Whilst the combat system might not suit everyone, it by no means detracts greatly from the overall experience. The strong narrative and cast mix well to the addictive levelling of strengths and powers, leaving the player more than satiated.

If not for the bland level construction and an oddly low-slung camera this would be truly outstanding.

A great exploration-based real time strategy and puzzle game, but a fractured one.

The controls are heavenly but the game isn’t.

Perhaps it is time for the series to evolve again rather than looking inward, just as it did nearly a decade ago when SotN was unleashed on an unsuspecting world. [JPN Import]

As immediately effective the game may be, look beyond the surface and the game becomes surprisingly shallow.

But lost among the vast raft of offerings is a game that has grown, but barely improved, certainly not at the rate gamers really deserve. In so many cases it will be irrelevant, with those that have waited for its arrival so eagerly lapping it up, and being washed away with all its new twinkling extras.

It's disappointing that a bad engine and rushed execution detract from the overall experience, leaving it with nothing really remarkable.

More often than not there is no real feeling of threat from the various visions and flashbacks, the implementation and setting of which are continually reused. This gives the impression that figuratively speaking the player is doing little more than chasing ghosts and the result is them ending up very blasé about what is happening on screen.

The shortcomings of the RPG exploration is made up for by the endearing characterisation, and splendid battle system. It is curious, then, that Mario himself is the least charismatic character in the game; his black, empty, beady little eyes betray his empty in-game personality. [JPN Import]

Some of the puzzles in BG&E will have you tearing your hair out, though their solutions are tangible and never obscure.

Sadly, Dark Cloud 2’s shining moments are outweighed by the mediocre inclusion of the random dungeon, and the tragic design decisions the developers chose to implement.

It’s already been established that Legends is a ‘Best of’ rather than a fully-fledged sequel. Therein lies its greatest failing – in fundamental terms it offers nothing more than ‘Burnout on the go’.

Patapon is one of the PSP's more original and interesting titles of late.

Other than the graphics, Fight Night Round 3 does very little to progress the boxing game series over its predecessors. It isn’t a total K.O. but does show that the series will have to work a little bit harder on newer features and glitches the next time around if it’s to avoid becoming stale.

The core mechanics have barely changed since the days of Symphony of the Night and as we pointed out in no uncertain terms when we reviewed Dawn of Sorrow , the format is growing stale now.

Fans will be satisfied with the good, even mix of challenging combat and the platforming which made the original game so successful. Yet those select few who enjoyed the darker tone of Warrior Within will find the Prince’s darker side and black humour a welcome addition to the game.

Daxter’s failing, despite it being a solid and entertaining platformer, is that it does feel a bit short and a bit lacking.

While single player offers enough to keep things new, the same cannot be said for multiplayer.

Putting aside its technical prowess, on the surface everything seems fine but, as with the featured island, delving into the thicket uncovers the game's glaring problems, some of which may be inexcusable to players expecting a bit more meat on their gaming bone.

Capcom have succeeded in taking the series to a natural end without making any significant changes...A crowd pleasing adventure, but not an essential one. [JPN Import]

A fun, exciting and action-packed game. Beneath its cute exterior beats a heart of granite and any negative aspects are outweighed by points of excellence that allow it to move self-assuredly through the mountain of faceless Gameboy titles. [JPN Import]

The interaction of your character with the world of Albion and its inhabitants is its most enduring and enjoyable quality; it's important this aspect of the game is understood and explored.

Fahrenheit is a bold step in the right direction, and though not perfect, it has enough charm, polish and excitement to make it one of the most interesting titles of the year.

It has taken the classic MGS structure known and loved by PS1 players plus it throws in most of the good bits from MGS2 for free. All the stealth, excitement and action so revered has been kept, and some new toys have been thrown into the arena to play with. [JPN Import]

A new revolution in the boxing genre. EA have taken the brave step of totally disbanding twenty years of evolution and creating a control system that breathes fresh air into a genre which has stagnated for some time.

