Although another racing game might seem as desirable as unnecessary surgery, the TOCA series differentiates itself in a number of ways, the biggest of which is an expertly crafted balance between racing thrills and authentic punishment for cutting corners or ploughing into the back of other cars. It's also absurdly eclectic, taking in some 35 racing disciplines from monster trucks to go-karts and featuring a similarly extravagant 80+ tracks, including a lightly sandbagged recreation of the M25 sans 20-mile tailbacks. Less intrusive cut scenes with your familiar Scottish mentor and occasional rants from putative rivals punctuate wonderfully engaging racing, and while actually getting online with PS2 is as challenging as ever, TOCA 3 plays very nicely on Xbox Live.

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Trapt
PS2

Trapt's Princess Allura is a girl in trouble. Cursed by some ancient evil, she's forced to wander a castle setting up gruesome traps for assailants. This means looking at a set of rooms and corridors, selecting appropriate mechanical ambushes and then luring your prey towards them, setting off macabre chain reactions for extra credit. Translation to rival "all your base are belong to us" is matched by weak in-game animation, a generic Japanese graphic style and a sluggish in-game camera. Take Two, publisher of the peerless Grand Theft Auto series and a lot of cheerless tat that sells on negative publicity, clearly bought this on the strength of the volume of blood it lets.

· Take Two, £30