It’s probably the strongest of the two expansion packs to be released, and will prove to be the better buy if you’ve got the original game but haven’t dusted it down for a while.

Even hardcore mech fans, who may well get their money’s worth in the multiplayer, would have benefited greatly had more time being spent making the combat more enjoyable.

It’s no "Diablo 2," yet, but give it time and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by just how much is on offer here. And hey, if nothing else you get to pretend that the demons are Christmas shoppers, which makes slaughtering them just that little bit more fun.

As great as it is to be sliding down a banister firing off both guns before holding out your blades to slice into two anyone unlucky enough to be standing near the bottom as you pass, the sloppy controls and quirks in the design do prevent BR2 from being anything more than a reasonably-decent third-person action-slasher.

If you’re on the look out for ‘the next big thing’ then keep looking, but if you quite fancy a laid-back shooter that’s best enjoyed with friends, then you might want to give this a shot.

The greatest shame is that developer Saber Interactive wasn’t bold or ambitious enough to really capitalise on the one or two good ideas they actually had, and that’s ultimately the difference between a game that is just good and a game that is great.

To be fair, the game is aimed at kids and it’s by no means poor – the fact that it’s available for less than twenty quid doesn’t exactly hurt either.

While obviously not for those seeking an arcade fix, Another Code is an absolute must for those who are always on the lookout for a decent adventure.

FlatOut is a fun racer in the vein of Destruction Derby that just about manages to carve a niche for itself. If you’re looking for a physics-heavy racer with some demanding courses then its worth checking out.

Overclocked’s complex and rich setting is ultimately just that – a setting. Too many things let the game down for it to be truly recommendable, like stiff animation, poor audio editing and a lack of insight into your own character’s agenda.

Thrillville: Off the Rails is aimed squarely at mid-teens and under, which is no bad thing. The management side can be toyed around with, but it otherwise practically runs itself while you’re off planting rides, indulging in mini-games and trying to turn teenaged guests into your love slaves.

It’s still above average and the multiplayer modes are worth investing time in if you’ve enjoyed them before.

A sports game with a sense of fun and, perhaps crucially, provides a great series of single player matches to work through. Most notably of all though is the fact that it’s made its way into our pile of games to be dug out at parties, alongside "SingStar."

Huge-scale destruction is only awesome when used in moderation, not when it’s non-stop for hours on end.

The fact that the game can be enjoyed by adults (provided you don't mind playing through an extremely easy game) as well as kids epitomises just how strong Madagascar is, particularly as it's a movie licence.

What it boils down to is the fact that there are better racers and better puzzle games already on the PSP.

It’s not that the game doesn’t look great – it does. It’s not that it doesn’t control well – it does. It’s not that it has bugs or camera issues – the camera never presented a problem and, aside from falling through the floor a couple of times, the game ran smoothly. It’s just that this is a short game, and yet still not short enough to stop the gameplay from wearing thin.

As it stands though, Killzone isn’t a triple-A title. It is, on the other hand, a sporadically entertaining and perfectly adequate FPS which any PS2-owning fan of the genre will probably enjoy.

The rigidly linear levels with obvious trigger points, the failure to evolve the basic gameplay and the newly random nature of the effectiveness of cover all conspire to devalue what was a novel and rather fun original.

If you enjoyed Catan and Carcasonne then you'll be right on track with this.

No game can claim to be as visually and aurally stunning as Killer7. There has been no video game as heavily and expressively stylised before, with the beautiful, cel-shaded visuals forming an integral part of the game, rather than a back of the box bullet point.

The Last Prophecy? I bloody well hope so.

One of the best point-and-click adventures we’ve seen in a very long time.

From the brilliant intro, it draws you straight into its world of intrigue and conspiracy, and will keep you there until you make it through to one of the multiple endings.

There’s more substance behind Syphon Filter than in most of the style-obsessed trash-talking third-person shooters out there. Dark Mirror is thankfully without agenda, unfortunately without a bit of much-needed fine-tuning, but comes with a whole bag full of good intentions.

