For a system as powerful as the Xbox 360 – which I’m sure could make a digital sandwich so convincing, it would have gamers around the globe trying to bite their TVs – Fantastic Four is a huge letdown. Character models and environments are boring and lack detail. If anything it all looks like a higher-resolution version of an ugly PS2 game.

The pithy cut-scenes are about as easy to follow as a quantum physics lecture and are as elaborately detailed as a newspaper comic strip.

Sadly, Touch the Dead is like a zombie crashing a dinner party. It's ugly, it's annoying and after a while you feel like your brain is being chewed on.

Pocket Pool largely fails as a billiards simulation, and completely fails as a source of titillation. Go to the local pool hall and talk to some flesh and blood women instead.

If you can ignore the bad voice work, repetitive gameplay and sub par controls (we're asking a lot, we know), then you should consider this.

The biggest problem with this game comes down to Ubisoft really not taking full advantage of the Wii functionality like they could have. Most attack moves come down to wildly swinging the controller, and ninja-like moves such as double-jumping and wall-running are all done using boring ol’ button and analog stick combinations. Yawn.

The twittering is so irritating it will take all of your self-control not to purposely heave that Wiimote through your television screen to shut those fowl up for good.

One of the big reasons why Amaze might have lobotomized the A.I. is the notoriously awkward PSP controls when it comes to first person shooters.

Combine the terrible gameplay with overly dark and grainy visuals, a horrible story and voice acting and bad audio editing – cut scenes are far quieter than the in-game sound – and you get one awful package.

Quite simply, it’s a very early contender for worst game of 2007, and a game this bad will be etched into every fibre of my being right up until December I’m sure.

The controls are about as responsive as a corpse in the city morgue and the moody camera handcuffs you at every turn.

Left Behind: Eternal Forces oscillates between the boring and the aggravating and is far from ever being a rapturous experience.

As a supposed evolutionary member of the franchise, considering it's pretty much based on a single level from a seven year old game, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam feels like complete regression.

The scum-ridden, germ-infested sponge under my bathroom sink has more character and wit than this SpongeBob, unfortunately.

Sony's handheld buries the DS alive with better graphics and overall gameplay. The DS version plays and looks more like a Game Boy Advance side-scroller with text to read instead of voice acting to listen to, lifeless graphics and simplistic levels.

Games like this ought to be easy to pick up and play, but “Crash Boom Bang” is so confusing and unnecessarily complicated that it will make any player shut off the DS in frustration.

The game does fill up the day, even if the experience isn't very satisfying. And at least you're not watching the show.

Curiously enough, the billiards mini-game really does sum up Gangs of London as a whole. Gangs of London has a lot of balls but when it comes to sinking them it always scratches.

In the hands of some more creativity (and maybe less time constrictions that most movie-based video games have), this could have been something worth a second look. As it is, this game should be judo-chopped immediately to the bargain bin.

Without the free roaming play, the game is a limited and once you have accomplished all of your goals, there’s nothing to keep you amused. Why settle for the edited-for-television version when you can have the director's cut? Stick with the console version, capeesh?

The cover art looks great, but the actual substance is often a poor imitation of something else.

The game is a rapidly wearisome, dull dungeon crawling adventure with repetitive maps, dialogue and gameplay.

The game is a rapidly wearisome, dull dungeon crawling adventure with repetitive maps, dialogue and gameplay.

Obviously, there's nothing really new here. Although you have arms which you can use to punch out other robots and slam their heads' into the track as you drive, it's not very interesting as a fighting title. It also can't compare to the carnage in other violent racing games, such as one of the Burnout titles.

Although the animations have a lot of character, the gameplay is overly simplistic and often repetitive. Only fans of the series need apply.

Most of the adventure is spent exploring the ruins on a desert island while fighting monkeys and other pirates, and it’s not a terrible idea for a game it’s just so poorly executed that it’s impossible to recommend, even at a budget price.

The DS adaption wears out its welcome really quickly with its repetitive gameplay.

Your best bet here is to wait until the Monster House movie is released on DVD. With extras, it'll probably be about as long as the game and you and your kids won't have to put up with design problems or frustrating controls.

Performing the special moves becomes boring quickly as it slows down the gameplay as you stop shooting baskets in an attempt to raise your respect points.

Except for die-hard GTA fans who don't own a PSP, I wouldn't recommend 'Liberty Cities' to anyone, even those who have never given the GTA a series a shot.

What most definitely works for mini-game compendiums like Wario Ware or Mario Party certainly doesn't work for Cars, because of its complete lack of variety and quantity of individual levels, not to mention the wild variation in difficulty.

X-Men: The Official Game is too short, too bland and too rushed to be considered anything more than a three-day rental (and barely that).

Granted, the targeting system is pretty unique to this kind of game, but thanks to it being fairly unresponsive, especially when things really heat up on screen, it ends up being completely derogatory.

The pacing is so slow that trawling through the usual scenarios is completely unrewarding. It¹s not particularly bad, just boring.

2K could have opted to do something truly revolutionary but instead they opted to time travel back to 1983 and give us another 'Hyper Olympic' clone. That approach just really doesn't cut it in 2006.

The worst part is, you can basically hit a button to get more and more health, as opposed to adding quarters in the arcades back in the day.

Aside from being full of useless exposition about Rune Cannons and the various empires in these Island Nations, the story doesn't even make much sense.

Kids have done this all before over and over again in more distinct and sleeker settings. Besides the cool runaway Robot sequences there's nothing that's challenging, innovative or eye-catching about Zathura.

Kids have done this all before over and over again in more distinct and sleeker settings. Besides the cool runaway Robot sequences there's nothing that's challenging, innovative or eye-catching about Zathura.

Not worth a glance while searching the racks at your local video game store. Easily one of the wor[st] Nintendo DS games yet.

A flimsy, hollow and ill-timed release that only some children would take pleasure from as their expectations on occasion are not that high.

If you don't already own Super Smash Bros Melee, and all Blockbuster's copies are already rented, Shrek Super Slam just might fit tbe bill.

There are some redeeming qualities to this game, however, like that unfinished steak; it urgently needs some more time on the grill. Lots of time and some more seasoning wouldn't hurt either.

That's so Raven 2: Supernatural Style doesn't fair as well unfortunately although it is more of an arcade style experience.

This lack of dynamism renders Fantastic Four feeling rather impotent. And unfortunately all that's left is a decidedly average button basher wrapped up in a blockbuster license.

If you ignore the fact that the responses you are able to give often don't seem to be what you really want to say; if you ignore that there are only about 10 people total on the mountain and everyone becomes the town "bike;" and if ignore there is practically no continuity between the "missions," the game does what it claims to do.

A mundane experience that is probably best forgotten. If, however, you’re still curious, consider a rental first, and see if you like it.

A nice-looking but otherwise average first-person shooter on the PC is now a blah-looking and forgettable first-person shooter on the Xbox.