It's too short, too easy, way too repetitive, and the level design is left wanting.

It's really the co-op mode that saves the game from utter mediocrity. Nevertheless, the abject blandness of pretty much every other facet of the game holds it back from being decent enough to purchase.

It's really the co-op mode that saves the game from utter mediocrity. Nevertheless, the abject blandness of pretty much every other facet of the game holds it back from being decent enough to purchase.

Gamers who want to see for the first time the origins of the long-running series will have a decent enough reason to check out Final Fantasy on PSP: its high resolution visuals and distinctly retro gameplay set it aside from modern RPGs. However, for everyone else it’s just another cheap cash-in for Square Enix.

As something new, Bladestorm: The Hundred Years’ War is familiar but refreshingly new, even if doesn’t exactly work out quite as nicely as Koei probably would have liked.

As something new, Bladestorm: The Hundred Years’ War is familiar but refreshingly new, even if doesn’t exactly work out quite as nicely as Koei probably would have liked.

Despite its problems, Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle is still playable on the DS, and fans of the genre looking for some portable point-and-clicking will find themselves with a game to really get stuck into. You’re going to have to forgive a lot of minor annoyances, though.

It’s really the co-op mode that saves the game from utter mediocrity. Nevertheless, the abject blandness of pretty much every other facet of the game holds it back from being decent enough to purchase.

The lacklustre story plus the dated look and feel of Broken World spoil Dungeon Siege II’s reputation a bit.

King of Fighters XI is more of the same, giving fans exactly what they want and completely ignoring the possibility of opening up the series to new players. It’s perfectly balanced and intricately developed, improving upon its predecessors yet still offering nothing so ‘new’ that could improve its score.

A huge, lazy and sometimes glitchy disappointment of a game. The character progression really doesn’t provide a strong enough excuse to keep playing after the initial joy of the combat has dissipated, and the number of times you find yourself going through the same old motions during missions smacks of padding of a magnitude normally associated with the corpulent Don.

Battle of the Bands is disappointing in many respects despite the promise held by its central premise.

All the ingredients for a nice simple and playable game are here, it’s just that carelessness and an unpolished roughness drags the game down to mediocre levels.

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.

Every step of the way during Folklore, it’s as though developers Game Republic have been afraid of experimenting with the capabilities of the next-gen, sticking rigidly to formulas that were outdated and poor on the PS2.

If you’re absolutely desperate to play something like this on your 360, there’s very little else out there.

Actually worse than "Ankh" in many respects.

Kuon has a decent premise, and scores well on atmosphere, however it lacks substance and those niggly controls, together with the inconsistencies of the combat system, detract from the overall enjoyment. Ultimately, what could have been a gripping game ends up being a remarkably uninspiring experience.

Judging by Square-Enix’s immense standards, unbeatable by most developers on their very best day, then Last Remnant is a disappointment. It’s not the epic life consuming RPG we were expecting and falls a long way down the list of top RPG titles for the 360, which is saying something.

What is important is the difficulty to distinguish between things you’re supposed to collect and things you’re supposed to avoid, especially when the screen fills with lasers and power ups. Even after several hours of play, dying because of this was fairly common.

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.

For all its faults, 24 is strangely compelling largely due to the snappy story-telling, but non-fans of the show may well disagree.

It’s hard to really dislike Need for Speed Undercover simply because the core game is similar in many ways to the excellent Most Wanted. But it under-aims, underperforms, underachieves and does so while practically throwing a begging bowl at you in the form of purchasable unlocks.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Archlord is a case of seen it before, seen it better, and the stuff we haven’t seen is going to end up more frustrating and hassle than it is worth.

It is built on an entertaining concept, but let down by poor presentation. The dreadful frame-rate makes it almost unplayable in places, and that is unforgivable in a commercial product, especially when the graphics, sound and story could all have been so much better.

A deeply confused game. It tries to pander to both of its rivals’ fans, but falls well short of satisfying either court. It doesn’t have enough gameplay options, the ball play is slick but unbalanced, and no matter how regularly updated or different it feels, it’s a disappointing exclusive title for Sony.

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.

While it's true that Secret Files: Tunguska does get one or two brownie points for being in what’s currently a very sparsely populated genre on the Wii, the fact that it’s so middling in just about every respect hardly justifies a purchase.

