Peggle Nights is still a great casual game. It's just a game that PopCap has released before. It's like draughts and checkers. You don't need to buy the board and pieces twice to play the same bloody game.

Like most games from the Nippon Ichi stable, though, it's not one for the majority - obscured as it is by obtuse mechanics and a sometimes-vicious difficulty level. Hurrah for them all the same.

The best science-fiction pays equal attention to the direction of its fiction as to its detail but Star Ocean: The Last Hope succeeds only in the latter area, and even there, only in part.

The story's less interesting than SOCOM 3 and the levels, objectives, bonus objectives, enemies, prisoners and hostages all blur together into one big brown blur.

Second-hand content with a spoon of sugar, no more. It's a second-rate package.

Rayman 3 neither comes close to toppling the mighty Mario games, nor gives a compelling argument for the merits of cross console link-up gaming, but platform addicts will be well served. The more demanding gamer won’t be.

Technically rough (it doesn't run smoothly, in terms of graphics or lag) with lumpy character progression, shallow combat, a narrow world and thinly-stretched - albeit entertaining - content, Champions Online is off to a scrappy and threadbare start. As it stands, it's hard to recommend. But it's not hard to like - for the customisation, and for offering a genuinely different flavour in MMOs: a bit of poppy, disposable bubblegum in a world of nutritious gruel.

Angry Birds Trilogy certainly benefits from the more extravagant presentation options that a TV allows, and in bringing Rovio's juggernaut to consoles it has a basic "does what it says on the box" appeal - but there's clearly a lot more that could have been done beyond bluntly porting the levels across.

The absence of any tutorial mode makes it an uphill battle for newcomers, while committed rugby fans will probably be put off by its lack of depth. New Zealand games don't even begin with the Haka, and where's the fun in that?

Multiplayer fans will appreciate the new maps, the bounty-style quest steps are a good idea and there is certainly plenty of stuff to do and unlock, but in a game where the content has worn thin so quickly, taking aim at our precious loot just at the point we finish upgrading it is a huge mistake.

Any prospective patron should be well-prepared for an extremely challenging relationship that will strain even the most-committed Rogue-devotee. But, for the very few fans still looking to recruit in that toughest of niche sectors, Izuna is a worthy hire.

With its distinct Voxel 3D visual style and some engaging puzzles, there's a core of good game struggling to get out here, but one that is ultimately thwarted by the fiddly controls.

The story in question is an absolute belter.

Despite a number of difficult to spot and ultimately underwhelming "improvements", the Cube and PS2 versions of Dead to Rights remain generally engaging, with an uneven sprinkling of genius.

There was rich promise here, but High Voltage has dropped the ball with its sloppy approach to the combat.

I wanted to love Secrets Of Raetikon. It's always intoxicating when you see a project so clearly fuelled by passion and vision - but its substance just doesn't live up to its style.

It's a fab little game that's as unpretentious as they come and it's good to have it back - it's just a shame that the concept hasn't really moved on to any degree in the intervening years.

A bog-standard historical city-builder and we can like it, lump it, or - my recommended reaction - just ignore it.

It’s a shame EA feel the need to charge their swelling community for the privilege of getting their hands on a smattering of new missions and models which should have been in the game in the first place.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is enjoyable enough, and has glimpses of vintage Metroid shining through, but this game could and should have been so much more.

It just would be nice for Nintendo and Game Freak to supply the other demand next time: the demand of something actually more different, or at least palpably new, for our hard earned. Let the pitchfork laden debate begin.

Wii Play has a few timeless gems that should prove to be party favourites this Christmas, but regular gamer, in particular, shouldn't expect the novelty value to endure much beyond that. Think of this as commercial tutorial.

It wasn't the linearity that was the issue, nor the overall polish; more that the game ultimately lacks ambition and creativity in the gameplay department - until the last eight or nine levels there's little on show that hasn't been done better before.

A reasonably clinical package with a decent though not spectacular footy game somewhere under the glitz and licensing efforts, but you'd still be better off scouting around on the transfer lists for a better value signing. Not everyone's as much of donkey as Heskey.

How about a six (Anything more would ignore the lack of freshness, and the fact you can pick-up equally good alternatives like Blitzkrieg 2 and Codename Panzers: Phase One for less than a tenner) and a quick reminder that the promising Company of Heroes and Faces of War are just a few months away.

