PS3, £50 Age 15+
Ninja Gaiden Sigma is the most exciting prospect in months for the PlayStation 3, with crisp, high-definition visuals and radiant lighting effects. You play the part of a wall-running, backflipping ninja hero in this adventure, which is a reworking of an old Xbox title. It is a relentless mix of bloodletting and platform leaping with a host of new missions starring the improbably busty monster hunter, Rachael.
The original game earned a fearsome reputation for its brutal difficulty, and Sigma is every bit as hard. Maybe the clue is in your hero's suit, resembling the kind of rubber garment sold in certain specialist shops, but Ninja Gaiden Sigma wants to punish and humiliate you at every turn.
At times it can all seem strangely adolescent. The bizarre plot, schoolboy fascination with cleavage and gratuitous splatterings of gore bring to mind a fantasy Kill Bill made with the lads' mag market in mind. Yet no matter how silly or ludicrously difficult it gets, Ninja Gaiden Sigma draws you in with a compulsion you can't deny. So switch off your higher functions and enjoy.