The action is bewildering and frenetic, the challenge is minimal and the usual camera problems persist, but this is still an exuberantly entertaining game.

The most playable console RTS yet, but at the expense of some strategy.

It's the most polished version of the game so far, and those who've never made a small child puke before will be in store for hours of fun. But the new interface with its streamlined minimalism hides a baffling array of build options, and is not the best for the newbie. [PC Zone]

Don't change the style - we may already have mentioned once or twice that the style's perfect. Just make more of it. Make it harder, more of a challenge, more of a game.

A classic slice of arcade action. While it's a crying shame the first and fourth games are absent, Return is still a brilliant Zapper title with plenty to offer.

If Floo Powder, Dementors and Fizzing Whizbees mean anything to you, get this game as soon as you can. But be warned, the simplicity of it might mean a part exchange within a few days.

TrackMania isn't a hugely polished game, but it's a breath of fresh air to play a game with a half-original concept. It feels (and, critics might add, looks) like the games of my youth (and so the rest of the team's middle-age), when originality sold as much as generic graphical kiss-kiss-bang-bang. [PC Zone]

It's a welcome and entertaining addition to an excellent game. [PC Zone]

Gritty movie atmosphere and clever storyline fail to outshine the unforgiving gameplay. It's got some great ideas but could've been so much better.

Presentation aside, the only real gripe I have is the lack of any transfer options in the Championship mode, which makes a losing streak almost impossible to break.

Well, we'd still rather link gems in Puzzle Fighter than link blobs here and the mental gymnastics required to be good at this will deter the casual Tetris player. But still, it's enjoyable stuff.

More niggly than the GC version and less accessible. If you're prepared to give it some attention you'll be rewarded with a deep and challenging experience. If you want an easier Tony Hawk game try the GameCube ones.

Oh, and if you thought Geometry Wars was pretty tough on the eyes, think again... Heavy Weapon is the most tear-inducing Xbox Live title we've yet beheld.

Still, if you're a hardcore fan, you'll want it just for the neat interface tweaks, the one new race per realm and the slick look - provided you have a current-generation graphics card and the Shrouded Isles expansion pack.

So, a passable RPG/RTS that wants to be a Star Trek chess set in the D&D universe, but not as beardies know and love it. [PC Zone]

If you're a quality-deprived adventure game fan or simply looking for a refreshing, unique alternative to the current crop of me-too titles on other systems then you absolutely owe it to yourself to give Another Code a whirl. Just be aware that the game's brief playtime and innate genre flaws mean that you probably won't be playing for all that long.

When you get a whole group of you as Dark Troopers jetting all over the levels, blowing each other up and causing ridiculous mayhem, Battlefront is laugh-out-loud hilarious.

An inviting but subtly deep singing game - but it needs to grow its song library to take on SingStar.

A game where you have to kill a seriously stupid amount of vicious creatures, who lack the brains to do much other than charge straight at you. It's an absolute apocalypse and in terms of body count makes "TimeSplitters 2" look like Songs of Praise.

A hugely enjoyable, polished action-adventure with buckets and buckets of OTT gore. If you thought "Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines" too cerebral, its slasher B-movie blood relative could HAVE MORE BITE.

If you're in the mood for some easy-to-learn but hard-to-master city-building gameplay, Children Of The Nile is as good a game as you're likely to find. Hardly as unique as is claimed, but good all the same.

We couldn't help being drawn in by the plot, and enjoyed finding enemy weak-spots and shouting them out for Rio to shoot. And while you feel like a dork shouting stuff at the TV, the action is so engrossing that you stop caring.

The gameplay is gripping in spite of its flaws, the cut-scenes are fantastic and the story is dramatic and pretty weird in places. It's almost worth playing through to witness the mid-game fight with the Tyrant alone - a battle so frickin' tough it has become the stuff of gaming legend.

