Somewhere to relax after a hard day's work, by annihilating a few virtual monsters with some unfeasibly powerful weaponry, or skipping daintily along a trip-wire while blasting wolves with automatic pistols. And not a hair out of place.

A little more challenging, this little lot, for the more intellectual player who isn't satisfied solely with blood and gore. Although you'll get that here too, along with immersive game-play and many lost hours. Who needs real life?

The UK motorist's life is one of misery, with traffic jams, speed cameras and half-crazed, near-blind blue-rinsers. So stuff it. Take the to virtual roads instead. Some of these games let you mow down pedestrians, but most just concentrate on the true driving experience. Boost!

Once upon a time you couldn't move for space and flight sims, from Microsoft's Flight Simulator to the massive Wing Commander series. It's all gone a bit quiet recently, but here's a couple of corkers anyway. Still not a patch on Elite, though, mutter, mumble, when I was a kid, ten mile walk to school...

Maybe a tragic ankle injury put you out of contention for the life of a professional sports player. Or maybe it was the pies. Whatever the reason, have a go of these instead. There's cricket, tennis, golf, wrestling(?) and, of course, football.

Megalomaniacs, step right up; this lot's for you. Here you can take on the world, or as many small chunks of it as you like. Fight battles in the past, in the future or in la-la land. Guide your tribe to true civilisation, or just smite thy neighbour. Power...

A multitude of sins and a very mixed bag. There are some very odd cookies in the 'Miscellaneous games' category; pinball is one of the more rational ones.