Time to dust off those 'coulda been a DJ' fantasies...

Despite not all of us being dance fans - we await the Kerrang Cacophony Generator with endless patience - MTV Music Generator 3 proved a hit. It may not really be a game, but it's almost guaranteed to take up many hours of your time. What it won't do is make you a real DJ, make you creative if you weren't already or make you an industrial grindcore epic that causes dogs to bleed internally from two streets away. Sadly.

The screens aren't much to look at but it's mostly easy to use - certainly you'll have the basic controls down within ten minutes. There are tutorials available, but you don't have to use them to get a track going: surely a sign of good design. That said, it can occasionally swap confusingly between button and directional presses to back up through menus, and some controls - such as tempo or memory card functions - lie at the end of a very crooked path.

The most disappointing feature is the ability to sample your own CDs. A fantastic idea full of promise, the reality is somewhat limited. You can only record eight seconds and there's no playback within the game, so if you want eight seconds from the second chorus, say, you must find the time to start recording with the aid of a separate CD player with its own time display. You then have a heap of options for altering the sample, but none of it's anything like as easy as using the presets - at times like these the game shifts from amusing diversion to an awkward chore. You may well miss out on some spicy effects because you're too worried about screwing it all up to risk trying them.

Stick with the preset samples and included tunes, however, and you still have enough variation to keep you going for quite some time. It's even possible to create your own drum rhythms, choosing sounds for every part of the kit and setting them off however you like. The more creative among you can program bespoke melodies too, though the grid layout - modelled on the omnipresent computer sequencer Pro Tools, so far as we understand it - isn't big enough to accommodate, say, the theme from Miami Vice. We tried. Yes, really.

Quicker than learning a real instrument, easy enough for anyone to use and, although you're dealing with pre-created sounds, there's enough variety in the millions of combinations and effects to leave room for players to express themselves. And with music-making increasingly involving computers - and the aforementioned Pro Tools - there's even an argument that MTV Music Generator 3 is good experience for anyone wanting to enter the business. A rather tenuous one, mind you. But an argument all the same.

Graphics 70%
Not pretty, but they do the job.

Sound 90%
Predictably good, but no surround sound.

Gameplay 80%
Addictive and easy-to-use.

Lifespan 80%
A gazillion combinations.

Overall 70%
Simple to use, packed with features that almost all work and addictive as hell but not deep enough for real music-making.