Sonic Rivals 2

Let's face facts. Sonic games were never meant to be about wandering around and chatting to non-player characters, or trying to work out what's going on with a story. It was always meant to be about going really, really fast through bizarre chequered environments and performing death-defying leaps that no plumber ever could.

That's why old school SEGA fanboys are likely to get a kick out of Sonic Rivals 2. It returns the formula of the first game to the PSP. Sonic and his pals are set against each other in races through bizarre, twisting landscapes.

Sonic Rivals 2 features a revised jostling system, with each character having their own, unique signature moves such as speed boosts, invisibility, flight, the ability to mess up another player's controls or send out a shockwave.

SEGA has also thrown in options such as head-to-head fighting and boss battles to spice things up, with six different multiplayer modes from one UMD in the offing.

Card collecting and trading has also been improved for this outing, with 150 cards now up for grabs that can do things such as customise characters' tracksuits and unlock new PSP backgrounds and cup circuits.