A pretty good game in its own right, if you try to forget that it’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’t take us anywhere we haven’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 £40 purchase, Whacked! can get F---ed!

The levels are based around the old fashioned ‘portal’ system, so the need to load in every level is blatantly apparent – and in no way comparable to the impressive ‘no load’ system that Naughty Dog so skilfully pioneered.

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

If you’re close to a wall, Blinx regularly disappears, so you’re left waddling around in first person mode, completely unable to judge distance or aim properly or in fact play the game properly.

Although Hot Pursuit 2 is an excellent racer, well worth buying and stuffed with many hours of gameplay, "Burnout 2" is all that and more, without having to obey strict license agreements regarding damage.

There’s more fluency to the [Hitz] gameplay, and the “on fire” element is handier than EA’s aptly named “gamebreaker”.

A bloody good game... If you like first person shooters and have a sense of humour, the only other thing to stop you playing this game is the central role of a pink-suited woman. Are you man enough?

Taking into account the superbly judged playability, classy visuals, variety, welcome element of stealth and replayability, Sucker Punch has managed to ensure that Sly Raccoon is elevated from being Just Another Platform Game.

Spyro 2’s major and quite glaring shortcoming – boredom. There’s plenty to do here, but none of it really makes you want to carry on the story through to its end because none of it is particularly fun.

It's by no means anything remotely original, borrowing almost all of its ideas from a three year old PC game, but in terms of console fragfoolery, it's up there with the best of them for visual splendour and all out intense action.

If you can live with all the problems, irritations and lack of inspiring gameplay, there’s actually a reasonably big game locked away. Real, hardcore Tolkien nuts, who live and breath the man’s work, may get something out of this.

It’s a curious gaming experience, and strangely enjoyable, even if, like us, you haven’t got even the faintest interest in fishing.

While the game certainly has aspirations to action-RPG greatness, it falls far, far short of the mark by instead boiling down to a trudging mess of relentless combat, character statistics and more quests and side-quests than you could shake some kind of magic stick at.

The ports themselves are weak, perhaps the victim of an unrealistic development deadline, and the games aren't actually all that classic.

It lacks tension (combat is totally one-sided), set pieces (there are two whole bosses in the entire game), a gripping story (Krystal's kidnapped, you rescue Spirits, you fight General Scales), and any of the myriad different things that the game it principally tries to emulate (Zelda) was so famous for.

There’s more fluency to the [Hitz] gameplay, and the “on fire” element is handier than EA’s aptly named “gamebreaker”.

Stood next to any of the better games of the year, Gungrave feels like a depressingly hollow experience designed to showcase some nifty graphics.

It’s as cryptic to begin with as any game ever conceived by Square, and it lures you in with some tremendous combat mechanics and a unique selling point (Disney), but it also tries to piss you off with a vacuous opening zone and the Chipmunks.

Playing Animal Crossing feels like the gaming equivalent of watching 70s/early 80s children's TV. Think Bod, think Magic Roundabout, and try not to smile while you're playing.

The voiceovers are also crushingly generic, featuring the kind of stereotypical scripts that gamers ought to be well and truly sick of by now.

It’s one of the most detailed, old-school RTS titles we’ve come across since "StarCraft."

The sense of scale is also slightly lacking, with cars and tanks actually looking like teeny tiny cars and tanks instead of making your mech look huge.

If this came free with the PS2 Network Adapter - as it does in the US - we might be more inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt.

If you're adept with the Medal of Honor/Halo style control scheme then by all means prove us wrong and shake your weary fists at us in combat, but if you're uncertain then we recommend you try it out before committing, or simply wait for SOCOM 2.