PS2 (also GBA and PC), £29.99, Midway, www.theantbully-game.com

By George Wright

BASED on the forthcoming movie release, the game follows the adventures of a 10-year-old boy whose life is made a misery by a neighbourhood bully and takes out his frustration on the ant colony in his garden.

However, little Lucas Nickle gets in a bit of a pickle when the red army decides to strike back and Wizard ant Zoc socks the lad with a magic potion that shrinks him to the size of an ant.

Payback is the name of the game as Lucas learns how to live among the colony and tackle all the perils the insect world throws in his path.

Zoc, along with his trusted sidekick Spindle, doubt whether Lucas will be able to cut it in ant world and are soon testing him with trial missions that double up as training tests for players to master the game’s controls.

It’s not long before you’re interacting with other characters from the movie such as Hova, Fugax and Kreela and being set trickier tasks in the form of rescue missions, scouting sorties and foraging for food.

Lucas has to adapt to his new life and is soon relying on ant-like skills such as stamina, climbing ability, lifting objects and, above all else, teamwork as he scurries around collecting items like a good little worker ant.

Call back-up from your ant colleagues to build ladders, catapults and bridges to help you get around and even jump on the back of a wasp to take to the air when the need arises.

Enemies emerging from the undergrowth to test Lucas as his journey transforms him from bully to hero, include wasps, termites, mosquitoes, fleas, spiders, forkie-tailies and the dreaded human exterminator Stan Beales.

On hand to help him are weapons that include seed bombs, a goo-gunging silk squirter, deadly dart-bow and his trusty staff, which is great for splatting and smacking all sorts of creepy-crawlies — if only our hardware stores stocked them!

The game’s fun to play with colourful backdrops in settings such as Ant Hill, Broken Glass Garden, The Frog Pond and Lucas’ own home. Each comes with its own web of dangers amid 18 different levels that spin a variety of boss fights into your path to slow down your progress.

The action will keep youngsters amused, although more experienced gamers could find the adventure a bit of a breeze and there’s a danger of repetitiveness putting some off. Still, the family market is the game’s likely target, and the tale should entertain children with ease.

VERDICT: Ants have a lifespan of around two months. My antennae sense this game’s appeal may not last as long — but it’s still fun.

Archos, £480, www.archos.com

By Derek Uchman

Telly on the go. Whether it’s a little portable that sits in the caravan or a miniature screen that straps to your wrists, it’s one gadget that everyone dreams of. Who wouldn’t love a natty little gizmo that lets you tune into Trisha during a quiet moment? (Well, perhaps that’s a bad example.)

The AV 700 TV hopes to corner a part of this nerdy niche, by squeezing a seven-inch screen into a box not much bigger than a PSP. Not only that but it has a digital Freeview tuner, and a 40GB hard drive so you record programmes to watch later.

In short, the AV 700 TV is (according to Archos) “the world’s first personal video recorder with an integral digital receiver and recorder”. Doesn’t exactly slip off the tongue, but, hey, we’re mightily impressed.

Up to 35 hours of digital TV can be stored for viewing when you want, or, if you prefer, 160 hours of encoded video, 20,000 MP3s or 400,000 photos.

Sounds fabby, doesn’t it? Well, yes, until you start to use it. To get digital reception, you have to plug in two aerials which are connected to long lengths of cable. Ideally, these should be suckered to the nearest window. Immediately, the AV 700 doesn’t seem as cool, and starts to feel more anorak than secret agent.

But even with this elaborate set-up we had great difficulty in getting a decent reception. You’ll really have to be prepared to accept the loss of channels (or no reception at all) if you lug this with you on your travels.

As for the seven-inch screen, well, resolution is isn’t great. In fact, it’s fair to say it’s disappointingly grainy. Colours are a bit muted, too.

Recording on to the hard drive is a dream, though. If you do get a decent reception, then there’s no excuse for missing your favourite TV.

VERDICT: Too fiddly and unweildy.