There's nothing to dislike about it. It's well-rounded and harmless in every respect, but there's no real challenge to anyone remotely used to playing games or over the age of 10.

It's one of the few truly original games on Live Arcade, and deserves your attention for that, but it can't quite shake off the sour tang of unfulfilled potential.

Lurking behind a dated exterior is a limited but sophisticated RPG with a unique setting and some memorable new ideas.

The result is a game that doesn't really offer motorbike enthusiasts the same attention to detail that petrolheaded car nuts get out of GT, and takes hours and hours for the rest of us to warm to.

But those of you with Zelda on the mind best ferret off elsewhere - this is a very different sort of Link To The Past.

Entertaining though Lost Kingdoms can be when it's raising two fingers to RPG convention, it's still blighted by conventional RPG problems.

What perhaps saves Kiryu's latest adventure is an absolutely fantastic combat system, bolstered with wild gadgets, and minigame offerings that just about work with an approach to breadth instead of depth. This is another entertaining, idiosyncratic, action-packed romp for the Yakuza series, but it feels as though Like a Dragon Gaiden needs to do more to justify its undermining of Kiryu's perfect sendoff in Yakuza 6.

It's polished and accomplished, and certain aspects of it, such as the meta-game structure and the player customisation, are fantastic. Even so, there's no escaping the fact that the game is hugely disappointing. The flashes of brilliance only serve to throw the mediocrity of the game into even sharper relief.

Hutch is to be congratulated for coming up with a control system for touch screen driving games that really works in a simple yet gratifying way. It's just a shame that it debuts in a game so determined to penalise you for enjoying its knockabout potential.

As far as block or blob-based puzzlers go, Puyo Pop Fever is perfectly adequate, but the PSP happens to have a few better alternatives: "Lumines" offers a more classy experience, while "Koloomn" is a more original title, and one that will take every brain cell to master.

With a bit more humour behind it and some slightly more adventurous mission design, Payback could have been a must-have. As it is, it's a perfectly enjoyable way to spend a few hours and it certainly does a decent enough job of emulating "Grand Theft Auto's" media-baiting exterior.

Not half as bad as the limp first few hours suggest. It's perhaps not the greatest company epitaph in the world but, as Devlin might say, while throwing himself out of a speeding car, knocking back a slug o' the good stuff and mashing a Nazi's head in with one punch: "It coulda been a lot worse."

The assured art direction results in one of the most striking and distinguished-looking games of the year, but this keenness of creativity isn't matched by a breadth or ambition of ideas elsewhere.

The lack of grouping levels does it a real disservice, and once again that it's a remix of an old PC game with a new title isn't enamouring. But the same hypnotic power is present here, and even now, having played the stupid thing to death, I've a horrible suspicion that if I loaded it again I'd end up playing all over again.

With nothing to aim for other than a slightly higher score, Food Processing feels like one of those apps which burns brightly and briefly before you move on to something more involved. That's a guaranteed few million sales, then.

The dull gameplay, horrible interface flaws and cringe-worthy political message of the game mark it out as a wasted opportunity, and a very black mark on the copybook of the C&C franchise.

While bugs may have been the bane of Dead Island, the underlying shabbiness of everything else still overwhelms Riptide. For as long as you don't notice the fundamental flaws in game systems and for as long as you can put up with the instantly forgettable story and mission objectives, this is a game where you can have a lot of fun improvising your way through hordes of the undead. Unfortunately, the game lasts twice as long as my patience for the duff bits held out.

Fantasy Life fails to capture either the lazy, pleasing routine of village life seen in Animal Crossing or the sense of urgency from the strongest Japanese RPGs. In its eagerness to offer variety, Fantasy Life somewhere lost its focus.

But for a few missing weapons, then (sorry - a few dozen missing weapons), this is as close to the series' peak as we've been since the days when the novelty hadn't worn off on the PC, and given the right company you'll find it quite approachable, with simple controls and the usual potential for comedy failure.

The biggest question mark is whether a big enough online community will spring up around it to allow it to fulfill its potential. Sadly, with a fair amount of optimisation issues rearing their heads early on, Quake Wars looks destined to line-up with the also-rans in the online shooter stakes.

When it's good it's fantastic, but when it's not it's a spirit sapping experience. That's Mafia in a nutshell - a flawed classic that'll certainly provide good rental value if nothing else.

