It's a tribute act: one that initially delights through recognition, but ultimately feels hollow and counterfeit.

A versatile build system allows for experiments with deep skill trees and unusual crafting mechanics - but after the initial excitement of creating those builds, momentum fades.

If you can look past the lack of polish and horrible graphics, there's a compelling and unique take on cover-based shooters here, along with an interesting lesson on how games deal with plot. It's a rewarding little game, if you can hack it.

But this game is also clunky, burdened with terrible songs and much too weird for most people. It's a quirky alternative to Dance Central, but not a competitor.

Rise of the Underminer lacks the imagination, variation and challenge of a game like "R&C," and for that it doesn't deserve any more than the score we're about to give it.

The truth is that there's more than a whiff of exploitation about this wholly unnecessary release - especially as it's a game which few people rated highly in the first place. Although it does benefit from better controls, that doesn't disguise how boring the storyline is, or how mediocre the missions are.

But Scurge is still hugely attractive - packed with charismatic enemy design and pin-sharp pixel-art, it's a real looker, in its old-fashioned way - moderately addictive, mildly nostalgic, and pleasantly to the point.

This button mashing hackandslash lark needs an injection of new ideas - RPG pretensions don't hide the core fact that Otogi feels a pretty vacuous beast: gorgeous or not.

As it is this is kind of game that neither soaks up my general leisure time, not leaves me yearning for a clan. I've enjoyed my time messing around with it, but I don't feel compelled to return to the game for more serious consideration, as I seem to with a whole bunch of other multiplayer titles.

What "Allied Assault" and "Frontline" had that "Spearhead" and "Breakthrough" seem less concerned with is the feeling of a battle raging all around you... Breakthrough's trek to Italy almost feels isolated and distant.

But more importantly, you do get to 'be' the Fantastic 4 and experiment with some really rather excellent superpowers, and the game isn't so bad that a serious fan couldn't overlook its flaws.

Although this doesn't exactly break the mould, figuring out Da Vinci's secrets is generally a pleasurable stroll through a variety of well-crafted and largely logical puzzles and mini-games. The lack of psychotic monks and professors of symbology is an added bonus.

Once the combat stops being a one-button-win it builds into a genuinely captivating series of varied events and manages to present the futile bloodlust in an unsympathetic light, yet making the process of limb removal, beheading or carving someone's torso straight down the middle a thrilling experience.

There is a soul to the game, an integrity that tries hard to smooth over many of the game's rough edges.

Stealth Inc. 2 falls short of the games I'd consider its peers, never quite capturing the simple ingenuity of Toki Tori 2, the nervy thrills of Mark of the Ninja, nor the physical comedic energy of 'Splosion Man. It's just too demanding and too laborious too often.

Staking its claim in the under populated wilderness betwixt classic story-driven RPG and balls-to-the-wall splatter action, it's a worthy evolution of a still-fresh franchise and a rather impressive addition to the PSP line up in its own right.

Bliss Island is about as uninspired as mini-game compilations get, with a flavourless selection of challenges and a half-hearted attempt at adding charm and character.

Just don't expect quality, consistency, coherence, or any kind of worthy challenge to the head muscle, or the trigger finger.

You know what to do: if you want an arcade perfect, no frills port of Galaga then that's what you'll get, but you can probably get your fix by simply downloading the free trial. The lure of global leaderboards (and a succession of largely identical levels) in the full version adds something of a gloss for the retro obsessives, but that's about it.

The game's single biggest problem is that while it starts off by making you laugh most of the time, it's not long before it slips into a formulaic procession of irregular gags and the same basic gameplay elements cut and pasted from start to stop.

Suffice to say, there's a lot going on in Warrior Epic. But at this early stage - effectively, still a public open beta - it still feels rough, and a long way from fulfilling its potential.

The scoring system is extremely forgiving. As long as you make some kind of noise the song bars will fill up, though they'll vary in colour from red to green depending on how well you're doing. At the end of your performance you'll get comments from the judges. Some of these are a bit snidey, but not enough to make anyone cry.

The beautiful graphics and authentic Trek feel aren't enough to overcome the confused AI, awkward interface and glacially slow pace in what is ultimately a disappointing game.

Even if you can forgive the technical cock-ups and lack of multiplayer action, all you're left with is a fairly uninspired single player campaign that'll take you all of 12 hours to finish.

For what is one of the few Xbox-only Japanese titles, you'd expect much more than almost featureless corridors, and only the occasional glimpses of artistic talent from Namco's team.

This generation is drowning in impossibly good racing games. If you want something technical, you've got DiRT, if you want something easygoing, you've got SEGA Rally, if you want something cool, you've got PGR4, if you want Nascar 08, you've got problems.

Warhammer Quest is a competent example of a digital board game but in trying to sand its sharp edges and ensure that it's accessible to all, Rodeo has oversimplified the already slight source material.

A mild downhill racer with too many glitches, and beyond the grinding, nothing to do with its licence. The Wiimote controls don't ruin it, despite the madness of the button use, but they don't add anything a regular analogue stick couldn't have made easier.