Suit up for one of the best superhero romps on Xbox, believers. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

You could say FlatOut is a bit like your favourite page three girl. Great to look at, boasting accentuated physical attributes that sometimes defy gravity, yet underneath is a filthy minx who loves to get dirty with a group of mates. Fun, enjoyable and instantly playable. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

One of Motorstorm's big successes is that it demands of you things that other racers don't even bother to ask. You'll have to learn every nook and cranny of the terrain before you can drive around courses with confidence. [JPN Import]

A familiar class-based, objective-based multiplayer shooter that is immensely rewarding when played online with others.

It's good. Clichéd nonsense, but good. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

A great game even though there's little else to do than run around and blast things that get exponentially huge from planet to planet, but it's blasting in such a smooth, quality style your brain has no time to get bored of it. Quality shooting. [PSW]

Ultimately, this is just as stylish as the PS2 version, sporting the same cool sketchbook-style animation, weird selection of menus and hip soundtrack. You won't be missing much at all if you choose to participate in this portable tour instead of its bigger brother. [PSW]

The genius of it, though, is that Rambo tactics will just get you killed.

The countless in-jokes and references to other films, the mocking comment of NPCs on the American dream, and even the less-than-loving relationship between Crypto and his controlling superior... all the icing on the cake of an incredibly fun actioner.

Once you enter the realms of multiplayer, Ape Academy really comes into its own, with enormous pleasure to be gained from events like the one metre dash, dodge ball, scissor, paper and stone or Geronimo. Ook - drink deep from the banana inspired mayhem.

That's the thing about The Sims, if you want a gigantic, long term game that you can learn to love over many months and aren't fussed about a few flaws, this is approaching perfection. A great game for people who like tidying up and washing their hands 100 times a day. [PSW]

Not an action RPG revolution, but a solid game set in a gorgeous world.

SOCOM 3's brilliant online gameplay is what makes it. Zipper Interactive has played to its strengths, making the internet experience the best that it can possibly be. However, the franchise's core weaknesses - juddery graphics and a dull single-player mode - have only been partially addressed. [PSW]

It's a superb shooter with a great plot, innovative gameplay and some really brilliant moments that will surprise even the most seasoned of gamer. It's a decent length too, with a good 15 hours of play in the main mode. But some control issues and patchy inconsistencies (mainly in the physics and level design) pull it short of earning that juicy [90] score.

Littered with a variety of anomalies which can cause the unwary to explode and other delightful stuff, mutant doggies, deserted buildings, weather effects, real-time day/night cycles etc. etc. - it creates a deliciously unique atmosphere.

Replete with buckets of sometimes stupid-sounding skills and a new, massive quota of really loud shouty-rock, On Tour is the nearest you'll come to snowboarding without getting a) frostbitten or b) snow-blind. [PSW]

Forts is probably not for everyone, but those of us with hearts as squishy as the loveable mud-chewers themselves will be in seventh heaven. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

The perfect rental title. Brilliantly playable, beautifully detailed and choking with charisma, it's also linear, too easy and a shallower than a midget's beret.

Excellent little city builder brings plenty of charm and entertainment for free.

Take Halo's combat model and place it in the worst spaces imaginable and you can still have fun with it - it's that good.

A bloody, entertaining - but short-lived - action game.

A triumph, and had it not been for these few clumsy fumbles, it could have been a world-beater. As close to the real thing as you're likely to get without strapping on a groin guard. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

So 1080 isn't massively original, but it does have one killer gimmick in the form of avalanches.

Here's hoping the developer now takes this painfully short, yet spectacularly sweet game, and turns it into the giant-killing franchise it was born to be. Until then, sample it, savour it, but brace yourself for when the rug is pulled from under your feet and you're sent crashing back into reality after what only seems like five minutes in the most crazy, fantastical shooter you'll ever experience. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

In singleplayer mode there's a decent selection of games to get you in the mood, but it's playing with your mates that'll really get you amped up, as you fight it out in bloody broadband battles with furious futuristic weapons.