However, at its marked-down price it does offer a low-risk introduction to the series for anyone who's not yet experienced the undeniably satisfying feeling of cleaving a path through an entire army of foot soldiers.

It does its job reasonably well, but blandness abounds, and the whole thing just looks like it's been rushed out to fulfil a contractual obligation, rather than a labour of love.

A fun arcade karting experience is often too chaotic for its own good, but a tight handling model with a high skill ceiling offers surprising depth.

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.

Contrast is a game of light and dark: a puzzle platformer with two well-realised female leads that occasionally buckles under the weight of its own mechanics. It's beautiful in parts, but also a little broken; I admire it for the first and can almost forgive it the second.

Astropop is a fun, but ultimately short-lived experience that's missing the X factor of the best puzzlers to drag you back for long.

In the end, it's a golf game fundamentally redesigned to its detriment, shorn of many of the little things that made up the rest of its appeal, and now merely flawed but enjoyable.

We appreciate the simplicity of the idea, but in the absence of the hidden depths we normally expect from this sort of game - or the ritual humiliation we now demand - it ultimately wears thin far too quickly.

It's the best portable Harvest Moon in quite some time, and the multiplayer is a promising development, but we're still waiting for another Friends of Mineral Town.

Its rough edges may have been sanded down, but in the process some of its unique personality has been lost. At a time where games like Dark Souls aren't afraid to put players through the wringer, it's disappointing that a title from Capcom of all publishers should feel, much like its doughy protagonist, a little soft around the middle.

John Carpenter's Toxic Commando blends Left 4 Dead-style zombie blasting with systems borrowed from Saber's back catalogue. The results work well enough, but are undermined by flabby mission design and unnecessary meta-progression.

Nine unspectacular turn-based mini-games, none of which you're likely to play alone or on a long-term basis. No matter how much you've been drinking.

It was always clear that Supreme Commander would be divisive on the 360 - and if you're expecting it to be hard, complex, and unforgiving, then you won't be surprised. But sadly, you're likely to find it ugly and a little unreliable too: you can fight your way through it if you want, but you may not enjoy it as much as you should.

But what ultimately takes some of the gloss off Bejeweled 2 isn't so much the overly harsh conditions required to earn achievements or unlock the extras, but the limitations of the control pad itself. Unlike the original PC version, or Zoo Keeper on the DS, you can't be as instant and intuitive when you're moving a cursor around the screen.

MouseCraft is always, noticeably and unapologetically, Lemmings meets Tetris - and like the mice of its title, it seems happy to scrabble about in the twin shadows of its genre-defining inspirations.

The core of SteamWorld Heist still burns brightly in this turn-based tactics sequel, but its bid to go bigger and better is a risk that hasn't quite paid off.

But while it does output a far greater degree of detail than the open spaces of GTA can afford, at no stage does it get anywhere near matching the accomplished environments of, say, "Splinter Cell," and its almost complete lack of narrative gives the proceedings a completely hollow feel to them.

Another polished, oily, neon-drenched street-racing game with bags of 'tude, some neat ideas, and a decent riff on the classic Ridge Racer drift handling. But with so many genuinely inspired driving games out there at the moment, the fact that Juiced 2 ended up merely solid is not enough when it needed a spark of inspiration to draw attention away from everything else out there.

SS2008 is a pleasant place to spend an occasional evening, but ultimately there's not enough challenge and realism here to distract a seasoned simmer for long.

In the ship combat, the depth of the trading, the spectacle of mass PVP, and the fine period detail - (the lovely music, the animated colour of the towns, the crew scrambling over the rigging of your ship) - Pirates of the Burning Sea is a highly specialised, but highly seductive game. It's a hobbyist's paradise. Unfortunately, you'll need to be a hobbyist to put up with its many serious flaws.

Though the game is initially good fun, there just isn’t enough variety to sustain interest for too long, and I can’t see myself picking it up again anytime soon for another blast.

For everyone else, it's a tough and not entirely rewarding slog that you may tire of before you see the fruits of your labour. If you're not prepared to wallow in the minutiae of Dragon Ball Z, there are far more competent fighters out there.

If you've got an eye for twitch shooters and reckon you've got what it takes, then 500 points is a small price to pay.

