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]