Sure, a challenge mode, time attack and many more bells and whistles would have been welcome, but like the endless waves of retro compilations out there at the moment, there's something endearingly simple about Neowave that everybody can enjoy.

If you've always fancied the idea of having the genuine OutRun arcade cabinet experience with added online support then OutRun Online Arcade does exactly what it says on the tin while managing to be a lot of fun to boot.

It demonstrates a welcome change of direction for the now infamous series and definite inroads into future potential for the future of similar racers on Wii. No, it's not without its faults (the less said about the unfulfilling multiplayer, the better), but viewed as a shamelessly simple arcade racer, it offers a surprising amount of longevity and fun.

This is more of a distraction until a proper Wii Sports game appears on the scene. There just isn't enough substance here to keep the committed player coming back for more.

There's little reason anyone but a NASCAR fan will buy this game when there's things like GRID, Forza, Gran Tourismo and so forth flying about.

This game could only really be suitable for Sonic fans and younger gamers. Sonic aficionados will love a change of pace and a slight return to form for the blue spikey wonder. It also forms a fantastic introduction to the RPG world for kids as it is lightweight enough that they won't get bogged down by statistics yet it'll still introduce them to the basic concepts of RPGs before they move onto some of the true favourites on the DS (such as the Final Fantasys and the forthcoming Chrono Trigger).

Mirror's Edge is an impressive feat as a realistic first-person simulation of parkour across the towering roof-tops of a dystopian future. Unfortunately it's also fairly dull and frequently doesn't do enough to motivate the player to continue, this is not a game I was thinking about when I wasn't playing it.

This is a decent online shooter with a fairly bland and mildly repetitive single-player component added on.

The Combat Mission games are not for the faint-hearted or action RTS fan. If the prospect of flipping back and forth between the game and Acrobat for a few hours doesn't phase you, then Combat Mission could be right up your alley.

Mark of Chaos is disappointing. More disappointing that the game itself really deserves, as it is a perfectly respectable RTS that has nothing to be ashamed of on your local game stores shelf next to its peers.

Arcade nuts that simply cannot live without Ghost Squad in their collection should be prepared to receive nothing but a strictly shallow gaming experience, while everyone else would be well advised to consider spending their hard-earned cash on Capcom's far superior Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.

The truth is that as a result of Splatterhouse design, its real strength is the combat and the humour lose their appeal with repetition. And the platforming sections... well, it's hard to be kind about them. Not without appeal, Splatterhouse is a disappointment.

Black & White 2, while enjoyable for a while, just isn't full of enough gaming nutrients to make it taste as appealing as it looks in the picture over the counter.

The result of this attention to detail and commitment to develop an ongoing Wii version of the game is a great little experience. If you have even a slight inkling towards darts and a smattering of patience to persevere for a few hours with the controls you will find a lot of fun here.

In the end though you have to consider that when it's good its very very good and when its bad... its just a bit rough, never terrible.

I guess at the end of the day, the new Beetle just served as a reminder of what a good car the Golf is. Content over style is the decider again for me.

Medal of Honor Heroes 2 is not a bad game in the way that Midway's Hour of Victory is a bad game, but it is most definitely bland, dull, uninteresting, and yet further proof (if any was needed) that EA is still reticent to relinquish its grip on the profit-turning safety of established franchise titles in order to expand upon those mainstay releases with a much-needed infusion of invention and ambition.

Spider-Man 3 is very much a game of two halves, the conventional game elements with their inherent problems actually get in the way of the fun you can have just 'being' Spider-Man.

Alpha Protocol isn't a bad game, it just often happens to feel like one when you're playing it. There's a distinct impression that whenever Obsidian rolled up to a design crossroads during development they ended up invariably choosing the wrong path.

The whole thing feels like something of a work in progress, full of interesting and potentially brilliant ideas that somehow just fail to live up to their billing.

It certainly provides a fun portable footballing experience with regards to the actual simulation, but there is still a lot of room for improvement, and I feel that the PSP is still not being used to its full capacity.

Ultimately, Beijing 2008's sporadic hits are swamped by its all-too frequent misses, which only serves to highlight just how potentially good the overall game could have been had SEGA and Eurocom opted for interactive simplicity across the board.

I just plain old got bored with the game. The occasional clunkiness of both the presentation and the interface didn't bother me, but when the thrill of getting new items began to diminish under the realisation that the developers had little else up their sleeve other than to keep heaping monsters and loot onto me then I just gave up.

Just don't expect too much from it. It likes to give with one hand and take away with the other.

When it's all added up, Uprising is a generous package. Not as extensive as Kane's Wrath, but released at half the price, it offers you about a third of the original game. It's not remarkable, by any means, and though it's never dull it also never escapes the feeling of being an expansion by numbers.

Those who've always wanted a portable slice of Phantasy Star will find hours of content to enjoy, especially if they have a like minded friend or two. The rest of the world however may find it more of an acquired taste.

Maybe EA just need a few more sequels and a brand new console to perfect the series, but this writer has a sneaky suspicion that EA knows that a brand name and a few famous faces will be enough to encourage strong sales.

A game that fails to truly engage on any level, producing an underwhelming mix of the RPG, action and adventure genres all wrapped up in adequate if slightly retro visuals.