Although the overall atmosphere is far removed from the tense, dialogue-heavy trappings of the film, this is a consistently enjoyable action game that will keep you entertained for the few hours it lasts.

If you already have the Sims 2 on PS2, it depends on how much you want to buy the same game again, but with dogs and cats.

All told, it's just a solid, by-the-numbers "Virtua Tennis" clone with a generic cast of Clap Hanz creations. If you really must have a tennis game on your PS2, the bargain basement will serve you far better than this rather apologetic 'will this do?' offering.

It doesn't contain any real surprises and it does exactly what you'd expect a Formula One game to do. It's a faithful simulation of the sport: just like the real thing, it's mildly diverting, good for soaking up a hangover at the weekend but goes on far too long.

First Light is an adequate diversion for fans but unlikely to dazzle anybody else.

The Dynasty Warrior reign is not in decline. It is, however, in danger of getting complacent.

While Go! Puzzle succeeds in so many ways (particularly in its multiplayer battle modes) the bottom line is that none of the core games are anywhere near to matching the fun of, say Tetris or even a 'lower tier' classic like "Lumines."

If you're a long-term fan and haven't already bought it on one of innumerable compilations out there, then 400 points is just about tolerable for a game of this importance and stature.

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.

Starfield pairs near-impossible breadth with a classic Bethesda aptitude for systemic physics, magnetic sidequests, and weird vignettes. But in sacrificing direct exploration for the sake of sheer scale, there's nothing to bind it together.

As a conversion of an acclaimed handheld game, Dark Mirror is a touch sloppy. It doesn't feel like much effort has been made to optimise the game for the PS2, either in looks or gameplay, and the omission of online play and crispy-fried taser fun will only annoy fans expecting a full conversion. And yet...I still kind of like it.

If you wish Breakout games looked and sounded like they were made by Amiga obsessives in the early nineties, Ricochet HD might have an unlikely allure. The rest of you should probably look up far superior Shatter.

It's perhaps unsurprising, given the matinee idol lineage of the series, that Lara Croft's set-piece adventures work so well carved into chunks, yet - even if it's not as long as you fancied, and there's a bit too much shooting - it's still a pleasure to spend a few more hours with one of gaming's most graceful legends.

A shift away from single-player leaves Call of Duty with its most lopsided and homogenous entry in decades, though what it does offer is consistently good fun when accepted on its own terms.

If SOCOM is to remain Sony's flagship online war title, it needs a complete overhaul in time for its PS3 outing.

it's an enjoyable plug in the market until number three, and perfectly acceptable for Naruto fans, albeit not absolutely essential for those happy with what they've got, or what they'll get in the future.

Junior F1 fans will love it - and maybe older enthusiasts will find it lifts their spirits just a bit in the off-season, too.

In spite of its steep learning curve, dearth of content, and lack of depth (both figuratively and literally), Steel Diver grew on me. It may have less to do with being a submarine commander than Trauma Center does with being a doctor, but it's a novel premise nonetheless, and the tactile fidgeting with the sub's controls is strangely rewarding.

Playing "Wave Race" again earlier today, we just had more fun.

It's a real shame that the MMO aspect of World is effectively a needlessly elaborate lobby.

Structural complexity and a magpie's eye for pilfering makes for a strange, fragmentary journey into nightmare.

As bland as it looks, Lost Cities is a well-designed card game with more depth than most, but this version does little to justify the leap from deck to joypad.

It involves a bit more lateral thinking than the average puzzle game, and it doesn't outstay its welcome or exceed its mandate more than is forgivable. But puzzle games can be and often are a lot better than this.

A charming novelty game, well presented and simply and effectively executed. Just don't go expecting anything more than your thirteen pounds' worth.

Somewhere along the line there was a wholesale misunderstanding of what made Sands of Time good, and the result of the change in approach is a game that manages to be less likable in just about every single way.

For me, though, Your Doodles Are Bugged strayed perilously close to feeling like work.

There are also some very sloppy mistakes, which are just frequent enough to make you wonder whether the game was proofread and fact-checked.

Put bluntly, the combat and AI is merely average, the visuals don't really wow, and the much-vaunted weaponry makes little difference to how it plays. To say we're underwhelmed is the understatement of the year.

