Littered with occasionaly glimmers of hope, Vivendi’s attempt to create a true killer-app sadly falls flat, with most of the game feeling uninspired and largely by-the-numbers.

The vast world offers so much freedom that you could easily think you are lost. But you are not, because you can do whatever the hell you want, so even if you’re not able to complete a quest there will be plenty to keep you occupied until you can.

Littered with occasionaly glimmers of hope, Vivendi's attempt to create a true killer-app sadly falls flat, with most of the game feeling uninspired and largely by-the-numbers.

Grand, ferocious and full of drama, the battle elements combine with Medieval’s excellent take on diplomacy to create a fully-rounded experience – one that will pay off for years to come.

Much better than most other games on the DS. In particular it puts New Super Mario Bros to shame.

There’s just no valid excuse for buying Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 when you could just as easily pop down to a sex shop and buy an R18 DVD, go online and scour the adult sites or just spend your money on a proper videogame.

There’s so much to do, so much to see and so many piñatas you can gently tap on the noggin with your mighty shovel it could keep anyone from 8 to 80 occupied until the moozipans come home.

Gears of War isn’t a masterpiece of innovation: it’s a masterpiece of fun.

Call of Duty 3 may not be vastly different to Call of Duty 2, but it is quantifiably better.

Tony Hawk might be contracted for skating games until he’s far too old to be tearing it up on small planks of wood with wheels on, but at least the developers can still keep him going while he’s requiring medical aid to go to the bathroom and complaining about things being better in his day.

Whether running around the Bada Bing nightclub or a casino, the locations are boxy, linear and woefully outdated in terms of texture quality. Frankly speaking, it just isn’t up to scratch.

Newcomers to the series should definitely stick with the first instalment, while veterans should be aware that, despite the title, this is in no shape or form a proper sequel.

Ultimately BattleZone comes across as a futile and dated attempt at bringing multiplayer deathmatch to the PSP.

Sod all the talk of the Japanese original – Elite Beat Agents is a truly superb title that’s a joy to play from start to finish.

Even if you rush through the story you can anticipate spending at least 50 hours to complete it. Rushing through is not as much fun, however, and you should take time to do the extra side quests, hunts, exploration, levelling up, etc.

We’re just counting the weeks until the first expansion comes along.

F.E.A.R. is a game that you’re going to like a lot or you’re not going to like at all, depending on your tolerance for genuinely challenging gun battles, genuinely unsettling creepiness and genuine-looking bland industrial environments.

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.

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.

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.

Okay, so there’s nothing majorly new here, but if this isn’t a game to showcase the PSP and spur on other developers, we just don’t know what is.

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.

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.

Epic in places, bland in others, Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony is certainly a premier dungeon crawler on the PSP, but doesn’t quite live up to the PC games on which it is based – not that they were ever true classics to begin with.

It may be no substitute for the real thing, but is by far and away the best stop-gap we’ve seen so far.

Some elements of the game could definitely use a bit more polish, and we’d hope to see some more significant retroactive technical changes for the next inevitable outing, but for now Guild Wars Nightfall represents a perfectly justifiable if not essential purchase.

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.

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.