A naturally divisive game, a few will succumb to its slightly wonky charms. Most, however, will find that the gimmicks have only limited appeal.

The story is compelling and well told, and there's certainly enough flow to put it in the category of "just ten more minutes" games - but you'll need a lot of patience to get the most out of Ego Draconis.

We'd happily slap a glowing score on the online bit, but the single-player offering is burdened by so many problems that you'd be generous to claim it's slightly above average.

Golden Axe, then. Big, brutish, three-button sprite-based fantasy brawler with bags of nostalgic moments and inexplicable co-op charm: Yours to buy for the 39th time for just 400 points.

But it also makes you wonder why the game uses motion sensing at all, since all you're really doing during the swing itself is setting the power of your shot. If you can live with that then it's a decent bowling game with plenty to unlock, as well as trick shots and other fun frills.

It's just doing pretty much the same generally reliable job it always has done, putting in its hours and going home again - if anything, it's getting sloppier with age.

Drakengard 2 just doesn't have the style or grace or education or expertise or power, to pull it off. Like The Flaming Lips trying their hands at Bohemian Rhapsody you really want the homage to work but, to be honest, it just doesn't.

It's hard to know how many people are really going to care about the return of Rocket Knight. Climax has done a decent job of giving it a modern sheen, but while it's mildly entertaining and completely inoffensive, it's also forgettable.

The gameplay is a castrated version of "Warcraft III" - you can see the hallmarks of a fine specimen, but the testosterone is all long gone - while the script is cringeworthy in places, reminiscent of the very worst desperate "Lord of the Rings" wannabes in fantasy fiction writing.

There's even a bit of scope for creativity, since you can design your own T-shirts and posters, and - the one part of the game which might appeal to small boys - draw rude pictures all over the Bratz' faces in your favourite shade of lipstick, should you so desire.

A game where there's fun to be had, but it has a very finite shelf life.

Apart from the delightful pixelart visual style, there's nothing particularly enjoyable or interesting about Nimblebit's 'freemium' effort. You build a tower, floor by floor, with the 'goal' simply to see how high you can build.

With a slightly gentler ascent, Go! Go! Kokopolo could have charmed us into submission. Instead, this chaotic, vibrant and original idea quickly descends into a battle of wills that only the most determined aggrophile will want to see through.

The game lacks the precision of a professional-level shooter to satiate the genre's dedicated players and its whole concept is undeniably more attractive on paper than in polygon.

In short, Shrek SuperSlam is the kind of game that kids are likely to spend a happy afternoon with, after which it will end up shoved at the back of the cupboard.

While it's commendable that publishers are still localising these quintessentially weird and wonderful Japanese games, ironically, Trinity Universe's biggest problem might just be that it's not quite crazy enough.

If it had just been a bit more focused, perhaps sticking with the pleasing interchange of third-person exploring and first-person on-rails shooting, it would have succeeded. But the frenzy of different genres is only confusing, not letting any one element shine.

Most of the problems stem from the fact that it remains a muddled, undiscerning diner at the racing game buffet table, trying to cram its plate with sleek supersonic futuristic racing, rough and tumble rally racing and knockabout arcade power-up kart racing all at the same time.

If you have zero tolerance for stuttering frame rates and occasional fumbled controls then don't go near Advent Rising. It's a good science-fiction action game that suffers from technical problems.

Unfortunately, the worthwhile drawing concept is let down by some rather ropey platforming action. Levels are somewhat uninspired, reminding us of the doldrums of the Amiga era. Jumping feels too floaty, and shooting imprecise. More irritating, you can't save mid-way through the longish levels.

It will make you feel comfortable holding and playing a real guitar, and empowered to go further in spite of its apparent animosity towards you. The less you treat Rocksmith like a game, the more fun you'll have with it.

Providing Fatshark can quickly patch the problems, then the player base may build. But that's a big if, and while its problems remain, it's difficult to see Lead And Gold making a big impression on players schooled in big-budget multiplayer thrills.

Sega seems to find it hard enough to make a decent Sonic game these days, and then it goes and publishes something like Sonic Dash - which with a little more polish could be great, but is instead rushed and spoiled by greed.