A solid 2010 upgrade for an excellent multiplayer game and slightly aged solo experience. Worth both a revisit and a new plunge.

What you get for your money is an exceptionally solid RPG with plenty of life in it, but one that doesn't do anything particularly different to anything else on the market, and for that reason alone it guarantees one of our shiny new Recommended awards, but nothing more.

Yes, that's what it is: it's Second World Warcraft.

It doesn't shake-up the genere, but C&C3 delivers a solid and well-polished RTS experience that also provides the smoothest and most comprehensive game of the series to date.

All in, Dark Athena delivers an outstanding FPS bundle for your money.

It's the undisputed court king, sure, but alas, also just a mere hefty 'nudge nudge, wink wink' of what we can expect in months to come. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Too much of GT5 relies on past glories, building on the success of the series without shaking free of the design quirks that are holding the series back. High expectations are justified when a game has been in development so long and GT5 has more than a faint whiff of disappointment about it.

Deimos or human, if traditional role-playing games rock your world, Arc will draw you in and hold you spellbound. The gameplay basics may adhere unashamedly to the tried-and-trusted RPG formula of exploring, talking, levelling up and shopping, but if it works, why change it just to be clever? Why? WHY!!??

As opening gambits in a DLC strategy go, The Missing Link is a hard act to follow.

But it's the wrestling side that has really been beefed up. A new control system finally makes the action flow back and forth like only wrestling can. Plus the controls are easy to learn and get you into the thick of the action fast, pulling off fancy moves.

It's the same old Sims, and yet so utterly different. Draw the blinds and say goodbye to your friends - real life doesn't get any better than this! [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

With a great system of matching symbols in order to chat and flirt and a world in which a different life can be dictated for your Sim each time you start a new game, The Sims 2 is great fun and game that'll last you ages.

But make no mistake, the single-player game isn't where SOCOM excels. The gameplay is linear and basically involves moving from one checkpoint to the next, with the strategy required being fairly minimal. It's more like a prolonged training mission for the real action found in the superb multiplayer mode. [PSW]

The game takes the proverbial pants off every other GBA shooter, and leaves them flailing around their ankles.

Despite Quake 4's many merits, it fires too many blanks for us to believe that it'll be unopposed for long. The game haemorrhages action in a way that few other blasters can match, but the series relies on too many outdated FPS conventions. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

While it's still a great game, the basic flaws of last year's V2 version haven't really been addressed and the new menu system is laborious and unfriendly. [PSW]

Our only major gripe is that much of its content, i.e. gameplay modes, many of the tracks, and of course all the characters, are from previous SSX games. With the usual selection of half-pipe, racing and trick modes, there's not a great deal of new content in here for SSX veterans to discover, outside of mastering the new control system.

At its core, Mayhem is a leaner, less confusing entry to the Worms universe than Forts Under Siege, returning the series to a time when worm-killing was simple and death came in the form of an exploding sheep.

A decent shooter with smart time powers and enough atmosphere to keep you hooked for the duration.

Unsuitable however, is the camera angle used to fight bossman 'Ganryu'. It looks great to watch, but to control your character from the back is immensely frustrating, especially when the boss character is cheaper than a tupenny whore.

The sequel packs the same punch as the original but it's just not different enough.

Dazzlingly clever and way left of field - if you want a platformer where collecting 99 gems for an extra life actually means drilling through someone's psyche to their darkest secrets, you're in for a treat. Bizarre, but beautiful. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

You still won't bother with the walking bits, but with two-player cooperative Classic levels, online play and a smart new version of LA to open up and tear apart, this is a return to form for the Hawkster. [PSW]

This is a quality game, in terms of both presentation and design. It's traditional, but within its genre it represents a considered and intelligent take on those traditional rules. [PSW]

Groundbreaking in graphical and audio terms. It's just that the combat and the mission pacing come across as slightly dated and they're two very important factors. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Battles can take upwards of an hour and the micro management can take as long as you're prepared to invest. It's all about longevity and depth, and only you'll know if this is for you.

