Top draw

Pac-Pix
Nintendo DS, £29.99
Nintendo/Namco, ****

The tech demo of Pac-Pix at last year's E3 caused many people to fall in love with Nintendo's DS, so there has been a lot of curiosity about how the full game would turn out.

The concept behind the game, which really shows off the DS's capabilities to the full, is to draw various shapes on the touchscreen, which then spring to life.

Central to this is Pac-Man himself, who can be drawn facing in four directions and will pop into existence and start chomping on ghosts (no pill-popping for this Pac). Walls can be drawn to help guide him around and the bigger or smaller you draw him dictates the speed at which he moves.

Later in the game you get to draw arrows, which can knock down floating ghosts and pop balloons, and also bombs that will blow a luckless ghost out of its protective shell. There are also a few environmental considerations, including reflector shields, ink splodges (which can't be drawn over) and a neat back alley that you can unlock and direct Pac down when you need some breathing space.

There is something unnerving about seeing your mutated Pac-Man drawings come to life before your eyes. But while the Pac symbol is forgiving of wobbly stylus movement, the arrow seems to be a lot more hit-and-miss. There isn't a multi-layer mode, which is a little bit of a shame, but Pac-Pix is crackingly good fun, not to mention a rather good spatial workout for your brain.
Rhianna Pratchett

Sterling rises

Cold Winter
PlayStation 2, £39.99
Vivendi/Swordfish, ***

With videogames, the script used to be the weak point, but times have changed for the better, and Cold Winter is a case in point. While the setting is cliched - cold war and Bond-esque - the plot and cut scenes add gravitas to the proceedings.

As former MI6 agent Andrew Sterling, your aim is to, eventually, save the world. Cold Winter is a first-person shooter on the PS2 - a platform not graced with the best of the genre. At first glance, the graphics are underwhelming, with slightly anachronistic looks. The action, initially at least, feels generic, but soon develops into something quite interesting. Nice touches abound, such as the ability to scavenge armour from slain assailants. You can also create items - such as Molotov cocktails - from what you snaffle, and you can interact with the scenery, using items as cover.

When you do encounter the enemy, the Artificial Intelligence makes for a tough opponent. The blood and body splattering when you register a hit is excessive, but satisfying.

This is a perfectly enjoyable first-person-shooter, even if the visuals are a little rough. But there is nothing here that really drags the game on to the highest level. However, as a new, non-sequel game that contains a well-written script and enjoyable action, Cold Winter is a solid contender.
Greg Howson

Monster rucks

Monster Hunter
PlayStation 2, £39.99
Capcom, ***

Few games make use of the PS2's online capabilities, so the fact that Monster Hunter can be played online instantly makes it stand out from the crowd. It has an interesting premise, too: you find yourself in a beautiful prehistoric world, in which humans live in villages and dinosaurs roam the countryside.

In the single-player game, you work your way through quests that become steadily harder. But as you complete those quests, you earn money to buy new equipment and upgrade your existing weapons and armour (you can even use the skin and horns of beasts you have killed). As the quests become more involved, the game becomes more tactical. Online, you can play through quests with up to four friends, working collectively to, say, distract a monster's attention while one of the party escapes from its nest.

Given the basic nature of the single-player game, and its slow pace, you would have to say that the online game provides a better gameplay experience. But, since hooking up to the PS2's online service is far from straightforward, this will only interest dedicated online console gamers. Monster Hunter is no Everquest-style persistent world, but a four-player cooperative game. At least it dares to be different.
Steve Boxer

Top 5 games

Mobile java downloads

1. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

2. Steve Davis Snooker

3. Tetris

4. Golf Club

5. Lemmings

Source: Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, © 2005 Elspa (UK) Ltd

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