As with all pure action games, FD18 has its annoyances and limitations. It plays like an arcade game, with unfair surprises taking you down at least once, forcing you to play each area to perfection.

But it clearly screams console from every pore, mysteriously labelling keyboard controls as move icons in its frequent in-game hints, which engenders all manner of frustration. [PC Zone]

It's a reasonably fun title, but tired graphics and monotonously easy challenges mean this is strictly one for undemanding kiddies. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Ultimately, since Core Combat's best features can be enjoyed by both the expanded and unexpanded players, you might as well let other mugs go to the expense of buying the pack and doing all the work required to gain them. Then you can just have all the fun and reap the rewards above ground.

All we get is A-to-B puzzles mixed with a huge amount of zombie splatting that takes you from London to The Pyramids. [PC Zone]

Thankfully, nothing's been fiddled with (except the addition of Wi-Fi support), and the inclusion of Marble Madness and Championship Sprint in particular prove that quality gameplay is timeless. [PSW]

The city in the game just doesn't feel alive. There are plenty of pedestrians milling about, but it's only the enemy and the police that you can meaningfully interact with. [PC Zone]

It's all but impossible to defend the dated presentation and clunky interface that are constant reminders Anito was designed and developed by a small start-up development company. [PC Zone]

While overall you have a typically slick Square-Enix production, fighting is too simplistic, with only one button to perform most attacks. Also, despite the enemies themselves looking terrific throughout, the backdrops for the aerial battles are no match for "Panzer Dragoon Orta."

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]

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

Basically one big collect-'a-thon.

Too short and too late to be wanted.

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]

The widescreen beauty of the PSP is entirely compromised by the fact that the action takes place in a TV shaped box to the left, while maps and stats fill all that lovely extra space. It's nice to be able to see where you're going, sure, and we appreciate not having the action cluttered by displays and icons, but it kind of takes a way the whole point of having a screen the size of Kansas, doesn't it? [PSW]

The mash-up idea's splendid and it offers real depth and innovation. In fact, once you get over the control hurdle, you'll find a very decent, challenging and rewarding game.

A bogstandard platformer that'll strike a chord with younger gamers, though not a lot of others. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

The way I see it, the only reason you might want to carry on playing is because you've already invested so much time in getting to where you are - which sounds like a lot of hard work to me. [PC Zone]

A solid and just about satisfactory squad shooter, but we expected better from the fourth game in the series. [PSW]

New Zealand Story Revolution is a hard unforgiving platform game dressed up like a child's game. Think very carefully before splashing out. We used to love it but playing it again only brings back all the frustrations we thought we'd forgot about.

There's just something missing from the end result, and though the pleasingly simple gameplay is great fun in short spurts, LSL hasn't quite got the stamina for any schlong-lasting appeal.

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.

I'm also just very peeved at just how confined it makes you feel - and, most of all, how Activision didn't just port its own Blur into the Bond world for the driving bits.

Graphically speaking, Fantastic 4 is tired and ropey and depressingly familiar to look at. There's plenty going on, sure - the game copes well with teeming armies of bad guys - but the character models are basic and the arm-through-wall style glitches and wobbly camera are just embarrassing. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Not a terrible game, but shoddy, rudimentary presentation and basic gameplay means this is one for the purists only. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

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.

It's by no means a heavyweight, but fans of the series will get a hell of a kick out of the Xbox conversion.

Considering just how much the FPS genre has progressed, specifically the squad-commanding, war-themed FPS sub-genre, it's really not worth your time unless you're particularly fanatical about the original. [PC Zone]

The result looks well tasty, but is hard to swallow. [PSW]

It's basic, it's clichéd, it's blokey... oh, and it's expensive and short, but Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is still a hoot. If you're after a brainless gun-fest with plenty of blowing-up, give it a few months and see if you can pick it up on the cheap. [PC Zone]

With some lacklustre mission design (shoot enemies, find keycode, go through door, repeat) and an even flatter multiplayer mode, Ghost in the Shell feels like a wasted opportunity like "Coded Arms" before it. [PSW]

Another example of a game that greatly underperforms on a perfectly capable console.

Right now it is compelling, but riddled with so many problems that if you part ways with your cash for it, you're entering into a pact that will give you as much frustration as entertainment. [PC Zone]

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]

Overly jaunty and a bit threadbare - but by no means an embarrassment for Microsoft.

Ultimately this is a game for the youngest of GameCube players and difficult to recommend to anyone who takes their racing seriously.

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]

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.

