Game: Left 4 Dead (PC)

Sometimes you play a game and wonder why it hadn't been done before. L4D is survival horror, FPS stylee: so tons of easy to kill zombies (of the fast running variety - 28 Days Later has a lot to answer for). The real hook, however, is that you're not alone - there are four main characters in all opening up some of the best co-op play I've had the pleasure of, uh, playing.

The rest of the game is kept simple - there are no gimmicks here, no plot. There is a grand total of 5 or 6 weapons to pick from (a good thing in my opinion) of which you can only hold one - and when that runs out of ammo you have a pair of infinite handguns to play with instead. There are no boss fights per se, just hairy "climax scenarios" where you literally fight frantically for survival.

The simple nature of the game allows you to dictate the pace of it. You can go fast or slow, you can play with or against your team (and I'm not ashamed to say that I ran for the safety of the helicopter without a thought for my team mates) or you can just hang around, blasting away at continually re-spawning undead till the cows come home. Bliss.

It was enough to prompt me to buy a new graphics card for my pc (a 4770 if anyone is interested) and as it's currently 16 quid via Steam there really isn't much excuse. Absolutely brilliant.