Chop, chop, chop. Flip da onions. Chop, chop, chop. Anyone familiar with rhythm action games released around the turn of the last century may remember being instructed to do just that by a certain Parappa the Rapper. Nowadays however, it seems practically every game out there involves the repetitive pressing of a single button to chop, chop, chop your way through countless identikit enemies. Onion flipping may have been replaced by the occasional cut scene or some other distraction, but as with Parappa all those years ago… This rarely detracts from the chop, chop, chop that American audiences seem to love.

Fate can be a cruel mistress at times. Just when the family unit were starting to have actual conversations and the addictive grip of Call of Duty might have started to wane just a little, Activision and Treyarch go and hit us up with 4 brand new maps.

Oh the irony of war. What could possibly seem more ridiculous than naieve American GI’s sat clinging to the netting of a circling Huey, firing hundreds of M60 rounds at North Vietnamese soldiers, whilst listening to Creedance Clearwater Revival songs lamenting the unfairness of it all. Back in ’67, many of those lads didn’t have a choice, so you could well forgive them for indulging themselves in the malaise that must result from fighting in a war which even many of your own countrymen don’t want you to win. Battlefield: Bad Company 2′s first major add-on however, poses players with a more difficult choice – to go to Vietnam, or not…. And even to fight on the ‘other side,’ as it were.

Its very rare that companies get a second chance after failing as completely as Reality Pump did with the first installment in the Two Worlds Saga. Thankfully, the Polish Developer has been given just that with the soon to be released (25th Jan) Western RPG Two Worlds 2

Well what can I say about my new friends Mr Kane and Mr Lynch? Well, It’s certainly fair to say that neither of these two characters are the kind of people that you would like to spend an evening dinner party with followed by a game of charades. However, I’m more than happy to cause chaos and mayhem with both of these misfits – never mind your heavily armoured, wisecracking Army of Two types. In Kane and Lynch 2, this is the real deal.

Every now and then a game sneaks out which defies expectation. In a market saturated with also-ran FPS crap set in pseudo-realistic Modern theatres of war, Red Dead Redemption aims to rekindle gamers interest in the long forgotten (but once incredibly popular)’Wild’ West of the late 19th Century.

‘If it aint broke, then dont fix it!’ A statement I’d defend to the bitter end when looking at some of my more cherished gaming franchises and thankfully, something which Sony’s Santa Monica studio obviously echoes with the most recent entry into the God of War Series.

Now I must admit I love stomping around Alien worlds suppressing and killing the locals as much as the next man. No, for once I am not talking about Avatar, but actually referring to the next installment in the Lost Planet franchise. 2010′s follow on from the surprise Capcom hit (all the way back in 2007) has been eagerly awaited by a loyal and adoring fanbase which, alas, has me amongst its members.