Monstrously tough and definitely not for part-timers. Ikaruga is demanding but ultimately rewarding. [GamesMaster]

The graphics and animation are consistently brilliant. There are some gorgeous environments to explore, a superbly adapted control system for GBA. [GamesMaster Magazine]

This complexity demands your total concentration, resulting in an all-consuming gaming experience. You're gonna lose hours to this game.

Not quite as blinding as the original but still a glaringly brilliant and consuming piece of first-person adventuring. [GamesMaster]

Perimeter blows most traditional RTS games out of the water. There are so many unexpected options for attack, more ways to defend, more ideas to experiment with than you'd think possible. It's an enormous, gloopy toolkit of war. And we love it. [PC Gamer UK]

A leaner, more vicious Tekken for a competitive age - surprising how much two new characters add to an already classy game. [Import, PSM2]

An instant classic with the best multiplayer mode of any console title. [XGamer]

Loading screens can stall the action on Xbox and especially PlayStation 2, and there are some rough platform encounters late in the game, but Psychonauts is still easily one of the best titles of this, or any other, year.

Every second of this game screams skillful design and the result is a liberating game world that feels open and responsive. Nearly every object in the game reacts to Lara's influence, and this applies to the gamer holding the control pad as well - it's impossible to play this game and not fall under its tempting spell.

A joy to play, a social-life-threatening venture into the ever-appealing (and for once, original) world of virtual war, and a game bursting with strategic action the like of which is absent from 95% of online Xbox games. [Xbox World]

Small but perfectly formed. 1080 is the choice of the discerning gamer who looks for fewer stunts and a more solid racing experience. [NGC]

The best comic book game ever, but a bit too structured. [PC Format]

An experience not to miss...Halo evolves first person combat to new highs. But it doesn't do anything shockingly new. [Xgamer Magazine]

Initially disappointing, but once you get how it's using the darkness it's very hard not to love Doom 3. Great-looking, scary and a delight to play - id have delivered again.

The last great racer on Xbox. Unless the mere sight of a car makes you physically sick, we'd call this a must-buy title. [Xbox World 360]

A sublime evolution of a serious sports simulation that doesn't make life easy to start with but rewards you with depth, blood and belts. [Playstation 2 Max]

A technical marvel that sets a new benchmark. The plot may twist until you lose grip of it altogether, but the balls-out street-driving action saves the day. [PSM2]

DOA Ultimate offers accessible gameplay and awesome eye candy. Throw in Xbox Live support and it easily becomes the only Xbox fighting game you actually need to own.

Despite a few minor design issues, Neverwinter Nights is a flagship for the platfrom - a worthy successor to the BG series and a game no one should be embarrassed to hold in high regard. [Edge]

A real surprise - if you liked "Paper Mario" on N64 you'll love this. It's funny, enjoyable and capable of eating up hours on end. [GamesMaster]

Whichever version you choose, though, the action is top-notch awesome. With the series' clever design and sense of humor fully restored, The Two Thrones is a stellar return to form forPrince of Persia .

Immersive, dramatic, exciting, detailed, never dull, challenging, extremely good looking and worth hooking up to broadband for. [PSM2]

The gripping story, the inventive mission design, the perfect pacing, the interesting races and the redolent atmosphere. [PC Gamer UK]

As good a Mario adventure as you could hope for, and a cracking RPG in its own right. [GamesMaster]

If there's a nit to pick with Gun, it's that it's short. Depending on how much you poke around, you can beat it in anywhere from six to ten hours. To us, that's no problem; we'll take a short amazing game over a long lackluster one any day.

Small mistakes can't wreck such a consistently pleasurable experience as FFIV. With additional content that drastically increases the role of its large and likable cast, this is one RPG you'll have slotted into your GBA or DS for a long time coming.

Astounding, involving, creepy, atmospheric.[NGC]

It's a ridiculous name, of course, but it manages to sum up how absurdly joyful the game is, a riot of technicolour chopsocky fun that'll immediately have you punching the air in glee. [GamesMaster]

A gorgeous, character-packed curio that combines strategy and arcade action with great aplomb. An essential purchase for nostalgics. [PC Gamer UK]

With all due respect to all the stat crunchers out there, this is once again the true "fantasy" football.

