The bottom line is that Republic Commando as a single player game is where the action is, the levels are well thought out and deeply atmospheric – exactly what we want from our games nowadays.

Heritage of Kings isn’t a bad game, although it doesn’t offer a whole lot more then other resource driven real time strategies that are available.

Even though the Playstation 2 may be drawing on its last breath, Namco have managed to squeeze every last ounce of gaming power out of the hardware. Tekken 5 is oozing playability and gameplay and is certainly a fitting continuation of the saga.

Nexus: The Jupiter Incident isn't for everybody, since there is just that "little something' missing that would have made this a GREAT game, but so long as you have the system specs to do the game justice it's certainly one for the Space-Based Strategy fan.

The depth of the game, the amazing eye candy, the attention to detail and the gameplay are all top notch. When you get into it it’s a hard game to put down.

So there are a few niggles that stop this game being a classic. The game does nothing radically new, but it does take some good bits from other games and blend them together pretty well.

With the ability to create your own missions and campaigns as well as pass them on to others ensures there is plenty to offer with this title and the difficulty making a game that should last hours per mission.

There is nothing like disembowelling some poor defenceless slave to help calm the nerves after a hard day at the office.

Do you really want to have to learn three pages of voice commands just so that you can sit in front of the computer and sound stupid?

Nothing more than a wannabe 'Sims' type expansion, and there's already enough of them about thank you very much.

The special interrogation is one of the nicest touches in the game.

The towns have a distinct Playmobil air about them, the facades of the buildings looking more Kloppa Castle than Windsor Castle, and the personnel hugely dated and childlike.

As it stands Black Monday just cannot compete with the truly impressive games released for the Playstation 2 this year.

Resident Evil has reclaimed the throne from not only the survival horror genre but it's possibly even become 'the' quintessential Gamecube game in the process. Totally flawless on the Cube, this is one game you simply can't miss out on.

PS2 fans: I imagine you’re just about done with "San Andreas" these days. If there’s not already enough blood on your hands, it’s time to head to North Korea. They have air strikes there.

So Xbox fans: you finally have something to hold you over until "San Andreas" is released on the Box.

Does what every sequel should do; it expands on the gameplay of the original and adds essential improvement upon it at the same time.

The puzzles themselves are really very good, varied and challenging.

If Grissom really loves his insects he'll be at home here as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is literally filled with bugs. Problems with the mechanics made matching DNA and other samples an absolute nightmare.

"Spartan" took the turn-based strategy genre to the next level, well with Gates of Troy Slitherine have just reinforced that position.

The number of realms, the number of races and classes of fighters available will mean the game will take a long, long time to complete, and even then the fun isn't over.

What it does feature (in large amounts) is lazy, un-inspiring map design, shoddy AI and pathfinding and ridiculous infantry micro-management. Hardly the groundbreaking improvements that the paying gamer demands these days, and we certainly don't blame them.

FM2005 is a superb game in a stand alone capacity and will provide months of interest (years if you use the editor.) However a network game adds in the opportunity for winding your mates up in the process and stirring up the soup throwing tendencies in the best of us. Once perhaps viewed as a loner’s game, Football Manager 2005 is now the social event of the year.

It's only real flaw is having to compete with one of the best RPG's of the last five years. If your neighbor Bill had to fill in for Jesus Christ for a week and got everything right except for the walking on water thing, you'd think Bill had done a really awesome job.

We found the frantic gameplay, gorgeous graphics and downright scary soundtrack was right up our street and Painkiller, and its newly released expansion pack are more than worthy contenders to that elusive list of brilliant FPS.

Graphically this is a first class show. The surroundings have a real feeling of depth and detail, and your interaction with it is fluid and realistic.

The enemy AI has been tweaked and this helps to make the title a little better and just that bit harder too. Plus placing the emphasis on General Patton takes you through several important WWII battles. Not a true classic, but one to get especially if you like the Blitzkrieg series.

I can't stress how great this game is. This is truly Blizzard's achievement. They have made a game that is fun for everyone and can not only appeal to the hardcore massively multiplayer online crowd, but to the casual gamer as well.

"Port Royale" was the closest that anyone has come to the original Pirates, until now. All hail Sid Meier, the master of the computer game.

Nostalgia is simply oozing out of the box and with the information sheets and pamphlets included on each game the retro gamer should be in heaven.

The game installs completely to your hard drive so there is no need to put a CD in once the game is installed, I wish more games did this.

There is really nothing wrong with the GBA rendition of the popular TV show but really nothing that jumps at you and screams "buy me" either.

There just isn't anything that can touch Half-Life 2. It's the bees' knees, the cats' whiskers; hell it's the dogs bo- lets just say it's pretty damned good.

I’m sure there’s humour and enjoyment in this title somewhere but I think it’s that of a slightly dysfunctional thirteen-year-old boy – quite a narrow market to be aiming for.

