Most importantly, the puzzles are back on track. Traps, levers, pulleys, chains, chasms, secret passges, underground lakes, rotating knives — there’s a cunning solution to each, designed to keep you puzzling for just long enough to gain satisfaction in the solving, but not long enough to make you want to hurl your own internal organs at the screen.

Some will find that the game’s endless puzzle-solving becomes frustrating when they reach stumbling blocks, though the Help feature has been enhanced this time around. In contrast, legions of Myst fans will delight in cracking this parti-cular if rather peculiar cerebral nut.

Not one for easily bored older children, perhaps, but a well-crafted story that young players will enjoy.

Makes up for its visual shortcomings by delivering memorable online play. In this domain, not too bogged down with flashy, sophisticated graphics, the cars race smoothly and will keep adrenalin-pumped players on the edge of their seats.

Terrorist action is undermining the system. Your job is to pile in and blow them away. It’s a simple task, rendered wonderfully tense by the brooding background music and the amazingly detailed scenery. It’s almost like controlling your own Hollywood blockbuster.

Combinations become instinctive and defence second nature. Throw in an engrossing career mode, as well as the facility to create your own boxer, and you finally have a heavyweight boxing game.

It’s a third-person shooter with smooth, detailed graphics, and a learning curve set so beautifully that even non- shooter fans should love it.

As a first-person shooter, Prey makes up in design for what it lacks in depth. The game moves along swiftly, balancing a strong narrative with solid puzzle-solving and some very tasty eye candy.

The graphics here are clean, robust and more colourful than previously, while the music, though still unswervingly upbeat, is as inoffensive as ever.

This is more for 24 fans, who will instantly love it — so long as they don’t mind another TV addiction to feed.

During matches, a new passing feature allows for better control of long passes, using a combination of buttons to produce greater ball control in mid-air. In the right hands, the new move can be lethal.

An inspired example of how movie tie-ins should be made.

An unusual adventure game - an interesting concept competently carried off.

The visuals in this classy RPG are solid, while the level design and locations alternate between the inspired and the merely functional.

A solid, nicely rounded 3-D adventure that is annoyingly satisfying to play.

The tone is jocular, the script humorous and well acted by, among others, Little Britain's Anthony Head.

The game is built sublimely, with an excellent interface and crisp, rounded sound effects that grip the attention.

All this action is complemented by superb graphics and effects that really put across the bone-crunching pain of the competitors.

While the format is fairly standard (flipping switches, collecting objects and solving puzzles), the detailed worlds and neat touches — Kya can tame and ride wild animals, and dribble or kick certain creatures like a football — more than make up for it.

It's horror done "Ring"-style, low on explicit gore, but with plenty of chills and jumps, and the misty half-light of the action is beautifully complemented by one of the most unnerving soundtracks you'll hear.

Has a strong, coherent storyline that whisks Red from novice gunslinger to competent bounty hunter in what proves to be the mother of all shooting practice games.

The fun to be had derives from the game’s simplicity of play, its wildly colourful backgrounds, and the dexterity required to get it right.

The gameplay is varied enough to maintain interest, and its clutch of quirky distractions adds to the experience.

The locations are varied, but with the usual generic locations, and a repetitiveness noticable in the track layout for each stage is reduced somewhat by the addition of numerous shortcuts along each route.

An inspired example of how movie tie-ins should be made.

The third-person game is faithfully realised, enhanced by a coherent adventure penned by the show’s own scriptwriters and solid voice performances by the series’ cast members.

The graphics are pretty impressive for the Game Boy and it's worth playing just to watch those crazy critters float about the clouds. It's hard not to envy the lunatic who dreamed them up. This is a fun and imaginative game.

Shielding, tackling and dribbling have been boosted for better on-pitch control, while business in the boardroom looms with a more comprehensive management game and careers judged over a 15-year span.