4/5

PC CD-Rom, £30 (needs World of Warcraft to play, £9 monthly subscription required). Age 12+

World of Warcraft is an addiction shared by 8m players worldwide who spend their days felling Orcs, building empires and forming alliances with one another in this vast online virtual realm. With its Disney-does-Tolkien graphics, the world of Azeroth hardly looks real, but it certainly feels that way as you traverse the game’s dusty roads and strike up an easy-going camaraderie with fellow players.

Few game universes have been formed with so much loving detail and this first expansion pack increases the game’s pernicious hold. The Burning Crusade adds a whole new continent called the Outlands for you to explore, offering high-level dungeons to conquer and villains to destroy. These will particularly appeal to seasoned players but those less committed will enjoy playing as two new races: the magic-crazed, vengeful Blood Elves and the Draenei, a group of stranded blue-skinned alien giants with close ties to elemental forces.

There’s nothing too revolutionary here, but who cares when you’re following a trail of hidden totems or joining a raid on a monster’s lair? This is a recommended upgrade, but be careful — if you’ve spent the past year trying to kick the Warcraft habit, you need this like Mel Gibson needs a free 24-hour bar.

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