One of the most engrossing, realistic and downright challenging squad-based shooters on the Xbox, and if you've ever wanted to know what real war is like - but don't fancy running the risk of having your intestines shot out - it's by far your best, and safest, bet.

The full Bomberman experience with a ton of options and addictive online mode. XBL Silver members approach with caution.

Call of Duty 3 is, even without multiplayer, undoubtedly a better game than "Red Steel" mostly thanks to its greatly superior controls, more varied gameplay, better AI and constantly more intense action from start to finish. The lack of multiplayer stops it from getting a 9, but consider its score to be the highest kind of 8 there is.

The one problem with the game is that cycling through the Brothers' many different moves and skills with the shoulder buttons isn't very streamlined.

It's robust, solid, and reasonably fun to work through, it's online, and packs in a fun multiplayer. It should be awesome, but generic gameplay and schoolboy errors don't quite cut it. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

In truth there wasn't much wrong with last season's ESPN NHL Hockey, and the minimal changes aren't enough to justify buying NFL 2K5 as well. [PSW]

It's sturdy, it's explosive, and in short bursts it's a stupidly enjoyable, C4-charged rolling death machine of a GTA-beater. Beyond that though it never stretches itself to the obvious cult classic it could have so easily become. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

The unwieldy mission structure and wonky planes take the edge off it a little, but this is ruthless, seat-of-the-pants stuff all the same, packed to bursting with breathtaking missions, throwing you into no-win situations with your plane half battered, forcing you to fight that little bit harder to survive. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Enemies are now far more intelligent. Less likely to be hemmed in by your squad's suppressing fire, they themselves will try to sidle down the blindside of your position and take pot shots at you. [PSW]

You have to have some motivation to get you through the sticky patches (a love of Sonic, or the fact that you're being paid to play it, etc), but the high points are just the platforming tonic you need if your holiday on Isle Delfino is just a fading memory.

This is a solid game with solid platforming, fun gunplay and well thought-out puzzle design, with bags of character. But it suffers, we think, mainly from the progression that games have made over the past two years.

A welcome newcomer to the tumbleweed-strewn Wild West genre, with its big vision, good looks and explosive temperament. A little more free-roaming woudn't have gone amiss, but it's still a rip-roarin' ride. [PSW]

Such a humble gem of a game deserves recognition on the scale of more publicised actioners on release, and any self respecting beat 'em up fan definitely needs this in their life. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Empire Earth II may not be the best historical strategy game on the market, but it is bloody good all the same, and points to a bright future for the RTS. [PC Zone]

This latest Potter effort is rather damned good. It looks superb, it encourages teamwork without screwing up too much when you're only in single-player mode, and when a change of pace kicks in, it usually involves Potter being murdered by a 60-foot-long fire-breathing lizard. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

It's a solid shooter that ticks all the boxes and is fun to play. Just don't expect it to blow you away or give you a good idea about what PS3 can do.

Sure, there are a few problems too, most notably some cringe-worthy graphical oversights - weapons spinning in mid air for example - and the fact that you can't climb over low walls or fire through higher, thinner ones when enemies are using them for cover, but ultimately, this is a game of huge quality and entertainment. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Not all of Dawn of War II's bold changes pay off and fans of traditional RTS games might feel left out. But we're glad it made them because at the single-player game's peaks, its a highly strategic and very satisfying experience.

Resistance 2's single-player is a patchy mix of some rather spectacular set pieces with otherwise underwhelming, run-of-the-mill shooting action that just doesn't rise to the standards set by today's best shooters. But it has to be commended for its massive multiplayer games and efforts in co-op.

It looks good, the combat is easy on the thumbs and if you're after some brainless combat or endless winner-stays-on retro fighting action, Urban Reign is a great choice. [PSW]

Ties That Bind offers the best kind of horror in gaming, because it never cops out and tries to put you at ease. Surreal Software really doesn't care if you're disgusted, offended or just plain horrified by what you see. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

The real fun is to be had in multiplayer, with a civilised round with up to four of your mates available via Wi-Fi and plenty of challenges and tournaments to compete in.

