For the first five minutes you'll be bowled over by all the action on offer, scarcely being given time to breathe in. Once you start to remember the patterns of where the enemies come out -- and being a light gun title on, as they say, rails, they never vary a jot -- the fun quickly fades.

One for the fans. Even though it is an "all-in-one" package of games, the Arcade Kombat mode remains the centre of attention.

As a micromanagement/god sim, it makes a fair effort with its source material, although you'll often find yourself bogged down in petty details, and it can lose a bit of charm in its eventual endgame phase.

A solid but unspectacular boxing game that doesn't try enough that's new or innovative to raise it to championship status.

While it's an ambitious title -- especially for the Gameboy Advance -- that attempts to cram in every last Luke-related minute of the classic Star Wars trilogy, Apprentice Of The Force is a touch too repetitive and simple to be enjoyable for all that long.

Certainly manages to shock, but underneath it's a decidedly average game that's probably more of a rental title than a must-buy prospect.

While it does offer a few innovative features, ultimately the lack of really solid characterisation, and a plot that meanders in a variety of directions without ever really getting there makes this a rather ho-hum title.

Rather ordinary presentation and outright laughable voiceover acting.

A decent piece of software which is only let down by its poor interface and lack of a really in depth tutorial to give users some idea of how to create a decent mix without using only basic sounds and tunes.

A significant improvement on its predecessors, but for many gamers the bugs that are still present in the series three games in will be enough to put them off the title for good.

A lazy port of a game that wasn't all that great to begin with. Certainly, it has some great ideas in it, but they're all hampered by either having a weak implementation or a buggy interface, and all too often both.

Although it offers something different in comparison to "Dynasty Warriors" they seemed to have not strayed all that far from their roots. Presumably they're worried about turning away their current fan base and it is these people who will get the most out of Samurai Warriors.

Ultimately a pretty simple game that the vast majority of more adult gamers can safely leave on the shelf.

UFC:Sudden Impact just doesn't deliver enough that hasn't already been seen in existing UFC titles.

It is quite entertaining, but if you are looking for something unique that offers you more than the spy games you've already played, then look somewhere else. Alias fans, however, will get a blast out of this.

Dead Man's Hand by itself isn't a shockingly bad game but when you compare it to recent releases in the same genre it doesn't stack up. Dead Man's Hand really is only for the true die-hard western fan.

Today, however, against titles that employ both stealth action and Ninja-style tomfoolery to a better and more engaging level, it's a title that would best fit for a rental, rather than a purchase.

Left Field Productions (previously responsible for "Excitebike 64") have delivered an incredible sense of speed and provided some much needed variation with its' game modes. However for those after those looking for online play will be best served by the Xbox version that does not restrict you to continually empty Australian servers.

Even the youth market, at which it's aimed, should be able to clear enough of it to sate their Scooby urges in an overnight period, leaving parental wallets free for better gaming purchases.

It's just that up against the established franchises of the 3D platforming world, and even some of the newer titles, there's really not that much in The Lost Expedition that genuinely stands out or demands attention.

While it's a visually stunning game for the PS2 platform with great production values, the game underneath it all is far too pedestrian to be worth purchasing.

Namco's shown itself capable of presenting scenes of pre-rendered babes before, and to no surprise they feature strongly in R:Racing, but in the actual game you'll see little that either appals or really appeals, even with the inclusion of drag and rally racing modes.

The main career mode is broken up into three difficulty levels, but thanks to some extremely rubber AI, unless you do extremely poorly it won't take you very long to get through everything 1080 Avalanche has to offer you.

It's a bit annoying that the game's major flaws -- slightly monotonous combat, dodgy 3D camera and very monotonous loading times -- haven't been addressed for some time now -- but that doesn't remove from the core qualities of what is still a very fun little game.