After years in the wilderness, RTS is pretty cool again right now, and something as cheerfully straightforward as this is just what's needed to stop the big braininess of "Company of Heroes" and "Supreme Commander" leading to another plunge into an inaccessibility that turns more casual players off the whole genre.

EA has shoe-horned a PS2 game onto the Wii with little thought for what the platform is actually meant to do, and lo and behold - the result is a distinctly below average, derivative, boring and badly implemented mess.

I can't see anyone who enjoyed Oblivion enough to get through the main quest <I>not</I> buying this. There's lashings of new fighting and exploring, and it's more gorgeous than ever before.

Symphony of the Night presents exquisite design, extraordinary scope, aesthetic coherence and transcendent elegance mostly unmatched elsewhere on Xbox Live Arcade, or anywhere else for that matter.

It's a warped behemoth from the Ukraine, and one of the scariest games on the PC. Stalker will remind you of all kinds of prior games, and yet it will also defy your expectations. Like the mythological Chernobyl zone it is based upon, this game is a treacherous, darkly beautiful terrain. Not everyone is going to enjoy venturing into the zone, but some of those who do will find what they've been looking for.

Regardless of whether you've played a Virtua Tennis game or not, this is one of those games that no self-respecting gamer should miss out on, because not only is it the best tennis game on the market, it's also one of the best sports games ever made, full stop.

Even though it's lazy journalism of the worst kind, it's also a pretty accurate summation of Unlimited's appeal - a game where the journey is just as enjoyable as the destination.

Some gamers might relish this challenge, but the lack of any in-mission saving combined with unforgiving objectives and an imperfect interface will prove overly frustrating for many.

Ubisoft have given us a gripping, gorgeous, WW2 submarine sim, it's just a bit of a shame its fundamentally so similar to the last gripping, gorgeous, WW2 submarine sim they gave us. Finger-crossed Silent Hunter 5: Meerkats of the Med will be braver.

Armored Core 4 is more accessible than its predecessors; and at its core, beneath the complicated controls and imposing arsenal of body parts, it's a pretty simple, superfast, graceful and smart mech-combat game, and it deserves your attention. [JPN Import]

An effortlessly engaging, if rather slender, dose of wanton destruction that should satisfy the appetites of both retro fans and mainstream gamers without alienating either group.

Whereas the DS game could be defended for ignoring significant depth for the sake of accessibility, Cook Off's controls are simply too ropey for it to earn any flavour of respect, and leave its repetitive, flash-in-the-pan mini-games open to assault.

It has excellent local wireless multiplayer.

It has excellent local wireless multiplayer.

Action RPG veterans who are looking for a new challenge for their over-muscled index fingers could do a hell of a lot worse than investing a few hours (and indeed a few pounds) in Silverfall. It's no giant of the genre, but it's a pretty decent snack between meals.

It gives you well over a hundred weapons to try out, masses of difficulty levels, and explosions so big that you'll worry they may crack the front of your television. Earth Defence Force 2017 isn't a complex cocktail. It's a Molotov cocktail.

Generally a decent, well-thought out and enjoyable conversion.

It's a package that knows exactly why people want to buy it and lives up to their expectations; that it uses a little imagination along the way is a bonus. You'll either want it or have no use for it, so the number down there doesn't matter a great deal.

Controller novelty value can't disguise its one-trick limitations or the vanilla production values, and there's no doubt that it should have been released at a budget price. One to rent, then.

If you like the sound of a game which feels a lot like playing an extremely early build of Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time on a broken television then go ahead and drop forty notes on this abomination.

Your on-screen plane may capture, almost perfectly, the movements of the Wiimote in your hand, and a trio of extra moves - the speed boost, rapid brake and 180-degree turn, activated by thrusting the Wiimote, pulling it quickly back and flicking the point to the left or right - allow for a greater range of movement options, but the degree to which it accepts input is actually counter-productive, often forcing you slightly off-line when you're trying to approach something at a precise angle.

