To be fair, it smelt like a cash-in from day one. Bringing the bad singing, humiliation, cutting comments and various occasional pieces of talent to a PC game was always going to tricky, but cunningly, Codemasters realised this too and thus decided not to bother.

So, what you get is a blatantly easy game that you'll win first or second time round. You create a character, sing a song by hitting the right button on the keyboard at the right time, listen to some seemingly random comments from the judges from the American version of the show (Simon Cowell is the only common link) and see if you get to the next round. Oh, you have to pick your outfit too, and if you do well, you can unlock new clothes.

There's, oooh, a good ten minutes of entertainment for your money, before you realise that you've pretty much seen all the game has to offer.

It's unchallenging, unsatisfying and astonishingly bad value for money. It may, at a major stretch, pacify hardcore, younger fans of the show. But it probably won't.

Price: £29.99 Manufacturer: Codemasters Website: www.codemasters.com Required Spec: 700MHz processor, 128Mb RAM, 250Mb HD space, Windows 98 SE or greater