Reviews written by Sarah

Solve the problems and test your own abilities against up to 7 other people. Play the Brain Quiz or Mind Sprint in competition against each other or work together on Mental Marathon to solve as many puzzles as you can.

This party game does exactly what it says on the tin, so-to-speak. You can play Brain Quiz in teams or just let one person play while everyone else shouts out "helpful" hints (though from personal experience, the hints aren't always helpful when you're up against the clock).

One tip, the more remotes you have the better as it can get frustrating constantly changing over.

NB There is no storyline to this game yet I have given it a 4 as there is progression if you improve.

Now, before you start moaning that this game is way too easy and repetitive and the storyline too simple, please remember it is aimed at 3-7 year olds. As I have a 3 and 5 year old I decided to try this out with them. Very quickly they began fighting over whose turn it was and they became engrossed when each part of the story played out. My eldest could easily play this on her own once she had played each minigame once. My 3 year old, on the other hand, needed me to hold his arm to guide his remote at the right place on the screen. He didn't mind, however, as the results of each game pleased him enough.

With over 20 early learning games focussing on shapes, colours, puzzles and more. With over 300 interactive animations, this game can be played over and over again without any child getting bored. I have to be honest, though the games are very simple I enjoyed trying them out before playing them with the kids.

This game takes interactive gaming to a whole new level. Using the Wii remote in ways you never thought possible (since when is dropping it a winning move?) you will jump, punch, hula and shoot your way through over 200 frantic microgames.

There isn't really a storyline, yet each section is introduced by a short cartoon explaining and introducing new characters and their moves. The dreamy voice that introduces each move in detail is hilarious and reminds me of a dodgy self-hypnosis cd. Each mini-game's music can leave your heart racing as it speeds up and up until you make your fatal error that ends your go.

With some mini-games looking handrawn and others more complex it isn't trying to compete with games such as Indiana Jones or Resident Evil. It is intentionally light-hearted and fun. It is a single-player game but people will love to watch you make a complete numpty of yourself and then want to enrol themselves to look just as daft.

Oooh wasn’t she the one who won BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing a couple of years ago? Yes.

Wasn’t she the girl who shouted a lot in Mis-teeq? Yes, and it’s called hollering not shouting.

Alesha Dixon’s appearance on Strictly Come Dancing has lifted her confidence levels through the roof. With a poppier feel than Mis-teeq, Miss Dixon has come out all guns blazing with a pop/RnB album. With lively tracks such as the single Let’s Get Excited through to beautiful ballads like Breathe Slow (my favourite, by the way) your ears are treated to a fun and frolicky album.

This is not going to be the best album you have ever heard but it also not going to be the worst. A great mix of songs that do not always flow together. This is very poppy and may suit a younger listener. However, it's a very promising album for this first-time solo star. I hope to hear more from her.

The film is itself is full of cunning, guile and some good looking guys (hey, I’m only human). The music is sleek, sophisticated and matches the mood of the film perfectly. With some fast paced pieces such as No Their Fight and the drum-led Snake Eyes you can imagine George Clooney and Brad Pitt working their plan to perfection.

Kensington Chump is a bass-heavy smooth jazz track that you will find yourself nodding along to. For all you electric guitar fans, Fender Rhodes is the piece to rock to. There are some who may tell you each track is like the other – come on – it’s a soundtrack! It’s supposed to be themed.

Let’s be honest if the track flow wasn’t that good we could partly blame the movie as the music follows the film. However, this isn’t an issue. The music blends seamlessly from track to track. With its rocking rhythms and electric piano, this album is pure sixties fusion at its best.

Does the name Idina Menzel mean anything to you? If you're not into musical theatre then possibly not. The original "Wicked Witch" Elphaba in Broadway and the West End's Wicked, as well as Maureen in the stage and DVD version of Rent, Idina is known for her powerful voice. Having previously released the most famous song from Wicked, “Defying Gravity” as a single, “I Stand” is her second solo album, yet for many feels as it's her debut.

The title track is a ballsy rock ballad with powerful, heartfelt lyrics. “I stand with the power to change, I live for the perfect day” is a message so near to many people’s hearts in today’s society. With a pop/rock feel to her music, Idina manages to successfully cross both genres, thus reaching out to more listeners.

My favourite track is “Brave”. With her one-of-a-kind voice, the message of this song hit home and brought many a tear to my eye. There is not one track I dislike and having four bonus tracks, one of which is her pop interpretation of “Defying Gravity” make this a true value-for-money album.

With a radio-style first track, you know immediately that you're listening to Green Day, and with a parental advisory warning on the front of the album, this is confirmed. (Though, in fact, there are only four tracks with explicit lyrics.) The second track is the title track which is, again, distinctly Green Day. In fact, for me, this track is reminiscent of the feelings given by American Idiot.

The whole feel of the album is that Green Day have moved on, maybe even grown up, and grown in style. With some tracks featuring an orchestral section and the album itself split into three “Acts” there is a feeling of a play being played out throughout the album.

My favourite track is Last Night on Earth. With its haunting melody and beautiful lyrics, though, it sadly feels out of place. With a wide variety of genres the flow from track to track is disjointed. Even so, each track is, in its own right, a success.

