The campaigns are vast and varied, with interesting stories to hold you attention, while the three Legends Trails offer up even more varied missions with a much stronger emphasis on castle building and besieging.

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.

Even though it is considerably harmed by the inane support of the Wii-mote to the point of the extreme, and the slightly boring battle system, the dull visuals and quite a lot of glitches, the game manages to sneak by as one of last year's best games in the genre.

Despite its faults, Tom Clancy's EndWar stands as a welcome departure from the quick and dirty reworkings that so many real-time strategy games have undergone in the transition from mouse and keyboard to control pad.

The graphics are functional when it comes to the large playing areas but exemplary when it comes to the rather bone-crunching despatching of the opposition.

It's as if the producers stopped halfway through making it, decided to give it a different spin and forgot to bolster the audio department in the process.

Crash: Mind Over Mutant is a fun game, colourful and beautifully presented, with an engaging combat system that includes mutants to control, which deliver moments of pure satisfaction. The game is definitely too easy for more experienced gamers, and even younger ones will probably find the whole thing a bit of a doddle, but there's a lot to be said for a game that you can just pick up and play, while the combination of comedic elements that will have kids rolling around in laughter and the co-op mode makes this a winner.

If you're looking for a game with legs and lifespan, Enchanted Arms is for you.

Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy is an enjoyable adventure game in the classic mold.

Zubo is an entertaining rhythm-based game that manages to fuse several genres in an intelligent way whilst maintaining an easy to play approach. It is an ideal game to start with for youngsters who want to try a role playing game whilst at the same time there is just enough within to keep the rest of us adults playing it.

A worthy attempt at a football management sim and those with the tolerance to overlook a few poorly executed ideas will find an enjoyable title here, even if it cannot quite compete with the sublime brilliance of Football Manager.

Touchmaster will definitely appeal to fans of the puzzle genre, but while 23 games in one package sounds like a lot, they're not all going to be suited to your tastes.

Although I appreciate Sigma Star Saga bringing an original idea to the RPG realm, the execution of this idea felt more like I was getting it drilled into my head rather than actually enjoying it.

The sheer size of the game and the time it will take to play through should keep the average player occupied for months and it moves with a steady pace that should keep most players interested.

Despite the amount of complaints on the table, I still think World Poker Tour should be given a chance if you plan to take it online, because as far as I know, this is the only poker videogame that offers such an extensive online mode.

At heart, Puyo Pop Fever is an entertaining and downright addictive little puzzler, and therefore gets the stamp of approval for those after something refreshingly light-hearted.

There is a great story and a fine game in Yakuza 2, let down mainly by old technology and some stylistic choices that wouldn't have mattered half as much when it was first released in the East.

Fantasy Wars is an involving and satisfying game. Each side feels balanced if not dramatically different, the levelling system for every unit makes the game more addictive than it has any right to be and it hits the difficulty curve perfectly, being very easy to learn and incredibly difficult to master, especially at higher levels.

Tak: The Great JuJu Challenge takes a fairly average platforming formula and puts a unique turn with it, making each level a race against the clock where speed is of the essence, but so is exploration.

With a slightly restrictive control interface and uninspired, downright samey minigames, the mature gamers looking for a slice of party fun (soggy jam sandwiches optional) may wish to seek the likes of Buzz! Big Quiz or Buzz! The Music Quiz. Put simply, this is one for the tots.

If you happened to have purchased or rented Cars in any of its previous incarnations, your first question is going to be "should I care about this version?" Most likely not.

In more ways than ever, Reckoning 2 feels like an afterthought for the Yukes team to get one last Gamecube wrestler out there before they go out with what appears to be a real winner with "SmackDown vs. RAW 2006."

The PS2 game is near identical to the PS3 version, but the lack of some classic Queen tracks puts a dampener on the whole experience.

Those expecting a fully featured console iteration of Advance Wars, one containing the same strategic might that the handheld titles possess, are bound to be as disappointed as a rather plump gentleman who can't lay his hands on a nice pie.

Those magnificent occasions when you're hovering at 2,000 feet above the ground on your parachute actually justifies playing it through.

It has interesting features and plenty of action and intense shootouts to keep you entertained (especially when you get your grubby hands on the gatling gun) but between these parts you're left wandering around a dull environment with very little to keep you occupied.

Great in short bursts and solving the main puzzles can be a real blast, however the game fails to deliver any serious replay value once you complete them and setting high scores will eventually become dull and tedious.

Whilst tunes are ridiculously easy to create and fiddle around with, doing anything worthwhile on them is difficult and gives you the feeling that a PC based tune maker is clearly the way forward.