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).

Basically one big collect-'a-thon.

There are off-line games equally or even more spectacular in immediate scenery or character models, but what game can offer such outrageous landscapes on such a grandiose scale? It's not just the sheer footslogging size of it, but the way the environment is realised to enhance this impression of immense vista and truly epic proportions.

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.

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.

Despite a few points of ingenuity that shine through the murk, there's just not enough reasons for it to be a must-have game. It's also not nearly as good as "Call Of Duty." [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]

Overall, the multiplayer game modes are far more engaging than the story mode, whose biggest failing is a lack of variety. One for Xbox Live maniacs only.

A game that feels vaguely like chewing an endless pile of cream crackers. The cream crackers of vaguely interesting turn-based combat, interspersed with the odd sultana of story and the out-of-date marshmallow of film footage. [PSW]

The restrictive point-and-click system will always be an issue for most of us ("See that sand over there? Can't go there"), but the price and intriguing scenario mean that this isn't a total waste of time for those who fancy some arcane adventuring.

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]

Part of the problem is that instead of playing to the original game's strengths, what the developer has devised is a lily-livered RTS that's a pale shade of the Kohan engine on which it's based. [PC Zone]

There's no doubt that there's a huge amount of gameplay here, but at 30, perhaps it's a bit too expensive to warrant buying. Depends on how much you love your retro games. [PSW]

Stays faithful to the movie licence and dishes up hour upon hour of orc-slaying fun. It's not really doing anything new as far as RPGs go but, what it does do, it does well. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

There's tons of bonus material on offer including comic covers and illustrations, and the option to save your game at any point is a godsend.

It's also AMAZINGLY loud. Random battles erupt with an explosive screech sure to stain your sofa and almost every flick of the D-Pad on menus results in a baffling, ear-smashing clang.

If you enjoyed films like The Grudge, The Ring (the Japanese versions, that is) and The Eye, then this will give you goosebumps the size of tennis balls. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Gameplay is soon stretched as thin as Mrs Incredible's arms after you've tired of the new character moves and primary school-level puzzles, that include untaxing challenges such as overcoming laser traps by destroying conveniently placed power supplies. [PC Zone]

The difference would appear to be in the detail, and it's not merely cosmetic, with a new hard steer function lessening the reliance on the handbrake.

We've all got a soft spot for SpongeBob here at OXM towers (Ben T in particular), but our osmotic obsession can't mask the fact that this is a by-the-numbers platformer, albeit a charming one. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

A manifesto for every future video game. Now we've seen what can be done when truly brilliant people get to make a world brimming with variety, music, humour and sheer scale, very few other games are going to be able to live up to it. [PSW]

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]

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]

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 whole game feels a bit slow at times. There are moments when the action chugs along slower than a milk float, particularly when you're being chased by the police.

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

Sadly, when it comes down to it, this is all just a very dull experience. You fly about a bit, shoot at some tiny dots, shoot at some more tiny dots, become irritated by shooting at tiny dots, stop concentrating and crash into the sea. Then you start the entire process all over again.

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).