It has some decent ideas and concepts, let down by bad enemy A.I. and very repetitive gameplay.

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

As a fairly cheap (fifteen quid) racer, it’ll probably do until Motorstorm: Pacific Rift and floaty-ship-racing-game-beginning-with-W turns up, although the futuristic trappings and weak techno soundtrack do it few favours in terms of comparison to other, better, racers out there.

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.

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.

The genre has moved on in terms of gameplay, presentation and even hardware, leaving Vanguard feeling like a relic from years ago rather than something to whet your appetite for EA’s next effort.

An enjoyable and engrossing game. It’s a little on the short side and it relies a bit too much on the strength of a single gameplay mechanism, but fortunately it’s a mechanism that is fun and that we haven’t really seen before.

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

Newbies may find it a little intimidating to get into, but perseverance brings reward in the shape of an immersive experience that’s about as fun as war gaming can get.

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

It may sound bitchy, but the game is stupid in a way very few video games are: a Naruto action-RPG has so much potential, but this can’t even come close to average.

Yet again, the PS2’s outing plays a distant second-fiddle to the more established output of Climax on the 360 and, while graphically Milestone gets a good grunt out of its hardware, those who are eager to take their PS2 for a spin on two wheels will have a hard time choosing between this stunted effort or the ultra conservative Tourist Trophy.

It’s cause is certainly helped by the price tag, relatively low system requirements and the fact you needn’t have even heard of Chrome to enjoy it. Sadly, though, even if the game did take the series to headier heights, it would still be destined to be ignored and forgotten in a world filled with Half-Life 2, Far Cry and so many other top drawer PC first-person shooters.

If you are a fan of action RPGs the by all means give Silverfall a look. It certainly isn’t a bad game, but games like these are an acquired taste and are very difficult to recommend without first referring people to similar and ultimately better alternatives.

As a game it's fairly average, but the presentation is top notch.

The Incredibles will still be an adequate Christmas present to go with the branded action figures, books and random merchandise that children will be finding under their vastly over-decorated artificial trees, even if marginally more effort goes into making a Happy Meal.

Highly stylised, dark and immersive, Manhunt 2 is a study in brutality, depravity and the spiralling descent into madness. In terms of content, it’s no worse than the original, but it’s not really any better, either.

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.

At its best, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters is a half-arsed port of a decent PSP game that owners of the handheld should give a try if they can catch it at a reasonable price.

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

With such a high investment of time needed in order to see any real gains, it’s more likely to grab the attention of the hard core of MMORPG players.

If you take it at face value and realise that it is a simple game that provides an element of fun especially in 2-player mode you wont be disappointed.

Of course, we wouldn’t change the core gameplay for the world, and we’re glad it hasn’t been messed with here, but more options for tweaking and a few more game-modes wouldn’t have gone amiss.

It’s worth a shot if a relaxing ball rolling puzzle game sounds like your ideal PSP experience, but it’s unlikely to stay in your active playlist for long.

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.

The strategy gets more complex and the fights more intense, but the one thing you can’t escape in this game is the sense of sameyness that creeps in soon after you’ve completed the introductory missions, from the gameplay, from the environments and from the NPCs that populate the game.

It has to be said though – as a game, LSL is pretty thin. The mini-games are weak and become pretty repetitive. Happily though, the bawdy comedy that plays out while you're going through the motions, especially during the conversations, do make it all worthwhile.

An enjoyable and engrossing game. It’s a little on the short side and it relies a bit too much on the strength of a single gameplay mechanism, but fortunately it’s a mechanism that is fun and that we haven’t really seen before.

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.

Should have been great, could have been great; but ends up just being a better than average attempt at doing something a little different.

We can see some hardcore puzzle addicts playing this (and probably being very good at it), but for the average gamer it represents little more than a curiosity with little long-term appeal.

Even the positive multiplayer aspect can’t be recommended because it is just nothing new. At around six hours to play through, and with only a moderately intriguing storyline to follow, this is about as thin as F.E.A.R.’s welcome will wear without breaking.

If you steer clear of the completionist grinding, this RPG is fast-paced and the simplistic combat is enjoyable and rewarding once the challenge kicks in.

Plain and simple: if you buy Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires, you’re saying it’s ok for this lame excuse for a video game series to continue dragging everything else down with it. It’s even less amusing than it used to be now that it’s infecting next-gen consoles.

This game has basically been done before and been done better. Even for hardened action RPG fans who are looking for their next fix before Diablo 3 hits, it would be difficult to recommend much about Loki that would provide them with any sort of new buzz.

It’s automatically a better game than any in the "Dynasty Warriors" series, but still comes a distant second place to Phantagram’s own "Kingdom Under Fire" titles.

It has some decent ideas and concepts, let down by bad enemy A.I. and very repetitive gameplay.

The biggest problem is that Shadow Ops apparent efforts at achieving a cinematic feel have fallen well flat and the FMV is disappointingly bland.

As a game it’s fairly average, but the presentation is top notch.

Play 3 is sadly little more than a humdrum selection of shallow mini-games that make you feel like you’re going through the motions when playing them.

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.

Shadow Ops is a rather bland, generic FPS that – aside from some good sound and all-round high production values – offers absolutely nothing in the way of originality.

For the sake of the video game industry, don't buy Goldeneye: Rogue Agent. It's a benchmark for bad ideas badly implemented.

Boiling Point is an amazing piece of work, but is like a piece of art that will never be finished. We wouldn’t hesitate in recommending it, despite its flaws, as it is the very definition of freeform adventuring.

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 nowhere near being a hellish failure and it’s possibly even worth a go when it’s cheaper, but on its own Infernal is little more than a good looking tech demo for Ageia’s PhysX cards, a fantastic endorsement for mittens, and the perfect gift for overly religious relatives.