Bereft of tension and riddled with lazy animations, ER is far from infectious, though it does have an underlying charm that might dazzle the more clinically inclined (or failed medical students).

The puzzles are simple, the graphics are bland, the controls are limp. Only the most severe Neutron head would consider this over a number of superior platformers.

What we have is an inept third-person hack and slash number, combined totally unsuccessfully with a dull-as-ditchwater RTS. Harsh words, granted, but you'll thank us for them.

It's the sort of game you'll stick with to the end in spite of yourself, and you may even find yourself chuckling once or twice along the way too. [PSW]

It's all pretty simple. Crash collects Wumpa fruit, Spyro collects crystals, and they both jump over lots of spikes.

DMC4 kicks DW's face off all night long. But, for strategy fans, this could be worth a night's rental.

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]

Ironically Worms Forts would probably be a faster and more intense game if worms didn't feature at all. Read into that what you will.

It's fair to say there's spectacularly little that's actually new in the game, but for a different slant on the snooping genre and some well-executed shadow-hopping, you can't go far wrong. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Although Future Tactics doesn't quite have the humour or breadth of "Worms," and the multiplayer game isn't as all-encompassing as it should be, the campaign mode is quite endearing (even if the voice talent is god-awful), and the Trumpton visuals are sweet, if somewhat last-gen.

The tracks want to be like "F-Zero's" but they're lacklustre to say the least and the vehicles don't have the required speed to make the twists and loops anything other than ordinary.

It actually plays out like a very simplistic alternative to Legend Of Zelda, with doors opening once certain enemies are killed, or special keys found to open doors.

It left us shaking our heads in utter bewilderment. Fans of EA's other Street games will be rightly embarrassed by the sheer awfulness of this faux street culture. [PSW]

Retro purists will like it but most will find the gameplay too basic. The graphics and technology behind the game have obviously improved and grown over the years; it's just a pity the same can't be said of the actual gameplay. [PSW]

Looks handsome like Top Gun-era Cruise, but After Burner's fast-paced dog-fighting doesn't really work with iPad's touch-screen.

It's only when something large or coveted decides to take a bite that the game lurches from 'pleasant but dull' to 'almost quite exciting'. Well, for about thirty seconds anyway, until your would-be prize catch drops the lure and swims off. After that it becomes dull again. [PSW]

The whole experience ends up falling a little flat. The main problem is that there's no great story to really pull you in. Yes, there are over 20 weapons to collect and upgrade, which is fun, but the narrative is sadly lacking. [PSW]

Sure, you can save up energy and then turn into a bloody great beast, but it's just a gimmick really. Bloody Roar isn't original enough to innovate and isn't polished enough to epitomise the genre like "Soul Calibur II" does.

But if bling is your thing and you're in need of a dire hit of nitrous oxide, then LA Rush will deliver enough of a fix to tide you over until the next 'big' racing title hits Xbox. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Graphically, it looks dated. Yes, it has the same look and an identical user interface to that from RollerCoaster Tycoon, but here the colours appear drab, the maps flatter and some of the tiles don't appear to connect all that well, making some parts of the map look like an Escher illusion. [PC Zone]

It's fun while the novelty hasn't worn off, but very repetitive and dull soon afterwards. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

In terms of customisable play, varied and never-dull multiplayer along with a decent co-op mode, there's no doubt that Lockdown remains an attractive and enjoyable package - but it just feels old.

Essentially a pornographic playground, it's proof that games don't necessarily have to be about sport, war or goblins.

It's all perfectly meaty, well-constructed stuff, and there's little you can fault, other than the fact the subject matter isn't particularly engaging. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

The look is reminiscent of "Theme Park World" - colourful, but not particularly detailed - although the animals have been put together with some charm. This, coupled with the lack of any real challenge, makes the game a reasonable option for animal-loving kids, but not a lot more.

It's not an exciting, adrenaline-pumping game and it does border on the easy side, but with multiplayer options (online and offline) for up to eight players, we could soon see the birth of tomorrow's generation of FPS warriors.

Not bad, then. And cheap. And sometimes actually funny. While still being massively predictable, though.

It's slow, steady and pretty dreary - but it's got enough intrigue to keep you clicking away for a few hours.

Offers lots of cars to unlock, and plenty of challenges and game types to keep you amused - it's not by any means the worst driving game ever made, and it's a snip at 20. But, much like the Ford brand itself, there isn't really much in the way of glitz or glamour to it either. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

With a lot of unforgivably repeated gameplay areas and almost zero replay value, this is a brief blast of fun that can't go the distance.

