Late Summer and early Autumn tends to be the time when big name game releases are in the minority, leaving the budget software market to pick up the slack. That's certainly what's happened again here, as Mastertronic has been busy, quietly adding new titles to its ever-expanding range. The three we're looking at here are priced at £9.99 a pop.

First up is a genuinely underappreciated real time strategy title, Act Of War: Direct Action. Originally released in 2005, the game is a glossy, heavy tech thriller wrapped around a strategy game, and it's hard not to get drawn into it.

With sky-high production values, at times you feel like you could have walked into an episode of 24, with the requisite twists and turns also in place. At its heart, crucially, it also plays a mighty fine game, and while it's not the most textured and nuanced game in the genre - brute force is a powerful tactic here - it is enormously entertaining to play. It credibly fuses a surprisingly old fashioned RTS title with a modern, glossy coating and easily justifies ten pounds of your money as a result.

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As, albeit to a lesser extent, does the intriguing Tycoon City: New York, which again scores highly for sheer production values. Very much muscling in on SimCity territory, the game boasts strong visuals as you start off as a property developer in the midst of an extremely underdeveloped Big Apple.

From these humble beginnings you gradually build up your empire, all the while fighting off some computer-controlled rival tycoons. That said, the game does allow you to buy them out and there are missions of sorts to help guide you through the game.

It's enjoyable too, only let down by the fact that there's not much meat hiding behind all the dressing. Instead, you can work through and repeat a small number of strategies to ensure success, and the game never really hits you with any kind of rug-pull to keep you on your toes. It's still enjoyable, though.

Finally for this round-up there's Tomb Raider: Anniversary, an intriguing remake of the original Lara Croft adventure brought up to date and with some little bits and bobs ironed out. It works better than you'd think, too, with the assorted new moves that Lara has recently inherited brought into the game.

There's a few more tweaks as well, although the challenging gameplay is still very much in place. In fact parts of the game remain a little unfair and you'll have to cut some elements of the design a little slack. It's still a good action adventure, though, and again it easily justifies the asking price.

A trio of strong-to-quite-good titles, with Act Of War and Tomb Raider: Anniversary the two you should be looking to pick up.