When playing Pariah you may find yourself pausing to scratch your head either because the story doesn't make much sense, or because you're simply wondering why the game was so blatantly pushed out the door without even half of the polish it needed to live up to the hype.

It’s always refreshing to be able to play it with impartial AI, and the AI difficulty settings are well judged, but unless you’re a total addict, chances are this is one for the game shelf, only to be dusted off on the odd occasion.

Yes, it’s funny, and it does crack a few good observations about the genre. However, by making the same mistakes that the games it’s laughing at make, it shoots itself in the foot a bit.

Advent Rising is not unenjoyable, but it simply doesn’t make much of an impression, being overtly unoriginal and not nearly as ambitious in its gameplay as in its story.

Despite its flaws though, EVE is deeply, deeply addictive.

Number four in the series is one for the hardcore Wild Arms fans; the rest of us will wait for the next Final Fantasy as usual.

It may be no substitute for the real thing, but is by far and away the best stop-gap we’ve seen so far.

Overall, Speed Racer is a very solid F-Zero clone with a few niggles dragging it down. Mainly, it’s the lack of a real sense of speed that disappointed us, which is something we adored about the F-Zero series.

The rigidly linear levels with obvious trigger points, the failure to evolve the basic gameplay and the newly random nature of the effectiveness of cover all conspire to devalue what was a novel and rather fun original.

This is a game that has been made to promote the film, no doubt in tandem with cereal box promotions and official merchandise coming to a supermarket near you. It's just a shame, for both their sake and ours, that it simply isn't very good.

Parallel Lines at least shows that the studio is on the right track.

Ultimately this is a very predictable and flat feeling expansion that may have the hardcore few blowing the dust of their original game and reinstalling it, but will certainly not be bringing new players or those that may have passed after buying the first game in the series.

Those who are able to get to grips with SimCity DS’ convoluted and tedious controls may find that they’re able to see through the clutter and enjoy what remains of 3000 on their handhelds – the game does remain somewhere underneath the torture of its implementation.

With up to 50 hours of gameplay and the option of having rather straightfoward online battles, you’ll at least get your money’s worth; we’re just not sure that most Xbox 360 gamers have refined enough tastes to fully appreciate it.

With Harmonix moving on to the extremely ambitious Rock Band and Neversoft taking over the Guitar Hero reigns, it’s sad to see the series’ creators bow out of their own creation with such a purposefully half-arsed effort.

Parallel Lines at least shows that the studio is on the right track.

THAW is a step backwards, with its uninspiring Story mode being mostly to blame. The PC version suffers even more thanks to it being the recipient of such a sloppy conversion.

Magnificent, beautiful, well designed, yet cruelly flawed in its structure, Nights: Journey of Dreams is absolutely worth playing. Whether you’d want to pay full price for it or wait a little longer, though, is less of a certainty.

So while Ghost Squad is a perfectly reasonable lightgun shooter which only significantly falls short in terms of its length, what really sticks in our collective craw is the price. Asking thirty quid for it would be a piss take at the best of times, but considering the US version is being sold for the same figure in dollars, making it around £15 in real money, that’s quite frankly unacceptable.

With high production values, good attention to detail and well executed gameplay, it should appeal both to fans of action-platform games like Prince of Persia and people who actually know who Marc Ecko is.

The fact that the game can be enjoyed by adults (provided you don’t mind playing through an extremely easy game) as well as kids epitomises just how strong Madagascar is, particularly as it’s a movie licence.

Once you’ve played a couple of matches, you’ve pretty much seen everything that the game has to offer, and you’ll certainly have heard everything that it’s got to say.

To be fair, the game is aimed at kids and it's by no means poor – the fact that it's available for less than twenty quid doesn't exactly hurt either.

Somewhat annoyingly, the game often requires you to tackle each level a multiple number of times in order to collect items such as shields before the next area is unlocked.