Brilliant fun. An absolute blast from start to finish and, without question, the best action strategy game available. [NGC]

To its very core, the game always goes for realism in a way that leaves "Metal Gear Solid" feeling extremely arcade like in comparison. [XGamer]

It's a shame that the multiplayer options don't include a cop pursuit mode, but that's a minor omission in a one-game-fits-all package. If you haven't found any of the recent NFS games to be juuuust right, Most Wanted is the one to own.

An obscure Zelda game that's demanding on your pockets - but it's one of the finest multiplayer games ever. [NGC]

Should you buy it? Well, simply because of the quality we'd have to say 'yes' - but next time Nintendo, please, make the experience last longer. [NGC]

Obsession can easily set in with certain challenges. You might be able to see how you could earn the required amount of Kudos, but actually doing it is another matter. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

What MC3 lacks in grace and polish it more than makes up for with its raw power and sheen of cool.

Inspired, delightful and at times bordering on the insane. Psychonauts is mind-blowing, however it's tricky at times and definitely not for kids. [PC Gamer UK]

It's in the interaction with other players that Toontown excels. Basic game-related queries and greetings are automated, and typed chat is heavily restricted to real-life friends. However, this doesn't impede the gameplay in any way.

A beautiful and intense RPG, mixing turn-based strategy with graphics that, although pre-rendered, are mind blowing in terms of crispness, colour and detail. [GamesMaster]

Superior to the Xbox version in every way... Massively enjoyable yet enormously painful, Splinter Cell is a serious game whose brilliant realism should shake up a few complacent gamers. [PS2 MAX]

Gung-ho and trigger happy, Frontline is horrifically good war-mongering fun. [GamesMaster Magazine]

The quality and individuality of presently pilotable planes and the extraordinary variety of AI airpower should satisfy all but the most hard-hearted hangar habitues.

You don't buy any MMORPG lightly, least of all this one. It imperiously demands massive chunks of your time, patience and dedication but the rewards are commensurately high. The fierce sense of satisfaction as your fame grows and coffers swell is hard to match. [PC Gamer UK]

I swear, for the first five hours FEAR was on its way to a "Half-Life" sized score. The favourable comparisons were many and various: the thoughtful and dangerously accurate guards, the beautifully designed levels... but FEAR never upped the ante. It stayed almost exactly the same from start to finish. [PC Gamer UK]

Nothing radically new but 30 missions of the most furious, vibrant, relentless, utterly insane war your can imagine. [PC Gamer UK]

Unparalleled explosive thrills - but it only burns in your mind during the time you're squeezing the trigger, and lacks context or emotional depth. [PSM2]

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the game, though, is the way in which it gives a real sense of what war was really like for pilots in the Pacific.

A thoroughly enjoyable two-player game knocked down by an over-too-soon Career mode.

Far more accessible than the first and loads more fun. If you want more realism than "Halo 2" can offer, look no further. [GamesMaster]

Some of the most imaginative levels ever. [GamesMaster Magazine, #109]

It has lived up to the hype and that's no mean feat when you consider that it's been billed as GTA War. Only the lack of total freedom and iffy handling hold it back. [PSM2]

One of those games that you switch on intending to have a quick blast, then find yourself staring square-eyed at in the early hours.

It may not look as scary as "Code Veronica," but you'll definitely need some extra loo roll.

Ultimately, you'll die many times in Urban Chaos and scream death-threats to the programmers, their first born, everyone they've ever met and Father Christmas because the untimely demise wasn't your fault.

The sparse menus aren't up to Nintendo's usual standard and the game is lacking in an abundance of minigames, but with a storming collection of songs covered and fun and challenging gameplay, Donkey Konga 2 is perhaps the best party game ever. [NGC Pocket]

I've been playing Bangai-O for a week now, and I still don't know what the hell is going on half the time...Look, you'll either love or hate Bangai-O, and either way, it's extremely unlikely you'll ever understand it.

The smooth and sharp aiming system is a rarity among PS2 shooters and the multiple firing modes for each weapon are great. But it's a shame stealth isn't more central to gameplay. Project Snowblind is better than "Killzone" but not up there with the Xbox heavyweights. [GamesMaster]

They've created the first game featuring a comic book hero that doesn't disappoint.

Almost the best superhero game on PS2, but let down by the fact that - when you get down to it - we've seen it all before. Still, you should definitely give it a shot. [PSM2]

An immensely satisfying racing sim designed for hardcore racing fans.

