Race Driver: Create & Race is an extremely well assembled racer which falls short of excellence thanks to its handling style falling squarely between two stools, and the niggles relating to the opponent AI and graphical in-game presentation.

Nintendogs is comparable to "The Sims" in the respect that it’s all quite engaging and entertaining at first, but then everything just becomes an aimless chore.

We liked the idea of Tokobots when the game came out for the PSP and in a way we still do, but with some very cluttered gameplay, a nonsensical story even by Japanese standards, and not much in the way of challenge, the subtle improvements and minor additions to the PS2 version hardly make the fundamental gameplay any more attractive.

Presentational hiccups aside, such as the graphics that are blocky by even the DS’ standards and the blasted screen which keeps popping up to unnecessarily show you day turning to night and vice versa, this makes a nice alternative to the compelling but flawed Lost In Blue / Stranded Kids games which have come before to handheld formats.

To put it simply, The Angel of Death is an exceptional 2D point and click title masquerading as a fairly good 3D counterpart. There is simply no reason why George now resides in a new multi-dimensional world, bar entertaining its weakest element – its physical challenges.

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.

Solid and dependable, Scooby’s latest outing on DS almost acts as a training game, slowly introducing the player to rules and concepts games have thrived on for generation after generation.

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.

What the series needs is not useless gimmicks and badly rehashed game mechanics, but good, old-fashioned racing fun. We don't need customisable bells and whistles; what gamers really want is a Need for Speed that uses its strengths, and doesn't try to shoe-horn in its weaknesses for the sake of bullet points on a press release.

Port Royale 2 is certainly a game of two halves – on the one hand, there’s a dull and tedious economic engine that could suck the life blood out of many gamers quicker than Dracula with a busty virgin. But on the other hand, there’s the engrossing and open-ended combat system that allows you to carve out a career as a buccaneer.

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.

Shows an obvious fondness by the game’s creators for classic videogames, but that’s not really represented in the gameplay, which has sadly run its course here.

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.

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.

Prey the Stars is still an imaginative, good looking game that can be enjoyable in short bursts. Single card multiplayer is a definite highlight, online play not so much.

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.

Shows an obvious fondness by the game’s creators for classic videogames, but that’s not really represented in the gameplay, which has sadly run its course here.

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.

What the series needs is not useless gimmicks and badly rehashed game mechanics, but good, old-fashioned racing fun. We don’t need customisable bells and whistles; what gamers really want is a Need for Speed that uses its strengths, and doesn’t try to shoe-horn in its weaknesses for the sake of bullet points on a press release.

A reasonably well executed dancing game package, and the idea behind it is a no-brainer.

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.

Overall the third Strong Bad episode is more of a Homestar Jogger than a Homestar Runner. Baddest of the Bands lacks the novelty of the first episode and the imaginative gameplay elements of the second, settling into a formula that fans will most likely find mildly enjoyable at best.

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.

Nintendogs is comparable to "The Sims" in the respect that it’s all quite engaging and entertaining at first, but then everything just becomes an aimless chore.

Mercenaries 2 is arguably a bigger and more ambitious game than the original, but it feels less polished and less satisfying.

Overall the third Strong Bad episode is more of a Homestar Jogger than a Homestar Runner. Baddest of the Bands lacks the novelty of the first episode and the imaginative gameplay elements of the second, settling into a formula that fans will most likely find mildly enjoyable at best.

It’s too short, it can be too easy and there isn’t a great deal of variety in the gameplay.

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.