It’s playable and for a while it’s even fun, but you’ll be surprised just how quickly mindless violence and bloodshed with semi-naked women can turn into a grind.

Actually worse than "Ankh" in many respects.

The graphics are worse, joypads are a poor substitute for keyboard and mouse control, online play is laggier and there aren’t enough people playing. And to rub it all in, you can pick the PC version for a good deal cheaper.

Duel Masters is a fun and fairly addictive game and the GBA version is faithful enough to be worth a look-in if you really want to play it solo on the move.

To be fair, the game is aimed at kids and it's by no means poor – the fact that it's available for less than twenty quid doesn't exactly hurt either.

The Matrix Online feels like it might have been released a little prematurely. There are countless bugs cropping up here, there and everywhere, and lag is definitely an issue on occasions.

There's nothing specifically wrong with First to Fight, it's just that the single-player simply doesn't do anything more than provide you with terrorists to shoot.

That the story and dialogues are actually quite good might make the game bearable or even enjoyable to play, but unless you’re very young or don’t play games much there’s really very little to recommend here.

Undoubtedly, if you’re not a disciple of the Rock Gods then you’ll be able to have tons of fun having some awesome parties with Rocks! and its more enjoyable brethren; but if you are a die-hard rocker, then this will be as painful an experience as listening to Radio One while sober.

We can see what the developers have tried to do with Domination, which is basically make the game more accessible. Unfortunately it’s a move that has completely backfired, with the result being an excellent game buried under a lot of unnecessary and distracting fluff.

If you or your family like your games with a healthy dose of mental gymnastics then Safecracker is a pretty good bet, and isn’t too bad value for the money.

As far as we’re concerned, as much as we love the Cossacks series and the thinking-man’s gameplay behind it, we do think it’s time to move on in terms of technology. Cruel, but kind.

Ultimately Boom Boom Rocket achieves what it set out to do without any noticeably downsides – except, of course, that what it sets out to do is barely different from what has been done many times before; instead of a gimmicky peripheral, it entertains with mesmerising imagery.

An anthology of washed up ideas and concepts seen in almost every non-Nintendo platformer post 2D.

Just watch out for that evil installer. And don’t forget the hefty patch. And try not to lose patience with the micromanagement. Oh, and… did we mention you’d have more fun playing "Company of Heroes"?

But at around 7 or 8 hours and with no multiplayer or real longevity beyond playing on Hard difficulty, it's just as well that the game has a budget price tag.

Somewhat annoyingly, the game often requires you to tackle each level a multiple number of times in order to collect items such as shields before the next area is unlocked.

If you don’t care about frills and atmosphere then you’re probably better off with a less sophisticated poker game, but if you can put up with a little bit of waiting around, World Poker Tour has a lot to offer.

Link’s Crossbow Training does an excellent job of throwing in an entertaining couple of hours to start you off with your brand new peripheral.

While the PC expansion version is a decent way to expand the life of the game, on console it’s nothing more than an awkward, ugly and pointless update to the original Sims 2 on consoles, which itself wasn’t that great.

While SBK-07 is a game that will appeal to Superbike geeks, it’s only as geeky as you want it to be.

As long as you go with the flow, soak up the excellent atmosphere and don’t let yourself get too frustrated by some of the puzzles, there’s a pretty enjoyable adventure to be had.

As hardened gamers, we love really original ideas, especially when they’ve been implemented with care and attention to detail.

But while there is enjoyment to be found in co-operative play, the single player aspect ultimately suffers immensely as a result.

While we can’t look into the future to predict how Vanguard will turn out over the coming months, the early signs are promising that this could be more than just the real next generation of "Everquest."

Sure the kiddies might like it, but big kids should avoid this one unless you have a good reason to make your brain go numb.

You won’t want to play through the game more than once, but once you’ve done it you’ll have all the cut-scenes and access to everything you’d ever want from the game – aside from the odd spot of ‘kick Sam into the bottomless pit’.

