UK Charts: Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow scores Easter number one

Ubisoft has cemented the success of the Splinter Cell series with an Easter number one spot for Pandora Tomorrow in the UK, marking a third week at the top for the title, while Sega's Sonic Heroes has climbed back up the charts to number two.

In a relatively barren week for new releases, only Acclaim's World Championship Rugby proved a significant draw for the punters, with the multi format title making an impressive debut at number five - a significant boost for the troubled publisher.

In what is fast turning into a heavily sports-dominated Top 10, no fewer than three football-related titles made an appearance: LMA Manager 2004 at number six, FIFA 2004 at number seven and This Is Football 2004 at number eight.

In terms of other new releases, it was one of the quieter Easters of recent years, with only the kid friendly duo of THQ's Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed at number 22 (topping the GBA charts) and Vivendi's latest film tie-in The Cat In The Hat (number 36) making it into the Top 40.

The belated arrival of Mafia on Xbox helped propel Gathering's 30s-era Grand Theft Also back to number 27 on the All Formats Top 40, but Singles: Flirt Up Your Life made a rather quiet start to its PC career, making it to number 11 on the PC Full Price listings. Meanwhile Metroid: Zero Mission made an inauspicious start, debuting at a massively disappointing number five on the GBA chart, and a long way from a Top 40 All Formats placing.

For Cube publishers, the situation has never been worse from a commercial standpoint in the UK, with the Cube-only Pokemon Channel failing to chart again despite currently being number two on its chart. Tellingly, the number three Cube title, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes has slithered its way out of the Top 40 already, as has Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.

This week's missing in action list is a depressing tale for the publishers responsible for their multi million dollar development: Sony's Rise To Honour is nowhere to be found, nor is Acclaim's multi format Alias, but it can't have come as too much of a surprise to learn that TDK's multi format Conan, and PC duo of Desert Rats vs. Afrika Korps and Knightshift failed to make their mark at retail.

Next week's candidates for the Top 40 include Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Atari's much delayed Xbox port of Unreal II, and power-hungry PC FPS Painkiller, so don't expect too much movement in the charts for a few weeks yet.