Tell us what you think of the new and improved MegaStar.

Games: MGS4, Invaders

Snake: Eyeing the extra maps.

Metal Gear Solid 4, Guns of the Patriots, PS3, £49.99, Konami.

Yeah, yeah, we know. Metal Gear Solid has been out a month, call yourselves topical? etc., etc. Well, there are two reasons it's taken a month to get around to this review.

First of all, if you've played it, you know this is not a game to rush. The level of detail, the blurring of cinematic experience and game, the whole damn vision in fact, are astonishing.

From the initial set-up – where pressing the PS3 buttons will merely change channels between fake lowest common denominator TV shows – you know you're in the middle of something impressive.

By the end – which is a little unbalanced between player action and film-quality visuals – you'll have been taken through the mill, emotionally – and probably tempted to go back and play the game with all guns blazing.

Yes indeed, as well as the conventional MGS stealth action, you can storm through with weaponry. Running out of bullets? Pause the game and go to the shop. Buy more.

That does, perhaps, undermine the grim reality of the game as a whole – and the PS3's graphic abilities have never been better utilised – but damn it's fun. Anyway, we mentioned a second reason right?

This week (July 17 in fact) sees the release of the first expansion pack. Metal Gear Online Gene Expansion gives you three new maps, two new characters, a reward shop and a new game, Survival Mode.

Like you needed more reasons to buy this game. Yes, it's flawed but the unbelievable highs more than outweigh those frustrations. 5/5 (ND)

Space Invaders Extreme, PSP, £19.99, Square Enix.

In 1982 Martin Amis wrote a book called Invasion of the Space Invaders with a foreword by Steven Spielberg examining the impact of video games on popular culture.

Fast forward to the present day and it’s the 30 year anniversary of the seminal Space Invaders which Amis argued would change the world by founding a generation of gamers.

We could write an essay on the evolution of games over the past three decades, but that would be showing off.

In Invaders’ 30th year we have seen next-gen titles such as the aforementioned Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto 4, which would have blown a young Spielberg’s mind.

So how does Space Invaders Extreme stack up? Well it still has the look and feel of the original but it’s looks like it has dropped an LSD tab.

The developers have kept the basic principles of the game but really gone to town on the visuals. The retro stylings of Invaders have been retained but there are many extra flourishes which are decidedly un-retro and more summer of love 1988.

The gameplay has also gone into overdrive with snazzy new weapons such as laser cannons and bombs which make it easy to blast your way through stages without much effort.

There are some neat tricks, blast different coloured enemies in sequence and you will release specific weaponry. You can also shoot the enemy in sequence to launch the UFO where you really ramp up the score by satisfyingly mowing it to pieces.

It’s frenetic stuff and at times you pine for the mild anxiety of a single invader gradually creeping down the screen toward you. It’s been remade a gazillion times since 1978 but never better than in this anniversary edition - on the PSP – it’s the perfect casual games experience.

Will they still be celebrating GTA4 and MGS4 in 30 years time? 4/5 (HDS)

Super Monkey Ball, iPod Touch, iPhone, £5.99, Sega.

Lock up your single speed bike! An apple device now has games to shout about. Super Monkey Ball is riding high at the top of the charts in the all new Apple App Store and it’s not hard to see why.

The game has great pedigree, it was a firm Game Cube favourite and it was a no brainer for the bods at Sega to produce as the devices’ accelerometer lends itself perfectly to the game.

The game features 110 levels, and 3 modes of play (Main Game, Instant Play, and Practice) and once you’ve got to grips with the tilting and panning – there’s plenty to get stuck into.

It’s a bit of challenge the controls are ultra-sensitive which can frustrate a newbie but hearteningly it bodes well for similar games of this ilk. 4/5 (HDS)

Reviews by Neil Davey and Hesus De Santiago

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