A Who novel with a difference? Sadly, no. Formulaic but fun would be the best way to describe this Who-on-Earth story. Dealing with a village’s tourist attraction – a wishing well with stories of buried treasure – the Doctor and Martha are intrigued enough to stick around. Alas, I nearly wasn’t. The story took a little while to get moving. With chapter endings not leaving me with an inherent desire to stay awake enough to read on, I could have easily given up after chapter five, so thank goodness for chapter six and its last line of “The Doctor had to die”. Hallelujah! A cliff-hanger-inducing statement at last! From here on in, the story began to pick up pace, however; it still occasionally felt as though it was running in concrete boots.

So I turned to the familiar in search of hope. I found some in the Doctor. The character was well-written, with descriptions of him thinking situations through and finally “getting it” deeply similar to the television Doctor of David Tennant. Even the dialogue was carefully thought out, with David Tennant/Doctor phrases familiar to the watcher, making the character more amiable to the reader. At times I could swear I could hear David in my head. Hmmmmm, dreams … sorry, got distracted there.

Anyhow, with the characterisation of the Doctor so competently written, would Martha fare any better? Would I hear Freema Agyeman in my head? With a wishy-washy portrayal of such a strong companion, I’m sad to say that the character of Martha didn’t get the treatment it deserved. There were opportunities for Martha to become her usual dominant self, especially when the Doctor got himself into his usual bit of trouble (hence the formula) whereby he needed rescuing by his puzzled companion (more formula). Martha’s character was a little shy of dominance shy though she eventually took charge with the help of two old ladies who had more about them than our faithful friend! To say I found this character unfortunately lacking in depth would be an understatement.

So, to the “bad guy” itself. Without giving too much away, there were parts of this that felt like something we’d met before (nameably the Nestene Consciousness). On a plus side, there was something new about it, too. Its weakness (that formulaic one that the Doctor has to be puzzled about for ages before he clicks his fingers and finally works it out) was new to me and one that actually made me feel a little sorry for the creature. It was doing the only thing it knew how to do – survive.

Now, I know that television Doctor Who relies on formula and I guess the books do too but the written word offers more creative freedom so I expected more. Fun it most definitely was – light-hearted with some of the familiar quips we’ve come to know and love from the Tenth Doctor. However, it just didn’t break the mould for me.

admit, I wasn’t sure about this book when I chose to read it, yet by the end of the first page I began to get the “warm fuzzies”. My first question was who is Jones? What does he represent? Well I still can’t answer my first question and I don’t think we’re supposed to be able to, and I’m not going to give you the answer to the second question as it would spoil your reading.

The mysterious Jones is ever present throughout the book, even when he isn’t actually mentioned by other characters. Though when he comes into contact with a troubled teenage boy, that boy holds Jones in his heart for the rest of his life. Jones involves himself in the lives of many others with issues real to us today. His role in that? Partly it is to challenge them to change; not only their behaviours or attitudes, but also their outlook on life and, more importantly, themselves.

With a useful chapter by chapter reading guide that can be used by individuals or reading groups, I found this to be a thought-provoking book. I discovered the message of the book only a few pages in – “we need to gather a little perspective”. Well, maybe we do.

Having only read one other Dean Koontz book prior to reading The Taking, I was looking forward to seeing if it was as good as Night Chills. To summarise in one word – WOW! A gripping novel from start to finish that I had real problems putting down. Koontz describes an eerily luminous downpour in a small Californian mountain town where Molly and her husband Neil are lying – one asleep and one wide awake, listening to the rain. Piece by piece, the world they know falls apart, beginning with the loss of TV and radio, then the internet and phone lines going dead. With a dense fog closing in on them, a feeling of isolation and dread sets in. Just what are the creatures hidden in the night?

From chapter one, Koontz’s use of description left me feeling as if I was in that house, listening to the rain and feeling Molly’s irritation as her insomnia yet again prevented the release of sleep. Very quickly I began to affiliate with Molly and the world around her, sensing her unease as everything familiar began to change. The atmosphere felt tense and I easily associated with the neighbours as they began to band together to fight against the unknown and unseen. Later in the book, a group gather in a tavern – a building once used for social occasions turned into a hiding place, a sanctuary, somewhere the children can still play. Even so, it is the reactions of the children that touch Molly’s heart and leave her with some difficult decisions to make.

The ever present rain brings many unanswered questions that the survivors struggle to answer. Survivors? Yes, many do not endure the horrors brought by the driving rain. Portrayals of the dead and dying are a little too realistic at times, so if you have a sensitive stomach this may not be the book for you. Will Molly and Neil both live to tell the tale? Who will be left to tell the story to? To disclose this would spoil the ending, which itself leaves unanswered questions. This may frustrate some readers but personally, I took pleasure in having the opportunity to “complete” the book myself.

Genre readers may find this book difficult to place. Horror? Science-fiction? Thriller? Or just a combination of all three? One thing I am certain of is that after only reading two of Koontz’s novels, his mastery of suspense writing has compelled me to seek out more of his work. Only one complaint – The Taking left me shattered – I couldn’t sleep until I’d finished it!