PDC World Championship Darts 2008 has its entertaining moments, but it will not hold your attention for too long unless you are a diehard darts fan.

Ship Simulator 2008 will only appeal to ship afficianados, but even they may find the lack of features a turn-off after a while.

The problem is, it's limited and boring - and with a whole proliferation of racing classics available for a budget price, you've really got to ask yourself - why bother with this when there's so much better on offer?

This is a product developed as a labour of love for over a decade, with the core aim of bringing the RTS genre back to its roots, away from the glitz and glamour of 3D graphics and tacked-on RPG elements its creators claim have watered down the genre. Instead however, we end up with a half-finished product, brought to its knees by game-breaking bugs and the absence of key gameplay modes, which ends up looking considerably better than it plays.

This one is unfortunately destined to drown in the pool of DS tech-demos and toys, as a great idea that never reached its potential.

With lacklustre visuals, tedious training exercises, an unforgiving difficulty curve and gameplay that fails to offer anything new or, indeed, much in the way of enjoyment, this is one tennis game that you're best off avoiding, because it's likely that if you do pick it up, you'll be lobbing it into your local game store's bargain bin pretty soon.

With the exception of long time fans of the series, it's hard to recommend World Heroes Anthology to anyone with any real conviction. Thanks to its lack of originality, below par animations and questionably implemented controls, World Heroes Anthology can be seen as little more than an average collection of Street Fighter II clones.

It's sad to say, but after playing this I spent a good few hours playing Wolverine's Revenge and having more fun in the process - and that game is over three years old!

The creation aspect of Dungeon Maker is quite enjoyable to begin with, but the constant battles, digging and eating turn this initially fun RPG into a very tedious exercise indeed.

Sure, there's oodles of feudal female flesh on display and a competent command system, but too many areas of the game fall flat on their face for it to be anything other than a tragic waste of time.

Decidedly average title which doesn’t really try to reach beyond that. Everything about it feels, not rushed or not completed, just poorly designed, almost as though it’s been designed for the budget range.

The game is slow to play and the timing system can make that even slower, World War III will start more times than you'll be able to count and a fully destructible environment isn't worth much when you are supposed to be stealthy.

I am very disappointed with Dark Messiah Might and Magic, yet I will leave it installed on my system for some time. It is a deeply flawed game and one of the worst launches in recent history - certainly the worst Steam launch to date. Yet it is a blast; the visual effects and combat system and, yes, kicking Orcs off ledges and ghouls into spikes are all a lot of fun, if not particularly satisfying beyond the short term.

It does have that 'just once more go' addictive quality to it, buried somewhere deep beneath its many flaws - a trait that all hack and slash action games seem to have regardless of their quality - but beyond that there's very little here to recommend.

Parents could confidently buy this for their children, safe in the knowledge that the content is suitable as well as enjoyable.

It's adequate. It's average. The graphics, sound and music are mediocre. The controls and gameplay aren't great. The online mode is empty, the video clips are good. Setting up strategies is sort of fun, playing the game sort of isn't.

For the PSP this should have been a set of downloads and not another game to purchase, for what is essentially a few updates, a little graphic polishes and some pets!

You'd think that nowadays when games companies have to compete with more and more high-end products, that developers would try and at least make their game worthy of the entry fee.

Maybe it's because I just don't like the main character, maybe it's because the story is dafter than my opening paragraph, maybe it's because it's a third rate GTA wannabe. In any case, this one should be avoided unless you really liked the first one, although this is actually a step back from the original.

The one thing that stands out about Need for Speed ProStreet is that it just doesn't feel like Need for Speed. By taking it out of the city and stealing elements from simulation racers, it loses its distinctive identity that fans have loved over the years.

Fans of Cabela's console titles will find a game quite unlike their home version, in my opinion a change for the worse.

There are a fair few intriguing ideas on offer in SOCOM Confrontation but the series seems to have become stuck in a time warp, as the likes of Call of Duty and Rainbow Six do this kind of game so much better.

The GBA just isn't suitable for a party game the nature of how Mario Party is supposed to be, however the DS, equipped with wireless and forthcoming online play, is a whole different story.