Red Faction: Guerrilla knows it is a game about making buildings fall over and it doesn’t purport to be anything else.

Advance Tour offers much more in terms of longevity and variety than "Toadstool Tour" did, but on the other hand, doesn't do it quite as slickly.

Either way it is played, the victory over a huge monster after a forty-minute battle, and then discovering a new series of armour, etc. that can be made from its parts is the sugar that keeps the player coming back. [JPN Import]

Evolution or minimisation? One thing is for sure, if you remain uncertain as to which side of the fence you’re sitting on, you may just be able to allow yourself an immersive and unique period in which to decide.

Rush offers a comprehensive package and, whilst it is not uncommon to find games which offer such variety, it is rare to find a gem of a game like San Francisco Rush 2049 where it not only has the width, but the depth too.

DEFCON’s main issue is the lack of depth.

From the wreckage of its weak structure and thinly spread action, the auspicious concept of Full Spectrum Warrior emerges a damaged, substantially broken vessel. Its strengths, however, are such that only a fool would dismiss it at this juncture.

There is so much fun to be had from torturing the enemy that at times you have to worry about your own mental state. Yet, for all the satisfaction on offer for the majority of the experience, it ultimately ends on a disappointing low.

Battlefield 1943 is technically very well made, with high production values and a solid online infrastructure that can easily host 24 players without any problems. Great as this is for the first 3-4 hours, though, it’s not long before the monotony sets in. There simply isn’t enough variety here to keep you coming back, and being an Xbox Live Arcade release is no excuse.

It retains the feel of McRae, but not the subtlety or precision. The car doesn’t feel different enough across the various surfaces, while the ability to stop almost instantly in the majority of cars on any track is a sign that they are not interacting with the ground as they should. They feel loose, almost distant.

It's a very minor masterpiece; a perfect execution that's inherently shallow rather than profound. Give credit, though, to a hype-free summer blockbuster that will doubtlessly leave the senses tingling.

The narrative of Xenosaga dwarfs all of its other elements, which are under-developed in comparison.

Monotonous it can be, but it’s rarely frustrating or difficult to play. That said, if it was released in 1998 it could have been genre-defining, in 2006 it is merely genre-filling.

Looks as if Tony has survived to skate another day, but that shark is still snapping at his heels.

Despite the repetitive and fiddly combat - which de-harmonises the experience and impacts on the enjoyment factor somewhat - ardent, die-hard fans of the series will have a fulfilling and fun time with the revisited universe.

While not a complete success, Battlefield: Bad Company has many plus points, and provides a limited but fun single-player campaign that, while not wholly original, does have some memorable moments.

Rocket Slime is a game which was largely overlooked on release, a shame given that, despite its younger target audience and the departure from the typical Dragon Quest RPG stylings, it’s shamelessly entertaining.

Gimmick? Perhaps, but Boktai does enough, and achieves enough, to argue the point otherwise. Besides, sometimes it can just be enjoyable to give into that inner child, or imbecile, and embrace the novelty.

This is by no means the definitive Tony Hawk, but if you’re yet to play THUG 2, it’s certainly a solid enough arena to start.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is a let-down in as much as it caters for its target audience, but does little to refresh or invigorate the series as a whole.

Colourful, charming, frequently funny and most importantly, fun to play. It’s not the biggest or hardest game, but the good controls, pleasing visuals and wonderful monkeys make it worth any platform fans time.

The controls are intuitive and simplistic with those small details, such as the marine looking around or grinning gleefully when you pick up a new weapon, present and correct. Doom is good value at 800 points and well worth the purchase.

With the fast and furious gameplay of old once again rediscovered, it’s only the odd moments of glaring level-design error that cause the kind of dismay that a selection of the 3D titles offered up.

This is a very easy game to get into, and one which intuitively finds its complexity in difficult situations rather than bombarding the player with gimmicks and gadgets. The very essence of the stealth genre was created with Thief: The Dark Project back in 1998. Six years later, Thief: Deadly Shadows captures the same spirit beautifully.

