A perfectly competent but utterly uninspired kart racer that pales in comparison with Mario Kart.

It's the snail's pace of the action that is Sonic Shuffle's main undoing. Against the computer, even with the speed of the moves turned up, it's agonisingly drawn-out and often just plain boring.

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 gameplay is engaging, and you can withstand the (s)loading times if the rewards come at the end of them. Its biggest drawback then is its shortness.

Awe-inspiring to behold, deep, absorbing and epic to the nines, Overworks' sky-faring RPG sets a standard that will most others will never attain. You have been told.

Surprisingly though, this isn't that bad. Well, it's not terrible, anyway. Which is, in itself, a surprise.

Every second drips with absolute cool and there's literally not a boring moment in the entire game, bar the over-lengthy but disposable cut-scenes.

Put simply, this is the best 2D beat-em-up that we've played on any format so if you're a fan of the genre and choose to veer away from stunning 3D fighters like "Soul Calibur," this is the game for you.

Another potentially great game crashes and burns due to sloppy programming and a premature release. Pity.

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.

In attempting to make its mark by trying to be something a bit different, WCW Backstage Assault has instead ended up being the lamest thing since Long John Silver.

Fools you into thinking it's crap with its new-fangled but rubbish graphics but, like George Formby, Land Warrior turns out nice again.

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

More action-packed than the original was.

This is a novelty. Granted, for all it's limitations, the technology does work, but this really is something for the little ones.

More game play, more parks, more sounds and more options than you can shake a stick at - Tony Hawk's just got better.

If William Blake made a videogame, it would be this. If that isn't a recommendation, nothing is.

A great game, but it's never going to replace "Goldeneye" or "Perfect Dark." Both games do things bigger and better and more often.

It would be churlish to criticise the game for a bit of net slowdown because, whether you're playing online or offline, this is without doubt the best basketball game ever. Nothing but nylon!

A sensory assault of the highest calibre with gameplay to match. It's brilliant, plain and simple. Cock your leg over the saddle and forget those four wheel zimmer frames.

Put simply, it's not half as exciting as you'd expect.

Combine full-on racing with a track design that should have "Wipeout's" makers hurrying back to the drawing board and then chuck in "Tony Hawk's" stupendously addictive tricks and you have PS2's finest moment to date.

If you own a Dreamcast, you really would be an unadulterated fool not to purchase this game. For JSR, quite simply, rocks.

As we all know, it's how you use it that counts, and like most things that come from America, this is all mouth and very little trouser.

The unstoppably addictive bastard puzzle cousin of "Missile Command," Fantavision's perfectly presented and hypnotically beautiful

That's not to say it's a terrible game, either, but it's a long way down the track from the instant rewards, utter playability, simplistic fun and almost child-like innocence of the PlayStation original.