Unless you are a gymnastic puzzles enthusiast with sharp reflexes it's hardly worth the bother, but it beats playing on your mobile whilst sitting in a waiting room.

The hardcore strategy game fans amongst us will adore this. It's a true challenge and it will last a very, very long time. However if you're any less than a hardcore fan (and I mean the type of fan who will forego sleep for a week just to play networked Civilization) you might not like this at all.

Somewhere under the flawed exterior there are some good or even great ideas buried inside but these are sadly let down by some unforgivable glitches in the most fundamental parts of the RTS mechanics, problems that are thrown into sharp contrast when experienced through the unforgivably dull campaign mode.

The gameplay is too simple, the levels uninteresting and the repetitive music, annoying. In a sentence it's all right for a quick blast, but nothing that holds any major draw.

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.

Unfortunately, Frontline: Fields of Thunder offers little in the way of diversity. Not only with it's own linear-nay-similar gameplay, but from the tried and test formula of RTS games of old.

An extensive multiplayer mode, a track editor and the ability to trade vehicles online ensure almost infinite longevity and top off a title which is a micro masterpiece in its own right.

The separate elements of the game each work well in their own right, although we were left wondering if they would ever come together to make sense of the game as a whole.

It works, it's competently put together and it does indeed run like a dream on any old machine. Yet it is totally lacking in any spark and there really is an unbearable sense of ennui from the very outset of the tired looking and cliched intro sequence.

With more players I'm sure it will hold up against the big boys of the run-and-gun multiplayer world, certainly looking better than most. But without the players to fill the rooms, Warpath is pretty much meaningless.

Possibly the second most disappointing title on the PS2 to "Angel of Darkness," and I'm sure that's not the last time you'll hear the two mentioned together.

Pride, squabbling and calamitous design decisions have ultimately left the game a meagre shadow of its potential self. Its biggest problem, outside of its lacklustre design, is that you and the band have to ask yourselves, in the midst of a music game session, "shall we bother fumbling around the shelves looking for that copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen?"

UberSolider lacks online play and offers an average, ageing, gaming experience - "Counter-Strike" does the opposite. Sure UberSoldier is a budget release, but sometimes you pay for what you get... and sometimes true quality deserves spending a few more notes.

Velvet Assassin is an excruciatingly painful, unappealing mess of a game, and its number of redeeming qualities can be counted on the stump of a leper's former arm: it ends.

While there is no denying NASCAR 2008 does a perfectly competent job at recreating the sport, it's not a good enough racer when compared to the genre as a whole to tempt anyone but the most devoted of NASCAR fans.

A hackneyed title with a series of touch screen controls tacked-on. It feels like there's only one thing left to say: better luck next time, Rayman.

Is it better than "Call of Duty 3"? From my point of view, no. Simply because of its style-over-substance approach, inherent in the beautiful presentation overlaying slightly above average gameplay and not-quite-right controls.

Ultimately, this game is really more of an interactive movie - the combat offers next to no challenge and there is very little replay value.

Bakushow is, in a way, a tough game to score. I mean, its rubbish, but it does do exactly what it claims to and does it perfectly well. The fact that what it does is quite clearly the most pointless game concept in all of history is obviously a bad thing but it doesn't try to hide its flawed plan so anyone who buys it is hardly in a position to complain.

Believability takes a hit right from the off when you can unload a clip in your drill sergeant's face without even causing his eyes to water.

It wastes opportunities, it wastes the talents of its creators and - above all - it wastes your time.

It does progress into an average platformer and a good attempt at a new direction for the series, but average it still is. There are better PSP titles to be bought and played first.

It's not that Dungeon Maker does all these things in a bad way exactly, it just does it in an extremely uninspiring way that makes it instantly forgettable once you turn your DS off.

Shrek the Third isn't fundamentally broken or inescapably unplayable, but its sheer middle-of-the-road laziness in every contributing aspect makes it all-but impossible to recommend to anyone accept blinkered Shrek / Dreamworks fanatics and those with a bizarre penchant for shoehorned Hollywood dross.

At times, you'll be fighting enemies who are off-screen behind the camera - or worse again, trying to clear jumps and obstacles you can't even see.

One feeling I do get from the game is that it is a finished title, and quite a lot of effort has been put into pleasing Gundam fans, the only unfortunate thing is that whilst trying to add in the lore and even upgrades that the player can try to achieve for their mech, the game suffers too much from the over-repetitive.

Manage to grab it on the cheap though and you may find it becoming something of a guilty pleasure, a game to be popped into the Wii when all you really want to do is disengage your brain and kill thousands of bad guys while mutilating your own fingers in the process.

The gameplay itself doesn't really offer anything new but it is a refreshing change to have a futuristic shooter against humans rather than aliens.