“Arguably the deepest role-playing game ever made” was PC Zone’s take on Football Manager 2009, back with some revolutionary add-ons and ready to download and play right now.

All the ingredients that have made it one of the most successful strategy franchises of the last decade remain intact — the massive database of real-life players and clubs, the complex tactics, the in-depth training and the boardroom wrangling.

But Football Manager has also gone through its biggest facelift in years. For the first time, there’s a 3D match engine, allowing you to see your squad and tactics brought to life as never before.

The transfer system is more involved and realistic, too. There are also press conferences where your responses to Fleet Street hacks have a dramatic effect on team morale.

With the nights drawing in, Football Manager 2009 is the perfect excuse to stay in. But beware: the chances are you’ll still be hooked by the time summer rolls around.

If it’s adventure you’re after, Vision GAMES gives you as much as your heart can take — all for a set monthly price. Become a contract hitman, a tomb raider, a dinosaur hunter — or a woman whose best friend is a talking pig.

Tomb Raider

There’s enough somersaulting action on Vision GAMES to swing Lara Croft’s ponytail clean off.

Tomb Raider Anniversary is the 10th birthday re-imagining of the very first PlayStation game. Rebuilt from scratch with new levels and new moves, it’s the perfect start for beginners.

Or try Tomb Raider Legend, in which Ms Croft searches for an artefact responsible for her mother’s disappearance. Exotic locations include Peru, Japan, Bolivia, and… Cornwall.

In Tomb Raider: Angel Of Darkness, the sixth game in the series, Lara is accused of the murder of her own mentor — and goes on the run with the police in hot pursuit.

Don’t forget, too, that Lara’s latest pistol-toting excursion — Tomb Raider Underworld — is available on Vision GAMES as a Download To Own title.

More adventure on Vision GAMES

Far Cry starts with an explosion on a chartered boat — and you’re the man left stranded on a South Pacific island with very unfriendly locals.

Turok is a welcome return for the world’s number one dinosaur hunter. Hunt down your old mentor — while helping make T-Rex extinct all over again.

Hitman Contracts is a stealth-fuelled masterpiece, with you in the shoes of Agent 47 — a ruthless assassin who needs to take out targets without arousing suspicion.

In Beyond Good And Evil, aliens invade the peaceful paradise of Hillys. As Jade, a young reporter, you uncover the corruption at the heart of the government. And make friends with a talking pig.

The Secrets Of Da Vinci: The Forgotten Manuscript is a point-and-click adventure with action, puzzles — and some fine art. Set in the year 1522, it’ll set your brain throbbing.

Lara’s back. The eighth game in the Tomb Raider series, Tomb Raider Underworld — which Videogamer called “the best completely original Tomb Raider we’ve had in years” — is ready to download and play now with Vision GAMES.

Tomb Raider Underworld sees Lara on a quest for Thor’s Hammer, rumoured to be buried in ruins hidden in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea. The hazardous quest takes in the balmy coast of Thailand, the frozen islands of the Arctic Sea and more.

More games available to download to your PC now >

There’s more flexibility than ever in how to solve the game’s fiendish challenges: every room is an elaborate multi-stage puzzle and Lara needs to twist her body into some of her most impossibly acrobatic moves yet. There are now over 1700 moves to master.

And it’s not just about exploration: there’s improved combat, too, with Lara able to target multiple enemies with the new Dual-Target System.

You can download over 250 games to your PC with Vision GAMES — and often start playing them before the download’s finished. Or, for a fixed monthly price, get unlimited access to 296 games, with new titles added each month. Find out more >

If you’ve always fancied a life of shadowy Bond-style sneakery – but you’re not so keen on job ‘perks’ like ever-imminent death – get to the Vision GAMES website now.

We’ve got the entire Splinter Cell series available to download and play right now – games that are dripping in tense, fingernail-chewing tension, as you carefully guide NSA operative Sam Fisher around heavily guarded enemy installations.

With Vision GAMES on demand, you get unlimited access to your favourite games for a fixed monthly price – with new titles added each month. Find out more >

Splinter Cell
You’re Sam Fisher: a lone NSA agent behind enemy lines. If you’re captured the government will deny your existence. Stick to the shadows, and use your gadgets and guns to avoid detection.

Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
Fisher returns to combat a new terrorist threat to the US, travelling from a French cryogenics lab to an Indonesian jungle via a terrorist stronghold in Jerusalem. Use cutting-edge weapons and gadgets to help the NSA win the information war.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
It’s 2007, and a new World War is brewing in the Pacific. You’re sent to investigate a seemingly unrelated incident in the region – but with information warfare, guerrilla fighters, computer hackers and mercenary companies, it’s a web of intrigue.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent
This time it’s tough for the cyber-age spy: he starts out in prison. Stage a break-out – and then head undercover as a double agent in the world’s deadliest terrorist group, running missions all over the world.

PC Gamer called it “a dark and astonishing masterpiece”. Bioshock, the bewitchingly atmospheric first-person adventure from 2K Games, is available to download and play now.