The most significant obstacle to most peoples' enjoyment of the first game - namely, the over-dependant partner - has been removed, and so I really hope that Lost in Blue 2 will win a few new fans as well as delighting the old ones. There's a lovely and unique game in here, if you've the patience to find it.

Being able to swap profiles using Wi-Fi is a nice touch, but we don't need to be touched, we need to be manhandled.

The huge time investment required to make anything that resembles progress means that this is hardly the best place for newcomers to start but by stark contrast, there's no better Yu-Gi-Oh! title on the market in terms of card lists, AI and sheer longevity.

a horribly clichéd plot and a fairly tedious single player mode, but it does have a nice online mode and asks you to rub your robot's crotch to make sure it's working properly.

Put next to the (unfairly derided) Lumines Live, Tetris Evolution is clunky, overpriced and devoid of compelling new features, and with the Xbox 360 controller's directional pad putting in its usual awkward performance, it's hard to think of a reason to recommend this to anybody.

The absence of any truly teeth-gnashing puzzles means that experienced players will rattle through this tropical romp in short order, but the experience will at least be an overwhelmingly enjoyable one.

Turtles is about as shallow as gaming gets, with even less to offer than Renegade, a game already three years old by the time this hit the arcade...Even at 400 points, that's pretty shoddy value.

Maybe the one notable down-side of this incredible sequel is that it is 'just' the second part of a game we all loved two years ago, and even die-hards like myself have to acknowledge that. As such, as refined and honed as the gameplay is as a whole, you can never quite replicate the wow factor of the original - even if it ends up being a better game.

Persevere with Nintendo's prodigious little joy-stick, and you'll be richly rewarded, because there's a good game in here.

But really this is a game that makes you wonder why people are still churning out first person shooters on the PSP - not least because it's probably one of the best, and yet it's still not really good enough.

A slick and stylish boxing game that plays like a champ when you're winning, but is worryingly featherweight when it comes to defensive options.

The clichéd storyline is accompanied by plenty of hammily acted cut-scenes, and the whole package is ultimately pretty forgettable. There's some nautical mileage in the sea battles, but that's not nearly enough.

Northern Strike is a polished offering, a lot more than the token handful of stuff draped around the glinting trophy of new unlocks it could have been.

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.

It's still splendid - it's just infuriating that so much of what makes it such a delight has been lost in translation.

Disney has clearly tried to make a vastly more flexible and more varied game to Pokémon but, in doing so, has broken that game's more elegant flow and focus of ideas.

ICON may look the business, but it falls down in that most crucial of areas - it makes fighting a chore rather than an enjoyable experience.

Burnout: Dominator is a perfectly functional stopgap, and Criterion has stayed absolutely true to its game's ethos. This is about as basic a game it could produce that would still retain the series' impressive reputation.

It's perfectly pitched between the frustration of failure and the high-speed, adrenaline-fuelled euphoria of success, and it's a welcome return to a more old-school Burnout formula.

As a full-priced offering, though, the goal posts have moved, and it's hard not to feel a little short changed by the short-lived single player campaign and how similar the whole thing feels. In many ways, GRAW 2 is the classic quick-fire sequel - short on new ideas, but big on polishing what we know and love. But these days, isn't that what people want?

Let's be excited about the fact that it still manages to feel incredibly fresh, immediate and exotic, in spite of its notoriety. Bolstered for its European release, it ought to be a classic, but right now it's simply excellent. [JPN Import]

An ode to joy is exactly what Peggle is. It's a constant series of rewards, slapping you on the back and tickling you affectionately under the chin for what you achieve by design and accident alike - the purest of celebrations of what videogames are all about.

The sad fact is that there isn't a single spark of imagination or joy in this entire game. Despite some obvious effort, Wario: Master of Disguise is just utterly tedious in every respect and an absolute chore to play.

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.

There's something gripping about the constant surge of beast-slaughter, and who am I to deny such primal urges?

The story in question is an absolute belter.

An excellent 'story so far' game that delivers pretty much the whole Tekken experience thus far for an astonishingly inconsequential seven quid. More than that though, it's a hard-hitting fly-kick to the face of the software industry - a standard bearer that redefines the value and content level of downloadable games.

