It doesn't always make sense, but it's so big, daft and loud that you can't help but join in with all the shouting. [PSM2]

A genuinely good third-year romp for Harry. Accomplished and absorbing, it's not quite magical but it's certainly no muggle either. [GamesMaster]

Thanks god Vicarious Visions delivered the delectable Spider-Man 2 on PS2 before this soulless dross. Treat this like an eight-legged creature on your wall and squash it flat. [PSM2]

An entertaining day, and a day in which you'll learn the full story of The Hobbit. But still, just a day. It needed to be much longer, and much far more difficult. [Advance]

Even with its limitations, Wayfarer of Time is consistently engaging throughout its lengthy gameplay.

An old-fashioned frantic high concept videogame that, like Wetrix, takes the baton offered by Tetris and runs with it in a weird new direction. [NGC]

This is the simplest Tony Hawk to date.

A genuinely good third-year romp for Harry. Accomplished and absorbing, it's not quite magical but it's certainly no muggle either. [GamesMaster]

What Commandos 2 does, and does exceptionally well, is push itself far enough away from dry tactical planning and into the world of quick-fire gameplay and addictive puzzling. [Playstation Max]

Best tennis game on the PC. [PC Format]

A faithful conversion of the enjoyable arcade original, but a game with no longevity whatsoever.

It's virtually identical to the mono-screened GBA version and, given that the SP is a significantly smaller and cheaper machine, The Urbz' DS incarnation is all but redundant. [NGC Pocket]

Batman Begins feels more like work than fun. Look at Spider-Man 2 to see how superhero games should be done. [NGC]

Unfortunately, it's obvious that Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter was developed as a glimmering next-gen title and subsequently shoe-horned into the power-challenged Xbox. The result is simply too much for the Xbox to handle. It feels stripped down and lacking in too many crucial areas.

Something we were actually outraged by was the fact that that in two-player mode there are no AI cars at all.

It looks pretty and the controls work well, but overall MediEvil lacks in excitement and is slow to get good. You'd only buy because there aren't any other decent action adventures around yet. [GamesMaster]

If Rumble Roses didn't feature near-naked girls, this just wouldn't have a point at all. OK, the fighting has a sense of power and speed about it, but it's lacking in diversity and is no more than a shameless display of jiggling polygons. [PSM2]

As a game, MLB 2K6 feels more than competent, but it fails to excel. Much like last year's Cubs, it has its shining moments, but in the end you're left with the distinct feeling that it could have been so much more.

[Games Radar Rating = Miss] fans of the series deserve more than a shiny retread. Although the legend remains intact for now, it'd be a crime if Crash was still spinning along the same narrow path next year.

Gorgeous-looking, but devoid of almost any rewarding gameplay whatsoever, despite a functional multiplayer.

But its solid play mechanics aren't enough to overcome the near-complete lack of licensed courses and golfers, or the various other oversights and issues that plague it.

The controls are a bit loopy, but the sheer fun you'll have solving the ghoulish mysteries forgive everything else. [Xbox Gamer]

If you can play this on a computer, do so. If you already own The Sims 2 for GameCube and are considering paying full price again to get the Pets feature, don't.

There's abundant animated cleavage for the truly desperate. However, the heart of the game - the actual driving - is outclassed in every aspect. Don't bother. [PSM2]

Stupid stupid stupid stupid.

An easy, mildly entertaining grab bag of minigames and missions. Kids will undoubtedly enjoy the game and their parents will find themselves sucked into numerous minigames as well.

No, it's hardly the greatest platformer ever - far from it - but it certainly isn't the worst.

The 3D makeover is near-irrelevant - this is firmly rooted in decades-old 'classic' gameplay. Fun, but strangely out of place among more 'modern' PS2 experiences. [PSM2]