I'm all for games that want you to reach the end, and encourage you to stay on board for the whole ride, but, assuming that the vast majority of people following the series are experienced point-and-click players, this is starting to feel patronising. When the actual core gameplay becomes an undemanding routine, that's a dangerous position for an episodic series which needs to keep players playing.

If you can adapt to the control eccentricities, there's plenty to recommend, but you might find it too much like hard work at times.

There's just not enough to the game, and by the time you're frantically scribbling increasingly complicated symbols in order to chip away the health of some super-blocking AI opponent, the initially appealing simplicity of the concept proves a hindrance rather than a help.

If you can adapt to the control eccentricities, there's plenty to recommend, but you might find it too much like hard work at times.

Still, this is Cave we're talking about - the masters of Stress Gaming. What did you expect?

Me? I would grudgingly buy it, despite feeling that I was being charged too much for too little. I guess that makes me part of the problem.

What's left is the nucleus of a Metroidvania game, mechanically functional and regularly interesting, but a shadow of its inspiration nonetheless.

Lengthy play of Urban Chaos is a double-edged sword, in fairness. You'll come to admire the arcade structure and the way it taps into gamers' motivations to unlock everything, but the longer you play it, the more you'll spot the cracks in the AI, the level design and some bloody weird bugs.

Amidst the unremitting chaos, there's something fractured to admire in Trouble Witches Neo, especially if you can drag a friend into some co-operative mayhem. At least download the trial, but maybe get into the spirit first by putting on some Elton John shades, wearing a pink wig and wolfing down a big bag of Haribo.

Crazy Golf is hardly a revolution in handheld gaming, but sometimes all you want to do of a day is flick balls across pretend courses, if only to ward off the impending existential crisis.

This is a glorified DLC pack on a disc, but it didn't need glorification - it needed the simultaneous release of the track-list on the music store, and store compatibility, as a minimum, if it was ever to engender any goodwill.

Shaun White's ideas are starting to look a little thin on the ground. You'll still likely enjoy playing World Stage for the four or five hours it will take to see a fair amount of what's on offer, but when it's all over, it may be harder to argue that the game itself is particularly special.

It mixes it with the big boys in the early bouts, but it's never going to go the distance. We'd hold out for "Soul Calibur II."

Shadow's campaign provides some of the best 3D levels of the series, but it's coupled with a dated and unnecessary remaster. If only Sega went all-in on the future.

It lacks cohesion, and ultimately frustrates too intensely and too often to keep your satisfaction at the right levels.

The biggest problem with the game is that it's simple but devoid of real depth. Without the challenge of precision-aiming, it becomes easy to blunder through levels without much planning and the experience is shallow and repetitive for it.

I appreciated the chance to play the lost levels, but it didn't take long to explore them all - and in 2008 they just didn't have the same "wow" factor that they might have had in 2001. Newcomers who own a PS2 would be better off purchasing "Twisted Metal: Black."

In The Azoth of Destiny, these smaller cogs have been removed in favour of a more cumbersome larger gimmick and, as a result, grinding the sequel through its revolutions is tiresome and often unrewarding work.

The melee combat feels laboured, the boss fights repetitive and contrived, while the timed sequences largely frustrate to the point of desperate exasperation.

The Unfinished Swan is gentle and beguiling, but also thematically patchy and insecure in its own merits, choosing to constantly introduce less interesting new gameplay systems rather than fully explore any single motif.

But the bigger problem seems to be that developer Bluepoint Games has gone after two audiences at once, and it hasn't really done enough for either.

An entertaining package when it gets things right, but it's also riddled with design flaws, technical flaws and various minor irritations that conspire to detract from your overall enjoyment.

If you can get over a difficult start and fancy a lean take on the survival genre, Atomfall delivers an intriguing tale worth discovering.

Kinect Sports Rivals is a well-constructed game with an enjoyable structure and smartly integrated multiplayer. But it's already looking dated as it continues to struggle against the limitations of its chosen interface.

The First Descendant is neither bad nor outstanding. It doesn't do anything particularly well, but it doesn't do anything insanely badly either. A mid-range shooter that is outshone by the greats of the genre.

Vietcong and its expansion pack ultimately succeed in providing an approximation of the horrors of jungle warfare. The shit-scared feeling of imminent death is translated as well as anyone has managed to date, although perhaps for many FPS fans this might not equate to a fun gaming experience.