This is all fairly familiar, but the key thing is that it's new content, there are new challenges, it all looks spectacular and it'll last you for ages.

A fairly competent shooter with quite a bit of life in it - just not quite the leap forward we had hoped for.

If only your enemies displayed the same kind of intelligence, the game might be a lot more interesting - but in fact, the enemy AI in MOO3 is terrible, far worse than in the previous game in the series.

It’s handling, damage system, and realistic feel [are] untouchable, without ever allowing it to get in the way of being a fun game. If it weren’t for the lacklustre visuals, this would get an even more enthusiastic response.

As long as you're not expecting a serious Soul Calibur-esque beat 'em up, then there's so much to admire about KFC; it's huge fun from the word go, has an absolute shedload of unlockables and has a style all of its own.

It's a blast from start to finish and somehow manages to be greater than the sum of its parts. It's perhaps a classic example of the ideal game to rent.

A bitch of a game to review. But for the same reasons it's a joy of a game to play. There's just so much to it. It's a town-builder, a compelling dungeon-crawler, a fishing game, a golf game and, in short, a great RPG.

Despite throwing around more polygons than any other Xbox racer we've seen, Racing Evoluzione rarely if ever skips a frame. And that includes our appraisal of the two-player split-screen, which was examined at jaw-to-the-floor inducing length.

Just as Dark Angel is guilty of repetitive character models and backgrounds, the game design is guilty of repetitive action, which is unbelievably stagnant.

A charmless, shoddy, unfinished, unplayable mess and does nothing that a dozen other games haven't done infinitely better.

The only thing that raises CVS2 up and above the likes of "Dead or Alive 3" or even "Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance" is its online element, and I'll only really recommend it until a beat 'em up developed <I>within</I> the last three years makes its mark on Xbox Live.

The dull gameplay, horrible interface flaws and cringe-worthy political message of the game mark it out as a wasted opportunity, and a very black mark on the copybook of the C&C franchise.

A flawed masterpiece. There's so much that's done well but so much which counters it to its doom - like the weapons. At about 15 in total there are simply too many, and they claw to convention like a headcrab.

The repetition of the exploration, the game world, and the unsatisfying combat leaves Galerians: Ash failing to engage at any point.

It&#146;s a shame EA feel the need to charge their swelling community for the privilege of getting their hands on a smattering of new missions and models which should have been in the game in the first place.

If you're looking for an enjoyable but fairly traditional RPG with a cracking storyline and likeable characters, Skies of Arcadia Legends comes about as highly recommended as any game can.

A deeply flawed combat-based action game that offers a mere fraction of the depth and the challenge of the original... It's a shock to see the mighty Capcom let its standards slip in such a dramatic fashion.

If you harbour kleptomaniacal tendencies and find curvy polygons racier than we do, then the increasingly repetitive bouts of volleyball and weakness in the rest of the package won't bother you.

On a technical level it’s a major achievement, with a superbly realised graphics engine, but on a gameplay level it’s neither the best driving game, nor the best stealth-based shooter, and some of you will have issues with the hammy voice acting.

The freeform nature of many missions means that they can be replayed over and over again in search of higher rankings without becoming dull. Fans of action games will love it immediately.

You'll find yourself cursing the lack of inventory spaces, and the inability to drop objects (which was only introduced in Resident Evil Zero), and all told the trip down memory lane merely serves to illustrate how far games have come generally, and how forgiving we must have been back then to put up with such wholly irritating fundamentals.

In all seriousness, games should come clearly stickered with a 'Best Before' date to ward off unsuspecting punters. These are two zombie shooters that should never have been exhumed.

This wealth of variety and reward structure is carefully considered, but ultimately it won't help the final outcome - you're either going to love The Sims, or you're going to hate it.

What's really missing here? A bit of inventiveness, we think.

The multiplayer is worryingly addictive too. Rounds last anything from minutes to hours depending on the quality of the players involved, and things can get very strategic.

We couldn't have asked for much more than has been delivered, and I doubt Maxis could have done much more with a formula that they've improved upon time and again.

A beautiful game - and stands as a landmark 3D shoot 'em up; a refined, well designed and intelligent title and marks a real progression in the genre.

If you really want to get into Dynasty Warriors from scratch, then you might find yourself better off with a second-hand copy of "Dynasty Warriors 3," which you can probably find for 15 quid.

Given its high price tag and scant innovation Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced is unlikely to win over any new converts by playing it so safe and so young.

An exceptionally generic platformer shaped around quick trial and error design and limp enemies, and built around a tired looking cel-shaded engine that does little justice to the visuals of the arcade original.

We were disappointed by the game's lack of depth, but we very much enjoyed playing it - and that, at the end of the day, is far more important than anything else.

The control system is a bitch, partly because the storyline is fairly boring and partly because there isn't much innovation.

