Okabu's first impression is dazzling because it gets the audio and visual design absolutely right, but it has neither the depth nor imagination to sustain this. And when the simple act of playing isn't fun, you're just going through the motions.

Though it doesn't stray far from the standard survival game formula and often lacks polish, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria offers a moody, atmospheric descent through Tolkien's world - with plenty of lighter moments to be found along the way.

Dark Void's extremely short campaign - with no motivation for replay and no multiplayer options - is more like a portfolio of half-baked concepts hurriedly crammed into an uninspired package for ease of presentation, more show-reel than show-stopper.

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.

Personally, I found the handling a touch too heavy for my tastes, with accurate cornering a skill that needs more practice than most fair-weather fans will want to bother with. Committed bike nuts, however, will be in hog heaven.

With just six short chapters to wade through, Saw is never in any danger of outstaying its welcome, despite its flaws, and that's probably just as well. Its puzzle-centric design is satisfying for a while, but the game's reliance on the same stock challenges wears thin, as does the hilariously broken combat.

With a predictable storyline, childishly designed puzzles and some simply awful graphics, there is very little to haul this game from the clutches of Pantsville!

Instead of the kind of solid, varied combat which the RTS genre has been steadily evolving towards over the years, Ancient Wars: Sparta falls back on resource management for its core gameplay. Distressingly, this is a sub-"Age Of Empires" affair which rapidly becomes a chore.

A nice puzzle/adventure based on struggle and sadness, able to grab the player in a beautiful world made of paper and shadows. LucasArts has created a deep gameplay system evolving the Lemmings formula and linking it to a Tetris touch. Try it and you'll experience few hours of intense pleasure.

Playing World Series is like going to see your favourite band live and finding out most of their setlist is made up of new songs. It's nice to see something new, but that's not why you bought your tickets. You bought them so you could mosh along to the oldies.

It's all just a bit sad really, and while devoted Jackson fans will find more reason than most to gloss over the practical shortcomings of the game, they run the risk of being left even sadder.

It's a shame that SEGA opted for a simple port rather than properly updating the series, but this is still a fine game - if extremely niche in its appeal.

While fun once through, the broken online component and repetitive design means this'll soon be consigned to a dusty game shelf never to be played again.

It's a measure of how far we've come that just over 20 years ago the sight of blood alone was enough to shock and offend, whereas now it is nowhere near enough.

A wasted opportunity; one that turns your anger to frustration then to plain, empty sadness.

The problem lies in the way you coast through the levels without any real sense of progress or achievement until you realise you’re finished.

"SmackDown" retains the belt.

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.

a stuttering start for F1 on the 3DS.

A wonky blaster retains its charm, but Rogue Trooper still deserves better.

So, while Hydrophobia breaks new water, it treads old ground. The systems beneath the ebb and flow of its technical accomplishment are archaic and, without exception, lack finesse.

Eve Online is now 10 years old. Dust 514 may also have a decade of evolution ahead of it, so I hope this is far from the last word on what has started out as a distinctly average and rather buggy shooter. It could well be a game with a bright future, but right now it's saddled with a very dull debut.

There's the kernel of something really interesting in The Spiderwick Chronicles. Glimmers of a free-roaming kids adventure game with RPG overtones, based on actual folklore. Sadly, it only manages to be that game for an hour or so, before steadily becoming less interesting and more generic and annoying, culminating in an ending that is absolutely cruel considering the age of the intended player.

Beautiful music, cute visuals, and a peculiarly charming attitude make you want to like it. Recognising that it's aimed at younger players makes you want to forgive it. But it cannot be denied that this is a big ol' mess of nice ideas executed badly, with the most important ingredient completely missing.

"V-Rally 3" may have glitches and the same Outrun-style engine mechanics, but it's more fun than Sega Rally, and that's a shame, because otherwise this has all the trappings of an excellent rally game.

Put it this way: if your kid gets stuck on a game like Open Season, you know something's amiss. Consider it a good test of whether videogames really are for them.

It strikes me as an unrefined throwback that recreates a cult game without asking how it might have evolved in the past couple of decades, or what it can bring to modern racing games that they have been missing since then. It's a time capsule, a way to step back into that smoky living room and close the door behind you. I had fun back then, but these days I'd rather leave the door open - I think we need the air.

If you were a massive fan of the Lego Star Wars games then by all means check out Bionicle Heroes - to a very large degree it looks like the same game, and as such you'll get the same kind of grinding enjoyment out of mining all the levels for booty.