The game is brutal, yes, but bloody? No. Maybe it's because everything seems to happen so fast you don't need to see it, I don't know.

Timing is a very definite requirement of play, perhaps more so than who's got the biggest strike and without practice you'll almost certainly have no idea why what happened just did.

While single player missions are very good, you will only have access to a third of what this game has to offer – and you should get Xbox Live!

Maddeningly addictive.

Colourful, loveable and extremely enjoyable to play. With the incredibly detailed zoopedia, drip fed online downloads and exceptionally fun and rewarding gameplay this is certainly one game I wouldn’t mind my children playing, that’s if they can get me off the thing first. Genuine family fun and for once, brilliance that's suitable for all.

To call this title lame is really an understatement, the graphics engine looks very nice though but I’m afraid that the gameplay as so often seems the case now lets the side down badly.

One for the Sudden Strike fans is probably the best statement to make; I’ll stick to "Blitzkrieg" and "Codename Panzers."

Every single aspect of the whole package that is Halo 2 seems to have been considered, reconsidered, improved and then looked at from a new perspective to see if it can be made better...It really is a case of running out of superlatives when it comes to describing Halo 2.

You can spin superlatives about the sound effects in Everquest 2 but nothing could justify the sheer amount of work that has obviously gone into making this game an audio delight.

A bloodstock as strong as Ghost in the Shell deserved a more considered treatment but it just joins an ever-increasing list of third person cannon fodder.

If you’re into all things Egypt then this one if for you, even if your not there’s still a few hours of your life to be lost to (in our opinion) one of the better city building games currently available.

The graphics are what you would expect from a Mario franchise, colourful, loveable and damn right cute. From the initial opening movie to the closing credits your left in no doubt that this is pure marketing genius.

The main advantage that Scrapland possesses is that it comes with a fully featured multiplayer portion straight out of the box.

Houses shake and crumble but certainly not in a convincing manor. The area is scattered with objects that can be picked up but when you take a look around, the buildings and other objects you really want to throw, simply refuse to budge.

The game is a joy to play. The puzzles are clever and just hard enough to be interesting and rewarding to solve.

I will repeat this game is fun for all ages. I truly recommend it.

A slight disappointment, since it tries to meld two strategy styles and falls short in both cases.

If it were the first I’d ever seen it would be approaching classic status, however we’ve been here so many times before that it’s starting to get difficult to try and argue a case for trading in to get the new incarnation.

It's one that you will actually end up finishing (and more importantly wanting to). The actual mechanics may be the same as any other survival horror you have encountered before but the way Project Zero again mixes a tense genuinely scary storyline with the novel 'camera' aspect actually brings back the 'horror' in a very stale and repetitive survival genre.

Innovative it is not.

The amount of attributes that you can actually improve is staggering. CJ must learn how to drive, shoot, swim, workout, be healthy, sprint and participate in relationships.

Without doubt the better of the trilogy, even with its problems (which hopefully will be rectified with patches) and overall should be enjoyed by the majority of the Tycoon fans out there.

The only thing that really lets down this game is the poor sound effects and in-game "soundtrack'. No matter what vehicle you are driving around in the engine sounds horrendous.

Playing Namco’s latest title was a challenge and there’s nothing hugely wrong with any of the work on the title just a total lack of involvement, nothing to draw you in, that all-important ‘X’ factor. It just didn’t take my breath away.

The real reason to get the wallet out and evict those moths is the co-op, still the best part of the H&D series and perhaps the best squad-based multiplayer title out there.

The graphics might alarm the purist but they’re big, bold and lurid, just the kind of thing for the eight year old in the house.

Certainly the best of the current crop of "Vietnam" era shooters, and for the record it easily beats Vietcong and Shellshock's attempts. It tells a decent enough story using the tried and tested "diary and letters" formula which forwards the plot quite nicely.

An excellent game, a little harder to get into than most FPS due to the amount of options and the fact that half of takes place in the air, but, more rewarding because of that. Once you have mastered flying around its heaps of fun.

I was hoping for a lot more from it.

The sheer range of teams, players and ‘prettiness’ makes this a perfect post pub blast, or one for the younger gamer to get straight into and has a very easy learning curve. The problem with that however is the lack of long term challenge, if even in career mode you’re odds on to score any time. Perhaps that’s the reason why we may just see Fifa 2006 same time, same place next year.

The visuals during the battles are very good, especially when you consider the sheer scale of the images that are being rendered, involving literally hundreds of individually animated models thrashing about trying to knock ten bells out of each other.

It’s genuinely funny without ever bordering on tacky and it really does test anyone who plays it.

Without a doubt worth the £15 ($19.99) price tag. A perfect gift for retro gamers this Christmas.

A better multiplayer title then anything in the strategy/world domination genre that has gone before, once you get past the rather shoddy original design interface.