It's a great title for children - provided their standards aren't too high and their attention spans aren't too short, Pac-Man World Rally won't get into trouble with the younger market.

Manhunt 2 is a weaker version of a five-year-old, slightly above average stealth game.

The menus are cheap looking, the tunes tinny and the endings don't reward you in the way they should, being short and small. The whole thing has the feel of a title scrambled together at the whim of a marketing director keen to make a fast buck on the back of a wave of retro popularity.

Flushed Away isn't a terrible game, but it does nothing to encourage me to go and see the film again, and tarnishes what is easily one of the funniest films of the year.

What holds Flower, Sun and Rain together, in the end, is Suda 51's inimitable sense of humour.

With repetitive, tedious gameplay, poor graphics and generic level designs, The Golden Compass is a mildly enjoyable fantasy videogame for younger audiences only; anyone above their formative years will not find the depth or enjoyment of the books in what boils down to yet another uninspired action adventure translation of a great movie license that couldn't be more by the numbers if it tried.

The Bourne Conspiracy isn't a bad game. It's massively, abominably flawed, but there are points where it does play well, points where I was both entertained and excited. The problem is that these points are few and far between with an awful lot of trudging needed to get to them.

Long-time die-hard fans of Dynasty Warriors may well find a lot to like here, and truth be told there are a lot of battles to plough through, provided you've got the patience. However, for everyone else - including anyone who vomits at the mere mention of the series - this offers absolutely nothing to hook you.

An expansion pack - nothing more, nothing less. If you don't own the original then you can still find some enjoyment, but to get anywhere online you'll have to suffer through the criminally plot-free Infinity Mission.

With Ace Combat firmly established as the jet fighter series on the PS2, Heatseeker really needed to be something special. Sadly it isn't, and although it's fun for a little while, the target for this missile disappears from the radar long before you've reached the end, making it a game that Ace Combat could blow out of the sky with a single shot.

If you’re the kind of person who loves to watch dramas like Survivors, Coronation Street or EastEnders on TV and are disappointed by the overuse of violence in modern games, then I recommend this game as there really aren’t many other titles like it that focus solely on drama. However, if, like me, you prefer games that blow your mind – steer clear of this one.

There is a bit of fun to be had, but unless you pick up the console version with its more accessible multiplayer, you'll end up paying over the odds for a game that can be finished in a single weekend.

A mildly diverting 'classic' 2D platformer (strikingly similar to the PSOne title Pandemonium) that will appeal to the younger audience but there is little to recommend this game for the more discerning adult gamer.

It won't keep you playing after the forty levels are completed and, to be honest, by level fifteen there's no real impetus to carry on playing.

The simple fact is that a dodgy camera, dubious controls, unspectacular visuals, repeated falling to your death and almost constant load breaks have all but ruined what should have been a brilliant game.

It's a real shame that for every flicker of promise Boogie shows, there are twice as many setbacks just around the corner. For a karaoke/dancing merger, this is nowhere near as fun as it should be and for all the noise it makes, EA's Boogie just doesn't have the substance to succeed.

Herbie Rescue Rally might entertain the kids for a bit, but they'll likely grow frustrated with the collisions and rather boring tracks that fail to deliver the excitement promised by the packaging.

Even if you have too much time and money, Legendary still isn't worth a purchase.

Maybe it's because I just don't like the main character, maybe it's because the story is dafter than my opening paragraph, maybe it's because it's a third rate GTA wannabe. In any case, this one should be avoided unless you really liked the first one, although this is actually a step back from the original.

Seasoned gamers will find very little of interest here, regardless of how massive a Harry Potter fan you are (personally I love the books and the films).

A classic example of a great concept that doesn't live up to its potential; there are some very interesting ideas on display but, like the vastness of space itself, they remain largely unexplored.

At just £2.39 Ice Road Truckers will provide you with a couple of hours of inexpensive and inoffensive racing fun, but while it’s certainly not a game that will leave you feeling cold it’s also not one that will give you Goosebumps either.

Despite its flaws, The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning on the GBA does offer a decent handheld-sized bit of side-scrolling platformer action, looking and sounding pretty good in the process. But disappointingly the game comes and goes in the blink of an eye, lasting only around two hours tops with no replay value to speak of.

