The Top 10 PC Games for Q1 2009

The computer games industry is worth more than the film industry, and games these days reflect their massive budgets with epic soundtracks, amazing graphics and often famous actors - as characters, or as voices for characters. Red Alert 3, for example, features the most spectacular (and largest) cast in the history of video games, with Gemma Atkinson, Gina Carano, Randy Couture, Tim Curry, Kelly Hu, Jenny McCarthy, Jonathan Pryce, Autumn Reeser, J.K. Simmons, Peter Stormare, George Takei and more.

New styles of game featuring peripherals like musical instruments a la Guitar Hero and Rock Band have shot to the top of the computer game popularity list as they reach new demographics and appeal to wider audiences. If you've not tried the music games with their guitars, microphones and drum kits, you're missing out on a whole new genre of family fun games.

Welcome back Comrades, it's been far too long...

EA is travelling seven years back in time to bring back the most-beloved series in the storied Command & Conquer franchise. The light-hearted, over-the-top, wacky world of Red Alert has returned with Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, shipping this holiday for the PC and Xbox 360.

After years of conflict, the Allies are finally on the brink of victory. Cowering behind the walls of the Kremlin, the Soviets decide to turn to one last act of desperation - the use of an experimental time travel device. The mission: to go back in time to eliminate Albert Einstein before he creates the technologies that will lead the Allies to ultimate victory. After a successful mission, the Soviets return to the present, discovering the Allied position has weakened. But before they can truly celebrate, they find out their actions have spawned a new threat and global superpower, the mysterious, technologically advanced, Empire of the Rising Sun. Welcome to World War III.

In Red Alert 3, all three factions will have their own hand-crafted story-driven campaigns, with co-operative missions designed solely around coordinating attacks and developing strategies with an ally. Hook up with a friend online to go through the entire experience or choose from a group of AI commanders, each with their own distinct playstyle and personality.

While most RTS games keep naval gameplay at the periphery, Red Alert 3 is not shying away from the high seas. The oceans now hold essential resources, and with many units and structures capable of becoming amphibious, players who turn their backs to the oceans will find conquering the world a daunting task.

Far Cry 2, the next-generation first-person shooter from Ubisoft, will take you deep into the most beautiful but also most hostile environments in the world: Africa! More than just a visual and technological achievement, Far Cry 2, the true sequel to the award-winning PC game, will provide you with an unprecedented gaming experience.

Caught between two rival factions in war-torn Africa, you are sent to take out "The Jackal", a mysterious character who has rekindled the conflict between the warlords, jeopardizing thousands of lives. In order to fulfil your mission you will have to play the factions against each other, identify and exploit your their weaknesses, and neutralise their superior numbers and firepower with surprise, subversion, cunning and, of course, brute force.

It's been over four years since the release of the first Far Cry, and Far Cry 2 has almost nothing in common with it beyond being a first-person shooter with excellent graphics and advanced artificial intelligence.

The sci-fi enemies have also been jettisoned in favour of a much more realistic game where survival skills are just as important as a good aim. The rules of engagement--either by stealth or all guns blazing--are entirely up to you.

Key Features

* Virtual safari: The game features 20 square miles of terrain for you to travel, filled with realistic fauna and flora and fully destructible trees and buildings.

* Fiery realism: With an all-new graphics engine created just for the game, fire moves and propagates exactly as in real-life, with vegetation breaking and snapping realistically.

* The coming storm: A dynamic weather system changes to reflect your mood, with the sky turning dark and stormy during bad times.

* Jungle survival: Highly realistic weapons degrade with use, bullets need to be dug out of your body, and vehicles break down if pushed beyond their limits.

* Buying friends: Meet and co-operate with fellow mercenaries as you pit different factions against one another in a war-torn African state.

Call of Duty: World at War completely changes the rules of engagement by redefining WWII gaming and thrusting players into the final tension-filled, unforgiving battles against a new ferocious enemy in the most dangerous and suspenseful action ever seen in WWII.

Call of Duty®: World at War completely changes the rules of engagement by redefining WWII gaming and thrusting players into the final tension-filled, unforgiving battles against a new ferocious enemy in the most dangerous and suspenseful action ever seen in WWII.

Powered by Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare technology, Call of Duty: World at War brings an uncensored edge to combat, as soldiers face the most harrowing and climatic European and Pacific battles in which an enemy, who knows no surrender and no retreat, will fight to the last breath, unleashing an arsenal of lethal surprising tactics. Peril and danger lurk throughout the battlefield as players combat the unknown risk of the new chaos of battle.

From the remains of Russia and the ruins of Berlin, to the beach and jungles of the deadly Pacific Theatre, the volatile action takes on added depth as players employ new features that previously were only-available in multiplayer, including perks, rankings and online stats in up-to full four-player cooperative gameplay. New infantry and vehicle-based weapons, like the potent flamethrower, bring the battlefield ablaze.

