It's the zombie apocalypse. Normally this part would be used to describe the story and events, but that's pretty much it. Zombies.

A zombie horror movie in playable first person format, Left 4 Dead is all about the survival. Most of the population are the walking dead save for four known survivors, ideally all played by humans although the AI can fill in. Each stage (roughly: hospital, airport, farm, and town) is divided into four chapters and a finale, resulting in a movie-like structure with over an hour per stage. Each chapter starts with the team in an ammo-stocked safe zone, and the objective is simply to reach the other zone at the end. The problem is the horde in the middle, who can turn from shambling corpses to bloodthirsty animals in an instant, sprinting and scrambling over obstacles for a taste of flesh. In addition special types of zombie are capable of incapacitating players, so splitting up is not an option. As well as the randomised enemy and weapon placement, an "AI director" monitors everything to adjust game flow and tension on the fly.

The land of Hyrule is in trouble. The evil Ganon has attacked in search of the Triforce, legendary golden triangles with the ability to bestow supreme power. He has already taken one - the Triforce of Power - but the princess of the land quickly divided the Triforce of Wisdom into eight fragments and scattered them throughout. This act resulted in her capture and imprisonment, and it is only a matter of time before Ganon's forces piece together the broken relic.

The task of saving Hyrule falls upon the shoulders of one young man: Link, aka you. The Triforce fragments are hidden in eight dungeons around the flickscreen land of Hyrule, with each dungeon being a similarly top-down labyrinth infested with the forces of evil. Link must face down the enemy with simple sword and shield combat, although later his arsenal grows to include the likes of bombs and arrows. Each dungeon contains an item which boosts Link's abilities, allowing him to reach new places and exploit the weaknesses of new enemies.

Ganon had previously found the Triforce and used it to rain disasters down upon the land of Hyrule. Many lives were lost, but Seven Wise Men finally managed to seal him away in what became known as the Dark World. Taking place chronologically before the first two Zelda games, A Link to the Past sees a different Link awoken in the middle of the night by a voice in his head: the voice of Princess Zelda calling for help. She and six other maidens have been kidnapped by the evil wizard Agahnim so that he might break the seal and release Ganon.

Viewed entirely from a scrolling top-down perspective, you play Link and must wander around the world and dungeons of Hyrule, fighting monsters and working your way to Ganon. Combat is performed with a simple sword swipe, and getting hit by something nasty will decrease your heart supply. Further equipment may be found in dungeons and secret places around the land, allowing him to fire arrows, lift heavy objects, or just go for a swim. At the end of each dungeon Link will encounter a boss, and on defeating them win more heart containers and special items that will allow him to access more areas of the world. He soon gains the ability to switch between the parallel worlds - Light World and Dark World - with his actions in one affecting the state of the other.

Once again, Ganon is out to take over the world, and the Princess Zelda knows it. The young Kokiri Link wakes from a dream in which the princess is kidnapped, and is told by the Great Deku Tree that he is destined to save the land of Hyrule. A daunting task for a small boy, but he soon gains the Ocarina of Time, a magical instrument that can open the gate to the future...

Zelda goes 3D for its first N64 outing, but the basic spirit is just as always. Link must explore the land, entering numerous dungeons and slaying the beasties therein to increase his power and extend his inventory. By learning tunes for his ocarina, Link can manipulate the world around him to solve puzzles and complete sidequests, and by wielding the Master Sword, he can travel seven years into Ganon's hideous future. This adds a new dimension to problem solving, as adult Link can do things and go places young Link cannot, and the child's actions can change the world of the future. Combat is simple and sword-and-shield-based, with target lock features enabling the elfin one to fight multiple opponents at once.

A special release of Ocarina of Time, with the dungeons redesigned to be much tougher but the game otherwise left unchanged.

This is but one of the legends of which people speak. Long ago, in the land of Hyrule, an evil man tried to gain the sacred triangles of power and plunge the world into darkness. He was stopped by a hero dressed in green, who traveled through time to save the people... but the evil returned, while the hero did not. The Hylians pleaded their gods to do something to stop the man, and a great cataclysm came about. All that is merely myth, of course. A story told by the people of the Great Sea. But there is one island on which it is customary to dress young boys in green when they come of age, and it is now Link's turn. On the same day, his sister is kidnapped by a giant bird and carried off to a distant island. He must now seek help from the pirate Tetra to rescue her.

So Link, in his new green togs, takes to the high seas on a quest to retrieve Aryll. In doing so he discovers a deeper plot, and must assume his heroic role and save the land. A nautical Zelda adventure, then, with young Link sailing between islands in order to access dungeons and complete sidequests. As usual, his inventory grows with each dungeon, expanding his abilities and allowing him further progress. His secret weapon in this case is the titular Wind Waker, a magical conductor's baton with which he can control the winds. Combat has been improved over previous Zeldas, with Link having a larger variety of moves and even parry attacks. Most notable difference, of course, is the beautiful cel shading used to render the world in a fully 3D cartoon stylee.

Play, create, share. Taking control of a cloth-based "Sackboy" LittleBigPlanet challenges you to the most basic of platformer tasks: Reach the goal and don't die. The assorted stages span a variety of locations and are similarly "hand-made" in appearance, being constructed from cardboard and fabric and little designs doodled on paper. Physics plays an important part, with the world's objects capable of tumbling and interacting with each other. The worlds are 2.5D; viewed from the side with a 3D camera they have distinct depth layers. The main draw of LittleBigPlanet is its user base - it is possible to co-operate with other players to solve problems, and even to create your own levels and objects from scratch. This user content can then be shared with and played by others via the internet.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away lived a planet, a living planet where all was happiness and the local LocoRoco would sing all day. Until it was invaded by the Moja Troop.

Each platforming stage begins with a single LocoRoco and the goal is to help them reach home by rocking and tilting the world around them. The stages themselves are bizarre collections of living platforms, many of which squash and deform under the weight of the LocoRocos or have similar physics-based quirks. On the way they may eat berries, causing them to grow in size, and must avoid spikes and Mojas which have the opposite effect. LocoRocos also have the ability to divide and merge, allowing them to split in order to squeeze through narrow passages or engage in a little choral singing.

The UK name for Star Fox 64.