It's a solid adventure game with high production values and sharp design. There's a courageous allure to an indie team trying to stand toe-to-toe with LucasArts' masterpieces, and that they've come this close with their first entry in the genre is no minor accomplishment.

I love crime fiction. On principle, I will, to paraphrase one of Death on the Nile's main characters, go absolutely bald-headed for an Agatha Christie game, with the full understanding that reimagination and reinterpretation are crucial parts in keeping stories alive well beyond the existence of their creators. But while there is eccentricity and tension and vitality (however subdued and English) within the pages of Christie's decades-old books, my first lesson in playing Death on the Nile is to accept comical lifelessness in the modern world's most interactive media form. And it is a different creature entirely.

Objectively this is a game that basically sucks. It's technically limited, characterised by treacle-slow, far-from-original gameplay that's beset by niggles, and sorely unadorned by fancy cut-scenes or easy-to-navigate menus. But subjectively, in spite of all of its flaws, what emerges is something that has the potential to be hypnotically absorbing and, yes, even fun. [JPN Import]

For now though, unless you're desperately aching to play a new turn-based 40k wargame - which is entirely understandable given how long it's been since the last one - we'd advise waiting on the outcome of one or two necessary patches before joining the fray.

Like the hardware it lives on, this is the PlayStation brand getting to grips with the era of iOS and Android - and the results, while rather conflicted in this case, are interesting.

We're even less inclined to accept the messy control system, the often dreadful AI, the questionable animation, the less than stellar visuals, the fact that following the dark side makes no real difference to the game, and the overall feeling that it's just not that exciting.

I've enjoyed myself here, but Cities XL does not live up to its ambitions. The solo city-builder is a well-paced project for those who like to plot boulevards, but the appeal of the larger game remains unresolved.

Being a blatant clone doesn't preclude I Must Run from being enjoyable, though, especially now you can pick it up for free.

Boom Street's left, then, to capitalise only on the love and appreciation we all feel towards our global banking overlords.

It'll soak up plenty of your time, but it's a real trudge, and rarely presents anything new or exciting - you've experienced most of the good by the time you've qualified for the PGA Tour itself, and indeed most of us will have experienced it all by, er, well, had experienced it all by 2003.

At least the game bit's quite good fun. The visuals are too small and too brown, but the gameplay's still classic; it's a bit like playing chess with pieces made of rat plops.

An average entry-level action RPG. If you're a heavy user of wizards and orcs, you'll have probably played something very similar only last week.

It’s doesn’t have the adrenaline fuelled action of the original, nor any neat new ideas to make it feel like a progression.

It might be cheap, and it might have more content than Liberty City Stories, and it has gaming audio to die for, but, on balance, Rockstar has milked the flaccid teat of its cash cow to the limit.

While the gameplay is incredibly repetitive, the Strategy Phase introduces some depth and direction to the battles, breaking things into manageable chunks suited to gaming on the move.

A very precise, slick, and technically impressive game. It just lacks a crucial spark.

What we've ended up with is a game loaded with promise that sells itself short in the execution. There's no doubt it'll entertain the kids, but it won't challenge them.

The art style is very appealing, with lots of crisp cartoon sprites, but the core gameplay feels truncated and shallow.

It's just a shame that compared to the innovative excellence of Koei's other battlefield titles like Bladestorm or Gundam Musou, or even just Samurai Warriors 2, Warriors Orochi falls a little short.

24: The Game isn't a bad game, but it isn't a new, interesting or exciting one either. It's one of those depressing tie-in games where the proposal came before the creativity - as, I suspect from the banality of all the interactive sequences, did the script.

A solid fighter for dabblers.

It lacks the imagination that the design documents must have been crying out for, and ultimately feels too much like psychedelic paintball in a foam-padded adventure playground.

If you can stomach the story, and the isometric viewpoint giving you occasional trouble when trying to select your desired unit with the stylus, it stands as a decent bite-size alternative. Anyone else, though, would be better off waiting for the DS's next turn to see if it spits out something more meaty.

The Con is about as far from revolutionary as you can get and in no way suited to extended play, but to give Sony its due, it's easily one of the stronger and more accurately pitched portable fighters out there.

While Shattered Space is quite possibly one of Starfield's most enjoyable storylines to date, it once again struggles to offer any real consequences. And its new setting feels woefully underutilised.