For atmosphere and an authentic Star Wars feel (Clone Wars or otherwise), Jedi Alliance does a good fan service. The gameplay elements aren’t very imaginative or even especially enjoyable when taken in isolation, but overall there are enough different challenges spread out across each level that it’s much less of an issue than in might have been.

Get over the interface and the steep learning curve (even beyond the tutorial, which is a bit light) and this is a stylish strategy game that, while hardly threatening to take over your life, will certainly provide a lot of challenge and reward for the time you invest in it.

A pretty standard affair. If you’re a connoisseur of block games or are just on the market for one and don’t particularly care which, then this one is certainly as good as the next.

Ultimately Viking: Battle for Asgard is almost a complete waste of Norse mythology. It’s bloody and epic, but the boring, repetitive combat and hours you spend doing un-Vikingly menial tasks leaves a sour taste in the mouth, washed down with a swig of bitter, pointless stealth idiocy.

While Juiced does possess some elements of originality, the net effect still doesn't make the game particularly distinctive or give it any kind of edge over Electronic Arts' chart-topping series.

So. It's GTA. On the GBA. But… it's just not GTA. Not really. Like Max Payne Advance before it, what you're getting is a watered-down experience, but still the closest thing you're going to get on the handheld (if that counts as a plus-point).

By dropping some of its heavier elements, Amaze’s attempt at straightforward play is not without merit on a console designed for just such a purpose. It’s just a shame that it’s entirely undermined by the need for those playing to have three or more hands.

The break-up of the storyline as you switch from Felt in Belkhyde to Viese in Eden gets incredibly tedious over time, and the storyline – while incredibly naturally told and performed well – is rather uninspiring, but the game itself should give you a good 40 hours of gameplay.

Somewhat annoyingly, the game often requires you to tackle each level a multiple number of times in order to collect items such as shields before the next area is unlocked.

For anyone with the inclination to be educated in how games used to consist of pure gameplay magic, or for those who wish to revisit their gaming pasts, Taito Legends is a superior collection of titles, some of which are truly classics in the absolute sense of the word.

It is worth re-emphasising that the core game is still intact, and is still better than you might expect had you not played it before. It’s just such a crying shame that the control system, as functional as it is, does absolutely nothing for the gameplay.

The game is a real mixed bag of action and strategy that, while not quite recreating the magic of X-COM, gives a pretty good showing of itself.

While control frustrations take the edge off the competitive element of the game, it’s still possible to have plenty of fun. Samba de Amigo is part rhythm game, part dancing game and part social game – you tend to feel more silly playing on your own than with others.

As for the TBS hardcore, they’ll probably indignantly object to the dumbed-down gameplay mechanics. Galactic Assault isn’t a bad game – we just don’t really know who it’s for.

The game’s RPG spin is a positive one, and the potential for multi-player missions certainly lifts Snowblind Studio’s effort above the banal, but the superheroes that the developer has attempted to honour here deserve much more bang for their buck.

There’s nothing really outstanding or recommendable about the game. Just like the protagonist Capell, the game itself is nice and well intentioned, but a bit dull and hesitant at following things through.

It’s a little simpler to play than the 2K series, and more fast paced, but it’s also just not as good.

The single-player is a fun new addition but is plagued by frustrating design choices and idiotic AI, while the multiplayer is very hard to justify paying £6.99 a month for, especially as the game doesn't even come with a free trial period.

Advent Rising is not unenjoyable, but it simply doesn't make much of an impression, being overtly unoriginal and not nearly as ambitious in its gameplay as in its story.

An incredibly deep and complex game. The problem is that to really get your hands on the deep and complex stuff, you have to go through gameplay hell and we’d be surprised if many people had the stomach to do that when there are so many other games out there that do it better.

It is slightly let down by some rather pointless puzzles, a few frustrating moments where it’s unclear what you have to do to progress, and the rather lacklustre character graphics. In essence, it’s a rough diamond – nice, but missing a lot of polish.

More like a series of interactive episodes of the show, with the point and click bits amounting to a basic means to get to the next part of the story.