyclopaedia is great reading. If you have an interest in this period, pirates, the age of sail - you'll find lots to enjoy, especially if you're a fan of the works of Patrick O'Brian or Alexander Kent.

It's the best realistic shooter on Xbox Live and it's only real rival might be the forthcoming "Operation Flashpoint Elite," which may steal some of it's thunder.

Those that criticise and vindicate the linearity of the one player game are misunderstanding the central theme. Atmospherically, the game is without rival and the sense of community is absolutely charming.

Part of Resident Evil 4's charm comes in recognising the various sources that have inspired Mikami throughout the development cycle. The initial stages of the game owe much to Tobe Hooper's horror classic "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," with the run-down houses and crazed psychotic villagers.

Ikaruga is the best shoot-em-up on the current generation of consoles. With perfect gameplay, perfect difficulty curve, and beautiful graphics, it provides an intense experience like no other.

GT4 has more limitations than previous games on what you can and can't do, too many menus locked until you'll reached certain criteria.

It has more good points than bad though, at the least it will tide you over until the next generation of MMORPGs hits the streets and at best you will have fun for months, even years to come.

It has more good points than bad though, at the least it will tide you over until the next generation of MMORPGs hits the streets and at best you will have fun for months, even years to come.

The entire game runs on the well-known Unreal Engine, which has been extensively modified, and is now called the Vengeance Engine. Player models sport lots of detail, and the landscapes are both pretty and varied.

The tacky mutants, the fact that your opponents become almost anally accurate towards the end (or on high difficulty levels), the slightly disappointing finale - all these things may mar Far Cry to various degrees, but they cannot dull its shine.

It’s certainly not going to convert RPG nay sayers, but fans of the genre should find something new here.

Regardless of the often frantic pace, there’s bountiful strategic potential here, which should keep potential Sun Tzu’s happy.

Water effects are much prettier and the added bump-mapping makes the massive tanks very impressive. It’s not much, but it’s nice to see that the graphics have evolved.

Those with an interest in White Wolf's property may find that it remains truer to its inspiration than the first game, and as an example of the action RPG sub genre it's definitely one of the finer titles to emerge in recent years.

A big bonus is that the game doesn’t take itself too seriously.

A taut, atmospheric and engrossing experience. The only real gripe is that The City sections become long-winded, lacking as they do the focus of the story missions and as a result make the game feel a little bloated.

Surprisingly, for a game with such attention to finer details and apparent depth, the commentary gets a little flat and repetitive after awhile, even if it does have (perhaps because of) the EA Sports “attitude”.

It may seem like Onimusha 3 lacks ambition, but even though it fails to provide any solid innovation to a tired genre, it makes great effort to keep what’s familiar interesting and engaging - going to great lengths to cater for its audience’s needs, even if they seem run of the mill.

Fun. Frustrating. Gory. Cerebral. Engaging. Off-putting. Brutal and civilised. A thing of uneasily juxtaposed opposites, much like the Empire it's set in.

At the very least, it allows you to drive a truck through your enemies, jump into the air as a robot and come down fighting again. It must be said that this will be enough for a lot of people.

It's scrubbed up good, it's smarter and it's more varied, but it's fundamentally the same as the first Kohan game. Fortunately for Timegate, that means they've still produced an entertaining, rather individual game.

If you can summon up the courage to try a flight game for the first time, Ace Combat 5 - Squadron Leader will be a great place to start.

Though it might appear a little dated, the game offers some innovative features, such as the addition of the Dreamworld, combined with a good story.

With a little extra polish it could have been an absolute masterpiece, but instead Rockstar have brought us a solid, if a tad unspectacular title, which totals up to far more than the sum of its parts.

It's a casual approach to the genre, but that doesn't hurt gameplay at all. If anything it improves it.

R&C3 is not really a challenging game nor does it try to be, it places key emphasis on being fun and fast paced.

It is reasonably addictive and is challenging enough to make you want to complete it.

With an RRP of a mere £14.99, and I’ve found it for under a tenner, it means that you could theoretically have one credit on each game and pay for the same experience of walking into an arcade with the same amount of money.

Despite all of the points I’ve raised, however, the only true measure of a MMORPG is whether you are still enjoying and paying to play at the end of your ‘free’ 30 days, and as of the time of this writing, I am doing precisely that.

There are a large number of secret missions for Espers, weapons and general loot, which should keep a completionist playing for a good number of hours, but I can’t help but feel like for all of its production values, depth, and size, Final Fantasy XII tries too hard to reinvent itself, missing those aspects that brought a swarm of fans to the series from FFVII.

The eight or nine hours it will take you to complete the game are hugely enjoyable.

An absolute must for Hockey fans as well as anyone who likes sports games.

A very well designed game despite the so-so battle system. It runs smoothly on most systems and is seemingly bug-free.

Although experienced players will probably find the game too easy the new features, inclusion of legendary players and ten new courses will make it difficult for fans of the series to avoid purchasing it and a must for anyone looking for a console golf game.

If you’re looking for a new conquest after finishing "FEAR" or "Call of Duty 2" then you’ll probably not find much in War World. If, however, you’re an old-school arcade fan and can manage a first-person shooter without much trouble, then I’d say War World is pretty much a must-have.

Plaster up your thumbs, buy a new control pad, call in sick and lock up your family because this little extraterrestrial is going to take over your life.

Given the cliché of terrible movie tie ins, I was most impressed with Scarface on that basis alone, but it does become easier to recommend the game when you consider that Scarface: The World Is Yours would be worth a play through even without Tony Montana.

The game is beatifully made even if we miss the possibility of smashing through a house with a tank, as one could in "Heroes: Soldiers of WWII."

While it doesn’t exactly re-invent the adventure genre, The Moment of Silence is undeniably a well executed and solid title. So, if forced perspective backdrops, plausible puzzles and pulp fiction-like character and plot development are your bag, you could certainly do a lot worse than pick this one up.

I have to say that for all the minor bad points, and they are minor, I am really enjoying this title and EA has turned out a well presented game which will keep you amused for hours on end.

A technically and graphically stunning port of a game that was already pretty damn good, with the potential to deliver bigger and better things in future. And you can’t complain too much about that.