In terms of his strength and abilities, The Invincible Iron Man is one of the wimpiest game heroes we've encountered and deserves to be locked away in this rather limp platformer-with-guns.

An indispensable game, combining arguably the finest RPG/adventure the 16-bit era ever produced (even compared to the likes of Secret of Mana and Final Fantasy VI) with an expertly realised multiplayer rendition of Zelda.

An absolute must have purchase for any Dark Age of Camelot fan. Camelot!

Unfortunately though we can't really see Kirby's latest adventure lasting anybody for particularly long, multiplayer games and secret hunting notwithstanding.

The audio doesn&#146;t live up to the visuals. Digitised audio has been a standard fixture of SF titles for years, but the infamous &#147;Hadoken!&#148; and &#147;Shoryuken!&#148; are both scratchily rendered for SFA3, and the music isn&#146;t much better.

The problem lies in the way you coast through the levels without any real sense of progress or achievement until you realise you&#146;re finished.

"SmackDown" retains the belt.

The story and acting is guff - and easily ignored - but the sense of being involved in some epic fantasy movie is quite tangible.

Despite a number of difficult to spot and ultimately underwhelming "improvements", the Cube and PS2 versions of Dead to Rights remain generally engaging, with an uneven sprinkling of genius.

The casual gamer should steer well clear. It just isn&#146;t very friendly and not the type of game you can drop into for a quick burn.

But those of you with Zelda on the mind best ferret off elsewhere - this is a very different sort of Link To The Past.

One of the most compelling horror adventure games ever, and must rank as one of the best games on the Xbox.

You can't escape the technical limitations, the little niggles, the frustration of having to start over every time your flick-and-tap skills desert you, and having to perform that boot-up sequence every single time, and the stupidity of Daytona-level pop-up in an Xbox-exclusive game.

An entertaining package when it gets things right, but it's also riddled with design flaws, technical flaws and various minor irritations that conspire to detract from your overall enjoyment.

A punch, kick and throw marathon that bears more resemblance to early 90s side scrolling beat &#145;em ups from Capcom than a 21st Century action adventure on a next generation console.

This is a very simple, very brainless third person shooter for people who want to be Jango Fett &#150; it won&#146;t challenge for a spot on your Christmas list, but it won&#146;t have you crossing anybody off yours if it finds its way into your stocking.

It's got the looks, the sounds, the depth and the reward structure, not to mention oodles of gameplay and one of the most endearing multiplayer 'party' dynamics ever.

Trouble is, it once again errs far too much towards the arcade style of play, and is not only unrealistic, but makes the game feel too easy.

If you want a game that does the franchise justice, you can probably pick up the fantastically entertaining Die Hard Trilogy on PSone for about one eighth of the cost of this.

An exceptionally generic platformer shaped around quick trial and error design and limp enemies, and built around a tired looking cel-shaded engine that does little justice to the visuals of the arcade original.

There are easily better fighters on the PS2 though, and so this feels more like an exercise in retro gaming than an essential and accessible purchase.

Despite a number of difficult to spot and ultimately underwhelming "improvements", the Cube and PS2 versions of Dead to Rights remain generally engaging, with an uneven sprinkling of genius.

An exceptionally generic platformer shaped around quick trial and error design and limp enemies, and built around a tired looking cel-shaded engine that does little justice to the visuals of the arcade original.

A better than average platformer with cleverly interspersed mini games to present the illusion of expansiveness and freedom.

My favourite 2D Metroid yet... [and] the best platform adventure the GBA has.

But you&#146;ll also love Splinter Cell for being a challenge in an age when videogames have all the interaction of a fairground ride.

There are a million and one awe-inspiring moments saturated with detail waiting to be uncovered in Metroid Prime. Each new area is like an art exhibit.

It mixes it with the big boys in the early bouts, but it's never going to go the distance. We'd hold out for "Soul Calibur II."

There are some &#145;clever&#146; bits, like a Winona Ryder look-alike shoplifter (surely she&#146;s too pretty to lock up?), but on the whole it&#146;s a &#145;point and laugh&#146; kind of humour rather than a hearty laugh out loud spectacle.

"Pro Evo" is still the better game, and will last you longer, but FIFA is arguably the sweeter experience in the short term. FIFA&#146;s presentation, style and gameplay are all great, but "Pro Evolution Soccer 2" gives the hardcore footy fan the chance to really live out their footy fantasies.

Let's not beat about the bush and get straight to the obvious: Simpsons Skateboarding is diabolical... a cash-in in the purest sense of the term.

Rather like Half-Life’s "Blue Shift" expansion, Spearhead is over in barely three hours... It’s only because Spearhead chimes in at 20 quid or thereabouts that we don’t rip it apart – as it is, it’s rather like buying a DVD of your favourite war flick.

