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LET’S begin with something gentle, and not too challenging. If you’re tiring
of holiday turkey leftovers, however, then Sheep (Empire Interactive,
£29.99 on the PC and Sony PlayStation) is likely to make you sick of lamb
as well. It takes its cue from entertaining yet frustrating puzzlers such as
Lemmings. So the premise is very simple: herd a defenceless flock of
sheep across a series of terrains—farmyards, abattoirs,
discotheques—back to their home planet. You had, of course, realised that
sheep are intelligent visitors from space sent to observe us? Fun, but annoying
when your flock dashes out in front of the combine harvester for the umpteenth
time.

Sheep will entertain all ages, but despite charming, rosy-cheeked
characters and landscapes complete with wild boar and bobtail rabbits,
Cultures (THQ, £24.99) isn’t for young children, unless they can watch
over someone else’s shoulder. Teenagers or adults who crave more control than
they had in previous games that allow you to grow your own societies—
Civilisation, for example—will enjoy seeing their hard work
pay off as the dim-witted Vikings begin to do things for themselves in the
culture you’ve built around them.

If those games sound a little, well, virtuous, try some mindless fun. Lovers
of the spherical pig bladder have always been well catered for by video games,
none more so than by the FIFA football series. So will fans of the beautiful
game enjoy the new version, FIFA 2001 on CD-ROM, PlayStation and
PlayStation2 (EA Sports, between £29.99 and £44.99 according to
format)? The game does have a wealth of new teams and tactics, realistic
graphics and solid gameplay, but it’s still basically FIFA 2000 with a
lick of paint. Like the England team, this could have tried harder.

But don’t forget to take a look at the Play Station2 itself. Its sleek black
design is impressive, but after years of hype, it has much to live up to.
Happily, its outstanding animations and 3D stages are clearly superior to those
of its predecessor. But following as it does in the footsteps of its rival
Dreamcast, which came out last year, PlayStation2 comes across as having mere
incremental improvements. Whining aside, it still gets the thumbs-up—and
it’ll save you buying a DVD.

Back to serious play: try Action Man: Destruction X (3DO Europe,
£19.99) on the Sony PlayStation. Younger gameplayers will love it. There’s
plenty to amuse them as Action Man does what only he can do: car chases galore,
hostage rescues, and bad guys to capture and incarcerate—all with
child-friendly minimal violence. There’s enough here to raise a smile in even
the oldest fan, but you may be disappointed that there’s no “eagle-eyes” option
for our scarred hero.

Have we got you in the mood for serious speed? People who enjoy tearing
around the countryside at ludicrous speeds in overly powerful motorcars will
feel at home with Colin McRae Rally 2.0 (Codemasters, £29.99 for
PlayStation, £34.99 for PC). Apart from looking gorgeous, the cars handle
realistically—when you learn to control them—and armchair mechanics
will have fun tinkering in the virtual garage. And for those with friends on the
other side of the world, the PC version allows you to play against each other
over the Internet.