Burton's Bytes

Publisher: THQ

Formats: PS2, Xbox, Game Cube

Price: £29.99

Family friendly? 3+

TO date there have been three Tak adventures and the pint-sized sorcerer has garnered a wide fan base of young and old gamers alike.

Tak: The Great Juju Challenge is the third adventure in as many years and it's a bigger and much better game all round than the first two. But with two adventures under Tak's belt already, is this enough?

The developers were obviously aware of the danger of franchise burnout when they sat down to begin the second sequel. As a result, The Great Juju Challenge takes a different direction to its predecessors whilst retaining the humour that made the first two so accessible to adults as well as kids.

You still guide Tak around a 3-D environment, unlocking powerful spells and combo fighting moves via a standard up-grades system. But the boss baddie from the first two games - Tlaloc - is no more.

Instead, Tak finds himself entered into the Great Juju Challenge, an Olympics-style competition that pits the world's greatest warriors against each other in a series of games. These are no more than a series of platforming levels that must be completed within a pre-defined time period. If you need any reminder that the clock is ticking, an on-screen clock graphic counts down continuously. Tak can add precious minutes by reaching the many checkpoints hidden in each level.

The new enemies are called the Rokkies and Tak will need all his powers to defeat them and free the people of Pupanunu.

Fans will welcome the new addition of Tak's rather dense buddy Lok (he of the disgusting smelling salts) as a playable character. Tak's chicken suit also returns. Both our heroes have similar moves (jump, throw, attack and use item, etc) and are nicely controllable (crucial for a truly satisfying platform adventure).

It's a much better game than its predecessors: the humour is more sophisticated, the graphics are crisper and the animation slicker. In fact, it really does look like an interactive cartoon. Younger gamers will be totally enchanted.

In fact, Tak: The Great Juju Challenge is the perfect game to play with your kids. On your marks. Get set. Juju!!

RUGBY 06

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Format: PS2

Price: £39.99

Family friendly? 3+

RUGBY is the latest international sport to hop aboard the Electronic Arts merry-go-round and be rewarded with an annual up-date.

Unsurprisingly, Rugby 06 isn't that much different to Rugby 05 other than the usual refinements of more tournaments (the Guinness Premiership, Tri-Nations, RBS Six Nations, Ten Nations, Super 12, Super 14, British Lions Tour and the European Cup are all here) and a couple of other on-screen improvements.

If you are a newbie, the best place to start is with the tutorial mode that explains the basic rules of the game and helps familiarise players with the gamepad controls. Fans can skip this introduction and dive right in.

On the field the big news is the passing animations. In 2005, if you pressed the pass button as your player was tackled - tough. The game just went through a tackle animation and you lost possession.

This year, if you press pass as a tackle flies in, your character will still offload the ball. The pass may not be inch perfect but usually you can continue your attack in possession - just like the real sport.

The atmosphere is top notch, too. New Zealand perform the Haka - that strange Maori dance ritual - before their games and there are loads of team specific crowd chants and songs. The in-game cut scenes after tries and before kicks are absolutely glorious, especially the facial animations mapped to the players. I also loved the way you can see the players' breath when it's cold.

EA has also taken a lead from its FA Premier All-Stars series with the introduction of "impact players" who all carry a little gold star above their heads. With a few of these fellas in your side, you can expect to do well... if you exploit their special skills.

The camera tracks the action very well but the side angle is a hindrance when you decide to go for a drop goal because you can't see enough of the pitch. The game tries to compensate by superimposing an on-screen arrow in the general direction of the goal posts but it still feels a bit hit and miss.

The graphics have been given the customary polish. There wasn't a lot wrong with last year's game but the tackles look so realistic in '06, I guarantee you'll wince with pain. New for this year is the high tackle. Sure you end up giving away a penalty, but it's great to watch!

Before the game you can choose from 25 different set plays that can be called up with the press of a button on the D-pad. This works well as you come out of a scrum and put a knockout strategy into action.

Glitches? There are a few. The collision detection is sometimes a bit poor and when the screen is packed with players, you can really see the PS2 struggling to paint all those polygons.

The audio commentary isn't as slick as the FIFA series, I grew sick of hearing Ian Robertson proclaiming "It's an interception!" every time I wrested the ball away from the opposing team. A few more sound samples are needed for Rugby 07.

www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/ leisure/bytes