It does its job reasonably well, but blandness abounds, and the whole thing just looks like it's been rushed out to fulfil a contractual obligation, rather than a labour of love.

Where it scores above other games is simply the emotions it inspires.

In many ways this game is superior to "Morrowind"; although it doesn't have the initial appeal offered by that title's graphical splendour, it has a lot more depth and far less time is spent walking from place to place aimlessly.

A fantastic port - and unquestionably best on Xbox - but it suffers in part thanks to last century's tech and in part because pathetic team killing gits thrive in the current Live community.

A beautiful, addictive, mechanised feast of destruction, ideally suited to online gamers both new and old.

We're hugely disappointed in this utterly botched effort by Sega. What should have been the revival of a classic franchise has been turned into a poor rip-off of a Capcom title that wasn't even the dog's bollocks in the first place.

Perhaps the best thing about Serious Sam though is just how pristine it is. It&#146;s a very, very polished game.

This title is a vastly preferable alternative to a myriad Sonic Advances in the style of Nintendo's Mario rehashes.

If you&#146;re open-minded enough to kill low-poly Axis troops and don&#146;t mind being led by the nose, then don&#146;t let a clutch of angry graphics whores dissuade you: this is top fun.

It&#146;s addictive, tells a good, amusing yarn, looks spectacular and is challenging without ever being annoying.

The combat in Phantom Crash is mostly excellent.

There is a magnificent amount of stuff to do.

It uses outdated visuals with no changes, cobbles together levels which the GBA can handle in order to avoid problems, uses a lazy password system which is totally unwieldy, and continues to rely on a ten-year-old gameplay dynamic.

"Warcraft III" is very innovative and has production values higher than just about any game ever released on the PC, while Age of Mythology is simply a worthy successor to an excellent series.

The best PS2 wrestler there is, largely thanks to Yuke&#146;s success in mimicking the cheese that oozes from every pore of the WWE.

Every bit as good as we thought it would be – if not better... But don’t expect to be constantly surprised, for much of Vice City is a retread of old ground, and if you didn’t like the last one, then Vice City probably won’t change your mind.

Ultimately, your perseverance with the sluggish pacing can be rewarding, but Shenmue 2 consistently proves itself an ageing game with ageing looks. It should never have happened like this.

Admittedly better value for money than the rather uninspired "version 2" Dreamcast release, but for a game which has seen as much development as this to suffer from fundamental flaws and dodgy design decisions in so many areas is bizarre.

It&#146;s just a shame that for all the initial graphical beauty, complexity and diversity of The Clone Wars, it really boils down to a simple, flawed, over-stretched game design.

It's the shortest game ever, and that's not acceptable for a full price release. And no matter how 'pumped' we feel after playing it, it's a minigame. It should be a tenner - not forty quid. [Rating at &#163;10 = 80]

It simply can't compete with the genius of its many competitors, particularly the Sony first party efforts of late.

A tough one to score then, but still unquestionably excellent.

It&#146;s doesn&#146;t have the adrenaline fuelled action of the original, nor any neat new ideas to make it feel like a progression.

Anybody who remembers the good old days of Contra should steer clear of Shattered Soldier, unless you have some sort of sadistic urge to lay waste to your senses and pollute your fond recollections of this once proud series.

It&#146;s fun while it lasts, but requires relatively little skill &#150; just an iron will and determination to progress through 16 lavish, on rails, scripted levels.

The mini-games have different faces but they play ostensibly the same, and even with the visuals buffed to a sparkle the overall effect is very much &#145;more of the same&#146;.

Perhaps the most damning thing of all about Next Dimension though is that throughout our time with the game, we never once felt the impact of a blow or watched a character reel in pain &#150; there&#146;s virtually no weight to any attack and hit contact is unconvincing.

A pretty good game in its own right, if you try to forget that it&#146;s pig-ugly and meant to be a sequel.

A charming and entertaining Japanese RPG which adheres to the conventions of the genre far too much for its own good, but will still provide many, many hours of entertainment.

In truth, despite giving the gamer a huge arsenal, pleasant gameplay diversions and dressing it up in shiny new clobber, RFII doesn&#146;t take us anywhere we haven&#146;t been before, and plays by the FPS rulebook for the most part.

BloodRayne can be forgiven on a lot of levels because it's so silly it's fun, but for everything it does which is endearing, there's something to frustrate, bore or alienate the player.

It's good, uncomplicated fun, but you won't ever want more than the demo version supplied with the Xbox Live Starter Kit. As a &#163;40 purchase, Whacked! can get F---ed!

The levels are based around the old fashioned &#145;portal&#146; system, so the need to load in every level is blatantly apparent &#150; and in no way comparable to the impressive &#145;no load&#146; system that Naughty Dog so skilfully pioneered.

Taken in isolation, it's easily the best handheld Tennis game.