But when the fun cruelly comes to an end after a little over five or six hours, what are you left with? The humour. And since the gags wear thin quicker than the knees on Dennis the Menace's jeans, for laughs, give us "Phoenix Nights" or "The Office" any day. [PC Zone]

Sabre Squadron's main claim to fame is its new multiplayer options, which allow you and some friends to play any of the nine new levels co-operatively. With the team AI problems eradicated, these levels become far more calculated and precise affairs (so long as your team-mates work together of course).

Brothers In Arms DS is a good little action-shooter that makes great use of the DS's unique interface. With the tactical aspect of its gameplay removed in favour of a linear action approach, it loses some of its style and identity, but it's nevertheless the first war shooter for DS, and sets a high standard to beat.

To sum up, Heroes Of The Pacific is big, it's not really clever, but you'll have a blast playing it all the same. [PC Zone]

FIFA 06 may not be perfect, but it is perfectly playable, and is probably the best we could have hoped for. Apart from EA buying Konami. [PC Zone]

Sure, the action could be seen as mindlessly repetitive, but then to an extent you're only limited by your own creativity. Just kick back and lap up the theatrical gunplay in this sizzling shooter, and you won't get burned. [Official UK XBox Magazine]

The multiplayer mode adds some long-term appeal, but while it lasts Rag Doll Kung Fu is an enjoyable and unbelievably funny game, featuring hilarious low-budget FMV starring developer Mark Healey. [PC Zone]

There's not much new in terms of gameplay, but the 3D accelerated views, rapid scrolling and distinct lack of lag make it spectacular to look at and wonderfully smooth to play. [PC Zone]

If only there was more to do, more variety and more choice, we may well have had a bona fide classic on our hands. As it stands, Scrapland is like a supermodel with a venereal disease - drop-dead gorgeous, and you can still have some fun with it, but you'll ultimately be deprived of the money shot. [PC Zone]

As solid as Port Royale 2 is, few people can afford to have more than one seafaring adventure in their collection. With "Sid Meier's Pirates!" due in port very soon, we reckon you should hold fire on this one.

Excellently scripted set-pieces and dialogue perforate a seemingly endless store of enemies, the surroundings soon become all too familiar and the console-restricted engine disappoints graphically.

Sonic Generations hits its target well - with the genuinely bruising qualification that it can frequently be difficult to look at.

It's damn fast, damn detailed, and with the added newbiefriendly Extreme Mode, it should ensure the bike game market is cornered for another year. It's doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it is does make it go round very, very fast. [PC Zone]

But on its own merits, TO is brash, energetic, none too taxing and more than capable of providing some solid midtable entertainment, while GTA and the like get on with battling it out at the top of the tree. [PC Zone]

Desert Of Flames is a solid expansion pack, with enough novelty to appeal should you be tough enough. And don't mind getting sand in your shoes. [PC Zone]

Revengeance boasts neither the deep combat of Bayonetta, nor the measured nuance of a Metal Gear Solid either...But for those that manage to break through its barriers and work around its lack of intuitiveness, it's a rampageous feast for the eyes and thumbs - even if it is a slice or two short of perfection.

As a platformer, Disney Epic Mickey's mechanics are disappointing. It's a shame - because this really is a good game hampered by some bad gameplay systems, rather than a bad game held up by a few good ones.

Don't have any illusions: this is simply more of the same. But then as they say, if it ain't broke, carpet bomb it with a Lancaster.

Polish is the key word in fact, when describing Broken Sword II. The one area that Revolution shine brighter than any other software star is in the look and style of the game. Graphically, this title is very impressive.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin dresses itself up like an edgy, scary, sinister horror of epic proportions. But under the surface it's a solid FPS with a good weapon set, clever physics, ample gore and Matrix-style slow-motion.

Nothing much new other than the setting, but a worthy spin-off in the Sim/Theme genre. [PC Zone]

A lot of people will find the system too intricate and not immediate enough. But if you're inclined towards a more cerebral thrill, Combat Mission still offers the most realistic and arguably the most satisfying World War II strategy fix around. [PC Zone]

While there's little here that we haven't seen before in some shape or form, Kohan II brings it all together tidily. RTS fans, or those looking for a better than average example of the genre, should lap it up.