Lumines II shows that the game has lost none of its appeal since its initial release, and the music videos really do feel like the next-step and part of a natural progression.

With around 18 levels, Screwbreaker won't present the greatest of challenges to platform junkies, but it is thoroughly entertaining while it lasts. [JPN Import]

LSW2 is a quality title, but it suffers the same problem as the films it parodies.

Trashy, vulgar and complete with a set of morals that are thin at best, Saints Row 2 is a fantastically stupid game that infuriates as much as it entertains.

Its extensive campaign is likely to be played and thoroughly enjoyed at least once, but any replayability has been sabotaged by its own shortcomings: the bugs, the enforced narrative and the lack of rewards.

There is nothing quite like having a group of friends around, all buzzing about the screen trying to avoid whacking the ball into the bunker and using the ingame speech modes to annoy merry hell out of each other.

There is a superbly realised first third of a game there, but the combat and linear mission structure, coupled with the awful storyline help to undermine the quality apparent elsewhere.

Toy Soldiers just tries too hard to be different, in the end.

Overall, this can be a frustration, especially once gamers realise this fact by seeing just how inaccessible some of the later courses can be. [JPN Import]

There are moments of such genius that it is almost impossible not to become entirely immersed within the game’s haunted world. Yet all its terrifying beauty, with a better-judged difficulty and the problems with the second character ironed out, FF2 could have been the finest game in the horror genre.

Both superb and a mess, a console FPS that feels fun, tactical, exciting all at the same time as feeling frustrating, backwards and in places amateurish.

The mixture of splendidly chunky and vibrant visuals with coy hum-along tunes draws you deep within the game’s deceptively complex system, refusing to allow you out to even take a bathroom break.

Even putting the d-pad issues aside, the console’s button layout does not lend itself to Capcom’s ever-present ‘six button’ system. Fighting games are all about split-second timing and fluid control, and any sacrifice in these areas is going to impact on the player’s enjoyment of the game.

Overall, Condemned 2 starts off brilliantly and has much potential, but ends up a crushing disappointment. Not only does it pail into comparison to its predecessor, but it also fails to stand up against other games in the FPS genre.

An excellent multi-player romp, but in single player, it’s merely a diluted example of the other games in the series. [JPN Import]

Whilst Capcom vs SNK Millenium Fight doesn't set the 2D fighting world alight, it's a fun, slightly flawed, yet visually impressive bundle of joy in an orange case. Can we say fairer than that?

Being story-driven, the game was also broken up into short chapters, sometimes exceedingly short. With a load required between each one it could mean playing for possibly a few minutes before needing to load the next level.

The presentation and love put into the character designs and attention to detail carries the simplistic and overly easy gameplay further than it should. If you want a gentle introduction to the genre, this is absolutely perfect.

Underneath there is a decent racer trying to get out, however, the missed opportunities to tweak the game, the awful screen tearing and framerate problems and the crash bug mar the experience to some degree.

With the amazingly rich heritage that Star Wars has, it's confusing that the music isn't used quite as effectively as it should. Without the context-sensitive moments of the cinematic Star Wars the impact is lost, replenishing health to the dramatic rumblings of the Imperial Death March doesn't really do it and sometimes the music just disappears.

Trauma Center Second Opinion feels like exactly what it is: a port of an existing game that should have stayed on its original platform. Lack of extra content once finished also leaves it feeling very lightweight.

Dipping into the unlocked levels on their own in quick-launch seems without purpose, but the campaign mode scores highly during its first run through, even if there’s not quite enough game to make you want to face the challenge again.

It may not be the definition of next gen, but it is solidly old school in its delivery. It’s not often that a title comes along so devoid of hype and once again many gamers may pass this by, but if you have yet to sample the delights of the series, you could benefit from effectively three games worth of development that has honed a rough diamond into something getting closer to perfection.

