New International Track & Field - DS/DSi

At some point in the last couple of decades, fans of Konami's athletics-fest, Track and Field must have gotten fed up with button-mashing. We say this, because the series has sprung up on the Nintendo DS in its latest incarnation, offering players alternatives to rubbing their fingers right down to the bleeding bone in their mad scrabble to push their digital character across the finish line.

OK, so the button-mashing hasn't quite gone away in this latest instalment of the series, but developer Sumo Digital is giving you an alternative. You won't get any prize for guessing what it is - this is where the DS's touch screen and stylus come into play.

Players will propel the big-headed characters to fling things around and move really fast using frantic scrabblings on the touch screen should they not feel up to giving their thumbs a hammering. A total of 24 different events are on offer, including - 100m Sprint, Long Jump, Javelin, 110m Hurdles, Skeet Shooting, Triple Jump, Breast Stroke, Weightlifting, Double Trap, High Jump, Horizontal Bar, Rowing, Back Stroke, and Cycling.

The game is presented in an oddball style, with the characters having been designed by Udon Studios - the guys behind the look of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix among others. Plenty of classic Konami characters stick their heads in to join the wackiness. Some of them get their own event. Simon Belmont, for example, has to shoot stakes at bats in order to do the dirty on Dracula.

The game comes equipped with multi-player features, including online play for four and multi-player using one copy of the game on the same handheld. There is also a website purpose-built for the game to track user stats and build an online community.

Go on, give your thumbs a rest. more