2007's game in the snow - an accessible, content-filled party game. Take some risks next time Sega.

Manhunt isn't an essential game - it has a pernickety camera, repetitive gameplay and often-frustrating real-time combat. Yet, it also has a unique atmosphere, tense moments and stylish, visceral videotaped kill cut-scenes - if you can stomach the violence. Now, where's that cheese wire?

With its console roots showing clearer than a bad peroxide rinse, it all looks a bit 2001, and other minor glitches include guns inadvertently disappearing into walls - quite an impressive trick if they'd meant it.

Unfortunately, the game is extremely linear. You get a task and go do it, then get another and go do that. Which would be fine if the huge levels weren't so boringly designed.

We applaud EA's efforts to make the game as authentic as possible, but the kits don't look great close up. The Man U one is last season's. There's no Nike sign on it. How do the likenesses fare down the league? Badly.

It's as solid, competent and thrill-packed as the previous entries in Maddox Games' single-handed assault on the flight genre, it just doesn't really do anything that we haven't seen before. Nothing major at least. [PC Zone]

The polygon boost isn't enough to stop Bully looking dated. But there's still plenty of fun to be had here if you didn't play the original.

It's a very good thing the combat is so enjoyable, because that's pretty much all there is. [PC Zone]

Dead Space 3's co-op mode ends up mirroring the single-player experience: slick, entertaining, with the occasional moment of brilliance, marred by a lack of tension, pacing and pant-filling scares.

There is fun to be had here - a lot of fun in fact, if you're prepared to dig and claw for it. For those people, anarchy will indeed reign, but everyone else will find themselves wishing for a little more law and order.

Hawx could do with a fair bit of polish before it (inevitably) comes around for a second flight, then - and a sluggish start to the solo campaign doesn't help much either. It's far from perfect, but the ERS formula does provide a small but much needed fresh idea to the tired genre, which means many Clancy and Ace Combat fans alike will be glad they played it.

It's like Capcom was undecided in what it wanted RE5 to be. It breaks many of the series' traditions, yet tries to hold onto elements of its heritage that are either dated or don't fit with the style.

Should be called the "Sega Mega Drive Really Good But Not Quite Ultimate Collection".

Frustrating but still enjoyable, full of character and quirky charm, with a bit more spit 'n' polish and tighter game design Tak could so easily have been a classic.

It seems that now EA is the sole rights holder to the official NFL licences, and the opposition has folded its tables and left, it seems to have taken its foot off the gas. Better luck next year. [PC Zone]

What really lets Ops down is a lack of finesse. There are very few nice touches and an almost total inability to interact with the environment.

If you can make friends with the twitchy handling in this arcade-sim crossbreed, then you're in for a good drive.

Think of it as Zelda-lite and you won't go far wrong.

It does an excellent job of expanding RCT3 - not only are there the nine new scenarios, but you can also use many of the new features in the existing scenarios, which is a nice touch.

Shallow and frequently frustrating but the fast-paced gameplay makes for a fun multiplayer experience.

So in the end, Panzers Phase 2 is to Phase 1 what the Nazi invasion of France was to the Nazi invasion of Poland: effective, but relying on pretty much the same troops and tactics. [PC Zone]

Games are something you play, films are something you watch. Unfortunately for EoN there are too many films and not enough game.

It's entertaining in all the right ways, but just like Gates and Price, it's all a bit too predictable.

Bland environments and dull gameplay leave Rainbow Six 3 feeling disappointingly empty. If the AI was more realistic and there was some texture in the worlds this would have been much better.

It's no platform-defining blockbuster, but if you've got the patience to get along with the controls there's a good few hours to be found. Add on some decent multiplayer and it's a good day to be a PSP owner.

It's uncharacteristically short for an RPG, but those Mega Man action junkies have short attention spans.

It may be linear and occasionally repetitive, but the spectacular set pieces will surely rock your world as hard as any Hong Kong classic.

Unfortunately, this ninja dream too often becomes a nightmare of infuriating control issues, camera problems and soul-destroying restart points.

