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.

2006 is an unforgiving time for online gaming, and a game as mixed up and inconsistent as this simply cannot make an impact, as hard as it tries with its meaty combat and awesome-looking vehicles.

It’s such a shame to see what could have been a splendid old-school RTS with mostly decent presentation (aside from the fact that the camera doesn’t zoom out enough) and three imaginative and well-balanced factions being ruined because of so many niggling problems.

It still looks great, it’s still dripping with detail, and there are now even more rides to create and things to do. However, it still plays like it’s a piece of modding software, and not everyone’s going to enjoy it as a result.

It is slightly let down by some rather pointless puzzles, a few frustrating moments where it’s unclear what you have to do to progress, and the rather lacklustre character graphics. In essence, it’s a rough diamond – nice, but missing a lot of polish.

The package is, as a whole, rather rough around the edges. You know you’re in for trouble when even the publisher admits that the tutorial is “a pain and a little time consuming”.

So while Ghost Squad is a perfectly reasonable lightgun shooter which only significantly falls short in terms of its length, what really sticks in our collective craw is the price. Asking thirty quid for it would be a piss take at the best of times, but considering the US version is being sold for the same figure in dollars, making it around £15 in real money, that’s quite frankly unacceptable.

It’s a little simpler to play than the 2K series, and more fast paced, but it’s also just not as good.

For atmosphere and an authentic Star Wars feel (Clone Wars or otherwise), Jedi Alliance does a good fan service. The gameplay elements aren’t very imaginative or even especially enjoyable when taken in isolation, but overall there are enough different challenges spread out across each level that it’s much less of an issue than in might have been.

It’s a little simpler to play than the 2K series, and more fast paced, but it’s also just not as good.

Formula One Championship Edition is a weak debut for F1 on PS3, trying to hide its complete lack of progress and innovation behind a high-def exterior; but it’s not all bad.

Sega Superstars Tennis offers some interesting diversions, but the main meat of the package is lacking the bite it requires to be a great game.

Many will lap up the opportunity to get to business tweaking and customising every shot, while players who might more often reach for the likes of Mario Golf or the Monkey Golf mini-games will be repelled.

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.

Sega Superstars Tennis offers some interesting diversions, but the main meat of the package is lacking the bite it requires to be a great game.

It’s most successful at emulating the film’s atmosphere, particularly with wise-cracking Jack Sparrow taking centre stage, but the gameplay feels unambitious and ultimately stuck in a rut.

The Sims: Pet Stories is, for our money, more interesting than Life Stories in that it contains the relationship elements of the latter while adding in the extra dimension of training up a pet.

The gameplay is nowhere near as original as the setting, nor is it particularly spectacular for that matter, but just as you could do better, you could also do worse.

What it boils down to is the fact that there are better racers and better puzzle games already on the PSP.

Infected is one of those rare PSP games that manages to tick all the right boxes in terms of design, functionality and execution, so it’s no wonder it received so much hype prior to release. Sadly none of that translates to a particularly compelling gameplay experience.

If you’re looking for an extremely cutthroat head-to-head mode then you should certainly take a look.

The graphics, although dated and unoriginal, aren’t terrible. And the first person shooting gameplay can’t be knocked too heavily, because after all, it’s the same system implemented in every first person shooter.

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.

The game is every bit as cute and niche as ever, but it’s not even pretending to be anything new or innovative for fans – it’s just the same old slog once again, with only a few new faces and a few new things to see.

Sadly what we get is some very cluttered gameplay, a nonsensical story even by Japanese standards, and not much in the way of challenge beyond that which arises from the fiddly method of controlling the tokobots during combat.

In the end Fair Strike comes across as a competent if not particularly thrilling combat helicopter flight sim.

This is the Xbox 360 dammit, show it some respect and put some effort into your ports people.

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.