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

There's a good day or so's simple, colourful fun in there for those who can stomach Bomberman's sugar-coated world.

This is DLC that sticks to what has worked in the past while taking tentative steps towards a different formula in which Call of Duty is many games under one banner. Action movie, slasher horror, sci-fi conspiracy - they're all in here, and often competing with each other.

Even hardened FF fans can't escape the fact that this is little more than a solid, functional port of a four year old game. As potentially enjoyable as it is (if you put the hours in), and as much content as there is in this all-encompassing release (if you really put the hours in), things have moved on considerably in the MMO scene in the intervening years.

This is no Trials HD, but it's still great to play as a chummy pass-the-controller game, and nice to have stuck on an SD card for a rainy Sunday afternoon when there are no Columbo re-runs to watch on television. Nostalgic, colourful and modest, this is retro-gaming at its least self-conscious.

The inescapable truth for Konami is that it has not just failed to better itself, but has gone backwards to the extent that it's no longer our favourite horror series ("Project Zero 2" ["Fatal Frame 2"] claims that throne for now). [JPN Import]

It falls short of its predecessor, which succeeded thanks to cheeriness, simplicity and fluidity. However, it still stands out ahead of its own worst Jackass era, and many of the new inclusions, especially the video editing and Nail The Grab, deserve your attention.

Mild improvements in traversal and combat are quickly overwhelmed by the creaking systems onto which they have been grafted. Revolutionary Paris is one of the most beautifully realised environments in a series that has had its fair share of them, but the game you play doesn't really do it justice.

Although P.N.03 is plainly flawed, with a little perseverance the gameplay still shines through as something relatively new and engaging.

There have been several crucial moments that made me laugh out loud, and others that made me feel a sense of cerebral accomplishment - feelings that are all-too rare when playing an FPS.

In its newly 'remastered' form, Dementium is easily one of the most interesting games to appear on the DS in some time, and certainly should have a great appeal to anyone looking for a decent horror offering.

While it does have hidden depths, then, they're not much more than handfuls of sand scooped out of the bottom of a rock-pool. Fun though it undoubtedly is, it isn't very vicious or memorable. A bit like that Disneyworld ride, actually.

While the platformer and the puzzler in Henry Hatsworth are perfectly competent, they're nothing special. Neither could be described as classic examples of their genre, and neither offer anything new. The switching mechanic does add interest, but not quite enough to make Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure a great game.

The impenetrable story makes it a no-go for younger gamers who might be more willing to forgive its adolescent excesses. But for the twenty-six, twenty-eight, thirty-year-olds who it's aimed at, the game has little to offer beyond polished sentimentality.

There are new Achievements, and lots of new things to tinker with, but not a lot of incentive to plod through the campaign missions again or start over ranking up your multiplayer stats.

A wargame that only hardcore wargamers could love. Historically accurate to a fault, vast in scale, unnecessarily complex and poorly presented, it isn't going to win any new fans for the genre.

A fairly unremarkable Sims expansion pack on the same disc as a new cut of the original game.

At PixelJunk Monsters' price-point, Ninjatown would be an essential purchase, but as a full-price DS release it stops slightly short. That said, it's still a likeable, accessible and deceptively complex little strategy game, worth 20-odd quid of any pocket strategist's money, and it keeps on giving, feeding you something new and fun to play with right up until the fist-eatingly difficult last few levels.

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.

While you could argue that it's relatively short, it has variety: new enemies are introduced on almost every level and each boss is distinctive, differing in size, strength or attack pattern to the last.

There's little alternative out there if you're hankering after some old-fashioned twitch gaming wrapped up in beautifully presented threads, but our advice is to make sure you've got some mates to play it with first, or it's likely to end up as one of those titles that you'll quickly tire of if you're on your lonesome.

They've managed not to mess up any of the things which made the original so enjoyable. The control system is still intuitive, the camera does what it's supposed too, there's a good amount of gory moments and genuine scares and the whole thing has bags of atmosphere.

One Epic Game gets by through the tautness of the level design, the unexpected variety, and its ability to keep you coming back for more even when you're being driven around the twist by its playful arrogance.

It simply can't compete with the genius of its many competitors, particularly the Sony first party efforts of late.

Overall, between the inconsistent campaigns and the botched co-op feature, there's enough here to nibble away at what is an otherwise enjoyable RTS game, and you can add the finer points of control to that list of grumbles as well if you're an impatient sort.

For something so apocalyptic, it feels like it's got a bright future ahead of it.

What lies beneath its rather unspectacular veneer is a really well designed game that approaches the conflict from a different angle and provides a solid platform for a hugely entertaining game.

R-Type Tactics lies among that enjoyable second tier of turn-based games currently occupied by the likes of Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command.