Winter warmers for video gamers

Click reporter Marc Cieslak takes a look at some of the big games that could be dominating the shelves in the run-up to the end of the year.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE (ALL FORMATS)

The closing credits of every Bond movie promise that "James Bond will return" and he does here in the brutal shape of a digitised Daniel Craig, who has a penchant for punching and shooting bad guys into the middle of next week.

Bond is fast, furious and feverish

Bond is back in a first-person globetrotting adventure that repeats the storyline from the Quantum of Solace movie. It also includes flashback levels recreating the action from Daniels Craig's first outing as 007 in Casino Royale.

The good news is that the game's pace is furious - a satisfying shooter that lets a player adopt a stealthy approach to missions, avoiding unnecessary shoot outs.

However, if the quiet life does not appeal, unscrew the silencer from Bond's pistol and unleash noisy havoc on the game's assorted henchman.

This is not a straight run-and-gun title though; Bond must make adequate use of cover if he wants to die another day.

As you would expect from a spy, Bond has to perform the odd bit of espionage, involving simple puzzle challenges.

Away from armed combat, 007 can perform takedown moves and engage foes in hand-to-hand combat. These elements are perhaps the weakest part of the game, feeling tacked on and a bit button-bashy.

After the story mode is completed, online multiplayer helps fuel suave spying fantasies. It is not surprising that the shooting parts of Quantum of Solace are good, as this game has the engine from the excellent Call of Duty 4 at its heart.

The Quantum of Solace game does not live up to the feverish heights of the best Bond video game of all time - 1997's Goldeneye on the N64 - but then few games could. This title makes a decent whack at continuing 007's legacy - a whack followed by a nasty finishing move.

FALLOUT 3 (PC, PS3, XBOX 360)

Fallout 3 takes place in a world devastated by a nuclear apocalypse, which predictably has left the irradiated survivors and mutants encountered in the game in a pretty bad mood.

Crimes against fashion in Fallout 3

Survivors hide out in a 1950s style underground bunker. The lead character's dad, voiced by Liam Neeson, goes Awol.

So our intrepid hero ventures outside the safety of the bunker, to track down his dear daddy in the ashen ruins of Washington, DC.

Fallout 3 is built on a grand scale, with the game mechanics of an action title and the scope of a massively multiplayer role-playing game.

As you would expect in a nuclear wasteland, a lot of the characters encountered are on the anti-social side, which is where the game's combat system comes in handy.

It allows players to build up action points that can be used to slow time to a standstill allowing a player to choose the most appropriate method of dispatching post-apocalyptic fashion criminals.

Many recent games have been accused of a single player campaign that is far too short. That cannot be said of Fallout 3. There is a vast environment to explore with something like 100 hours of game play. That is a long time in front of an Xbox.

Apart from an enormous city to explore, hordes of bad guys to take out and a host of in-game characters to interact with, this game crackles with a level of immersion and polish that few titles can match.

MOTORSTORM 2: PACIFIC RIFT (PS3)

One of the few decent launch titles for the PS3 came from developer Evolution Studios - well known for its work on the World Rally Championship games.

Driving mayhem in Motorstorm 2

This time the result is the high octane racing sequel Motorstorm 2: Pacific Rift.

Cars, truck, ATVs and motorbikes all collide on and off the 16 tracks in this racer.

Like the first Motorstorm, all of the tracks allow the player to complete them many different ways, each route having its own pitfalls and hazards.

Online multiplayer is still in the mix and four players can tackle the game in split screen mode. More of the same then, but with new tracks.

MIRROR'S EDGE (PC, PS3, XBOX 360)

Mirror's Edge is a stunner - the visuals are amazing. And the game play just about matches the graphics.

Mirror's Edge is visually impressive

The central character is a free running courier who must deliver packages by treating the city's rooftops like a playground.

It involves running, jumping, dangling from a zip line and looking flash from nosebleed-inducing altitudes while attempting to deliver packages and avoiding trigger happy cops.

Free running, or Parkour, mixes urban gymnastics and vertigo inducing manoeuvres, and the game does a good job of reflecting its real-life fluidity and speed.

The game does have a story, a tissue-thin mystery, and the less said about that the better.

The free running portions of the game are impressive and players will be quickly tempted into trying ever more daring jumps and spins.

On the downside the combat system is not great. The player can shoot guns but only after taking them from other game characters and the supply of bullets runs out all too fast.

Emphasis is placed on avoiding combat, which is ok, but the lack of satisfying online multiplayer lets this visually impressive title down.