Suffice to say, even Resident Evil-loving broadband-obsessives will struggle to wrestle any fun from what is, essentially, a second detour down a dead end street. [PSW]

For avid Assassin's Creed fans filling in the story gap might be worth the £3 asking price, otherwise Battle of Forli is an ungenerous and forgettable add-on.

Compelling - in a masochistic way. Deep down, there's a great game trying to get out, but it's been hamstrung by our many complaints that can be summed up in one sentence. Piss-poor support for the new user. Victoria will infuriate strategy enthusiasts and baffle everyone else. [PC Zone]

Settlers is far from awful, it's just mind-numbingly dull. Which is far, far worse.

Military obsessives will love it and, providing those who play it are prepared to put in the time required to learn its quirks and foibles, they should be rewarded with a fairly satisfying experience.

If more time had been spent polishing the graphics, enemy intelligence, animation and, erm, just about every other aspect of presentation, the good ideas could've had a chance to shine. Sadly, instead what we have is just another bloody war game, and not even a very good one at that.

It's a fun and a very stylish third-person action game - a lot better than the movie deserves, by all accounts. Just don't buy it expecting to see anything you haven't already seen before. [PSW]

Everything X7 delivers is quality, although with an unshakable sense of 'been there many times before'.

The characters are wasted, despite the more than adequate job done to animate them, and despite EA's roll-out of limited edition comics to whet our appetites, the new characters are poorly realised and immediately forgettable. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

There's little joy to the gameplay, unless you like hammering one of the two attack buttons and simply aiming your hero at the next batch of fodder for your angry reptilian idiot.

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

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.

Combos are pretty lame, and with only a couple of basic attacks, the action gets very repetitive.

Feels like a step backwards for the series, and no amount of shape-shifting can disguise its mediocre gameplay.

The platform traversing puts you in mind of "Prince of Persia," only with a handy pole you can whip out to vault over large gaps. It doesn't show the same levels of genius as Ubisoft's game, but it's still reasonably good fun for the younger player.

Immensely hard difficulty levels aside in single-player, the co-op mode is fun and much easier to tackle. Oddly it's painfully slow in places with more than five enemies on screen at once. We didn't expect this at all from our next-gen experience of Double Dragon.

It serves as a good addition for those who enjoyed the main game, but in its own right it's too shallow to sustain much interest and gets xtremely repetitive xtremely quickly. [PSW]

If it had flashier graphics or a simpler, more intuitive fighting system, it might appeal to everyone. As it stands, it's a curio and only of interest to completists and Street Fighter obsessives after a bargain exhibit to stroke in private. [PSW]

Everything from the AI to the interface to the laughably inappropriate resource system is basic. Admittedly, there are thousands of troops to command, but controlling them is a nightmare and the whole experience is best forgotten. [PC Zone]

Despite its smattering of positive elements though, D-Day reeks of being rushed to the table like a pot of undercooked sauerkraut.

The missions are very basic and straightforward, with no real need for strategy or tactics. So unless you're a sadist and get a kick out of being disappointed, steer well clear.

Limited and uninspiring, Spartan won't satisfy anyone with an inkling of the quality of other games on the market.

Unfortunately, all the developer's good efforts are ruined by the stinking, incompetent AI, especially in the realms of pathfinding.

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.

Dredd fans will enjoy looking around the levels and laughing at the in-jokes - the rest of you will see this for what it is, a bog-standard FPS. [Nintendo Offical Magazine]

One good aspect for people who tend to get stuck on these detective game (and I mean myself here) is 'artificial intuition', ie help. When you seem to have hit a wall, this swirling symbol will suggest areas to concentrate on in that location - and the more you use it, the less subtle the hints get! It's a good way of offering a helping hand without spoonfeeding players.

Sadly, despite this commendable attempt at innovation and the lush graphics, Bet On Soldier's combat and (non-linear) story doesn't engage on the same level as the real shining lights of the FPS genre.

Once you get going with the twin swords and start levelling yourself up, the urge to unlock bigger, sharper swords and kill more things quicker really starts to burn. It's certainly no "Soul Calibur III," but it's enough of a war horse to be worth a punt. [PSW]

Running around Hogwarts is a curiously flat experience, and not helped by the chronically jerky frame rate.

A mess, a hurriedly produced and lazily-designed RTS produced to cash in on gamers hoping to relive the film's stunning battles. Just make sure you're not one of them. [PC Zone]