A severely flawed game. Yet somewhere - hidden underneath a terrible combat system, weird AI and an untrustworthy camera - there lies the frail skeleton of a good stealth game.

Although we're very impressed with the superb quality of the things which the game does well, the multitude of things it doesn't even attempt do smack of a missed opportunity.

It's not bad because it's unplayable. It's bad because everything it sets out to do feels 15 years old, or frustrating and repetitive.

It takes all that was good about the original, improves every element, successfully adds new features and delivers a well-rounded game that will demand more from you than perhaps any other title you'll play this year.

If you fancy some utterly ridiculous, relentless twitch gaming action, full of drama, evil henchmen and a posse of minions to pump full of lead, then Time Crisis 3 stands as an essential purchase.

It's by no means groundbreaking or remotely innovative, and you might get fed up with some rather samey single-player mission objectives, but it's all delivered with a charm and style that will win over your heart and ultimately offers a satisfying multiplayer facet that helps round off the package nicely.

One of the most refreshing, fun and downright brilliant games I've played this year.

Just buy the sodding game - it's one of the best of the year.

It's just so massively detailed, so thoroughly improved and so gloriously playable that we have to recommend it. We haven't even touched on the multiplayer aspect, which we'll be doing in our PS2 Online review very soon, but to be honest it wouldn't have to be good - the rest of the game is enough on its own.

Gone is the marriage of lush, detailed and hugely compelling space combat missions to key moments in the film trilogy, replaced by poorly put together ground-based approximations of the old style, and a series of gimmick-driven vehicle missions that barely even summon up an initial "wow" factor.

Firefly has offered a level editor with the game, allowing players to compile their own campaigns or swap them over the net, but I can't see this breathing much life into a title that exhausts its appeal so quickly. Nevertheless, it's undoubtedly one for the management fetishists.

Make no mistake that it is going to give you absolute hell, yet beyond the initial frustration at your apparent gaming impotence, attempting to penetrate its steely exterior becomes a bizarre pleasure that offers a triumphant sense of achievement.

Curse Naughty Dog for creating what is - at times - an almost unplayably hard game, but if you can dig deep into your well of persistence and climb this mountain of a game, you'll get a great view of the most involving, rewarding and momentous platform game ever created.

It's likely to be deemed too similar to the original to attract too many converts, but it's short, it's sweet, and it's been put together with so much style it frankly embarrasses the ham-fisted efforts of most other developers.

There was rich promise here, but High Voltage has dropped the ball with its sloppy approach to the combat.

There are endless beat-'em-ups, platformers and third-person action adventures that do everything Crouching Tiger does infinitely better, and manage to make it fun while they're at it.

For those expecting massive advancements or a radical departure from the original, this will come as a disappointment. A more honest, realistic assessment would be to treat this as a mission pack, and for those who do just want more of the same, you'll come away a satisfied customer.

For those expecting massive advancements or a radical departure from the original, this will come as a disappointment. A more honest, realistic assessment would be to treat this as a mission pack, and for those who do just want more of the same, you'll come away a satisfied customer.

For those expecting massive advancements or a radical departure from the original, this will come as a disappointment. A more honest, realistic assessment would be to treat this as a mission pack, and for those who do just want more of the same, you'll come away a satisfied customer.

It's a timeless piece of quality gaming that, with the exception of its visual element, would probably work on any format, past or present.

It's not too hard, it has a certain charm, it lets you take things on in your own way (as a commander or a commando), and it isn't afraid of pushing the old-fashioned arcade challenge of getting through a level without hitting F6 every ten seconds.

Although the controls could do with tweaking and the multiplayer doesn't hold much excitement, it's still fundamentally entertaining. It's an odd concoction, built around an idea we'd love to see developed further than it is here, but thanks to some genius AI, enjoyable level design, simple objectives and underlying black humour, it works.

I'm going to cheat, and simply provide a score for the multiplayer element of the game...and bearing in mind that this game probably won't run shockingly well without major tweaking, because it's one of the most demanding games in terms of system specs that we've ever seen.

Provides just about enough to be worthy of the price of entry if you're an Age of Mythology fan. The new single-player campaign is slickly presented and a lot of fun, while the addition of the new race and the Titans themselves should give a fair bit of extra longevity to the multiplayer aspect of the game.

Later levels tend to get merely more irritating rather than more enjoyable, and the many fans of the Oddworld series would have been better served with handheld versions of "Abe's Oddysee" and "Abe's Exoddus," rather than this frankly overpriced, lame effort.

A classy package with plenty going for it to satisfy those with kleptomaniac/sado-masochistic leanings.

A fairly meaningless but devilishly addictive platform game that isn't afraid of, ulp, hatching a few new ideas amongst the rank and file and giving you options.

Technically it's better than either of the previous two, which means it's better than any other golf game we've played...For those of us with Tiger pedigree though, the lack of online play and niggling flaws overshadow an otherwise generous update.