Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
Sony PlayStation £19.99 THQ **
This is the game of the film, which will be released tomorrow. Apparently the 3D world of RIP is based on the movie, and like the movie, the gamefeatures a new character: Kimi.

Basically what you get is a series of mini-games such as golf, bumper cars and whack-a-ninja, loosely tied into an adventure. The games are fairly straightforward, as you would expect for a title aimed at children aged 5-12. But anything from 10 up is pushing it a bit. I doubt that the average 10 year old finds this kind of thing stimulating. It has neither the depth nor the pace of, say, a Spyro the Dragon game.

The graphics are the best part of RIP on the PlayStation. You get a real 3D world to toddle round, and it is well drawn. You also get real Rugrats voices, though, as usual, the comments quickly become repetitive.

Unfortunately the 3D world that is Reptarland is strangely deserted; Disneyland Paris was never that bad.

So what remains is a bunch of animated Rugrats. If you want to play at being Tommy, Angelica or whoever, this might be fun for while. If not, not. (JS)

Pokémon Gold and Silver
Game Boy £24.99 Nintendo ****
Ignore the appalling TV-show and films and throw out the bags, pencil cases and other merchandise. Pokémon is back where it belongs - on the Game Boy.

Following on from last year's opportunistic Yellow version, which offered only cosmetic changes, Gold and Silver are the true sequels to the multi-million selling Red and Blue games. Rather than casually exploiting its cash cow (in 2000 nearly 70% of its software sales in the UK were Pokémon related) Nintendo has crammed numerous improvements into the two new cartridges.

Some 150 new creatures have been added (bringing the total to 251) but perhaps the biggest innovation is an internal clock that you set at the start of the game. From then on, game time corre sponds to real-time so, if you play at 10pm, it will be night in the game.

Grabbing a quick go over your cornflakes? Yep, it is morning. And, because some Pokémon are nocturnal, you will be burning the midnight oil to collect the full set. There are also certain events that correspond to certain days so, for example, you can only cross a river on a Wednesday. The other big change is the introduction of gender, allowing you to breed new species.

Many of the other improvements are more mundane. The menu system has been spruced up, with information more readily accessible, while the use of in-game cellphones throws up interesting plot elements.

There is even a tip-giving radio station, although the BBC needn't worry yet. Of course the problems that hindered the original are still present. The controls are fiddly, the Pokémon storage system is a hassle, and, despite the graphics basic. But there is enough innovation in Pokémon Gold and Silver to keep the fans happy this Easter. (GH)

Black and White
PC £34.99 Lionhead/EA *****
As far as national treasures go, Peter Molyneux should be right up there with the Queen Mum and quilted toilet paper. Very few Brits can go toe to toe with Nintendo and iD for classic game designs but Molyneux has been pulling them out of hats for a decade now. Black and White is his biggest by far, and while it is not perfect, what deity is?

Alas, 400 words barely scratches the surface of this game. Drawing on his previous hits Populus and Dungeon Keeper, B&W is all about playing god. You start with a small community of villagers and a disembodied hand. With the hand you cast spells, move around a gorgeous 3D world, and encourage or bully your people into loving you more. An early reward for their piety is an avatar - a hybrid beast that evolves into a towering behe moth by following your commands. If you choose to be an angry god, your avatar will be equally sadistic in appearance and habit.

All this makes the first part of the game a slow and somewhat repetitive process. Once you run into other deities, however, things start to hot up, with new villages to win over and rival avatars to fight. Combat is part role playing game and part beat-em-up, with battles turning on one successful combo as frightened villages scamper for cover.

So far, so good - and for biblical sunsets and epic pyrotechnics B&W takes some beating. However, the interface remains too clever for its own good. Drawing patterns on the screen with the mouse is a poor substitute for the familiar point-and-click controls. It is a bit like designing a car and replacing the pedals with buttons, even after hours of play you may find yourself struggling just to move around efficiently.

Still, once you get used to the controls, this is a land mark title in so many ways. Artificial intelligence is a much over-used term in videogames, but B&W takes AI to new extremes. Villagers respond directly and dynamically to your actions, they even get bored if you try to impress them with the same miracles. In one swirl of his mouse, Molyneux has moved the goalposts yet again. Black and White may not be his most instinctive game, but it will still influence many genres for years to come. (MA)