Focused excellence.

A highly polished, mostly highly enjoyable hackandslash romp with only occasional lapses into tedious gaming by numbers same-old-same-old object hunting and respawning enemy laziness.

No one should really expect it to be cutting edge entertainment, although it does succeed in providing a new spin on long abandoned gaming principles. Despite its overtly simplistic nature, it's still a blisteringly entertaining romp in small doses, providing you take it in the right spirit.

For newcomers to the scene, getting into the designer's desired mindset will arguably prove too daunting, but veteran adventurers will admire the new ground that Siren breaks and its chilling atmosphere, and be able to forgive some of its basic flaws long enough to follow through with what is, at times, an immensely challenging and absorbing experience.

If you're a gamer that embraces the open-ended trial-and-error gameplay, and don't mind that it's neither the best example of stealth nor action gameplay, then this will serve you well.

Later in its shelf life, Groove will be an excellent little budget purchase to have in your collection for those amusing drunken party moments, but right now at £29.99 we'd strongly advise potential EyeToy converts to check out Play before they go splashing the cash on "Groove."

But while it does output a far greater degree of detail than the open spaces of GTA can afford, at no stage does it get anywhere near matching the accomplished environments of, say, "Splinter Cell," and its almost complete lack of narrative gives the proceedings a completely hollow feel to them.

Apocalyptica's lazy design and sheer lack of imagination is more than enough to ruin any chance it had of developing the relatively interesting premise. Forgive Konami, father, for they have sinned.

It's not perfect, and we hope Nintendo takes the concept further, but it's still well worth checking out even for a few hours' worth of hilarity.

At the very least a more responsive stick-based system would have been a plus. but as it stands it almost feels too much of a simulation at the expense of action - although doubtlessly some of you will admire that approach.

For the PAL consumer, it's one for the absolute die-hards we're afraid, and even they might have issues trying to live with the lack of online play.

The all-new split-screen multiplayer modes are a bit hit and miss, but still welcome nevertheless.

It's yet another example of a distinctly average "extreme sports" game that lacks the polish and creativity of the real-life sportsmen it's trying to emulate-slash-harness.

It's yet another example of a distinctly average "extreme sports" game that lacks the polish and creativity of the real-life sportsmen it's trying to emulate-slash-harness.

In the final analysis, it just maybe lacks the creative edge and imagination that would have catapulted it into classic territory. We just didn't really care about what we were fighting our way through.

Feels like a total waste of time, and if we had any white boots right now we'd ram our studs through its rubbish cover so it could never bother us again.

What's immediately apparent is that it's been balanced incredibly carefully.

Epic has created the mother of all first-person shooters with this game - over a hundred maps, a selection of diverse and extremely well balanced game modes, built in voice communications, intelligent bots, a great offline play mode, good network code, a superb server browser and a solid graphics engine. Onslaught alone is worth the price of entry, but the game as a whole is a stunning package.

For what is one of the few Xbox-only Japanese titles, you'd expect much more than almost featureless corridors, and only the occasional glimpses of artistic talent from Namco's team.

It's a life you'd want to live, and it's a truly refreshing escape from the pressures of reality into an imaginary utopia poised on the edge of an ocean.

Despite the criticisms, Team 17 has still managed to pull off an impressive evolution of a much-loved series. The core game has remained barely unchanged, but the 3D engine introduces a lot of unexpected elements to get used to, both good and bad.

Despite the criticisms, Team 17 has still managed to pull off an impressive evolution of a much-loved series. The core game has remained barely unchanged, but the 3D engine introduces a lot of unexpected elements to get used to, both good and bad.

Despite the criticisms, Team 17 has still managed to pull off an impressive evolution of a much-loved series. The core game has remained barely unchanged, but the 3D engine introduces a lot of unexpected elements to get used to, both good and bad.

Tenchu isn't a particularly complex beast, and it doesn't take long to get the most out of it, so it's a nice alternative if you're bored of creeping around gloriously detailed locations pretending to fight terrorism. On the other hand, only a few shiny surfaces and high-poly models stand between this and the visual mediocrity of most PS2 titles.

As it is though, it's a good, solid, disquieting action game that ought to serve fans of the macabre and whodunnit-with-demons perfectly adequately, but stands little chance of threatening the crowns of the Silent Hills, Resident Evils and Project Zeros of this and other worlds.

You certainly can't fault Firefighter F.D 18 for fiery originality, but its ambitions are cruelly extinguished by overly simplistic game design and a clunky control system makes it the kind of cult curiosity that only the true hardcore would ever dare parting cash for.

We're sorry to heap such bile on a game that we actually like at times, but it's a bit like hearing a bad cover version of a song that you've grown to like that some people still maintain is rubbish. Our advice? Buy the PC version of Mafia.

As for those of you who cherished the original game? This is the best pair of rose-tinted spectacles money can buy, and a good alternative to the anti-climax of seeing how a once-cherished favourite has aged.