As the PS2 reaches the end of its life cycle and the core gamers begin forking out for its shiny, new Blu-ray-driven offspring, it’s the casual, family market that’s going to keep that old familiar black slab of gaming goodness healthy in its old age. And there can be few games that typify good ol’-fashioned family fun quite as perfectly as Thrillville: Off The Rails. Of course, you’re not reading this off the page of a mainstream magazine, and for any Play readers still saving for a PS3 and looking for something substantial to tide them over in the meantime, Off The Rails will almost certainly be too lightweight. But perhaps if you have now upgraded, and have decided to hand your PS2 down to a younger relative, this might be just the right game to bundle with it to keep them quiet.

While Off The Rails might not be the most engrossing, absorbing, involving game you’ll ever play, it’s still almost impossible to get bored of it. Like all the best theme parks, Off The Rails succeeds by making absolutely sure that you always have something fun to do.

For a start it boasts more than double the mini-games of last year’s Thrillville. All of these games are highly polished – some are a little bland, but others feel like the kind of stuff we’d have gladly paid full price for back in 1990. Of course, in 1990 full price was about £10, but still. When you consider that 50 mini-games not dissimilar to Thrillville’s would probably cost you the best part of £200 on Xbox Live Arcade, Off The Rails starts to look like excellent value, and there’s no doubt that it’s mini-games are its strongest suit, especially when mates and a Multitap are involved.

The park management side of the game offers lots of variety and the mini-games are woven into it well, but it never really feels at all challenging or rewarding. But should it? Probably not. The point of the management side of the game isn’t to test your ability to plan and strategise, it’s to let you create the park of your choosing. It’s more Sims than simulation, and in that sense it does its job very well. Couple that with the excellent selection of minigames and you could be looking at the PS2’s ultimate family title.

Gavin Mackenzie