CRAIG WILLIS returns to review the latest releases on our monthly games page.

* NEED FOR SPEED: HOT PURSUIT PS3, Xbox360 £39.99 Ever fancied a career in the police force? Or maybe being a speed king is more your bag. Well with the latest racing game on the market, you can have the best of both worlds.

In Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit you can choose a life as a boy racer or police officer.

Of course, the point of the whole game is the cars: Aston Martins, Lamborghinis and Porsches are just a few of the manufacturers that have lent their names to the game. But these shiny motors aren’t just for the racers, the police can also use them (thankfully, the good, old-fashioned Panda car doesn’t make an appearance!).

The game takes place in the world of Seacrest County which includes miles of winding roads, where you can get involved in car chases, races and also play against other players online.

It is a vast improvement from some of the other games in the series and much of that is down to the involvement of the creative team behind Burnout, the other big name in the racing game genre. Thanks to them Need for Speed already looks set to be one of the best driving games of the year.

* FABLE III Xbox360 £39.99 The final one of this month’s reviews finds us returning to the land of Albion, the setting of the third instalment for the Fable games.

Fable III is set 50 years since the end of the last game and you play either the son or daughter of the last great hero of Albion (who, incidentally, ended up being king). Now 50 years on, your brother has taken the throne. But be warned, he’s the black sheep of the family and it’s your job to start a revolution against him.

That’s if you want to, because just like the other Fable games you have a choice. If doing the right thing isn’t for you, you can decide to be a big old meany and come up with your own evil schemes and be horrible to the townsfolk. But be warned, for doing evil deeds you lose your dashing, heroic good looks!

If you’ve played through the other Fable chapters then there won’t be much here to surprise you. Although a major improvement is the lack of menus (admit it, it was a pretty big flaw in the second game). Now however, it’s non-stop action all the way.

* CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS PC, Xbox360, PS3, Wii £42.99 Attention! It’s time for the biggest release of the month and dare I say, the year.

The latest in the Call Of Duty series: Black Ops. This time the game is set during the Cold War era and in each mission you are dropped behind enemy lines and given skip loads of ammunition. It seems that the guys behind C.O.D have an “if it ain’t broke...” mentality when it comes to game play. However, the game graphics are sharper and variation in levels have improved. Black Ops is extremely fast paced, and before you know it the bullets are flying and everythings’ exploding. Which means in short, it relies on brawn rather than brains, but what’s wrong with that? It’s what fans are expecting.

The voice cast is extremely star-studded, including Hollywood A listers Gary Oldman, Ed Harris and Sam Worthington to name just a few.

With the success of C.O.D’s previous outings and expected sales for this latest offering, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the game of the year.