Trivial Pursuit is a potentially good game that's been brought down by some pretty major flaws.

If the developers had made more use of the Wii's unique controllers and cranked up the graphics, I could have given this a better score. But, like ordering a Mixed Vegetable Soup at my local Chinese takeaway, I'm going to have to give Legend of the Dragon a number five.

I came into Rugby 06 with an open mind, I was hoping for the FIFA engine with rugby elements and I was let down.

Clive Barker's Jericho is as run of the mill as you'll find in a next-gen game.

A simple game of Hearts and nothing more.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix could have been so much better - the graphics are pretty good, the sound is passable but grates quickly and the mini-games are fun for a short while. However, the gameplay is tedious, the AI is glitchy and the plotline and speech are compressed.

Despite some great presentation and a number of nice touches, it's ultimately extremely hard to recommend You're in the Movies to anyone.

And while the graphics are fun, the translation into 3D has been totally mishandled and lost the whole appeal of the gameplay.

A reasonable game that shows off every weakness of the DS and every technical deficiency - the under-powered graphics, the limited audio, the lack of full analog controls and the impact of the screen size on the ability to use the bottom screen for precise controls. But the gameplay is also just plain fun.

Unless you love poorly done, "edgy" scenes of death, or you really, really like shooting things, The Punisher is a let down in almost every aspect and is easily buried by the quality of similar titles like "Red Dead Revolver."

There's old-school, and then there's just old. Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek feels like one of those antique PC games that you occasionally find beneath your computer desk, lost amid a powdery mess of thick, gray dust and cheap, flimsy CD cases.

Call me nostalgic, but even with Untamed's officially licensed music, the racing sponsors and celebrity endorsements, I'd rather play a round of Excitebike any day.

When Big Beach Sports first arrived I smelled mediocrity a mile off - the worst trait for a reviewer.

If you're looking for a decent rally/off-road game on the go then you could do worse than MX vs ATV Untamed; it's just too bad that the only other offerings on the system for off-road racing games are in the same series and are just as decent if not worse.

Blitz: The League II unfortunately never rises above the moniker of a run-of-the-mill arcade game.

With presentation that's lacking flair, no tournament options, sub-standard opponent AI, no rule variations other than 8 or 9 ball pool and limited stimuli to continue playing, Frontline Studios appear to have just gone through the motions with Actua Pool.

Sure, it's easy to pick up and play, the graphics and sound are just about passable and there's a decent range of weapons, but if I had gone out and bought it I'd feel somewhat cheated as I played the first mission, only to find that there's very little new here.

I finished playing WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 feeling cold and dirty, like I'd been doing something I shouldn't have been. I'm shocked at how badly THQ have dropped the ball with this one - in fact, they've climbed all the way to the top of Mount Everest to drop said ball!

For the time being at least, my callous regard of film licenses remains justified. The cheap thrills on offer here are replicated with much more panache in titles such as "GTA: San Andreas" or "Driv3r." Steer clear.

Even though there's loads to do, it doesn't alter the fact that this smelly port of Driver: Parallel Lines just reeks of lazy developing - simply put, it's hard to get into and a battle to play.

Parents could confidently buy this for their children, safe in the knowledge that the content is suitable as well as enjoyable.

At best it is a mediocre few hours of play and at worst it is a slap in the face of Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64.

The unabashedly GBA presentation and flimsy integration of both Pokémon and the DS leave this game feeling boring and unexceptional.

It’s a sluggish, unintuitive, stumbling mess of a fighter, with only a handful of redeeming features, none of which raise it much further from the gutter of ineptitude it resides in.

The DS version should be avoided by anyone wanting to experience a similar thing on the go; the changes made here are just too drastic, and poorly conceived to create anything of much merit. Stick with the PSP version if you must have the Busters with you at all times.

What you're left with is a hastily put together, barely competent multiplayer shooter that looks as though it fell out of the PS2 ugly tree and scraped its poorly rendered face on every branch on the way down.

For forty notes there are far better, far prettier, far more-captivating and far better-crafted RPGs than Way of the Samurai 3, and bearing that in mind it’s hard to think of anyone other than the most avid games collector to recommend it to.

