Ultimately, only true hardcore arcade fans prepared to look beyond the relative gameplay brevity and sporadic online hiccups are likely to revel in the revamped iteration of 1942: Joint Strike.

So, on one hand you've got a splendidly jazzed up version of one of the most defining Japanese RPG's ever created, and it's a good forty hours to boot. On the other you've still just got Final Fantasy IV.

The main complaint I would have about this game is that it doesn't push the boundaries technologically; it could feasibly have been done on the DS or the GameCube even, as it does not make any real use of the Wiimote and the graphics are decidedly last-generation.

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.

There's no doubting the single band formula is a solid road for Guitar Hero to venture down, it will obviously shrink the market as it narrows the appeal a tad but if you love the band in question it'll pretty much be a dream come true. Me? I'd be more excited about a Queen or Guns 'n' Roses version but this is a decent first go.

A cheap shoddy cash in.

With a game like FFTA2 it's not really about the why as the how, only it's a bit too simplistic and uninteresting to make a winning formula.

Ultimately, if it weren't for an oddly skewed sense of gameplay delivery that offers two separate genre types (action and puzzle) rather than a comfortable mixture of both, Overlord: Raising Hell would be the thoroughly refreshing genre experience that the Xbox 360 version couldn't quite become. As it is, despite the game's platform-specific tweaks and its plush design, genuine humour, and intuitive minion controls, the game still doesn't lend itself to being anything other than a smile-inducing distraction... that is already available for a far smaller asking price on the Xbox 360 and PC.

Quite simply, it's easily the best shooter of the year thus far.

It's horribly awkward to play, causes genuine pain after a while and thanks to the limitations of the DS cartridge has horrible sound quality. If you can get past important issues like those then the game itself is nice enough, but that's a very big if.

An enjoyable game, if a little shallow. It is nothing particularly innovative and almost feels like a portable game, owing to the lack of real depth. However it is an exciting and fun diversion, and definitely worth the budget online price for a racer with something a little different to offer.

The graphics are crisp and sharp, not too snazzy and not too lazy. It all feels just right. It is simple, but intelligent. It feels fresh and familiar. Not too easy, not too hard. Space Invaders Extreme is a walking oxymoron.

While Guns of the Patriots boasts lashings of in-game invention and creativity that's largely wrapped up in superb style and execution, it's all so unforgivably tainted by jaw-dropping gameplay brevity that it's truly difficult to raise the many, many good points above what is, for the most part, a succession of cut scenes that leave the player with an overwhelming sense of disconnection from one of gaming's most compelling characters and interactive franchises.

With a challenging campaign and four mini games to unlock, by itself it offers an enjoyable experience that will keep a smile on your face for some time. When you then factor in the editor, and then add BlastWorksDepot.com to the mix, that smile may become permanently attached to your face.

Soul Bubbles is an original game, beautifully executed, perfectly suited for the DS, using the touch screen to its full potential. I would love to find some fault with it, but I simply can't. Okay, I did get frustrated from time to time, but it was enormously satisfying when I finally got all my little spirits to safety.

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.

At the end of it all, Dragon Ball Z has a solid fighting mechanic behind it. The controls make sense and are responsive. However, I always felt that I was missing out by not being a fan of the show.

In the face of the political mess in Zimbabwe, the economic mess and knife-happy teenagers here in the UK, and the ongoing disaster in Iraq, the Incredible Hulk: The Official Videogame eclipses them all in making me unhappy.

Overall this game just screams 'middle of the road': a good opportunity that hasn't been fully taken advantage of. Having said that, if you have a spare weekend free and fancy a game that doesn't involve too much brain power and won't take you long to complete, then this is the ideal rental, but nothing more.

NG2 is the perfect fighting-action game, it is the ultimate gaming challenge for 2008, and it's one of the best looking 'gore games' ever created. If you want to know why Master Ninja level NG players give no respect to anyone who hasn't achieved this level of action-gaming perfection, you must become one yourself.

How you like your racing games is a personal thing, for me the delicate balance between pedal to the metal racing and slightly dull car porn is something that GRID gets spot on.

Lego Indiana Jones is very accessible and very well produced. Although for some endlessly smashing Lego scenery and finding keys to fit winches again and again and again in a desperate attempt to reach the next mildly humorous Mr. Bean-injected version of a scene from the classic films may get slightly tedious after hours and hours of it, and this is just about all Lego Indiana Jones' gameplay really amounts to.

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.

Did I mention the last two hours are pure gaming and storytelling nirvana?

This is one just for the blasting fans though, game objectives are clear at all times and there's no "pesky" things like immersive storyline or challenging puzzles to "get in the way" of mowing down enemies. Bizarrely enough, Colonies Edition is incompatible with the original game in online play so you can only play with other purchasers of the re-release; make what you will of that.

Death Jr. Root of Evil manages to convincingly sidestep the bargain bucket graveyard thanks to its character appeal, solid platform action, amusing and inventive weaponry, and a control system that largely succeeds in papering over any emergent sense of creeping mediocrity.

It is great fun despite its quirks and flaws, just don't try rushing your way through the levels too quickly. Take your time, getting there is half the journey as they say, and don't expect a polished final product like World of Warcraft, it's still a work in progress but will hopefully develop into a great alternative to Blizzard's opus.

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.