Few games of late have required such a concerted dedication to pure blasting, and few have ever provided such a visual feast, either.

Solid, but uninspiring.

If you've already sampled the mesmeric magnificence of either of the PSP versions, or of the Xbox Live version, or of the mobile phone version, you won't be surprised, or challenged, by anything included here.

If you've never played any of the Dancing Stage games, it's well worth a try - but don't buy the Xbox 360 version. For the same money you could pick up one of the old PS2 games and two mats. Or, best of all, spend a very happy afternoon down the Trocadero.

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.

Bullet Witch's graphics can switch from breathtaking to tawdry in the bat of an eyelid, just as quickly as the action can veer between exhilarating sensory barrage and tedious, repetitive trawl.

Maybe if the developers had taken a risk and gone for more polish in the combo system and great level design instead of loads of game modes this could have been something really interesting.

The net result of all this control confusion is that SSX Blur demands just as much mastery as its predecessors, but sets the bar for entry much higher, and never gives you the sense you're fully in control of clearing it.

The weather effects are quite wonderful, and there's something perfectly cosy about having a snowstorm fluttering outside the window, but they only change the game as much as you want them to. After the tenth rainstorm, the novelty starts to wane.

So the only niggle is not that this doesn't sufficiently differentiate itself from previous games in the series. No, the only niggle is that the combat camera angle is too low.

Not only are there better looking, more advanced games on the shelves now, there are also simply better games out there; this genre hasn't stood still since Jade Empire came out.

Where KOTT2 does shed points and shed lots of them is its lack of distinctiveness and character. There really isn't one fresh idea or genuine surprise here. That's unforgivable.

Comment on the solid but surprise-free multiplayer mode recognising that most buyers will never touch it.

Wise WW2 strategy gamers will stick with "Company of Heroes" and "Faces of War" for the moment.

Abe Lincoln Must Die is by no means a 'bad' episode, but it feels like the series is stuck in something of a rut already. I just hope it's not too late for the talented people at the studio to get it firmly back on track for the last two episodes and end this bold episodic experiment in style.

FlOw is what it is - download it in the full knowledge that you're participating in an experiment of sorts and I think you'll get good value from your £3.49. If you're looking for something more like a conventional game, I'd lop off a mark or two from the final score.

Poor controls, lacklustre source material and almost non-existent extras all combine to make this one to avoid unless you have a particularly nostalgic longing for this particular slice of gaming antiquity.

It's a great playground of war - one that would be done more justice by a better game for sure, but the exaggerated entertainment value of the Ascension and Hai-Genti factions go a long towards making up for Maelstrom's shortcomings.

The games that are presented on Metal Slug Anthology are a marvel of art and design. There are, frequently, excruciatingly tough but all of their peaks are surmountable by the persistent and/or the talented.

One criticism is perhaps that some of the Disney icons are difficult to distinguish. Another is that the unlockables aren't marshalled into such a sophisticated structure as in the original. But apart from those minor gripes, Disney Magic is every bit as good as the original.

To complain that Virtua Fighter 5 isn't accessible enough would be like complaining that a black and white film isn't colourful enough, or that a vegetable dish isn't meaty enough. VF5 sets out to create the world's best beat 'em up for beat 'em up aficionados, and it succeeds.

This is a game about Going Fast and Jumping, and, at last, its designers have realised that that's exactly what we want to do with Sonic. The Going Fast is brilliant, the Jumping is fantastic, and we have big smiles on our faces. Sonic is back.

Being so excellent that you obliterate the single-player in a weekend is not enough to stop it being my favourite Xbox 360 game of recent times.

Punchy and immaculately produced, NBA Street Homecourt is a great jumping-on point for a simple, entertaining and really well-designed series.

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.

Fairly dull - a sensation that the "zany" presentation usually accentuates. The Vs. mode makes up for it slightly, as you try and outpace your friend, but even then it's hardly essential, despite a single-cart download-play option.

