Visually, then, Pop-up Pilgrims is a hit, providing something unique to look at in a shooter-obsessed world. Unfortunately the gameplay proves to be paper-thin and veteran VR users will absolutely find the package to be an underwhelming experience.

An homage to the genre-blending classic ActRaiser that never quite gets off the ground.

It's rough around the edges, and amuses only for a short but sweet time, which may lead some to look askance at the price tag. Yet there are plenty of games which cost more and entertain far less, so while Goat Simulator is a joke, it's at least one in which the player is a willing participant. No kidding.

Islands of Wakfu has a hand-made, nutty charm that generally eases even the sharpest of aggravations. As a standalone it may not be as measured or as involving as its MMO big brother, but it retains enough character and spectacle to overcome the handful of rough spots.

This isn't the most charismatic racing series around, perhaps, but Road Trip is a surprisingly enjoyable instalment nonetheless. It's colourful, cheerful and a decent showcase for Sony's brand new hardware.

It's a sensation I don't feel very often in games, and in that moment all the frustration, the annoying bugs, the torturous dialogue, felt worthwhile. Take on Mars isn't short of problems, but when everything works together, it really does feel like you're there.

Some of the most touted improvements are distinctly underwhelming. The "detailed, story-driven, semi-dynamic campaign" turns out to be a poorly presented, poorly paced string of twenty-odd scenarios offering sod-all in the way of continuity or sense of progress.

Until Pivotal finally delivers a game where the enemies don't run at you like angry suicidal goats, and teaches your squad-mates to find proper cover it's never going to be worth more than the 6/10 score we slap on it every single year.

Unfortunately, Let's Golf 3D isn't one to get overly excited about, and in a market drowning in rival offerings, you won't have far to look to find a better one.

If you do know your Kakashis from your Irukas, add a couple of points to the score and think about picking this up. For everyone else, games like Kingdom Hearts 2 and Ninja Gaiden offer far more substantial and rewarding adventures in a similar vein. Everyone's a winner, basically. Hurrah.

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 tolerate the predictable levels, bad AI, targeting nonsense and the general sea of mediocrity that persists throughout then you might discover a flicker of entertainment.

Thoughtful, mysterious and haunting, Trauma is best approached as a curio. Its execution is arguably stronger than its ideas, and the narrative trajectory of the game has no surprises in it, outside of the surreal tone. But as an artwork exploring the mind of a trauma victim, its singular voice and approach stick in the mind.

GRIN clearly has the capacity to go beyond what it does in Wanted, and it's a shame that the game only aspires to be a competent, mildly inventive extension of the film.

In many ways, Resident Evil Zero provides a timely reminder of the things we miss about old style survival-horror. The heavy emphasis on puzzles, slower pace and the harrowing boss encounters make it feel more like a true horror adventure, and once you get to grips with its foibles it becomes strangely satisfying and rewarding.

If you're the lucky parent of patient children or you're happy enough to relive faded old glories, then you might just find enough here to justify the price. Everyone else should probably steer clear of what could have been a solid platformer, but quickly becomes an all-too-familiar grind.

You could get away with this kind of guff in 1994 when we were all thrilled just to have justification for the £180 we'd shelled out for a CD-ROM add-on. Walking around a 3D tech demo was interactive! And immersive!

But this game is just too slow, bottom line, and lacks the finesse and style required to elevate a street racer above the ranks of just plain average.

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.

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.

A bizarrely hollow yet mechanically competent open world action RPG that struggles to justify its own existence.

To describe what EA has produced here as dreadful would be to do a terrible disservice to things that merely inspire dread.

For us, it's an enjoyable hackandslash with a thoughtful combat system, some nice integration of RPG elements, and a story that kept us interested once it stopped trying to confuse us by failing to clarify who or what anything was or had to do with anything.

I've got a huge soft spot for Super Bomberman R; it's a gentle throwback to simpler times, and a welcome revival for a local multiplayer classic for what's set to be an outstanding local multiplayer machine. An effective slice of nostalgia, then, albeit one that comes at a considerable price.

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

Republic would quite probably work excellently as a well-implemented "spreadsheet" style game; the 3D element is worse than pointless, and just gets in the way of the gameplay.

It is blighted on so many levels by the blundering stupidity of its malformed stillborn design that recommending it is beyond us. The blue pill never looked so tasty.

After Red Storm beauties like "Raven Shield" and "Splinter Cell," and even more recent efforts like "Vietcong", Conflict: Desert Storm on the GameCube is a pretty embarrassing release.