Scarface the game is not a classic befitting of the film, but it's an edgy, uncompromising, sometimes humorous and overall positive offering, which makes the blatant cadging from a superior game series just a bit more forgivable.

Mercenaries has superb graphics and a sublime soundtrack, but the fact is that it can just be boring unless you're willing to invest a little effort into creating your own excitement.

Good-but-unremarkable, lacking any significant problems, but equally any real innovation.

The lack of initial on-screen prompts aside, it’s entirely possible for anyone to throw themselves into Tiger’s 2008 outing and have both a rewarding and entertaining time, be they a golf fan or not.

Trackmania United doesn’t essentially bring anything new to the table (perhaps the sandpit is a better analogy), but it is yet another example of a developer at the top of its game in a field where it is most certainly in pole position.

Day of Reckoning is an absolutely crucial addition to the games collection of any fan of WWE.

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.

More of a step forward than a revolution, Rail Simulator is still undoubtedly improvement over the previous generation of train simulation.

Although Strong Badia the Free is a shorter episode than Homestar Ruiner, it’s more perfectly formed.

The lack of initial on-screen prompts aside, it’s entirely possible for anyone to throw themselves into Tiger’s 2008 outing and have both a rewarding and entertaining time, be they a golf fan or not.

What this game is about is mayhem, destruction and style, all of which it has in bag loads. It doesn’t have the most original gameplay, nor is it the most sophisticated game of this type, but it is essentially an officially licensed John Woo game, doing what a lot of wannabe John Woo games have been doing for a few years now.

Roogoo is a strange creature, combining cutesy childlike design and whimsical story with fiendish gameplay and a steep challenge curve. Stripping away the fluffy exterior reveals a meaty core that will satisfy even the healthiest of gaming appetite for the time it will take to finish.

Perhaps more of a focus on cerebral maze-like levels and less on the ‘gotcha’ high-wire acts might have helped this unique game series reach its full potential.

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.

If Command & Conquer’s 45 minute matches are too meaty for you, or World In Conflict’s system specs too demanding, then Multiwinia may be the lean and achingly stylish RTS you’re looking for.

Its simplicity is its strength, and its weakness – while traipsing around looking for annoyingly hidden items and backtracking is almost completely avoided, the limited direction of the game reduces its chances of holding your interest for long enough to play it all the way through.

The game has style, variety, originality, plenty of content and bags of fun – but let’s face it, when you’ve seen one mountain, you’ve pretty much seen them all. The same goes for a good deal of the other unlockable content.

The game may not have a huge amount of depth, but its clear a great deal of care and attention has gone in to making it as polished and as faithful to the subject matter as possible, from the colourful voiced menus to the dazzling special effects and cinematic camera cuts.

Despite sounding incredibly deep on paper, the reality of Spore is little more than a patchwork quilt of ultra-simple games that, even taken as a whole, have the depth of a puddle in the Sahara Desert. To be perfectly honest, you’d be better off sticking with the standalone creature creator, as it’s actually the only portion of the game that isn’t half-baked and in need of some serious evolution.

As a non-serious racing game that manages to combine Wipeout and Burnout in carting form, Jak X has a lot to offer – at least if you don’t already own a dozen or so such games.

The AI falls prey to cheap tricks consistently; almost all of the characters have to be unlocked through the single player and to unlock all of the drama scenes you need encyclopaedic knowledge of the series itself.

There's no getting away from the fact that FlatOut 2 is damned good fun, and will bring you back to the days of Destruction Derby and its ilk. However, as much as we appreciate the tweaks – and that's really all they are – to the first game, there are still a few too many fundamental flaws which bring out a wail of frustration or a tut as you consider how easily certain annoyances could have been avoided.

Even though Prey is far too short, devoid of any challenge and guaranteed to leave you disappointed, it still manages to be one of the finest old school first person shooters out there.

Its simplicity is its strength, and its weakness – while traipsing around looking for annoyingly hidden items and backtracking is almost completely avoided, the limited direction of the game reduces its chances of holding your interest for long enough to play it all the way through.

Its simplicity is its strength, and its weakness – while traipsing around looking for annoyingly hidden items and backtracking is almost completely avoided, the limited direction of the game reduces its chances of holding your interest for long enough to play it all the way through.

Even though Prey is far too short, devoid of any challenge and guaranteed to leave you disappointed, it still manages to be one of the finest old school first person shooters out there.

There’s no getting away from the fact that FlatOut 2 is damned good fun, and will bring you back to the days of Destruction Derby and its ilk. However, as much as we appreciate the tweaks – and that’s really all they are – to the first game, there are still a few too many fundamental flaws which bring out a wail of frustration or a tut as you consider how easily certain annoyances could have been avoided.

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.