Rocksmith

12 cert, Ubisoft PS3 (also Xbox) ****

Music games may have lost some of their popularity, but Ubisoft is attempting to buck that trend with Rocksmith, which allows you to go one better than Guitar Hero and the like by dumping the plastic peripherals and bring real instruments into the mix. With a special cable you can hook up any electric guitar or bass to the game and start rocking out. The downside of that, of course, is that you have to have a guitar handy, or invest in one. But once you do, you can play along with tunes from Nirvana and Radiohead to the Animals and David Bowie.

There’s a good mix of classic and contemporary, and the game is tailored for any skill level, whether you’ve mastered all the chords, or still have trouble figuring out which way is the right way up. Rocksmith teaches you how to play, using handy coloured strings on screen. You get stickers for the guitar’s fret board, and there are plenty of minigames to help you hone your technique. It may not be enough to restart the music game revolution, but it proves it’s not quite dead yet.