New Enemies, Environments and Tactics: Face off against ruthless and tactically advanced enemies that will stop at nothing to defend their homelands, from swamp ambushes and tree-top snipers to fearless Kamikaze attacks. Play as a U.S. Marine and Russian conscript across a variety of Pacific and European locations against the fearless Imperial Japanese and elite German soldiers in epic adrenaline-filled infantry, vehicle and airborne missions.

Co-Op Campaign Mode, Call of Duty Style: For the first time in the franchise, Call of Duty: World at War introduces co-op play, bringing fresh meaning to "No One Fights Alone". Campaign co-op features up to four-players online, or two-player local split-screen, allowing gamers to experience harrowing campaign missions together for greater camaraderie and tactical execution. Co-op mode incorporates innovative multiplayer components such as challenges, rankings and online stats for deeper re-playability and multiplayer experience bonuses. Co-op mode also features Competitive Co-Op that will show who is really the best player on your team.

Enhanced Multiplayer: Call of Duty: World at War continues the class-based multiplayer action the series is famous for. The addition of vehicle combat with tanks rounds out the multiplayer experience, and features such as persistent stats, player rankings, upgradeable weapons, squad-based gameplay, customizable classes and Perks, have been further enhanced.

The Call of Duty Experience: Call of Duty: World at War utilizes cutting-edge technology including highly-detailed character models, self-shadowing, environmental lighting and amazing special effects to deliver jaw-dropping visuals. Depth of field, rim-lighting and texture-streaming technology bring the adrenaline-pumping combat to life, while physics-enabled battlefields and fire that spreads through environments realistically immerses players into the harrowing and dynamic combat.

Crank Up the Volume and prepare to rock around the globe with Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Battle against some of the greatest legends to ever shred on a guitar and become one yourself! Take your skills online against other Guitar Hero players from around the world.

Face off against Guitar icon Slash and others in insane boss battles featuring original tracks recorded exclusively for Guitar Hero® III: Legends of Rock.

Realize a true rock concert experience with all new venues, incredible lighting effects, authentic instruments and sick character moves.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock features over 70 of the biggest and loudest songs ever compiled in a game!

The Lich King Arthas has set in motion events that could lead to the extinction of all life on Azeroth. With the armies of the undead and the necromantic power of the plague threatening to sweep across the land, only the mightiest heroes can oppose the Lich King's will and end his reign of terror for all time.

Blizzard Entertainment's latest expansion to World of Warcraft - Wrath of the Lich King - adds a host of epic content to the existing game world. Players will achieve soaring levels of power, explore a vast new continent, and battle other high-level heroes to determine the fate of Azeroth. As you pit yourself against the dangers of the north, prepare to:

* Master the necromantic powers of the Death Knight - World of Warcraft's first Hero class.

* Quest to level 80, gaining potent new abilities and talents along the way.

* Learn the craft of spell augmentation with the new Inscription profession.

* Brave the harsh new continent of Northrend, the icy domain of the Lich King.

* Engage in epic siege warfare, deploying mighty siege engines to lay waste to destructible buildings in your path.

* Transform your hero's look with new character-customization options, including new hairstyles and dances.

* Explore perilous new dungeons filled with some of the deadliest creatures -- and greatest treasures -- on Azeroth.

And much, much more...

Fallout 3 is the third major game in the Fallout series, and takes place in the year 2277, 30 years after the setting of Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear war that devastated the game's world. It is set in the Capitol Wasteland in and around Washington, DC.

The player character is a member of Vault 101, a fallout shelter serving Washington, D.C. The player character lives with his/her widower father (voiced by Liam Neeson)until, one day, the player wakes up finding that the father has left the vault and ventured into the wasteland for unknown reasons. The vault overseer becomes suspicious that the player had something to do with the father's disappearance, and the character decides to go out into the Capital Wasteland in search of him. Along the way, the player will encounter organizations seen in the previous games, including the Brotherhood of Steel, a group of technology-coveting survivors, and the Enclave, the elitist and genocidal remnant of the U.S. government.

From, Bethesda - "Fallout 3 has been the first Bethesda Game Studios project with a dedicated level design team from the outset. With this resource, we were able to set our sights higher than ever before. We knew early on that one of our big concepts for the game was to challenge the traditional RPG divisions between towns, wilderness, and dungeon. With that mission in mind, we actively sought to blur the lines and create a world that was at once believable, unpredictable, and above all; entertaining.

We set out to blur the lines with Fallout 3's level design, and building D.C. was our greatest experiment, entailing every aspect of our craft from the granular to the grand. We hope that, in some small way, it can change the way you look at RPGs and game worlds in general. When you venture past that threshold of safety and plunge into that ruined metropolis for the first time, keep your wits sharp and your eyes open. The wasteland may be dangerous, but the ruins are a new experience altogether. Let us know what you think when you emerge, eyes blinking, on the other side."

