UK chart: Empire topples Killzone 2

SEGA has claimed its first UK All-Formats number one of the year in the shape of Empire: Total War, which pips Killzone 2 to the summit by around 1,600 units according to compiler Chart-Track.

Empire is SEGA's first number one since Football Manager 2009, and the fastest-selling Total War game yet, eclipsing Rome and Medieval II by almost two-to-one.

Like FM2009, it also achieves this despite a simultaneous launch on Steam, although its 4th March (Wednesday) release also gave it a bit more time to find its footing.

Chart-Track has said that Killzone 2 sales dropped 58 per cent, but that still kept it neck-and-neck, while Wii Fit rose to three, Tom Clancy's HAWX flew in at four and last week's second-place game, Halo Wars, fell to five with a 54 per cent dip in sales.

Professor Layton, Street Fighter IV, FIFA 09, Call of Duty: World at War and Ben 10: Alien Force make up the top ten.

The other new entry this week is New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis at 23, as recent releases including 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (last week's 22) and RACE Pro (27 last week) slipped out of the top 40 entirely.

Otherwise the usual candidates do the usual shuffle, with Wii Play, GTAIV, Mario Kart Wii, Mario & Sonic, Guitar Hero: World Tour and others in or around the top 20, while there are re-entries at the foot of the chart for Fallout 3 and LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga.

No prizes for guessing what will be number one next week though, with Resident Evil 5 set to launch on Friday 13th March.

Check out the full chart below.