Tom Orry, Editor - Call of Duty World at War, Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii, PS2 and DS
I may have been in the minority, but I rather enjoyed Treyarch's Call of Duty 3, so World at War has been on my radar ever since it was announced. With Treyarch being given a proper development cycle for the first time (apparently CoD3 was made in eight months) and the CoD4 engine to work with, they had no excuse if World at War turned out to be under par. It has the same old CoD problems (most notably some awkward enemy spawn points), but don't go in expecting the second coming of the FPS genre and you'll find what is undoubtedly a hugely enjoyable game that is relentless in its pursuit of delivering jaw dropping set pieces. Fire seems to be all the rage in games at the moment, but Treyarch jumped to the top of the pile with their flame thrower - it's bloody brilliant.
Wesley Yin-Poole, Deputy Editor (and missus) - Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Nintendo DS
Regular readers will already know that I love this gem of a puzzle/adventure game from Level-5, but regular readers will also know that I'm not the only one in the Yin-Poole household to fall for the game's entrancing art style and brain-bending puzzles. The 'ball and chain' has become quite smitten with the silk top hat-wearing Professor and his enthusiastic assistant Luke this past week, so much so that I can't actually prize my DS, and it is mine, NOT hers, out of her vice-like grip for love nor money. It's got to the point where it's actually affecting my work - I usually play handheld games during commutes in order to review them - one morning this week she wouldn't let go, despite my pleas. Poor Prince of Persia.
James Orry, News Editor - Left 4 Dead, Xbox 360 and PC
You really come to appreciate moments of calm after spending some time with Valve's Left 4 Dead. The endless onslaught of undead charging for your face creates some of the most pant-wetting gameplay I've ever experienced. Sometimes you'll be running for your life and minutes later taking baby steps for fear of what lies around the corner. You'll edge round that corner only two find an empty corridor fill you with a false sense of safety, moments later to be shattered when a brain hungry mob comes crashing through a wall. It's only when you reach one of the safe rooms that you can truly take a breath, calm down and prepare to do it all over again.
Sebastian Ford, Video Producer - Mirror's Edge, Xbox 360 and PS3
Parkour is one of those things that I've always been fascinated by, but have never been tempted to learn myself for one reason: the risk of a bloody, painful, bone-crushing death. Truth be told, there is no way I would ever be fit enough to jump off anything more treacherous that the edge of a swimming pool, so being able to run across a city skyline with an unlimited amount of energy and the acrobatic skill set of an Olympic gymnast means Mirror's Edge takes care of all these problems rather nicely. Needless to say, I still had my heart racing on some of the more deadly tasks and managed to plummet to my death many times before I really began to get used to it. It turned out that after a bit of practice, finding the best route across the rooftops became something of an art, and a rather soothing one at that. If you're feeling curious, I uploaded a few gameplay videos of my time with Mirror's Edge that hopefully demonstrate how joy-maxed this game made me.
What have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments section below.
Well seeing as its going to be my job to edit the image into something usable, I think I could basically photoshop the Tifa two piece over anyone. If I had my pick of costume, it would have to be vincent val...