A great all-round package with a definite edge over the PS2 version. And how often do we get to say that? [PSW]

If you played the original to near death, then forgot about it, Shivering Isles is the perfect stepping stone back into what's essentially an incredibly involving adventure game.

It's just a shame EA insist on using a blurring effect when you boost. The graphics are already blurry enough to make it tough to see where the track ahead is taking you. The last thing you need when rocketing along at some silly speed over 100mph, is an effect that looks like someone's smeared Vaseline on your windscreen.

The mighty "God of War" is a little more deserving of your action cash if you've only got the funds to buy one game where you run around killing stuff. But Shaolin Monks is a very close second-best in the heaving action sector, thanks to its good looks, decent play and a gory, blood-soaked style that's well in keeping with the Mortal Kombat legacy of pain. [PSW]

But it's the same story as all the other Ghost Recons online, you need to be a ninja at the game to stand a chance of actually having some fun. That or you could just round up your mates who aren't as hardcore as most of GRAW's following.

A beautiful, balanced fighter, and a wealth of multiplayer options earns DOA the ultimate respect.

A polished FPS with great multiplayer and plenty of reason to keep playing.

The kind of game where you'll be on the phone for your mates to come round and see the next amazing scene. It's all very linear, but sometimes you have to realise this is a good thing.

The combat system is wonderful, the characters are as compelling as ever and there's a running theme of incest amongst the upper classes. You couldn't ask for much more from an adventure game, really.

Okay, so it feels a bit better than last year, but not by much. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Summit Strike does exactly what it sets out to do; provide a decent extension to the Ghost Recon experience and breathe new life into the franchise. And at 20 quid, it's a bargain package to tide you over until the release of Advanced Warfighter. [Official UK XBox Magazine]

A great display of how motion-controlled gaming can work. Bigger and better than Wii Sports too.

It's a game that you'll want to keep playing to find out what happens next, which is always a good sign. [PSW]

The Urbs may have style and attitude, but it's still essentially the same Sims flavour. It requires patience, it's high maintenance and has little action (it's a girls game).

Entertaining but lacks the depth of its guitar-based brothers.

The Cave's built from the same bedrock as Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle, after all, and the trademark Double Fine humour is here in abundance. If some repetition is the price to be paid for hours of clever conundrums and charming gags, it's a deal well worth striking; a few lumps of coal in a goldmine of entertainment.

It's a shame, because the action can be hugely entertaining, but without a satisfying structure to hold it all together, FlatOut is at best a fun diversion. [PC Zone]

Every bit as fun as it is unoriginal. And football's ace.

The usual series update with some nice gameplay additions, a subtle and successful evolution feature and a story mode that fails altogether.

Of course, it's still a bit of fun - silly, mechanical and repetitive perhaps, but fun nonetheless. There's enough ultra-violence here to entertain the young and forgetful, and the new weapons, if not a revelation, do improve the game. [PC Zone]

Worse still (by about a million times), is the fact that you have to visit the exact same bloody temple at least ten times during the course of the game, solving its baffling 'mysteries' every time. [PC Zone]

But playing Euro 2004 is a strangely seductive experience, even for hardcore PES fans like us. It's all so official, so slick, so sparkly, and so stylishly smooth while still playing some decent footie that we'll even forgive it for not being PES. Vive 2004!

But playing Euro 2004 is a strangely seductive experience, even for hardcore PES fans like us. It's all so official, so slick, so sparkly, and so stylishly smooth while still playing some decent footie that we'll even forgive it for not being PES. Vive 2004!

Playing Euro 2004 is a strangely seductive experience, even for hardcore PES fans like us. It's all so official, so slick, so sparkly, and so stylishly smooth while still playing some decent footie that we'll even forgive it for not being PES. Vive 2004!

Although Sam looks cool while monkey swinging and rolling from cover to cover, grabbing guards by the neck and knocking them unconscious, the whole thing feels a bit like a technical demonstration, rather than entertainment.