Gaming reviews: Here Be Monsters; Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney; Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Here Be Monsters borrows elements from both Animal Crossing and Pokemon

Here Be Monsters

***

iPad (Free)

Moving over from Facebook to the iPad, Here Be Monsters borrows elements from both Animal Crossing and Pokemon. The simple premise of building traps to collect monsters is combined with creating a farm and foraging items. While patience is required (to avoid dreaded in-app purchasing), and there are a few small glitches, the urge to explore more of the world keeps you clicking. It's a great use of the world map, if a shame there aren't some more authentic items native to each area.

Laura Davis

Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

****

3DS (£39.99)

Bringing the disparate gameplay and art styles of the Ace Attorney and Professor Layton games into one cohesive whole sounds like a tough task, but this crossover tells a compelling tale of witch trials and medieval magic that effortlessly combines the signature brain-teasing puzzles and courtroom shenanigans of each series. While the overabundance of puzzle requests is as jarring as ever in the Layton sections, the beautifully animated cut scenes and acute writing makes this a must-buy for fans of either of Nintendo's heroes.

Oliver Cragg

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

***

PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One (£29.99)

Following on directly from Peace Walker and serving as a prologue to The Phantom Pain, Ground Zeroes is a (very) brief mission to tide fans over until MGS V proper. With a main story that will take little over an hour to complete and a plot that will be impenetrable to anyone that hasn't played previous games in the series, this is difficult to recommend – but there is a lot of replayability due to unlockable challenges.

Jack Fleming