The last year’s seen some completely brilliant titles, so detailed, immersive and realistic that you won’t just be absorbed playing these games for hours, days or weeks, you’ll dream about them at night, update Facebook constantly, and when you finally finish, lean back with a shocked gasp because you can’t believe it’s over, and the entertainment’s ended.

Then, it’s time for another trip to the store, for the next one…So check out a handy hit list of some of the best games to go for.

Red Dead: Redemption

Summary: Live the life of a former outlaw in the classic Old American West.

If you’ve seen old Clint Eastwood movies and loved them, you’ve to have this. Red Dead: Redemption puts you in the shoes of an old-time gunslinger, with complete freedom to do anything and go anywhere, inside a visually stunning, incredibly-handling, perfectly-soundtracked, epic achievement of a game. It’s fun to explore, since the setting has been detailed exquisitely in the way it looks, behaves, and interacts with you. Be the good guy, the bad guy, or just plain ugly; the game always lets you choose, and changes accordingly.

It’s not just a shooter-fest; there are social issues and historical references built in, making it an intelligent, realistic experience.

Available on: PS3, Xbox360 Genre: Action-adventure, Western

Mass Effect 2

Summary: Build a team to take on a threat to all life in the galaxy, with exploring, investigating and hardcore shooter action.

From the Wild West straight into hardcore sci-fi, Mass Effect 2 takes you to a far future where you save not only humanity, but the entire galaxy, from a dark, unknown invader. The first few minutes will have you gasping in excitement, completely awed that a game can achieve this level of realism. And it just keeps getting better. It’s a role-playing game, with not only a healthy dose of edge-of-your-chair action, but also incredibly detailed back stories and a gorgeous universe to explore. Every character, setting, and story is so real, you’ll forget you’re playing a game.

Bioware has also made the gameplay intuitive. ME2 is a true RPG (role playing game), and the entire experience including character reactions and storylines, change depending on your choices. The storyline has some truly shocking twists and turns. It’s not just a game, it’s an epic novel and a big-budget thriller movie as well.

Available on: PC, PS3, Xbox360 Genre: Sci-fi action, role-playing

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Summary: All the villains are free and running loose in Arkham Asylum — and you are the Batman.

Since we’re talking role-playing games, let’s look at one where you play the most badass role ever — Batman. Arkham Asylum gives you a chance to become the Batman, in a very creepy experience. While having a fairly simple story — cover the course, catch the bad guys —AA scores really big on atmosphere. In fact, it gets so intense you’ll actually need to stop playing and take a break — just so you can get your nerve back before continuing. The game is surprisingly intelligent, well thought-out, and completely true to the Batman character. It’s not a cartoon. It’s somewhere between Batman Begins and Frank Miller, and written by long-time Batman writer Paul Dini.

Eidos’ Arkham Asylum is delightfully dark and scary and the gameplay requires a mix of combat, stealth, and brains. If you’re a Batman fan, this is a game you cannot afford to miss.

Available on: PC, PS3, Xbox360 Genre: Action-adventure, combat, stealth

Dragon Age: Origins

Summary: Save an ancient epic-fantasy kingdom from a dark, supernatural threat, through magic, adventure and tactical combat.

Up next is ancient fantasy. Bioware’s Dragon Age: Origins which transports you back into the world made popular by The Lord of the Rings. It’s a fantasy world populated with dragons, mages, warriors, rogues, orcs, werewolves, elves, dwarves, and of course humans. Gameplay is tactical, which means you have to plan your moves, rather than just jumping in and slashing away. And it’s addictive.

The world of Dragon Age is filled with separate missions and side quests, all of which add up to everything you need to discover — so it’s like a long, rich novel, filled with awesome scenery, incredible music, gripping stories, hard action, and as a bonus, good doses of sensitive drama, suspense, and surprisingly sophisticated, yet side-splitting, humour

Available on: Windows PC, Mac OS, PS3, Xbox360 Genre: Fantasy, role-playing

Assassin’s Creed 2

Summary: Become an acrobatic assassin in medieval Italy, out to avenge his family’s murder.

Jumping over into the Middle Ages, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed 2 brings you to Italy in the role of a carefree, somewhat roguish young man whose world is suddenly ripped apart in a series of dramatic events and who then sets out to avenge his family’s murder. Ubisoft has created a very stealth-combat-oriented game here, with tremendous attention to detail and historical accuracy. Every element in the game is interactive — crowds, guards, street musicians, shopkeepers… (and especially enemies). The cities are open, sandbox-style, allowing you complete freedom of movement.

