GAMES: RATCHET & CLANK TRILOGY; SILENT HILL COLLECTION (PS3)

AGE: R&C 7+; SILENT HILL 18

PRICE: R&C R350; SILENT HILL R300

These two collections come from the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Ratchet & Clank is PlayStation's signature series - similar to Nintendo's Mario - featuring a wrench-wielding lombax called Ratchet and his robot sidekick, Clank, who are regularly required to save the universe. They work in tandem with and sometimes against other characters, such as the desperately useless self-proclaimed superhero Captain Quark.

It's a deceptively addictive formula, filled with clever humour that will appeal to children and adults alike.

The trilogy takes in their first three adventures with the visuals remastered in high definition.

Weapons and devices are upgraded in various ways, but it pays to play the games in order as later ones search your hard drive for save information and allow you to use bonus weapons from previous games.

The graphics in the Silent Hill Collection have also been upped to HD, though there's still a niggling suspicion that fog is liberally used to mask the fact that the developers weren't too big on complete backgrounds.

This is a creepy, disturbing series, in which you play Everyman (or Everywoman in the case of Silent Hill 3, the second of the two games packaged here) instead of a gun-toting superhero. The fact that your character does not have any special abilities makes survival tough.

Atmosphere is king in this psychological horror series, where your character sets off to investigate a small American town full of unpleasant surprises.

THE GOOD

Value for money and the ability to play games no longer readily available make these bundles a winning concept. Ratchet and Clank, particularly, offers hundreds of hours of gameplay for the price of a single game.

THE BAD

New HD graphics alone are not enough if you've played them all before.

RATING: 8