Sims: Bustin' Out
Nokia N-Gage, £29.99 EA
, ****
Sims: Bustin' Out is the best game available for Nokia's N-Gage. Not a particularly prestigious award, but the N-Gage is finding its feet and Bustin' Out should appeal to a rapidly growing and increasingly important market - casual gamers.
Bustin' Out takes many elements from the PC Sims titles - micromanagement, interior decoration, relationship-building - but adds a more focused style of gameplay. So rather than spending hours deciding what chair to buy or which job to apply for, Bustin' Out sets your Sim a series of challenges, with the ultimate aim of moving into a swanky mansion.
Money is earned by playing a series of games, such as riding a tractor or lifting weights. Players must also tend to their Sim's every bodily function. As in the PC original, your Sim needs washing, feeding and the key to the bathroom. By chatting to other characters your Sim will make friends, earn money and advance up the societal ladder.
As you'd expect from an EA game, production values are high, with colourful and cute graphics. The sound is annoying, though - the characters speak in nonsensical "Simlish" - so use headphones or prepare for commuter hatred. Despite a few issues with maps and layout, Sims Bustin' Out is an addictive portable treat.
Greg Howson
Donkey Kong Country 2
Game Boy Advance, £29.99 Rare/Nintendo,
****
Donkey Kong Country 2 is the latest in a line of Super Nintendo Entertainment System games to have been repackaged by Nintendo and ported on to the GBA. Despite the title, you don't play as Donkey Kong. Instead, you jump into the simian shoes of Diddy Kong and his girlfriend Dixie, on a mission to save Kong from the dastardly grip of Kaptain K Rool.
Although you can only play one character at a time, the aim is to have both Diddy and Dixie on screen at once and swap between the two. Both apes share almost all the same skills and a bit more individuality would have been nice - although Dixie can turn her ponytail into a kind of mini-helicopter, a skill every girl needs.
DKC2 contains eight worlds, which include a pirate ship, a slippery ice world and a surreal giant beehive area. Happily, Rare has managed to make the areas feel different and you will have to utilise different methods of playing to work your way through each one, rather than it being one long fruit-gathering jumpathon.
There's quite a bit of gentle humour, which comes through in many of the animations. Overall, the graphics are not as sharp as Nintendo's previous GBA efforts. Yet the outcome is a cheery title adorned with bonus games and multiplayer modes for added longevity.
Rhianna Pratchett
Richard Burns Rally
PS2, Xbox, £39.99 Warthog/SCi,
***
2001 World Rally champion Richard Burns, convalescing after surgery to remove a brain tumour, should at least derive some cheer from the videogame that bears his name.
You might not imagine the world needs another rallying game (particularly since rule-tinkering means this year's World Rally Championship lacks British drivers and much appeal as a spectacle), but Britsoft publisher SCi has found an angle.
It set out to create the most realistic rally simulator, meticulously modelling every car component, and developing a terrain with realistic potholes, ditches, stray rocks and so on. This renders Richard Burns Rally a very difficult game.
Sensibly, it has a Gran Turismo-style driving school, in which Burns and his co-driver Robert Reid teach you the techniques in a pleasantly innovative manner that encourages you to mimic Burns' smooth style. Neat touches include the ability to enlist the help of spectators during off-road excursions, and the chance to take on Burns head to head.
Be warned, though: Richard Burns Rally provides a very different - and much less forgiving - experience than arcade-style games such as Colin McRae Rally, and will cause those who lack natural driving talent immense frustration. Buy it only if you are prepared to be very patient.
Steve Boxer
