Sega Rally’s been around for as long as I can remember. At its core it’s always been an arcade racing game which is simple to pick up and play, zooming round the country roads and dirt tracks without too much trouble. Of course, for the hardcore among us we could look into it a bit deeper and use manual gears and powerslide round those corners to get the edge and a better split time.

So, this one’s the first one for the next-gen consoles and it’s got something new – ground deformation. Now we’ve seen this before with MotorStorm but in Sega Rally, it actually makes a difference to the way your tyres grip. Razz round snowy slopes and it’ll get moved away and compressed, go through gravel or deep mud and again you’ll make a track that will be easier to go round next time.

It’s an interesting concept but unfortunately doesn’t work as well as it should as the cars in this game are rather tricky to stay on the road, never mind navigate on the best bits you’ve worn away for yourself. It’s really very twitchy and for an arcade game, this isn’t ideal as it’s the type of game you just want to pick up and smash round the tracks for 10 minutes or so without really worrying about how the car handles. Colin McRae Dirt’s tricky enough but at least it’s supposed to be.

Your opponents on the track are also too good. Smash into one wall and you’ll never see them again. I feel like James May in Top Gear.

If you can get control of the cars it’s your usual Sega Rally affair, it feels very Sega –y if that’s a word and you get that geezer telling you where to go saying long left, easy right, maybe. Are you sure Mr talky man?

It also looks very nice too and is great fun multiplayer, although you may enjoy that more on the 360 with its rumbly controller and achievements points to get.

It’s good fun but the handling of the floaty cars does spoil the fun.

Sega Rally gets a very good 7 out of 10.

On this weeks videogame podcast we cover:

• Ratatouille
• Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros Treasure
• The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
• Assassins Creed

Thanks for the kind words, as always the email address is gamesweasel@btpodshow.com . We are still running the £100 gaming giveaway just for leaving us a review on our page in the iTunes store (positive or negative, as long as its constructive!) – so get reviewing!.

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I’ve always ben a bigger fan of the Zelda games on handhelds than on the consoles. It just comes down to a time thing, even though I love the games, I just don’t get time to finish them on the GameCube, N64 or even the Wii. However, on the Gameboy Color, Advance or the DS, I can make use of dead time and get really involved when on the move.

Which is why I’ve been looking forward to Phantom Hourglass so much and it hasn’t disappointed one bit.

Looking very similar to Wind Waker in terms of cell-shaded graphics and being set on a number of islands you have to sail to, the game starts with princess Zelda being kidnapped by a ghost ship. And so your adventure begins as you talk to townsfolk, swing your sword and solve more puzzles in dungeons before fighting the bosses.

So, in many ways this feels like a conventional Zelda with a very unconventional control method – as the whole game uses the stylus. To make Link move you just drag the stylus on the screen and he follows where you point to. To attack you either tap, strike through or spin round Link to make him twirl around. Again, tap objects to interact with them or to push, pull, throw or drop them.

They even give you clues and puzzles where you must make notes on maps and plot routes through mazes and areas full of danger.

You also use it to plot where to go in your ship on sea charts, and to look around and fire your cannons and pirate ships and amphibious enemies that pop up from time to time.

Graphically, this game looks amazing. It’s not far off the GameCube graphics and must really push what the DS can do without slowing the game down. It’s such a departure from the last one I played The Minish Cap yet if you like the Zelda games, you’ll get into this one just as quickly and instinctively know how the puzzles and combat work.

Also, they’ve put a multiplayer mode in the game where you play as Link or an evil knight in a deadly game of tag. At the moment I haven’t had a chance to play it as I have a US copy but it does look like a lot of fun and something to extend the life of the game once you’ve finished the single player mode.

My only gripe is that during combat, you sometimes walk into baddies instead of hitting them because everything is controlled using the stylus, but this never results in getting too annoyed as if you do die, you don’t have to repeat lots of the game to get back to where you were.

If you own a DS, you have to get his game. It would get a 10 apart from the combat issue I just mentioned. So, it gets an almost perfect 9 out of 10.

Time to preview a game which really should be out by now. It’s Zack 7 Wiki Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure and it was going to be published by Capcom but now Nintendo are looking after it and we won’t see it until next year.

This one’s interesting because it’s a return to the point and click adventures of say Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle, but being on the WIi, a lot of the puzzles are solved by pointing your remote or by using it to do the actions of what you need to do on screen.

So, Captain Barbaros has turned himself into treasure ad scattered himself round the world, and you and your flying monkey Wiki are on a quest to find it all again. Wiki’s handy because he uses his tail like a helicopter to fly about and gives you useful advice and tips like a good sidekick. In a way, you’re getting a fun story and adventure with lots of mini games thrown in, but because there’s a reason to do them it doesn’t feel pointless like in some other games that use the remote for the sake of it. You may use it to saw down a tree, catch a big fish, to turn keys in locks or even as a weapon.

This looks like a really fun cartoon adventure and something that should amuse adults and kids alike. If you wish for a return of games like Monkey Island, then this is probably the closest thing to it for a long time. I’ll give it a nice lovely big review is I get my hands on it in the New Year.

First up a kid’s game which may appeal to adults too, just like Disney Pixar films do. This one’s Ratatouille for the Wii and it’s really not that bad for a film license aimed at younger gamers.

The game follow the plot of the film quite closely. You play a rat called Remi who gets separated form his family, makes his way through the sewers and pops up in a gourmet restaurant in Paris. That’s quite lucky really as he’s a rat with taste who knows how to cook. He then befriends a skivvy in the kitchen, helps him make great food and lots of other fun stuff happens which I won’t spoil for anyone who hasn’t seen the film yet.

This is first and foremost a 3d platformer, with the first few stages taking you through how to control your rat. You can sprint, jump, balance and climb around levels indoors and out, also avoiding enemies like humans, dogs, chickens and cockroaches. The obligatory training level was a bit too long for my liking and me and my girlfriend were both quite shocked where at one point you had to hit cute chicks that look like Tweetie Pie with a wooden spoon.

As you move round the streets, kitchen and other rooms, you’re set task, such as knocking down food for your friends at night, collecting apple cores, or distracting enemies blocking your way. You also get to interact with lots of items such as balancing on balls like a circus elephant, using tin cans to bounce on to reach higher parts of the levels and running up brrom handles and along rafters to make your way about. There are also mini games where you must slide down tubes collecting stars and make soup by pointing at ingredient and clicking when you’re told to.

As a game, this one works really well. The cut scenes are close to the look of the film and use the voices of the actors and the game works without any noticeable bugs – something quite rare in a movie license (I mean, just look at Superman Returns or Transformers for how not to do it).

If your kids have seen the film and love it, they’ll love this game too, and if it’s you picking up the controller, it should keep you interested. I know it did with me and I’m still playing my way through Heavenly Sword and Halo 3.

Ratatouille doesn’t quite get a Michelin star but it does get a very good 7 out of 10.

This week on Gamesweasel we talk:

• Wii Remote Jackets
• PS3 price cuts
• Halo 3
• Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
• Heavenly Sword
• Realplay Puzzlesphere, Racing and Pool

We want to know what you think about the show, so if you’ve got some constructive comments then pop on over to the Gamesweasel page in the iTunes store and share your thoughts. We’ve got £100 of gaming goodies up for grabs, so email gamesweasel@btpodshow.com and let us know you’ve put your review up! For your chance of winning one of 5 copies of Guild Ward expansion pack for the PC then download this episode and listen out for the question. Check the Gamesweasel web site for full instructions of how to enter.

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