Even though this is undeniably a good representation, the feel of it is really not all that different from the SNES and Mega Drive titles of yesteryear.

While the hacks and cheats may be gone, they have simply been replaced by new chaos and a design disorder that does everything in its power to dissuade anyone but the keenest of sentimental subscribers.

I'm no fan of the gross sense of entitlement displayed by some gamers, but when the core game is still blighted by outrageous glitches and glaring bugs it's hard to see how State of Decay justifies charging almost 50% of its original asking price over again for a game mode that arguably should have been implemented at launch.

It may not shock you, but it can at least build a thick, oppressive atmosphere as the relatively clever plot keeps twisting and the grot and grime pile up and threaten to choke you. It can't handle fear - but it does a neat line in mild intrigue. Silent Hill: Downpour won't freeze you to your seat, but it will probably keep you playing to the end.

An expressive, characterful entry point for metroidvanias.

A delightfully macabre homage, this asymmetrical horror could finally threaten Dead by Daylight's crown, if you didn't spend more time fighting the servers than Leatherface himself.

If only its sedate beginning and dreary atmosphere didn't make it a throwaway extra, we'd probably recommend it. But we won't.

In many respects, then, Thieves in Time is a fitting successor to the PS2 titles: Sly Cooper games were always solid genre pieces first and foremost, where likable characters and decent mechanics masked a journeyman feel to some of the content, and the same is true here. Unfortunately, the rest of the world has moved on considerably in the intervening years, and so what starts off as a welcome regression quickly loses its verve.

Kinect Rush certainly lives up to its title, but only for the first hour or so. After that, the rush wears off and the grind sets in. That wide-open field turns out to be not so wide and not so open after all.

It's still a disappointment to see that, after so long, Age of Mythology doesn't quite hold up to modern RTS standards, but there's enough here - and likely enough coming - to warrant a look regardless.

This is a game that makes our GBA a Super Nintendo: and one with a decent d-pad, battery life and scratch-free screen that doesn't need us to fiddle with firmware and dally with grey-hued legality to enjoy.

Has all the right atmosphere and, for once, really comes across as how a game of a film should look and feel, and it's just the game to successfully bridge the gap between role-playing and strategy.

The core process of gathering up pellets and delivering them to the goal simply isn't as fun as it should be. For a game built upon this crucial cornerstone, no matter how many ideas are added on top of it, the whole construction remains unstable and, soon enough, un-enjoyable.

It's all reasonably diverting, but the mix of genres never really gels and when things get frustrating the game lacks that basic addictive lure to keep you playing.

As much as n-Space tries to do things a little differently, and as fun as it is to walk around in bodies that don't belong to you, too much of the game plays it by the same old rules.

Ultimately you'll have to win a difficult argument with yourself to justify the purchase. Good luck.

While Still Wakes the Deep is a beautiful work of atmosphere and tension, all that can be shattered by its strictly linear trappings.

If the point is make your mundane life seem exciting by comparison, then I guess it's job done, but hardcore adventurers may find these sections taxing for all the wrong reasons.

For those expecting massive advancements or a radical departure from the original, this will come as a disappointment. A more honest, realistic assessment would be to treat this as a mission pack, and for those who do just want more of the same, you'll come away a satisfied customer.

Even with a spit and polish to the visuals and the usual effortless presentation it can't help but feel tiring after a while.

Thankfully, when you die, which will be quite frequently, the loading times are kept mercifully short and don't add to the frustration like so many other PSP games.

In small doses, it's a game that finds its own old-school groove, and an enjoyable one for the most part. The touch-screen nonsense does it little favours, though, but luckily doesn't completely ruin the fun.

Bad Company 2 remains a superb shooter (if still rather borked by that last patch), but having gorged on it for three months we need something more interesting than second-hand spaghetti bolognese if we're expected to pick up the tab.

The overriding feeling is that Head On belongs on more powerful consoles. Without the added bells and whistles, its core racing mechanics and their shortcomings are bare, obvious, and will struggle in a genre that is stacked to the rafters on PSP.

Those in desperate search of a new platform game after completing New Super Mario Bros. upside down and backwards might get a few hours' respite from this, but otherwise wait until it costs nothing and then buy it for the nephew you gave your old chunky DS when you decide you had to have a Lite, and maybe invest your money in some of the Virtual Console's retro treats instead.