I've been playing Spore almost constantly for the last few days - it's highly addictive, and appears near infinitely customisable.

It's really really easy to get started, keeps you enthralled throughout, has a wicked sense of cheesy humour, and is suitable for all ages.

The final stage of evolution is the most different and most difficult, but there's several other stages before that as you grow from a single cell to a space-dwelling planet hopper!

I'll upload a few creatures videos I made using it as soon as I suss out how to do them!!!

Spore is your own personal universe. You can create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilisations, sculpt worlds, and explore the cosmos. Spore is made up of five games, each corresponding to a stage of evolution: Cell, Creature, Tribe, Civilisation, and Space. Each stage presents different challenges and goals.

* Create Your Universe from Microscopic to Macrocosmic - From tide pool amoebas to thriving civilisations to intergalactic starships, everything is in your hands.

* Evolve Your Creature through Five Phases - It's survival of the funnest as your choices reverberate through generations and ultimately decide the fate of your civilisation.

* Explore Other Players' Galaxies - Will your creature rule the universe, or will your beloved planet be blasted to smithereens by a superior alien race?

* Share with the World - Everything you make is shared with other players and vice versa, providing tons of cool creatures to meet and cool places to visit.

Is it really just about survival?
Spore offers you choices to play the way you want to.

Does this ecosystem come in any other flavors?
With Spore, anyone can be creative - make whatever you can imagine with easy built-in Creator tools.

Would you mind if I left our galaxy for a while?
In Spore, you'll have freedom to create and guide your unique personal creatures on epic journeys of discovery.

It's a bit like the present you imagine a god might get on their first birthday: a mini universe of creation in a box.

Adapt. Engage. Dominate!

Take on the fight as the volatile Sergeant "Psycho" Sykes in a new parallel story taking place during the events of Crysis.

Psycho's secret mission will take him to the other side of the island on a ruthless pursuit of a North Korean general hell-bent on obtaining powerful technology.

With the versatile powers of his Nanosuit and an arsenal of fully customizable weapons & vehicles at his disposal, Sykes will do whatever it takes to carry out his top-secret objective.

Action on the other side of the island is more intense, the battles are fierce, and the mission protocol is no longer "Adapt to Survive". As Sergeant Sykes, now you must adapt to dominate the battle - Twin SMG's blazing, seizing new vehicles, or going stealth, the action and the victory is on your terms.

* Pulse-racing new instalment from 2007's PC Game of the Year

* Play as Sergeant Sykes and experience a whole new side of the battle. A standard combat mission behind enemy lines becomes critical when you discover your enemies have captured something of vital importance to the ensuing war. It's down to you to retrieve the cargo, at any cost.

* More explosive and dynamic minute to minute game play: new customizable weapons, new vehicles, new photorealistic locations to explore, and a fully interactive war zone to dominate.

* Enhanced human and alien AI: Intelligent enemies, bigger challenges, and all-new ally squad support.

* Includes Crysis Wars, an expanded new multiplayer experience with new online modes and 21 maps including seven all-new maps to battle it out against other players.

* Crysis Warhead is a standalone release and does not require ownership of Crysis to play.

In Grand Theft Auto 4 you take on the role of Niko Bellic, fresh off the boat from Europe, in the hope he can escape his past. For his cousin, Roman, it is the vision that together they can find fortune in Liberty City, gateway to the land of opportunity.

Persuaded by his cousin's promises of a fresh start and a better life, Niko relocates to Liberty City, USA - the worst place in America. After making the move to Liberty, however, Niko quickly realizes that his hopes of "Living the American Dream" may never come to pass... and that things here may not be so different after all.

Grand Theft Auto IV is structured similarly to previous games in the series. The core gameplay consists of elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game, affording the player a large, open environment in which to move around. On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, running, swimming, climbing and jumping, as well as utilising weapons and basic hand-to-hand combat.

Players can steal and drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, boats, helicopters, and motorcycles.

Grand Theft Auto IV takes advantage of Natural Motion's Euphoria engine, which combines artificial intelligence, bio mechanics and physics to make NPC behaviour and movement adaptive and more realistic.

The open, non-linear environment allows players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game.

Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain parts of the map and content, they are not required, as players can complete them at their own leisure.

When not taking on a storyline mission, players can free-roam. However, creating havoc can attract unwanted and potentially fatal attention from the authorities.

Her Interactive's best selling adventure series returns for a 19th instalment with The Haunting of Castle Malloy.

The game's storyline revolves around an absent groom, who was last seen at one of Ireland's more mysterious castles. The bride-to-be, Kyler Mallory, asks the young detective to find the absent fiancée before their wedding ceremony. There's only one small problem: the castle is rumoured to be haunted!

Discover clues, explore hidden passageways, solve puzzles, and interview potential suspects to locate the missing Matt Simmons and crack the case.

Recommended for ages ten to adult, the game features multiple difficulty settings to accommodate players of varying skill levels.