Given the simplicity of the show it's based on, and its success over the past two years, the surprise about Deal Or No Deal on the PC is that it's taken so long to get here. It's especially surprising given just what a robotic job has been done in transferring it to the computer.

Hosted by a digital interpretation of Noel Edmonds, that's by turns surprisingly accurate and a little bit creepy, and graced with the dulcet tones of the man himself, the main game is just as you see it on the telly. You pick your box, by scrolling to the one you want and clicking on it, and then start eliminating others. Along the way the banker makes you offers, and the aim is to walk away with a shedload of cash and happy memories.

So far, so straightforward. Yet things are complicated a little, and entirely unnecessarily, by having to click on specific arrows to scroll the screen across the selection of boxes. Surely it would have been more logical to allow you to just drag the mouse pointer to the side of the screen and let it automatically scroll?

Also, behind the boxes are a collection of virtual players, who will open a box at your behest. Yet this collection of mutants either grin at you as if they're about to savage the Adam's apple out of your neck, or pull off the kind of mock horror that'd earn them an instant audition down the amateur dramatics class. At no point do they convince you that you're part of a realistic quiz show. And when you request a sweep of them all to see if they would accept or reject an offer from the banker, it's as if they're all hypnotised.

In spite of all of this, however, the simple concept does work as a game, particularly if you get a few more people involved. And it does throw the odd twist in there: we particularly enjoyed playing as the banker (when either another human or the computer was playing) and felt it added an extra dimension, although the forfeit and cash modes are quickly forgettable.

Deal Or No Deal just about gets away with a middling verdict, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's cheap, and for an official tie-in - replete with the sound and visuals - that's not a bad start. Secondly, it shames the pitiful DVD games that have been circulating. And thirdly, in spite of its singular failure to create any level of tension when playing by yourself, it ain't bad to have at hand when company comes calling. Keep your expectations low and you might just be content.

As expected, a routine interpretation of the show. It won't do your pocket too much harm, though, which turns out to be the game's saving grace.