The play itself is exhilarating, letting you perform the most incredible stunts, while the combat is detailed and skillful.

Available on: Windows PC, Mac OS, PS3, Xbox360, Java ME Genre: Action-adventure

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Summary: Ex-military mercenary returns to an unfinished war — and finds himself caught in a worldwide conspiracy.

For PSP users, here’s a stealth-combat game that’s a must-have. It has the depth and complexity, attention to detail, and rich storyline, that would put most console or PC-based games to shame. Metal Gear is also the ultimate in stealth combat — as you creep around, trying to sneak up on your enemies to take them out before you’re spotted, the tension is electric.

Combat is fun, satisfying, and spectacular — every enemy you capture is added to your squad, building your resources with their special skills — so it’s as much about strategy and squadron control, as it is about going solo, all guns blazing. If it doesn’t sound like much fun, wait till you start playing it. It’s beyond addictive.

Available on: PSP Genre: Stealth, Action-adventure

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Summary: Play a Chinese gangster, on the loose in Liberty City.

Chinatown Wars is a game meant for hand-held platforms like the Nintendo DS, the iPad, iPhone, and PSP. If you’ve played any GTA versions earlier, you’ll quickly realise that Chinatown Wars is very true to the originals, handles easily, and adds on more features to make this one of the finest GTA games so far, and one of the best for the smaller devices.

The visuals are surprisingly good and at times, the game feels almost at par with the console versions. It’s fast-paced with easy controls, excellent sounds and great detail that make it super-addictive.

Available on: Nintendo DS, iPhone, iPad and PSP Genre: Action-adventure

Forza Motorsport 3

Summary: Buy, build, customise and race with hundreds of realistic cars on dozens of tracks.

Here’s the one for the racers. Forza 3 is one of the best ever racing games. All the things that go into making a racing game great — number of cars available and tracks to race, realistic scenery, gut-wrenching sound effects, game physics that make you feel you’re driving a real car, and the ability to customise your vehicle — it’s all here, and more. Damage is real damage, and it impacts your car’s performance too. The AI is intelligent and realistic — you feel like you’re going up against human beings, who take risks, make mistakes, and yes, come after you with revenge in mind.

The ability to customise, too, is awesome — every car, right from the start, is unlocked and available (if you’ve earned enough prize money to buy it) and you have complete control over the colours, decals, custom add-ons, tyres, engine performance, tuning, everything.

The multiplayer is even better, with even more control and customisation, allowing you to almost create a new series of games.

Available on: Xbox360 Genre: Racing

Super Street Fighter IV

Summary: Face off against 35 unique, quirky opponents in one of the best fighting games.

After the role-players, racers, and handhelds, let’s look at another genre — the classic fighting game. Super Street Fighter 4 is it. All the original well-loved characters are here, from past series and some completely new ones, bringing the contestants to 35. Each character has unique abilities and fighting style. SSF4 comes with AI-controlled trainers, but the real pleasure begins when you play against a human being — either on the same system, or online. And yes, there is an integrated voice chat in the game, allowing you full rein to let loose with every taunt and threat you can.

Gameplay is mostly unchanged — so if you’ve played earlier versions, there’s nothing to learn. And if you’re new, it’s simple to pick up.

Apart from the visceral gameplay and action, the game comes with beautifully-rendered characters, backgrounds, and animation.

Available on: Xbox360, Arcade, Nintendo 3DS, and PS3 Genre: Fighting

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Summary: Play a fortune hunter in one of the most stunning, action-adventure games.

Last year’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was the defining game for the PS3; it set a new standard for graphics, gameplay, the works. Now, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves takes on that already high standard, and beats it hands down. It’s a beautiful game, filled with a perfect combination of fighting, stealth and puzzle-solving. As you roam across the world, a treasure hunter, in search of fame and fortune, going up against thieves, mercenaries and rivals, through awe-inspiring locales, watching a remarkably detailed storyline unfold, meeting an excellent cast of complex personalities, and taking in what are probably the best game visuals around… the game delivers a spectacular experience.

Available on: PS3 Genre: Action-adventure, shooter