Pin-sharp sim that's both challenging and forgiving, with a story that's not just bolted on... A true delicacy in a time of relative famine for racing sim fans, but should feature on any gamer's menu. [PC Gamer UK]

What Spartan lacks in depth is made good by some top-drawer visuals and satisfying combat. A corking console debut for Creative Assembly. [PSM2]

More four-player fun than even Ron Jeremy could offer.

Besides the abundance of car wrecking weapons, the most entertaining aspect of Rumble Racing is that the vehicles, including the trucks, can do mid-air tricks. Every time you perform a barrel roll or misty flip its impossible not to raise a cheeky smile.

A gorgeous, big, weighty, important event-game that makes good on most of its grandiose promises. Easily in the top two first-person shooters for PS2 alongside "TimeSplitters 2." [PSM2]

Not an essential purchase, maybe, but Point Blank version 3 is still tremendous fun, horribly addictive, and its new modes do make it even more of a party game.

An old concept it may be, but what does that matter when you're having so much bloody fun?

Entertaining and largely compelling fantasy adventuring of Tolkienesque proportions.

Souped up and ready to go, bloodying the noses of "Heavy Gear" and "Starsiege" en route . Once again Mechwarrior leads the way for the genre.

What is really impressive about Sudden Strike is that it creates a more realistic battlefield than other RTS games without bogging everything down in statistics.

Although it's not an astonishing leap forward, Freedom Force vs the Third Reich does boast better graphics, better AI and better multiplayer than its predecessor, making it a winner all round. [PC Gamer UK]

Despite the unwieldy user interface, this will have Dreamcast strategy fans drooling. Definitely not just for trainspotters.

A fine home conversion; it's a beautiful, if shallow and short-lived, arcade racer.

Think what you like about the exploding cows, obsession with poo and constant profanity, but this is witty with it, and there's not one point where you'll find the game's programmers being rude without a sense of humour.

One of the best adventure games for the last couple of years, being thoroughly worked out and pleasingly rounded - it takes a lot of effort to appear so dumb, obviously.

This is the game they should have made last time. Gorgeous, sizey and ambitious. The new modes just need a little more tweaking. [GamesMaster]

With any high-speed sports game, the real bonus is in the game play and NHL 2001 oozes it.

Tribes 2 could have been the ultimate on-line game that stood for years, but its slightly uninspired weaponry, occasionally bland level design and a control method that needs a whole world of tweaking, leave it open to much (if only slight) criticism.

The USA's going ape over this latest version, but over here in Britain few of us really care for this most American of sports, and although the latest Madden's the most accomplished yet, it lacks the emotional appeal of something like "Pro Evolution Soccer."

The graphics are beautiful and the gameplay is ituitive, addictive and amazingly good fun. It's a shame it is so short - we completed it in four hours - but it is perfectly formed. [GamesMaster: JPN Import]

With Nemesis, Capcom once again get you to sit in the homicidal barber's chair while he draws a honed blade with grating tension across your exposed throat. This time the tension and the moment when it suddenly cuts to the bone are taken to an even higher screaming point.

A proper combat flight simulator that's also fun to play. This game is what we've all been waiting for -- let's fly!

It is the best adventure game for years, it has a sly, well-plotted purpose and it points the way to the 3D adventures of the future. Don't fear the monkeys: embrace them.

This year it's so big, most players with full-time jobs and social lives will never see more than half of it. You almost need a map to find your way through the menu options. [NGC]

Fable's social systems are a masterpiece of design and, if the story and dialogue tend towards the prosaic, the compelling action and delicious presentation boost the experience far above the ordinary. [PC Gamer UK]

Oops-where-did-the-weekend-go addictive. Buy it, and resign yourself to some five-hours gaps in your memory you may have difficulty explaining to the police at a later date. [PC Format]

If you're new to the series or a Greek aficionado then this is an excellent place to start, but if you stopped playing one of the earlier games after a few levels there's nothing that'll inspire you to play any more of this one.

Sexy, frantic, bloody and beautiful, but it falls a short of brilliance. Beats Lara hands down, though.

Stunningly fast chop-socky, sumptuous looks, scenery interaction to drop your jaw - a fight fan's dream. Plus you get to ogle those ladies and who can resist all that? Not us.