With everything ultimately both bigger and better, with more destruction, and much more depth, Bugbear Entertainment are coming ever close to a winner. If the handling is tightened, and the rest of the game makes another healthy step forward, another sequel on the next generation of consoles could be the first certain winner.

Tekken: Dark Resurrection is quite easily the best fighting game available on the PSP and probably all other handhelds as well. It is also arguably the high point of the series thus far.

Monotonous it can be, but it’s rarely frustrating or difficult to play. That said, if it was released in 1998 it could have been genre-defining, in 2006 it is merely genre-filling.

Chrome Hounds makes no apologies for what it is and it isn’t looking for your appreciation. It just wants you to fight in its war. Pretenders need not apply. But if the lure of war is tempting you, then sign up.

There is a steep learning curve. Initially it might appear that avoiding a locked-on missile is an impossibility, but these are realistic representations of modern arms so it was never going to be easy. The solution is to learn what real pilots do.

Not so with Moto GP 4. The improved physics and the addition of 125cc and 250cc bikes go to make Moto GP 4 a worthy update option for all fans of powered two-wheelers, only the lack of online play spoils an otherwise worthy challenger to the Xbox title crown.

Plenty of fun in short bursts, but with nothing to bring you back after the first few days and nothing to keep you playing for more than a few minutes at a time, it's all but impossible to recommend Point Blank DS, at full price at least, over the rest of the DS's ever-impressive catalogue of games.

Underneath there is a decent racer trying to get out, however, the missed opportunities to tweak the game, the awful screen tearing and framerate problems and the crash bug mar the experience to some degree.

The bottom line is that none of these games are new, but this is still a wonderful package that offers excellent value for money, and for Gradius fans it's a must-have.

Big Brain Academy is a lot of fun, but its ability to improve brain power is probably a little more contrived than with Brain Training.

But the gameplay happily does all of the talking and Shunkan Puzzloop can sit comfortably with the likes of Tetris DS and Meteos as one of the best puzzle games available for the system. [JPN Import]

The game's pacing as the pendulum swings from action to intrigue and tension is a masterstroke with so many memorable sections in such a short space of time that the player will be left breathless and, just like the end of Half-Life 2, wanting more.

Undoubtedly the best game in the series, Blood Money will thrill long-time fans, giving them everything they could possibly want from their favourite killer.

Field Commander is the Ford Focus of the genre; it's solid, reliable and enjoyable but nothing new or all that exciting and it will leave you wanting that little bit more.

Could've been fun, but ends up being more annoying than Mario Van Peebles. At least in the original version of that particularly sad little movie, he gave us the pleasure of having the good grace to die.

A decent-enough third-person shooter, then, rendered considerably more appealing if an admirer of the strip. If so, the score below can safely have a [+10] Fanboy Modifier (to hit) applied to it.

It’s the perfect zone game, with matches ebbing and flowing as you or your opponent get ‘in the zone’, and the more you play the better you will become. Rockstar Games presents Table Tennisis a perfect example of how a sport should be digitally replicated.

The ingenuity of design, the sheer level of fun, the warmth of nostalgia and the relief that 2D gaming is still alive and kicking, all combine to make NSMB an unmissable experience and show Nintendo are still masters of the platform game.

A competent, enjoyable game with lots of depth and strategy options, sadly spoiled by the aforementioned niggles.

Even a budget price point can’t counteract the tedium that quickly sets in from the limited gameplay.

The level of skill that it's possible to gain in this game is by far its greatest strength. The excellent physics model allows a very fine degree of car control and this gives the player an opportunity to hone their techniques almost to perfection. [JPN Import]

Whilst some recent additions to the post-Neo universe have been shoddy at best (such as the 3D misfire that was KOF: Maximum Impact), the quality control appears to be improving.

As with the first episode, The Great Cow race is still an immensely difficult title to rate. Though the same engine-based problems remain, the much more intriguing dialogue, and better flow of story and puzzles help culminate in making this second episode an even brighter prospect than the first.

The time limit is incredibly harsh on some levels and sometimes the computer seems to have an unlimited supply of men at its disposal. More problematic is the overly complex nature of the controls and the necessity to remember to use the microphone while keeping an eye on three different things at once.

Tourist Trophy is far from the real riding simulator it claims to be; it misses out on one of the most fundamental things of riding bikes: fun. There may be some hardcore racing fans out there that will get some satisfaction from this game, but for the majority it will be a very frustrating experience.

Although PBP sports no new additives or flavourings, it rehashes the old ingredients successfully enough, for the most part. [JPN Import]

Although Kingdom Hearts II seems to focus more on the action than the RPG, it’s still a lot more enjoyable than the previous outing.

In an age where Nintendo feel it is fair to repackage individual SNES games and sell them as full price releases on the GBA, this anthology is undoubtedly fantastic value for money and is one of the most convincing arguments for owning a PSP yet seen. Utterly essential.