If only GTR had been more welcoming to casual racing fans, it might have found itself a bigger and deserved market. Unfortunately we just can’t find ourselves openly recommending it – and not for a lack of quality.

It looks stunning, isn’t shy with its explosions and pyrotechnics, and keeps things moving at a cracking pace.

It’s silly, elegant, strange, delightful, sometimes annoying, always cute, mostly easy (unless unlockables matter to you) a bit random, often clever and ultimately not that essential. It’s perhaps too whimsical for most people, and if you need meaningful story and immediate reward, it almost certainly isn’t for you. With the right mindset, though, it’s a real treat and something special for PSP owners to call their own.

Even if EA does use its nefarious in-game advertising system to find your precious information/porn/illegally downloaded music and movies and try to sell you similar items, Battlefield 2142 is undeniably a new and enjoyable step for a franchise that has so far not strayed away from historical or topical content.

It may be slow, but its atmosphere is convincing enough to immerse you fully into its world.

However, casual Tony Hawk fans should really think twice about investing, as there's not a huge amount to set it apart from the rest.

Lost Odyssey is a great JRPG that, while not without flaws, does a fantastic job of overcoming them and providing a superb adventure and storytelling experience.

The control scheme feels comfortable, albeit not quite as precise as a good old keyboard and mouse, and is paired up to an equally well-executed interface.

The stylish look and off-the-wall story certainly make up for a lack of hardcore role-playing depth.

As a whole, Bloodlines is, even with its faults, a very high quality product. The game world is well presented, and is immersive to the degree that you could easily lose yourself in it for hours at a time and not even notice.

But if you are happy to play the game online all of the time and don’t mind an initially steep learning curve, Warhawk actually proves to be an enjoyable and engaging game; it’s arcade leanings making up for a slight lack of sophistication, and an impressive sense of scale making up for the lack of visual ‘wow’ factor. Overall, a surprise hit.

What it lacks in overall content it makes up for by having damned enjoyable and addictive gameplay and enough variations on a theme for the game to last much longer than the four or so hours it takes to complete the main mode.

There are dozens of ready-made missions and most of them can be tackled in radically different ways, which adds even more longevity on top of the mission editor and slew of multiplayer modes.

One of the better RTS games we’ve played that at least tries to avoid the clichés that have riddled this genre for so long. Kudos goes to the developers, if not huge profits.

However, casual Tony Hawk fans should really think twice about investing, as there's not a huge amount to set it apart from the rest.

However, casual Tony Hawk fans should really think twice about investing, as there’s not a huge amount to set it apart from the rest.

Still, despite the game's poor multiplayer and control issues, Conker: Live and Reloaded still retains the classic gameplay of Bad Fur Day, giving it just enough spit and polish to be a great remake, even if there's little in the way of extras.

The Xbox 360 is no doubt the best format to play the game on, with sharp visuals and a surround-sound crowd that really draws you into the action, but it just doesn’t have that made-for-next-gen feel, and if you aren’t using HDTV, the difference is even less spectacular.

V. With its beautiful fantasy graphics and huge amounts of depth, Heroes is back from the dead and ready for the next generation of RTS role players.

However, casual Tony Hawk fans should really think twice about investing, as there’s not a huge amount to set it apart from the rest.

Kohan II: Kings of War is a good quality RTS that manages to stand out from the RTS crowd.

The Witcher is actually one of the best RPGs we've come across in a long time. It may not quite be Oblivion in scope and all-round greatness, but it earns the right to call itself a must try RPG that will immerse you in its dark and mysterious world.

Five years ago Yakuza 2 would have been a system seller. Today it’s just enough reason to wipe the layers of dust off of a shelved console and give it a final send-off.

Rock Band is so close to being a must-have game for any self respecting, music-loving gamer, but unless you’ve got money to burn and friends on tap, Rock Band isn’t half the game it could have been for half the cost [Say again, Bilbo - Ed].

At least if you do take in everything the game has to offer on the first sitting, you’ll easily feel like you’ve had a fulfilling experience, but unlike a GTA game, it’s pretty unlikely that you’ll come back for more once you’ve finished.

Galaxies is certainly a perfectly enjoyable and natural evolution for the Geometry Wars series that’ll provide hundreds of hours of fun to gamers with lightning-fast reactions, but it’s perhaps not enough to make it really worth it.

Overall Ridge Racer has proven to be a decent, though not essential purchase for the system, and one that you at least probably won’t go wrong with.

Even though it has open-ended free roaming aspects, it feels far more like a short linear game supplemented by hidden areas and bonus missions.