Criticising Evil Dead: A Fistful Of Broomstick is like telling your best mate what you think of his new girlfriend. Even if you secretly reckon she's tedious, plain and uninspiring, you'll only mumble "She's, um, nice," after a careful pause.

Y'see, for all its faults, Evil Dead: A Fistful Of Broomstick is competent, well intentioned and would keep most folk perfectly happy. Hey, it even comes with a 'free' Evil Dead 2 DVD for a combined price of - get this - £29.99. So dissing it for being only slightly better than average would be like insulting your mate's lady love after she's baked you a cake and apologised for looking rough - cruel and pedantic, even if you secretly expected more.

Older gamers might remember an Evil Dead game on PSOne, which was, frankly, less playable than a lead tiddlywinks set. Rather than risk another fiasco, developer VIS has 'adapted' its State Of Emergency game engine (i.e. ripped it off) and bolted on some story elements. You're left with a good(ish) free roaming beat-'em-up with an impressive number of on-screen zombies - "up to 50!" trumpets the press release - and rudimentary puzzles. Sadly, the puzzles are mostly weak (find red key to unlock scarlet door) and merely drive up the work quotient, forcibly extending the game's duration.

As a result, you spend half your time carving up incoming goons, the rest revisiting flat and boring areas looking for objects to unlock new flat and boring areas. At times, you'll tingle with ire when flawed game logic forces you to needlessly re-tread the map. For example, in one section you've got to lob dynamite over a fence, despite zero clues or prompting, leaving you to wander around for thirty minutes or so looking for an alternative. In another section, the 'Use Object' icon wouldn't appear on a park gate until we checked the lock, despite already owning the park key. What's wrong with a little assumption, eh?

So, it's State Of Emergency with arbitrary linear hurdles, but, bizarrely, Evil Dead: A Fistful Of Broomstick just about works. Shhh, listen carefully and you can almost hear it, clear the 'potential purchase' bar with a scraped belly and a cheeky 'DVD-shaped' backhander to the judges. Hero Ash uses a neat two-handed combat system - one button per limb - with an ever-expanding range of shotguns, pistols, flamethrowers and chainsaws. There's even an expandable spell-casting system, so you can possess zombies, temporarily boost your strength and use electrical smart bombs. You never get stuck for too long, and are rewarded with new skills exactly when your patience starts to wane.

We could moan above the over sensitive camera, over simplified combos, tricky boss battles and unskippable cut-scenes, but the truth is, the niggles never boil over into rage. The game is solid, well paced and entertaining. Y'know, nice. And for £30 with a belting free DVD, sometimes that's all you need.

Graphics 60%
Basic backgrounds but impressive chaotic battles.

Sound 80%
Good one liners and warbling tunes.

Gameplay 60%
Mundane puzzles, neat two-handed combat.

Lifespan 70%
Ten hours for main story, plus engaging arcade mode.

Overall 60%
Greater value than quality, but if you own Evil Dead 2 the game's almost strong enough to stand on its own.