The single-player mode is surprisingly entertaining, while single-DS play is perfect for car journeys. And, provided you have a dictionary on hand, it can even be pretty educational.

There’s certainly enough depth here to entertain most combat veterans and with a little more in the way of new content it would no doubt have done better following on the success of Battlestations: Midway. Overall an entertaining history lesson that doesn’t let a few minor flaws spoil the fun.

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.

Dynasty Warriors is as stagnated as ever and now carries the weight of a niche franchise upon its back. An overhaul is long overdue.

The Crash Bandicoot games seem a little stuck in a rut, and despite some apparent efforts to expand the gameplay, Mind Over Mutant does nothing to pull the series out.

If there’s one thing that can’t be doubted, it’s Wario’s credentials as a Master of Disguise – he’s managed to take a sub-par puzzle-platformer, and make it look like an inventive spin on a well-worn genre. Sadly, this particular disguise doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

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.

It’s still the most complete virtual poker experience you’re likely to come across, but it falls short of what it could have been. Cool ideas like the ability to change your player’s facial expression are all but pointless, and the online play doesn’t really seem to have taken off.

It has to be said though – as a game, LSL is pretty thin. The mini-games are weak and become pretty repetitive. Happily though, the bawdy comedy that plays out while you’re going through the motions, especially during the conversations, do make it all worthwhile.

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.

For the most part it’s an enjoyable if unremarkable shooter, where satisfying gunplay and alien carnage struggle to overcome a shallow plot and quirky controls.

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

Offering little in the way of innovation, it will keep fans of the series very happy and is definitely an essential purchase if you have ever enjoyed a DW game in the past.

Namco has created a capable fighter and dressed it in some especially uninspiring clothes. To put it plainly, Urban Reign appears to exist purely because it can. Despite its skill, no forward steps are taken or advancements made in the genre.

Tarr Chronicles just isn’t that good.

A competent if unspectacular stealth game.

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

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.

Jericho is definitely a case of inventive design married all-too-unhappily to old school thinking, and the result is a game that is almost fatally broken.

It has some decent ideas and concepts, let down by bad enemy A.I. and very repetitive gameplay.

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.

Had the puzzling been of a more engaging nature, then we may have warmed up to the game considerably, but even at a budget price there isn’t much to recommend.

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.

Underneath all the tedium, the bones of a very basic business simulation can be found, but there’s a lot of joyless digging to be done to get to it. We’re not entirely sure who will actually enjoy Playboy: The Mansion, as the business side is unsatisfying, the networking is mind-numbing, and the sex is a sad cop out.

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...

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.

All said and done, Locomotion is a good sim, but it does feel dated and in particular seems geared towards the more hardcore transport or tycoon enthusiast.

It has to be said though – as a game, LSL is pretty thin. The mini-games are weak and become pretty repetitive. Happily though, the bawdy comedy that plays out while you’re going through the motions, especially during the conversations, do make it all worthwhile.

Offering little in the way of innovation, it will keep fans of the series very happy and is definitely an essential purchase if you have ever enjoyed a DW game in the past.

This type of game has been done better, and on top of that, the genre has moved on to the next generation where murky and jaggy graphics are a thing of the past.

There is a lot of great stuff in Asheron’s Call, period. There is an enormous landmass populated with hidden dungeons, strange creatures and mysteries begging to be solved once more.

By no means is the game a classic, but it is arguably a good tie-in that drawns from the movies’ strengths and doesn’t do anything in particular to offend.

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

Though clunky at times, you have to admire the level of tactical depth that has been translated from the pen and paper game, and in spite of our reservations about the level of explanation on some things, the interface is commendable for being so easy to navigate on such a small screen with limited controls.

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.

The graphics, sound and gameplay are extremely well polished; the AI is also good with your platoon mates actually helping rather than hindering.

Save yourself the money and just shake your wii-mote randomly and violently, shout quotes from the series and cry softly to yourself in the corner for an hour afterwards – you’ll look less like an idiot and have just as much fun.

Alone in the Dark will surely come to be known as one of the biggest let downs of the year. Impressive set pieces and an initially compelling opening are horribly betrayed by a diabolical control system and frustrating glitches that strongly suggest the game would have benefitted from at least another six months intensive development and testing.

The graphics are good, but every other feature is just scooped up from a number of other strategy games, and spread thinly.

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.

If you aren’t an experienced Splinter Cell player, or found the game tricky on the Xbox, then the controls will likely be confounding and the other issues not worth dealing with. Nice try Ubi, but no cigar.

It’s huge and ambitious, but you run the risk of losing the will to live in the process of playing.

An amateurish mess with a painful campaign mode and only a few novel ideas to be proud of.

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.

The extreme banality of the package which would only just about hold the attention of the seriously young members of your family for any length of time can’t be ignored.

Naïve, dull and unexpectedly sloppy, Cerberus’ story is its one saving grace – but it’s a story tarnished by the meagre game beneath it.

It’s just so frustrating. Not only the puzzles, for all the wrong reasons, but the fact that what could have been a perfectly decent adventure has been yet again held back by the same old ridiculously common mistakes.

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.

Ultimately the game’s strength, at least in terms of gameplay, lies in balancing the needs of communities and creatively planning functioning medieval settlements. It may not be deep, but it feels pretty accurate.

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.

We can appreciate what Ubi has tried to do, but most of us have gotten over the novelty of the fact that the PSP is ‘a bit like a handheld PS2’ and are looking for a lot more substance and enjoyablity in our games, no matter how many dozens of cars and miles of road have been packed onto the UMD.

It appeals to hardcore RTS players with its historical accuracy, as well as newcomers with its ease of play and focus on putting you in control of what’s going on.