For all its grandeur, it'll simply feel too much like hard work for anyone who wasn't already sold on the concept - a timeless classic should have more universal appeal. It's a triumphant achievement nevertheless, a just reward for anyone who's ever lost their heart to an RTS - a love letter to the fans.

The game quickly gets repetitive, and becomes one of those retro games you'll dip into now and then rather than have extensive score-beating sessions on like the best games on Xbox Live Arcade.

As an added bonus, even the multiplayer mode is fully supported online via the somewhat underused infrastructure mode. That said, we should perhaps stress that four player multiplayer is very much a 'bonus' rather than something to get massively excited about.

If you have the sort of disposable income that allows you to spend thirty quid on a short-lived and rather bland diversion, or if you have an intensely adolescent fondness for flames, skulls and chains, then I dare say you'll find Ghost Rider to be 'not that bad'. And it's not.

It's a great game in so many respects, and we're overflowing with admiration that Revolution stuck to its purity of vision about what an adventure game can and should be about in the mid noughties. But when you're sat in front of the monitor filled with rage because of some utterly obscure puzzle, you'll have to question whether consistently busting a player's balls in so many ways is the right approach these days.

The Warriors more than holds its own on its transition to the PSP. For a start, it's still a perfectly playable, charming and downright brutal game - there really is nothing quite as ludicrous on the shelves today.

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's worth a look if you're short of a good portable adventure, but it's not quite smashing.

The nagging question is why on earth should a second-rate FPS game that's so indebted to its peers - and one of which, in the case of BF2, does a persistent character thing for free - think it can get away with demanding a subscription fee for any of its content? Answer: It really can't.

It stops being fun alarmingly quickly.

Like all the best games, there's a whole world of subtle strategy beneath this simple concept and the Street Fighter branding is cleverly used.

If you weren't around for the old days Micro Machines, and you're desperate for something to race around on the DS, this is a solid, straightforward game that should keep you going, providing you can put up with its inherent foibles.

Lunar Knights is a plain idea wrapped in an ornate cloak; peek underneath and its fleshy action adventure innards look a little bony. Crucially, without the sunlight gimmick it's lost the ability to truly stand out from the crowd.

What we have is solid, and refinements could propel it back to glory, but really it's high time we started over from scratch...It's hard not to think that the series has taken a noticeable step backwards at a time when EA's busy taking giant steps with "FIFA."

If you've been suffering with the last version in whatever form, success will be a lot sweeter for it, too.

If you're looking for a fully featured PES game, you'll obviously need to look to other formats, but if you're just after a decent facsimile that allows you to enjoy the magic of a flying football, you might find the series' best feature to be its saving grace on the DS.

Snobbery be damned, Life Stories is a thoroughly enjoyable crossover between an established series and the world of casual games.

Insipid character and course design married with inherently repetitive gameplay, obsessive collecting and an array of horrible touchscreen features make this feel like a waste of time. It's got plenty of content, and is a perfectly serviceable, occasionally competitive kart racer, but there's not much distinguishing about it.

In 1994 the fresh gameplay ideas Final Fantasy 6 brought to the RPG genre, coupled with the highly enjoyable story, brilliant ensemble cast and stirring score would have made the game an easy, trailblazing Eurogamer 10. It's either a remarkable testament to the original development team's vision and skill, or a damning indictment of a genre that this is so very nearly the case thirteen years on.

For now, Vanguard is a game which has plenty to offer a brave adventurer with a stunning PC. Aside from any design or content problems we've identified with the game, potential buyers need to be aware that they're entering a world which, as a prominent WOW character would have it, is not prepared.

This is undeniably still a good, enjoyable and very pretty game. Nevertheless, at this time, from this developer, Eurogamer won't be alone in mourning the fact it's not nearer a perfect, staggering and beautiful one instead.

It's a game that does things a little differently from its peers, and has the rare distinction of being a game that stands out in its own right. But the very fact that it's an action game with a strategic bent also makes it quite tough to appreciate at first.

It's a sub-par offering in almost every respect, chock full of insipid, charmless, half-baked zero-fun games that would embarrass a start-up indie studio.

So few games display such effortless charm, and even fewer are rammed with as much warm humour.