Thief: Deadly Shadows
Xbox, £39.99 Ion Storm/Eidos
****

The PC Thief games have always had a huge influence on the stealth game genre. With a dedicated fan base and a vibrant modding community, it was feared that, in developing for the Xbox, Ion Storm would lose the brilliance of the first two titles. This is understandable - especially in the wake of Deus Ex Invisible War, Ion Storm's other big franchise, which disappointed many.

The good news is that Deadly Shadows, which follows the story of Master Thief Garrett, is a Thief game through and through. There's great lighting, interactive environments and familiar weapons and enemies. Although it doesn't push the series further, it remains faithful to its roots. The bad news is that the Xbox version suffers from a few frame-rate problems, bugs and slow loading. The ragdoll physics have not been implemented as well as they could have been, and many of the enemies' death poses look like one half of an advanced users' Kama Sutra position. However, Deadly Shadows boasts a great deal of charm, with incredibly atmospheric and creepy environments designed to unnerve the ears as well as the eyes. Unfortunately, Garrett isn't given the chance to stretch his legs much since the environments are not particularly epic in scale. While it may have been designed with more of a PC audience in mind, if you can forgive its glitches, you'll find Deadly Shadows retains much of the original Thief magic.
Rhianna Pratchett

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
PS2, PC, Xbox, £39.99, EA
***

First things first - if your child likes Harry Potter in book or film form, then the game won't disappoint. Like the previous Potter videogames, Azkaban takes elements from classic titles - Legend of Zelda, Metal Gear Solid - and throws in a Hogwarts setting.

This time round, players get to control Hermione and Ron, too. The game is neatly structured. Tasks are set each day - find this, deliver that - which, when completed, allow the gang time to explore Hogwarts.

Whether it's solving puzzles, firing spells or talking to other characters, there is much pleasant adventuring. Sadly, there is nothing magical about the load times, with the PS2 in particular crippled every time Harry and the crew change room. Then there is the irritating regularity of comments from the two characters not under your control. Signposting is all well and good - and understandable with the younger age targeted - but hearing the same "helpful" phrases repeated ad nauseam istiresome. And, surprisingly, given the polished nature of most EA products, there are a few rough edges. Characters will occasionally utter the wrong words and the game even crashed. Despite this, the latest Potter game is still worth investigating. Fans will enjoy playing around in a beautifully realised environment, while older muggles will appreciate the Zelda-lite gameplay and pretty graphics.
Greg Howson

Gran Turismo 4 Prologue
PS 2, £24.99 Polyphony Digital/Sony,
***

While we wait for the full version of Gran Turismo 4 to arrive in November, Sony has provided Prologue, a sort of amuse-bouche. It provides plenty of evidence that Gran Turismo 4 will be worth the wait. As ever, you must complete a series of training exercises, which cleverly teach you about racing lines, overtaking, braking early, clipping apexes and so forth. These start off at a simpler level than in previous versions, but build up to an impressively rigorous level - when you get to the exercises involving catching and passing cars, for example, you must overtake them with zero contact, and if all four wheels slip off the road at any point, you must start again.

Prologue features a satisfyingly wide range of machinery, and the cars' dynamics are amazing, but it only has a few tracks, including the staple circuits Fuji and Tsukuba, plus a New York street circuit, a narrow track around an unspecified Italian town and a rally section. As long as you don't expect it to provide several weeks' gameplay, Prologue is a worthwhile purchase.
Steve Boxer