Even though, in its first few stages, Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero? is both charming and fun, seemingly out of nowhere the difficulty soars.

A good, solid shooter that has a lot going for it but fails to achieve greatness, lacking that often indefinable sparkle that makes for a classic.

With more thought put into a deeper control system for the combat, and more effort in the sound department, Key of Heaven could have been one of the best handheld RPGs to date. As it stands however, it's best suited to those with a lust for Anime and a craving for a hearty adventure with a typically Japanese storyline.

Although it isn't for everyone, this DS version should definitely be snapped up by those who enjoy games that require a bit of thought and time investment, as well as by those who like to show off their creativity.

Unfortunately, the whole experience just feels a bit pointless.

Boing! Docomodake DS is the developer's attempt at emulating the gameplay of LocoRoco on the DS but it fails in the most crucial areas - level design, length and aesthetics - all of which LocoRoco excelled at.

The customisation options add depth and variety for those players willing to invest the time, and the immense, sprawling storyline will keep you playing for literally weeks, with the fact that it's a prequel surely giving fans of the series even more reason to play it to completion.

This really should be the retro release to please everyone - Capcom have taken a classic original, slightly enhanced the concept with modern features like the double jumping and magic, yet retained the core gameplay and style that made the original such a hit.

Although the style, or lack thereof, has seriously hampered The Club, it's still a brilliantly addictive title and one that will hopefully prove popular enough to turn this not so little experiment into a long running franchise.

Those who have laptops and not a lot of time to invest into virtual lifestyles should definitely check this out - with easy to use controls, a more causal gameplay style in the sense that it doesn't take all day to refresh your Sims and teach them new skills, and two stories to play through, The Sims Life Stories is an interesting experiment that ticks the right boxes for the right kind of people.

Control issues, far too many pointless fall-to-your-death moments and a general lack of purpose or incentive to explore make the fun fleeting and the frustration lasting.

A tequila-fuelled, high octane, explosive game that combines frantic gunplay and stylish combo moves with a distinctive and perfectly realised Mexican theme to produce a very entertaining and funny experience.

It has many of the right ingredients, such as great graphics and an interesting story, but it still doesn't have the full package, as it suffers from frustrating, repetitive gameplay, which is hard to forgive.

It has some wonderful graphics and animation, excellent sound effects and enjoyable voices to complement the fun and endlessly playable fighting action.

The free flowing, goal stuffed fantasy matches are a long way from the often cautious, stop start nature of many real European encounters, and for this reason UEFA are probably more than happy with the finished product.

As a departure for the series, the idea of a tactical SOCOM game is a great one and is executed mildly well. I say mildly, as without the annoying camera, cheap deaths, lack of story and lukewarm audio, the game would be a lot of fun to play.

And so the problem, it's an online game without much of an online community. Section 8 might be a rather unimaginative game, it may very well borrow many of it's ideas from more established franchises but it's not without it's own merits.

Simple, harmless entertainment, an old school arcade game jazzed up (a little) for today's gaming generation - and as such, it does just fine.

Now, I won't lie to you: I wanted to rip this game to pieces! However, while Carol Vorderman's Sudoku is essentially a certified lesson in chronic needlessness and boasts aesthetic values on a par with a can of corned beef, it still does everything it promises to do - it provides a good, solid game of Sudoku, comprising almost endless puzzles for players of all skill levels, with plenty of different modes, going above and beyond the call of duty in that respect, providing game types and even multiplayer modes that you won't see in other Sudoku games.

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.

To both its benefit and its detriment it's an unrefined concoction of so many volatile parts that you're never sure whether it's going to blow your mind or blow your head clean off.

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's a great addition that might get more kids who get this game interested in creating them. Heck, it sure beats those awful 'you can make video games' commercials that run on G4 all day and night.

It almost angers me at times that publishers have the gall to demand a fee of £35 - £40 for simply applying a lick of paint to something that in essence people have played many times before.

Fundamentally the game is broken, and so any set dressing, from the squeaky tones of Toad, or the way that Knuckles reacts when he wins a race, this is a game that Wii owners should avoid.

This is bare-knuckle gaming - big, brash, unpretentious and viscerally entertaining. There's no excessive blood and gore, no gimmicky crime or foul language. This is well-organised, carefully-orchestrated violence supported by some of the best AI you've ever seen, a deep and comprehensive multiplayer mode that creates a game all of its own and a storyline far more creative than your usual terrorist-battling shooter fare.

Purely as a game, it's one of those titles that takes a little time getting to grips with the controls and the basic plotlines, but it is time well spent that can result in hours of inside-out pant-wearing hilarity.

I love the whole idea of American football in a fantasy world as it takes completely separate game genres and moulds the together into one hulking brute. Unfortunately, this Sports come Role Playing Game come Strategy just doesn't do the striking concept justice.