If you’re a fan of Qix-style games and need to chew up 30 minutes of your life, give it a shot. Otherwise, there’s plenty of other indie titles out there that are a better way to spend a bit of cash.

Blade Kitten is, overall, a disappointing experience. While functional, it does little to impress and even though it may last a while, there is little impetus to play beyond the first level.

Tales of Symphonia isn’t going to change the shape of the RPG genre, but instead sort of shifts itself somewhere in-between the rest of the mediocre games that have laced the Wii since launch.

Somewhere in Comic Jumper is a solid game, but it's buried underneath muddy controls, terrible jokes and some odd design choices.

If you’re the type that enjoys really wracking their brain for hours trying to solve fiendish puzzles, this is a title you may want to take a look at.

This is a puzzle game wrapped up in a failing license, garnished with shoddy movie tie-in controls and a brazen lack of bravery.

My impression is that Quake Arena Arcade is a half-hearted reboot of a dying game.

All in all, there are better sports games and better fantasy games out there, and the fact that there aren’t many “fantasy-sports” games is probably all that will save Blood Bowl from being completely overlooked.

Fortix is driven by a sound gaming mechanic that’s almost difficult to criticise. “What you see is what you get”, “Does exactly as it says on the tin” etc, what is easy to criticise though, is the difficulty that gets much too intense for a game designed for 5 – minute bursts, as well as a visual presentation that’s just downright ugly. Combine this with a total lack of clever features and we have a game that’s just a borderline stinker.

Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge fails to achieve what it set out to do. It wanted to be a hugely tactical but still engaging squad-based affair, but the long-winded combat is boring and anything but tactical, while the audio is sure to drive you to turn the volume down and put some music on instead.

In short, Ju-On The Grudge is a pointless approximation at a movie tie-in, the name alone being pretty much all there is similar between the two interpretations.

The biggest problem with Destroy All Humans!: Big Willy Unleashed isn't the terrible camera, the lacklustre graphics or the uninspiring mission structure; it is purely the way that this isn't a proper Destroy All Humans! game. Yes, you do destroy some humans, but the most fun aspect of the first two games has not been used enough here.

Stagnation ends up being the best way I can monosyllabically describe Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Uninspired gameplay mixed with frustratingly dumb A.I. is a recipe for disaster, no matter how pretty your game looks or sounds.

I guess my main issue with Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem is that it's simply a bad game and also that it's just so disappointing.

If only the graphics were prettier, some better character customisation was included and the punishment for death had been significantly reduced, then Baroque could have been sitting smugly near the top of the Wii game chart, instead of floundering about in the lower regions.

There's nothing colourful about Colour Cross; it's a simple puzzle game akin to Picross or a painting version of Sudoku that hasn't been implemented very well.

The poor controls, tricky camera and an irritation-filled gaming experience is unfortunately what Shadow the Hedgehog is presented as, and this doesn't deserve to be found under too many Christmas tree's this year.

The battling becomes tiring quickly and Jake's jumping ability is pathetic (which is not good, considering the game sometimes throws you platform styled jump challenges.)

With a bit more experience, and a little more know how, Stoked could have been an enjoyable diversion, as it is, it's a broken, twisted shambles, best left out on a bare mountainside without a jumper.

A flawed and outdated game that is hard to recommend.

There's clearly talent behind the game, producing quality visuals and a technically impressive and bug-free experience. The plot and characters are dull and lifeless however, and there's nothing here to draw you into the world and make you want to stay.

It's almost as if the developers of Dead to Rights II decided to rip out the fun factor that flowed freely through the original, leaving an empty shell of a frustrating and quite dreadful product.

The gameplay is fun and easy to pick up, just as you would expect from an arcade style sports sim, but the overall package doesn't seem to take itself seriously, due to the parody commentator and muted atmosphere.

There's some limited fun to be had with The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, and there are even times when the great game it could have been almost shine through, but plagued with such gaping flaws and wasted potential, the small amount of enjoyment that you might be able to gain never seems to justify the time you spend trying to discover it.

As a Mega Man fan, I was sorely disappointed to play a game that does the character so little justice; while as an RPG fan, I found every area of the game - the battles, the exploration, the puzzle solving and the story - shallow and uninspired.