The graphics are decidedly old-skool and the combat isn't nearly as tactical or as spectacular as the developer claims (I feel Larian should drop the Diablo-style combat entirely). However, with BioWare moving ever more mainstream, the Divinity series could well take over from where Baldur's Gate left off. [PC Zone]

There's definitely fun to be had here. And you don't have to be a four-year-old gaming amateur to enjoy it.

The battles are frantic and over quick enough to make it perfect to dip in and out of, and the multiplayer battling is wicked fun with mates.

Expertly produced with enough sheen in all the right places to make it worth your while, but still flawed enough to be a bit disappointing.

Bottom line is that Jump To Lightspeed is not an essential addition to SWG, and by no means repairs the many faults of the existing game. [PC Zone]

The gaming equivalent of buying a massive bag of crisps only to find that half the packet is filled with fresh air. There's still plenty to enjoy, but not nearly as much as there should be and you end up feeling a bit cheated.

Final Fantasy XI is an acquired taste, and one that was built for playing on the sofa rather than on the PC. It's a pity that Square couldn't have served up something more ambitious for our first online RPG, but at least it means we get an RPG that's had three years of being knocked into shape. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

It's the game's lack of originality that proves the real disappointment.

It's rare that an action role-playing game works as both an 'action' and 'role-playing' game, so to come across such slick combat and a deeply involving character upgrade system here is a real treat.

Accept it for what it is - the best (and only) single-player and Xbox Live footy game you can buy for Xbox 360 until "FIFA 07" or "Pro Evo 6} shows up. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

It may not always be pretty, and some online play would've been nice, but for older gamers looking to revisit their misspent childhood down the local arcade, and younger gamers searching for a lesson in gaming history, this is worth snapping up.

Half loose arcade racer, half tight tuner epic, Need For Speed Most Wanted gets caught in a rolling roadblock between "PGR3"'s graceful racing and "Burnout"'s burning intensity, neither of which it can begin to match. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Neither scary nor particularly engrossing, Area 51 is an exercise in keeping the trigger pressed and the aliens streaming out of the screen. The truth, it is sad to say, is still out there. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Right up there with the smash-happy "Mercenaries." Make no mistake, this one's a definite Hulk smash. [PSW]

If you have Live then we can't recommend Black Hawk Down enough. Sure, it's no "Halo 2" (something it thankfully never even tries to be), but when you fire a screaming RPG into a chopper carrying a dozen or so enemies, you momentarily forget all about the terrible, stunted single-player experience. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

The Xbox has clearly the best graphics, the PS2 has an exclusive online option where you can trade items with other players. The GameCube and GBA versions have possibly the most exciting exclusive option.

A game with a severe identity crisis, clearly trying to appeal to the action-loving masses while attempting not to alienate fans of the slow-paced gameplay of yore. Problem is, it's unlikely to truly grip either group, and may well estrange many core fans. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

The frustrating controls haven't been improved much, and Sly's movement is nowhere near as smooth as we'd expect.

Total Overdose is certainly fun if all you're after is a quick blast and something that doesn't tax your mind meat, but it isn't nearly as multi-faceted as it thinks it is. [PSW]

There's no standout reason to upgrade from previous editions. But if you're new to backside-blistering fun on four wheels, Fury 3 is worth a blast. [PSW]

It's the carefully judged pace and variety of Gun that tightens your grip on its pommel and adds the real beauty to the sunset you'll pause to enjoy after a grueling shootout. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Live is included as part of the deal, and further downloadable characters, stages and moves are promised. Which will make the purists squeal, though they may be the only parties really interested in this blast of rose-tinted nostalgia. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

But underneath the pretty graphics JetPac Refuelled is pretty much the same game we played a quarter of a century ago. We doubt it'll grip a new generation of gamers as much as it did back in the day but you'll get your money's worth.

Despite the weak selection of modes, Pokemon Link remains an enjoyable puzzler. The arbitrary veneer of the Pokemon license doesn't seem particularly misplaced and offers the ever enjoyable task of collecting all 380 of the little marketing wonders.