What lies beneath its rather unspectacular veneer is a really well designed game that approaches the conflict from a different angle and provides a solid platform for a hugely entertaining game.

Average execution, terribly repetitive combat, lots of reasonable ideas that don't quite work, a general lack of cohesion: it's not diabolical, but it's far from great.

Glorious fun. Slow motion gun battles tied to an engine that articulates carnage with the furious eloquence of a caffeinated linguist, bound together by people who've seen a lot of Asian horror, uniting to spread memorable moments over a bed of visceral excitement.

Visually, The Warriors does not impress. But as a film tie-in, as a classic brawler, as a game that offers excellent multiplayer modes, quality bonus content and a unique style all of its own, it excels.

General ugliness, poor presentation, ropey tactics, and a general lack of charm all doom Shattered Union to that bargain bin in the sky. The plastic CGI storytellers and the fuzzy, characterless maps just leave you with the sour sense of wasted-time rolling around in your skull.

It starts off brilliant, then erodes your enthusiasm over time.

It's like being cuddled by fun.

Despite dodgy localisation issues - which actually serve to limit the game’s appeal - Devil Kings remains an entertaining battlefield game that marries its wild, over the top style with enough substance to keep you plugging away.

Hell, it's fun. But for a really short time.

LA Rush looks fine, sounds generic and plays irremediably. If you've ever played any of the other Rush games, this game will be a disappointment.

If SOCOM is to remain Sony's flagship online war title, it needs a complete overhaul in time for its PS3 outing.

It's a different game without being a different game. Enjoyable without being extraordinary.

Everything that an excellent sequel should be. It takes on board criticisms levelled at the former game and addresses them all in a way which should delight any fan of the series; not only that, it picks up the story and characters of the original title and develops them in such a fascinating way that it actually throws fresh light on the original, which now seems like a much better piece of storytelling in the context of its part in the series as a whole.

Feels like an uninspired, by-the-numbers sci-fi B-movie of a game with high production values. It's 'fun', for the nine, ten hours it lasts, but only in the same brainless sense that allows us to enjoy dumb popcorn action movies.

But it’s not fun, and it’s certainly not worth the effort. The DS, as hopefully this constructive and helpful review will have shown, is the perfect medium for recreating management sims. Just not this time.

Capcom, in trying to shoehorn one of their hack-and-slashers into this world, have produced something which is beautiful, but incoherent and ultimately rather average.

Despite being two-thirds the price of most DS games, it's still not worth it. You'd be far better off having a wash and going to a friend's house for an unfriendly, loud, fight-inducing game of poker, where at least everything can descend into betting on Mousetrap.

Minor quibbles aside, Virtua Tennis World Tour is close to a ten-out-of-ten game on the PSP, and in many respects it deserves top marks for being the best game on the system, and one of our most played games in 25 years of repetitive straining.

EiB feels grittier - closer to its fascinating yet fearful inspiration - than any other military shooter out there. Much of that feel comes from the credible mission design and AI already mentioned but a significant portion stems from fundamentals like the way the weapons look, sound and perform.

There's even a bit of scope for creativity, since you can design your own T-shirts and posters, and - the one part of the game which might appeal to small boys - draw rude pictures all over the Bratz' faces in your favourite shade of lipstick, should you so desire.

Much like Sid Meier's recent reinvention of "Pirates!,' huge numbers of ideas have been included at the sacrifice of any of them being particularly impressive. Jack of far too many trades, apprentice at only a few.

It's not that it relies on a healthy suspension of disbelief to overcome its contrived elements; it's about bringing order to foggy chaos. This, it does with aplomb.

It's a good idea, well measured and put together. Its problems are spiking difficulty and mechanical obstinacy.

If you are looking for a multiplayer version of the classic board-game you're almost certainly better-off going to community sites like www.diplom.org and exploring some of the free Play-By-EMail options (bewilderingly Paradox have chosen not to include a PBEM or a hot-seat mode).

Until Pivotal finally delivers a game where the enemies don't run at you like angry suicidal goats, and teaches your squad-mates to find proper cover it's never going to be worth more than the 6/10 score we slap on it every single year.

As it stands, FIFA once again offers a huge amount of entertainment - but you'll be left covering your face after you've witness EA miss a hatful of chances to go top of the table.

As far as Nintendo seems to be concerned, at least until the first DS outing, Pokémon begins and ends with the Game Boy. Pokémon XD is tedious and restrictive. The message is clear: if you want Pokémon, crack open a GBA.

It's amusingly offbeat in places, but I can't help suspecting that the D&D hardcore will be deeply dissatisfied with Atari's offerings, at least until Dungeons & Dragons Online turns up.