Once you're through the first round and win your place in the final group of contestants, a larger world opens up to you. Chilling in your hotel at the end of each round gives you the chance to phone home (or chat to the press when your fame increases), change outfits, check on your progress and see what news coverage you've been getting. That sounds like a lot of personalisation but in actual fact this area could do with more features to hold the attentions of the teens likely to buy this game. Three outfit choices for top, trousers and shoes isn't enough.

Additional areas do open up as you get through the following rounds, with two of them allowing you to hone those all important dance and singing skills. Do well enough and you'll build up your stats thanks to bonus awards. Oddly, there's no explanation as to whether you're better off trying to increase one attribute over another, so in the end we opted for an even spread. By the time you reach the final, you should almost be maxed out on most of them anyway.

The second area also provides three new games to help boost your skills. A trolley dash around the mall takes inspiration from Pac-Man, while a chance to meet-and-greet the fans is quite a basic game that harks back to the early days of mobile fare.

Out of all the activities up for grabs our favourite was the chance to bash the beats on the drum kit. The pleasure of hitting a perfect round makes this excercise one you'll want to repeat. Of course, this doesn't appear in the main X-Factor rounds, as that's strictly a singing and dancing competition.

(Continued on next page)

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