If you're the kind of person who eats F-Zero for breakfast, Rocket Racing is a brutally enjoyable take on the top-down racer, but maybe a little too punishing for its own good on occasion.

Once you slip into the mindset and embrace Puzzle Bots' lo-fi charms, the initial clunkiness dissipates into a cloud of goodwill, and chipping your way through 17 stages of point-and-click puzzling seems like a fine way to occupy an evening.

For the seasoned player, it comes down to whether True Aim sounds like something you'd enjoy, and whether five new courses plus some tweaks to the XP and stroke system are enough to justify adding another box to the pile. All the changes are certainly beneficial, but none feel essential.

Despite the single-player mode's inability to engage on a narrative level and the fact that you're supremely powerful for most of that side of it, Frontlines is a pleasant addition to the legion of shooters crowding the 360's line-up, largely thanks to its multiplayer.

The whole package is smoother and shinier than Nuno Bettencourt's hair. It's not a bargain, and it's not the best game you'll play this year, but it's probably the best game you'll ever play with the word "Extreme" in the title.

This rock-solid Race 07 variant is a difficult game to wholeheartedly recommend, despite being superb in both single and multiplayer.

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.

As a homage to past glories, Keen Games has done an admirable job. All you need is a Friday night, some old friends, gallons of beer and a gigantic pizza and the past is yours.

There's plenty to like here, and Blitz is an undeniably enjoyable arcade game in short bursts. But it feels like an awkward offshoot for the Rock Band name, a little desperate in its push to get people downloading more songs, and an altogether lightweight experience that is unlikely to reverse the decline of the music genre.

Ultimately, there's no single aspect of the game that really demands your interest.

The already fairly hefty system demands can be stretched even further by some of the water refraction effects, requiring some option-fiddling to get a playable game.

Unless you're in a hurry or you plan to buy both games eventually anyway, you're better off waiting for Rock Band 2.

A lacklustre port of a fantastic game. The sad thing is that the improvements to manoeuvrability and updated visuals show us what the ultimate Metal Gear Solid 3 would look like - but then Snake Eater 3D fails to deliver that due to stodgy aiming, low resolutions and a choppy frame-rate.

Assault Heroes 2 is therefore basically more of the same, with some decent new bits but precious few fresh ideas.

As a whole package, this isn't quite up to the standard you'd hope for from Mario Sports, but it certainly doesn't damage the series' reputation.

Despite its throwaway appearance, Viral Survival is probably the only WiiWare game released so far this year that warrants a second glance. That's not saying much, admittedly, but if you've got 500 points knocking about, you could do a lot worse.

It's very playable, with quite a nice engine and a strong leading lady, but the storyline is a touch frail, the game is severely limited by its lack of multiplayer and the long gaps between save points make certain sections almost too challenging.

Leviathan is a rich adventure for those who are willing to reopen the door on Commander Shepard's story, and a worthwhile chapter of lore within the Mass Effect canon. But for those who have already moved on it is perhaps reassuring that, at the end of it all, those goalposts lie largely unmoved.

It's hard not to feel a little underwhelmed by what Virtua Tennis 2009 has to offer. While the online multiplayer facet has undoubtedly been improved, the disappointment over what's been done to World Tour mode and the general lack of ambition in certain areas leaves me wanting.

At its best, Conviction is played as a high-stakes puzzle game, taut and thrilling when everything is going your way. But when cover is broken, the floodlights go up to reveal a mediocre shooter. Perhaps the greatest irony of all is that Splinter Cell: Conviction appears brightest in the dark.

It's too easy. Yes, there's a Hard mode, and Evil mode if you can be bothered to play through it that many times, but if you've got a solid grounding in role-playing games, you'll walk through it.

Once you wade into it, Tidalis is a charmingly lo-fi package that positively drowns you in content.

A few more of these and the big boys will be casting a few nervous glances in the direction of the download sector.

Fortunately, the game does at least make it possible for the non-hardcore to eventually grind some extra powers (in the Rising mode) to make things slightly easier - but, you guessed it, you have to work pretty damned hard to get them.

It's easy to be wooed by Echelon's glorious graphics and its sometimes epic atmosphere, but the game is marred by a few problems which could sadly bring it down with a disappointing thud for many.

Pikmin 2 is also due a New Play Control! reissue this year, and it's a better game in every respect. It's longer and more sophisticated, with more varied Pikmin and enemy types; it has co-operative and competitive multiplayer; it has randomised caves with finite Pikmin numbers, ideal for the game's challenge mode; it has no time limit.

At its core, this is the most entertaining Resident Evil game we've ever played, and easily the best use of a light gun ever. With a bigger and more focused game attached to it, this could have been a must buy classic, but instead has all the hallmarks of a classic weekend rental.