Blood Will Tell is a fantastic game poorly put together.

A huge, lazy and sometimes glitchy disappointment of a game. The character progression really doesn't provide a strong enough excuse to keep playing after the initial joy of the combat has dissipated, and the number of times you find yourself going through the same old motions during missions smacks of padding of a magnitude normally associated with the corpulent Don.

If the game really interests you, go ahead and get it. You probably won’t be disappointed and it even has online play, though goodness knows why as you’ll be lucky to find an opponent.

Ultimately BattleZone comes across as a futile and dated attempt at bringing multiplayer deathmatch to the PSP.

It just seems that not much thought has gone into the level design and gameplay beyond “could a five-year-old play this?”.

Overall, and to pretty much nobody’s surprise whatsoever, Monster House is just another wasted opportunity that’ll likely be forgotten about before the movie it’s based on even reaches DVD.

We can only really recommend this to long-term fans who will be contented solely with the Arcade mode.

With care and consistency, Cars encases the player in memorabilia lifted straight from the cinema screen. For that, the developer should be commended. It’s just a shame they forgot to ship a game with it.

Well made and fun for kids newcomers, Boogie Bunnies still sadly amounts to little more than a handy Puzzle Bobble clone for Live Arcade – one that will ultimately be superseded when Taito decides to make the most of its own franchise.

More typical of the PS2 (so knock a point off), but more suited to the Wii – if only for the short-lived novelty value – Heatseeker is definitely a game for the already initiated into the genre.

A huge, lazy and sometimes glitchy disappointment of a game.

Dynasty Warriors Volume 2 at least adds in a few multiplayer modes, but these fall short of justifying the failure to address the wealth of deficiencies the franchise has suffered for what’s now its third handheld instalment.

It’s somewhat ironic that by attempting to take a more RTS-led approach, Firefly has robbed Legends of what’s made the Stronghold series so endearing.

A huge, lazy and sometimes glitchy disappointment of a game. The character progression really doesn’t provide a strong enough excuse to keep playing after the initial joy of the combat has dissipated, and the number of times you find yourself going through the same old motions during missions smacks of padding of a magnitude normally associated with the corpulent Don.

Please, THQ, we know you can do decent wrestling games, so stop insulting us with these annual updates to a flawed and bug-riddled game engine.

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.

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.

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

The game’s back-of-the-box claim of ‘Mega Instant Fun’ is somewhat misleading, as the mini-games are neither mega-instant nor mega-fun, but they are certainly pretty speedy and usually enjoyable and challenging on some level.

We’re left with a fairly annoying RTS title full of niggling and frustrating bugs, poor design decisions, and pathfinding that has dripped directly from the nose of Satan himself.

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.

A decent purchase for the little ones if you’re expecting dross from the adventure mode (which by now you surely are), and you can pick it up at a decent price.

Sadly, like most other movie tie-ins, this is marketed at fans of the film, not at gamers, and like Johnny Blaze himself, the whole thing feels a bit soulless. If only it also had the same level of flair.

Sadly, like most other movie tie-ins, this is marketed at fans of the film, not at gamers, and like Johnny Blaze himself, the whole thing feels a bit soulless. If only it also had the same level of flair.

Turok is far from a revival of the series. Aside from having dinosaurs and lots of frantic fire-fights, it doesn’t offer a great deal of new stuff or even good stuff for shooter fans.

Heroes of Mana does have its moments, but they are few are far between.

A novel flashback to how things used to be, but one that will make you more grateful than ever that we aren’t at that point in time any more. Dated, jaded and passed it sell by date.

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.

Instead of balancing on the line between arcade game and simulation, the game tries and fails to be both, giving the whole package a strange split personality that does nothing to endear you to it.

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.

It’s as though no effort has gone into the gameplay beyond what merely works, and little thought has been given into making either the main single player or multiplayer modes fun or worth pursuing.

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’.

Cheap and cheerful would be stretching it, but as far as budget shooters go, it's not too bad.

It’s as though no effort has gone into the gameplay beyond what merely works, and little thought has been given into making either the main single player or multiplayer modes fun or worth pursuing.