Fans of the series will probably gain the most enjoyment but its still not as good as the classic versions all those years ago. Everyone else should look elsewhere for their kicks I’m afraid.

It does make you think what kind of flower power evil dictator would create such laughably psychedelic set of robots.

What we’re let down by is a clunky, cumbersome control system, unforgiving save system and at times some flaky A.I. Now that it’s been re-released on the MAD label, I reckon it’s definitely worth the money, particularly if you’re a fan of this niche genre.

Character and game customisation will keep players amused and the amount of play modes, stunts and tricks on offer should easily keep gamers amused.

The detail that has gone into this title is breathtaking... Codename Panzers has entered the stage as a virgin and almost instantly become the ‘meat and two veg’ of the WW2 RTS genre, in actual fact we challenge you to find a better RTS alternative altogether.

The humour shines through, the base design and the battle against the agents will keep you occupied for hours and hours on end. Graphics, sounds and the whole gameplay looks smooth and solid.

Something different for the PS2 collection in that it’s a well executed platform game with a lot of varied gameplay.

For anyone wanting to try out adventure games then they should give this a shot, Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Silver Earring is probably the best adventure game out right now.

Ultimately Colin McRae still remains an infuriating game for the novice rally driver and we really see no reason why this should change. Practice, as ever, brings rewards and when you finally succeed nothing feels as good especially when you take into consideration that the game has always been geared towards a simulation rather than a quick arcade blaster.

Short lived fun with a nice addition of concept art pictures being included as an extra, giving the game that little bit more depth but sadly just not enough.

What it does do is entertain in short bursts. It's an excellent alternative to the usual plethora of action games and certainly makes an interesting party starter.

This difficulty will possibly put some off, but for the people that continue on regardless there is a title to be found that will take an age to play, plus a game that will give a lot of satisfaction once you complete.

This game is one HUGE, never-ending game of Final Fantasy with plenty of life in it. It left me continuously wanting to come back for more. [Review of FFXI & Chains/Zilart Expans.]

My biggest gripe with the game is that the 17 levels aren’t very long. You can whip through them pretty quickly and even though you can move between them once completed, trying to better your comprehensive stats, who really wants to once you know the story?...[But] very much worth your attention.

For the veteran of Virtua Fighter, or Tekken, however, it’s a sheep in wolf’s clothing.

It’s a shame as there is a really good adaptation of the adamantium infused one’s story here and a little more of that X factor could have elevated Hyakkimaru into the ranks of legend.

There is nothing in Shadow Ops that will spoil the fun, I think it is an excellent game. If you like a challenge with objectives to achieve, rather than just running around killing everything that moves, give Shadow Ops Red Mercury a go.

The fine melody upon which Second Sight is structured is, at its core, exquisite, but the accompaniment is less so and can ruin the brilliant ideas on show. To all purposes, Second Sight is a conceptual masterpiece, but the execution is, at times, dreadful.

The RTS game of the year...If it the single player was a bit longer and the cutscenes had been improved then this would be the perfect RTS but as it is its still damn impressive.

The question really has to be do you like platform games… if you do then Gish certainly wouldn’t be out of place in your collection, it’s just whether a ball of tar is going to hold your attention for long enough. But it’s certainly good for a blast.

The 'feel' of the Vietnam conflict has been well represented, with the great soundtrack (you expect to hear Robin Williams wishing you a good morning such is the authenticity of the soundtrack) and the lush green forests do look quite nice, but the gameplay is very much lacking, and incredibly buggy.

I found that it was quite easy to die incredibly quickly – ok, full marks for realism there – but also you could absorb colossal damage and just crawl away to recover or pick up a health pack.

A lot of time has obviously gone into creating just the right blend of brilliant sound effects and instrumental pieces.

An outstanding work of modern art. Just about every other Xbox release this year pales into insignificance once you embark on your very own "fable".

A trading game with some aspects of RTS added, so for the armchair empire sim fans it will probably rate at least a look, and probably an outright purchase, but the game probably isn’t for everyone since the steep learning curve could well put some people off, but perseverance will pay off for sure.

A fiendishly addictive offline and online multiplayer title and even a larger review wouldn't do the game justice (we only briefly mentioned the nifty damage score system and upgrade labs for example).

Unfortunately there are titles out there that have better effects and the gameplay isn't vastly superior. Locomotion isn't one that stands out and there are other titles out there more deserving of your hard earned cash.

You really do need to care what is going on, and take an active interest in the story, rather than just seeing this as a room clearing zombie fest.

Digimon: Rumble Arena 2 isn't a bad title if you are obsessed with the TV and toy counterpart; it has pretty good graphics, destructible arenas and decent enough multiplayer modes.

It's pretty much what you'd expect from a trip to see this kind of fare at your local Odeon – lots of noise, lots of effects, dialogue kept to a minimum – it's a real rollercoaster of a ride (damn, that's a cliché if ever I wrote one.)