The "Complete" List

John Woo Presents Stranglehold
Portal
Test Drive: Unlimited ( ALL Gold in the SP challenges.)
Loco Roco*
The Darkness (Easy)
Lost: Via Domus
LEGO Indiana Jones - The Original Adventures (Story Mode)
Battlefield: Bad Company (Easy) & (Normal)
Ratchet & Clank : Quest for Booty
God of War: Chains of Olympus
Tiger Woods 2009

A decent amount of new content makes this a worth while yearly update from EA. I particularly liked the online element where it's possible for 4 people to play simultaneously. It makes the game more fun and faster. It's also informative to see other players lines from tee to cup. The EA gamer point challenges the other plays can set that pop up as you're playing are also a nice touch.

Other than that I enjoyed the Tiger Challenge and also completed the season and won the Fed Ex Cup.

On the downside it's still not perfect. The analogue swing system has been tweaked so that you can see how your hitting the ball and hooks and slice are easily visible so you know where you're going wrong. It's also possible to tune your clubs so if you find yourself with natural slice or hook you can tune it out. However when the shot requires less than a 100% it's still difficult to judge the power.. Here you can switch to the classic 'three click' system but even then it's hard.. The ball can travel much further than mathematics suggest it should (even allowing for wind and gradiant).. Also the little picture of the ball that shows your lie seems to have gone this year.

The new dynamic stat system is also a bit hit and miss.. The idea being that you have to play consistently well to improve your stats rather than them only being able to go up.. However as they improve the level of consistency required can be teeth grindingly frustrating and often (at least for me) saw huge chunks of my short game stat dissappearing despite regularly landing within the specified 2 meters of the cup due to one average shot.

On the whole though a great effort from EA.

Great Expectations

I'm a little off gaming at the moment. I haven't been able to post as much as I'd of liked recently as has already been mentioned but you haven't missed a lot of gaming action. I have a few titles on the go but I've not really made the time to play much.

First title of 2008 that looks promising for me is Burnout Paradise, I enjoyed the original game although it's core game mechanic of finely judging your way through traffic and the track could be hair threateningly tight at times. The second one was the perfect sequel expanding on everything that made the original good whilst being more fun and varied.

Didn't really enjoy Takedown (the third game and first under EA). The typical EA presentation grated and EA's instance on using their own servers for Live made online play frustrating. 

Downloaded the demo for Paradise on my 360 and I have to say I like the idea of combining the arcade thrills of Burnout with the online experience and open world of TD:U. 

It's got great reviews in EDGE and OPM but the main question for me is PS3 or 360. The PS3 version apparently has the better graphics but with the online element appealing to me it's probably the friends list on live and the achievement points that are going to swing it for me.