Gorgeous throughout and with the inevitably high Kojima production values, Ac!d 2 is a more rounded and competent technical package than the first game, with a brand new story, but which otherwise plays near identically.

Despite what others may have claimed, this is not "Star Fox Adventures" for the new generation, this is something so much more exciting - Rare back on form.

A devilishly addictive and polished little pinball game that delivers in (grave diggers') spades.

There will undoubtedly be those who, having cut their teeth on onslaughts such as "GigaWing" and "Mars Matrix," will feel somewhat let down by the sparse, reheated level design on offer here. For those with a passion for the series, however, there is a huge amount to enjoy. [Japan Import]

Squeezing so many items into the game and having each one act how (and beyond how) the player expects is amazing.

Whenever the player is required to utilise aerial combat within an enclosed space the camera blithely decides to exhibit erroneous behaviour, and offers no rhyme or reason as to how it can be controlled in its new form. This is utterly catastrophic for any kind of action game because it inhibits the player from interacting with the in-game environment, and means having to battle with the game system instead.

In the end, Eternal Sonata is let down by its failure to take advantage of the story it sets up for itself.

The hidden worlds and multiple endings provide plenty to do, certainly enough to keep any SRPG fan occupied until the highly anticipated "Phantom Brave" arrives.

Seeing Konami’s premier Horror franchise rendered in such bland brushstrokes leaves a sour taste in the mouth, which is intensified by the fact that the game engine and combat mechanics are so well-tuned.

They need to elevate PES to the next stage of its life that it so deserves, and the only way they can do that is to give players more of what they want rather than take from them.

The statistic-heavy approach combined with an everyday storyline and some plain presentation, though, will ensure that relatively few gamers will ever see this as anything other than an amusing timewaster.

For those willing to spend the time to discover the subtleties of the handling model, lower their record times by milliseconds, attain Triple-A standard in all the mission modes, they will find a game which will satisfy their craving for a good arcade racer for quite some time.

A fantastically fun title, and is a credit to SNKP, who have managed (with considerable skill) to bring the distinctive tang of Slug to the masses. Although easier by far than its arcade brethren, at least this means the game has a chance of finding a (mass?) market ' a shrewd move by the IP's new masters.

Heavenly Sword turns out to be a short experience, and one that isn’t going to challenge even the cerebrally impaired.

While the main ingredients are all there, the final product certainly feels less than the sum of its parts, resulting in a distinctly hollow-feeling and average game.

Shooters are quite thin on the ground for the DS, so fans of the genre will find enough here to keep them going for a good while, particularly in the quest to attain gold medals for each and every planet in every galaxy.

With games like "Final Fantasy XII" pushing the genre forward, it’s disappointing to see a game with so much talent behind it not attempt to try anything new. [JPN Import]

A very good game, terrific fun, ideal for the purpose, and just a big winner in multiplayer online or off. It is not going to set the world alight in single player, but we hope that Nintendo can see how favourably it has gone down with the online crowd and plan for the future accordingly.

A great package. A little quirky and rough around the edges, it survives on originality, genuinely funny content and an enormous challenge.

Despite these small problems, however, this is still essential playing for long-time fans, and for new entrants: buy this game, play it, and then get the others.

Sadly, it will not take you long to make your way through the stages on offer. Collecting the Calabash presents something of a challenge, and you are given a ranking after each stage which gives a touch of replay value to proceedings.

Those thus far unacquainted with Koei’s output, but well versed in the likes of "Advance Wars" and "Final Fantasy Tactics," will find much to enjoy here.

It won't be heralded a classic but it is certainly a welcome return to form for a franchise that was beginning to appear languid and certainly promises a lot for Crystal Dynamics' next game which is a reinvention of the original Tomb Raider.

Whilst the idea behind Eyetoy Kinetic is brilliant, the execution is flawed, with the technology requiring detailed setup that many people may not be able to achieve.

Lamentably, it takes too long to reach said moments of getting going fully for it to supersede the more accomplished likes of the Halo series.