Target Liberty has a good atmosphere and the controls have been well thought out, but the story isn’t at all convincing and the gameplay doesn’t have enough merit in the end.

It may offer a richer gameplay experience than Uno, but Lost Cities just doesn’t have the fast, fun and addictive quality of that particular social card game.

There is little atmosphere and it’s about as immersive as playing one of those silly Osama Bin Laden-killing flash games in your web browser.

The nucleus of a good game is there, but its ambition is married to an apparent lack of expertise with the result that, like a crudely cut gemstone, it has few if any redeeming features.

This type of game has been done so much better in the past and we just can’t think of anything that makes it stand out – not even the tacked on multiplayer which feels like exactly that.

If you can derive entertainment from this then good for you, but just don't get your hopes up T3 fans.

The game is a giant leap in the wrong direction for the series.

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.

The aimless blasting across what seems like a countless number of levels that are practically indistinguishable from one another do not a great game make, but if you can play on a friend’s copy, it’s worth doing so to snatch a glimpse at what’s to come. Hopefully...

When a game is this easy, predictable and limited, hardcore gamers are too busy praying for DS versions of the original Dragon Quest games to be bothered with it.

It’s just too simplistic to hold the attention of any serious management fan.

This game is an unchallenging space shooter made a little more difficult with frustrating design and a terrible camera angle. Even if you’re a fan of the TV series, we really cannot recommend a purchase.

This could, and indeed should, have been a market leading game, blowing people away with clever tactical shooting action. Instead, it’s flawed and with the exception of the co-op mode, has nothing to make it shine.

This game will probably appeal to people who bought the first, if only to continue the story.

Perhaps the most damning evidence in the case against bothering with this game (as if AI that sees your allies forever flying into your plane and bafflingly unresponsive speed controls aren’t quite enough) is that the whole experience feels reminiscent of a dumbed-down version of Crimson Skies.

A flung together collection of sub “Now That’s What I Call Music!” tracks doesn’t really make for an enticing prospect.

The bulk of Spiderwick is fuelled by what might be called the game’s ‘action’ sections, where players take on goblins and ogres by mashing just one attack button. These levels are the least inspired and try any motivation the gamer might have, which is unlikely to be great if they haven’t already seen the movie.

If you’re really keen on an officially sanctioned and more importantly legal nostalgic journey – especially if you’re fond of scrolling shoot-em-ups – then the Namco Museum 50th Anniversary collection does have its merits.

Littered with occasionaly glimmers of hope, Vivendi’s attempt to create a true killer-app sadly falls flat, with most of the game feeling uninspired and largely by-the-numbers.

While it’s kind of cool to see a new take on such an old game, the presence of a muddy palette and outdated game mechanics combined with the inexplicable absence of co-op makes Beast Rider forgettable and so much less than it could have been.

Littered with occasionaly glimmers of hope, Vivendi’s attempt to create a true killer-app sadly falls flat, with most of the game feeling uninspired and largely by-the-numbers.

This could, and indeed should, have been a market leading game, blowing people away with clever tactical shooting action. Instead, it’s flawed and with the exception of the co-op mode, has nothing to make it shine.

While it’s kind of cool to see a new take on such an old game, the presence of a muddy palette and outdated game mechanics combined with the inexplicable absence of co-op makes Beast Rider forgettable and so much less than it could have been.

It’s not an awful game by any scale, but it is tepid and flawed in its execution.

Littered with occasionaly glimmers of hope, Vivendi’s attempt to create a true killer-app sadly falls flat, with most of the game feeling uninspired and largely by-the-numbers.

This could, and indeed should, have been a market leading game, blowing people away with clever tactical shooting action. Instead, it’s flawed and with the exception of the co-op mode, has nothing to make it shine.

There’s nothing of note here – nothing thrilling or stirring, or any part fuelled with even a hint of passion for the sport it wants to portray. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

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.

Littered with occasionaly glimmers of hope, Vivendi's attempt to create a true killer-app sadly falls flat, with most of the game feeling uninspired and largely by-the-numbers.

The idea behind it is good and there’s a lot of polish in the presentation, but the gameplay is just so shallow and unevolving that it’s really hard to recommend as a full-price purchase.