Graphically it's a huge step up not only from GT4 but from every racing game (and indeed most games) that we've seen so far, and I'm sure it'll look even better in the full game.

Fair enough, the action is thick and fast, but it's a bit of a button masher, gets repetitive quickly and doesn't have much aural or visual polish to keep you otherwise interested.

A strong sense of black humour is prominent in the gameplay, the excellent story and the in-game banter, which keeps your interest in what would have otherwise been a run-of-the-mill third person adventure.

The many, varied game modes will keep you and your friends busy for a long time, while trying to unlock every last cartoon episode is an excellent incentive to complete the whole game.

FIFA multiplayer matches have always been great fun and this new instalment is, thankfully, no exception.

A standard expansion pack for a game that's now looking a little dated, adrenalin junkies who couldn't get enough of the original's non-stop, pulse pounding action will find satisfaction with what's offered in Painkiller: Battle Out Of Hell.

It's still good fun, but it's by far the weakest game of the series - and the shortest too, with barely a dozen planets to explore - while its sparse, basic, PSP-quality graphics really are a big disappointment.

The impressive merger of music with gameplay and sound effects is worth at least experiencing once - it certainly isn't for everybody, but you'd be surprised at how addictive it can be to see all those little pieces blow up just by pushing A... and perhaps that is E4's strongest appeal.

Cold Fear is an unashamedly old school survival horror game, so you should pretty much know whether you're interested in playing it or not.

SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 might not bring anything particularly new to its now-outmoded platform, and there are certainly superior alternatives to most all of the games it collects out there, but as a confirmed crowd-pleaser and in terms of sheer bang for your buck, you'd be doing the gaming industry of yesteryear a disservice if you were to overlook it on those grounds.

How much fun you'll derive from Order of War entirely depends what you are looking for in a strategy game.

The bottom line is that, despite the lack of variation and awkward controls, Me & My Katamari is a genuinely addictive yet simple concept that meant that for once I was the person telling my girlfriend to 'put that down and come help with the washing up!'

The fact that they're still getting mileage out of the awesome Unreal engine makes me smile quite a bit.

Only the lack of a save option for the Colouring Book and some decent background music let this game down a little.

It's a shame both the sounds and graphics are limited, as on the whole the gameplay itself is a hell of a lot of fun; incredibly tense, simplistic enough to be picked up quickly but, like all the best puzzlers, incredibly difficult to master.

Another six months in development and a little play-testing would have done Opoona the world of good - and from the inconsequential whimper of its arrival at retail, the wait could hardly have hurt - but as it stands, this is an able RPG that's brought down by some questionable design decisions.

It's a decent attempt, but it lacks what it used to have, and if you own the 2004 or 2005 version then just stick with them and trade the appropriate players to the correct teams.

It's a shame that Port Royale 2 doesn't fully succeed thanks mainly to its dull combat mechanics and unfriendly interface that bombards you with screen after screen of information that often clogs up the game's more memorable features.

Hasbro Family Game Night is a great collection of well-translated board games that makes for a fun night in with your family and friends. None of the six games are stinkers and one or two of them are even arguably better than their board-based equivalents (Battleships and Boggle, take a bow).

An expansion for the fans - it does little new, actually, it does nothing new, sticking to the traditions of expansion pack history.

Sure, it has some faults, particularly in the area of graphics and sound, but when a company decides to rather focus on making the game actually fun instead of making the graphics superb and forgetting all about the gameplay then I can't complain too much!

Indeed the whole game is just a bit lacking - it has a decent story and excellent battles, but there is little replayability.

If you don't complete it far too quickly, you may become bored of the missions or the story.

Civilization Revolution is great fun on the DS. It's quite refreshing to see that the developers weren't overly ambitious with trying to push the limited hardware too hard, and it's even better to see it all come together so well.

A strong sense of black humour is prominent in the gameplay, the excellent story and the in-game banter, which keeps your interest in what would have otherwise been a run-of-the-mill third person adventure.

Pocketbike Racer is in no way the next coming of kart racers, but as a wallet-friendly arcade game it more than serves its role as an amusing piece of gaming software for the casual audience.

More serious gamers and hardcore Tony Hawk's fans might want to look elsewhere but this is great as an introduction to extreme sports games and great fun for any Disney fan.

There are many good elements to Resident Evil: Deadly Silence, but it ultimately fails to excel on the two levels it attempts: it fails as nostalgia because the weaknesses of the original get in the way of the fun, and it fails as a new game because neither the environment nor story translate to a unique or very scary experience anymore.