In the aftermath of a near-deadly plane crash, you find a mysterious lift. With a press of a button, it descends – and plunges you into a spectacular underwater utopia created by a mad business magnate.

It’s a utopia no longer. Mutated former residents attack from nowhere, and strange young girls wander the deserted city, protected by terrifying robot giants who attack on sight.

Luckily, you have ‘plasmids’ on your side: genetic enhancements that give you the power to lift objects with your mind, shoot fireballs, and much more.

Bioshock is living, unique and unpredictable – with an amazing world, and a compelling mystery that slowly comes together as you play.

Vision GAMES has over 250 games to download and play now. Or, for a fixed monthly price, you get unlimited access to 296 games, with new titles added each month. Find out more >

It was named Best Action/Adventure Game at the Game Critics Awards — now you can download Assassin’s Creed straight to your PC with Vision GAMES on demand. For a fixed monthly price, you get unlimited access to your favourite games, with new titles added each month.

This month’s highlights:

Assassin’s Creed
Featuring stealth, action and platform gaming in a gorgeous world that feels wholly alive, Assassin’s Creed puts you in the sandals of a killer roaming the holy land. Quick as a cat and agile as a panther, you defy gravity (and morals) to dispatch your targets as silently as possible.

Kane & Lynch
In this gangster thriller from the makers of the Hitman series, an ex-mercenary teams up with a psychopathic killer to save his wife and daughter. Kane & Lynch is about huge cinematic gunfights: escaping from a prison van, a shoot-out in a night-club, a bank job… the 18 rating is there for a reason.

Civilization IV
It’s possibly the greatest turn-based game ever made, with multiple Game Of The Year awards under its belt. Cililization IV is far more than just an upgrade: strategy comes to life as never before in a beautifully detailed, living 3D world.

Sensible Soccer 2006
The Amiga classic returns for a new generation. Lightning fast matches, spectacular goals, ridiculous amounts of after-touch, players with gigantic heads and comedy names, and much more.

Exocubes
In a strange, unknown dimension, you need to manipulate magical cubes and blast the walls blocking your way. With two different modes of play and nearly 50 levels to choose from, a wide variety of challenges and hazards awaits you.

PC Games On Demand gives you unlimited access to your favourite games, from Atari Arcade Classics to Tomb Raider — all for a set monthly price. New games are added each month so you’ll never run out of excuses to exercise your gaming finger.

This month’s highlights:

ECHO: Secret of the Lost Cavern
It’s 15,000 BC. Humanity is fresh out of the water and our ancestors are just beginning to understand the basics of communicating with each other. They cut flint and make spears. That’s pretty much it. But all this is about to change. You’re going to discover something big.

I Love Puppies
Just like a good mother dog, teach your pups the lessons they need to learn with six training programs, eight great exercises and eight fun puppy games! Choose your favourite puppy from the litter and play 22 different fun adventure, puzzle and action games with your very own puppy.

Hitman: Blood Money
The fourth outing for Agent 47, the bald, barcoded clone. This game focuses on the stealthy approach, with your success dependent on the people who’ve seen you make your kills or recognised your face. In Blood Money you’ve got more choice than ever before on how to make a hit.

Cake Mania 2
Jill is back to bake more cakes and make more cash. But in Cake Mania 2, even the queen of cooking needs some help. Will you be up to helping Jill maximise her baking, topping and decorating skills to deliver all the cakes that the hungry punters demand?

Worms 4: Mayhem
Over ten years ago Worms hit hard on the original Commodore Amiga: a defiantly 2D one-on-one game that delivered silly weapons, high-pitched voices — and worms blowing other worms to bits. The latest version is polished to a perfect 3D shine.

Play your favourite games for a set monthly price with PC Games On Demand. For just a single monthly fee, you can have unlimited access to a huge catalogue of great PC games. New games are added to the collection every month, and there are games for every taste.

This month’s highlights:

Lost: The Video Game
Plunge into the heart of the action from the TV series. You’re lying on a jungle floor, your head and chest in pain. Screams in the distance. You begin to remember… you were on a plane bound for Sydney. But everything else is a blur. Seek out the answers – and find a way home.

Championship Manager 2008
CM08 puts you in the manager’s chair of the football club of your choice. Signing cheques and devising business strategies are all in a day’s work – but so are the decisions on the pitch. Make match-saving changes during play, offer tactical tips to your players – and fill your trophy cabinet.

Zuma Deluxe
One of the most compelling casual games ever made, Zuma Deluxe has you shooting coloured balls to create groups of three or more on a revolving track. Sounds easy? With overlapping paths and multiple tracks to befuddle you, it’s anything but.

Tomb Raider Anniversary
A true return to origins, Tomb Raider Anniversary is a remake of 1996’s very first Tomb Raider. More than just a next-gen graphical makeover, this is a completely rebuilt adventure that’s guaranteed to satisfy long-term fans – and offer the perfect start for Lara virgins.

Atari Arcade Classics
Get whisked back to a time of roller-discos, gigantic 10p pieces – and the birth of videogaming. Atari Arcade Classics features 12 coin-operated classics in one collection, including Centipede, Missile Command, Tempest and many more. Retro-heads rejoice.