Ten Hammers is as close as a game has come to representing the genuine battlefield experience. It may have more strategy than you bargained for but damn, it's painfully addictive.

A rare example of a video game treating its comic book source with due respect.

Its enormous charm, simplicity and puzzles will win you over. [May 2009, p.92]

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is a sound of a series cautiously dipping its toe in the water, slightly afraid of how the big bad Rock Band shark will react to its presence.

PSP is blessed with quality fighting games at the mo', leaving Dragon Ball Z somewhat in a no man's land between average and great.

Overall this is a big improvement over "Driv3r"...Now, if only they'd make the next game 100% driving. As it stands, Parallel Lines can't help but come across as a pale imitation of "GTA: San Andreas."

It's rare that a PSP game can truthfully claim to be an enhancement of its PS2 forebear, but NBA Ballers Rebound comes pretty close.

The way PS2 Project 8 uses shabby video versions of the Xbox 360 cutscenes to tell the story shows you this is a bit of a corner-cutting exercise in game-making, as is the lack of characters to choose from when starting a game, and the loss of online play.

But - and maybe this is just us - singing these serious rock songs just isn't as much fun as belting out tracks by Blondie and Girls Aloud. We felt a bit embarrassed trying to sing serious songs by Snow Patrol and Hard-Fi. You just don't get the same fun party vibe ploughing through serious emotional songs as you do with the fluffy pop nonsense.

Online or off, MotoGP is a very slick racing experience, and its deceptively simplistic gameplay hides a very effective control system and devastatingly addictive racing.

The career mode is well structured though, offering tangible rewards as you progress from the smallest table to the high-rollers, but it doesn't stop you thinking you'd be better off with a real pack, a few mates and a sun visor.

What we have here is a variation on Tamagotchi that's been roughly crowbarred into The Sims 2. So it's a good job that the animals themselves are so well animated and likeable.

It's achingly non-stop martial-art four-player silliness. Sweet! [May 2009, p.85]

It's limited, but what's here is well-executed and very playable, even on PSP. [May 2009, p.84]

A solid sequel, but it doesn't add a lot that's substantially new.

Full Auto 2 is a missed opportunity and comes over even more badly when compared to "MotorStorm." Buy that instead, or wait for "Burnout 5" to spectacularly crash the party.

What carries the game through some of its weaker moments is its charm and spirited embodiment of the movie.

Extreme Battle? Extreme tedium, more like.

A decent attempt at an update, but it can't compete with Buzz TV. [May 2009, p.93]

Viking is sadly, a massively missed opportunity that's dragged into the depths of mediocrity by a boring story, an uninteresting hero, repetitive missions, endless wandering around, hit-and-miss sound, disappointing battles and lots of slowdown.

D-Day doesn't change anything or bring anything new to the table sadly, but if you want the same Brothers in Arms experience on a handheld, then this is faultless if a bit unambitious.

The online mode, featuring co-op play and deathmatches for up to three other players, almost salvages the game, but the sheer tedium of the rest of it sinks it.

If this wasn't a portable game it would get very dull, quickly. But it is, and developer Koei has taken advantage of that by producing a game that's very good at providing short, sharp bouts of mindless carnage.

Rough edges aside, Kane & Lynch is still a solid squad-based shooter with plenty of action, great characters, tight story and a slew of cinematic influences so brazenly clear you can't help but smirk at them.

So ignore the significantly-improved-yet-still--not-quit-brilliant single-player mode and bear in mind that this is a game that demands at least two people of roughly equal ability, preferably more.

Pitching all the characters into a frantic, objective-based free-for-all, and dressing it up with the visual panache that developer Clover Studio does so well means Red Hot Rumble is a unique and superbly enjoyable button-mashfest.

Fun to play, but it's too punishing and packs a hefty learning curve.

There's incredible depth to how you strike the ball, which makes the overall game very satisfying. There's little in terms of game modes, and no online mode is a bitter pill, but as a pure golf simulation it's very slick indeed.

Despite our low expectations, Miami Vice is competently made and surprisingly enjoyable. It isn't the most original of games and doesn't really push beyond the pattern established in the first mission, yet it does prove that PSP can 'do' shooting games and deserves some credit for that.

Being able to play as Jack Bauer and do all the stuff they've seen him do in the show is the most important thing to them, and on those basic terms, 24: The Game is an unqualified success.

The only thing that has changed is a slight improvement in looks. Please Koei, stop. We give in. Chinese water torture has nothing on this.

Not the greatest shooter with some annoying puzzles, but Fracture serves as a hugely entertaining game for those looking for something a little bit different.

While the single-player game can be a total bitch, the multiplayer takes that frustration and turns it into actual excitement.

Fans will love this, but most will be better off with "Star Wars: Battlefront II."

The Aston-driving sections are literally a blast and the atmosphere of the film is nailed. But the main event - running and gunning with Mr. Bond - is a real letdown.

Tirelessly one dimensional. [May 2009, p.88]

Jericho isn't a groundbreaking shooter, but what it does, it does really well. Sadly, there's no online content here, just a slew of production art to unlock by completing skill tests in the game - making for a sound FPS that will have horror geeks gagging for more and shooter fans reaching for the sick bag. [Nov 2007, p.92]

A bland, ugly and dreary game - which goes against everything you're used to after playing the series on PS2. There's a certain compulsive quality to sniping but after a couple of levels, you'll develop a strange sense of deja vu and wish you were playing a better shooter.

The only downside is it would have been perfect Wi-Fi fare, only there are no online features at all. The lack of vehicles is also a shame, but at least the PS2 version's decent fighting system remains.

Despite the tweaks to the game and some definite improvements, at the end of the day, Gary, it's a stop-start, often infuriating experience which just makes us appreciate proper football games even more.

Younger kids will love it and come back for more. A fun concept, well executed.

If the presentation wasn't so ropey this might have been a contender, but as it is, Eagle Eye Golf is a bit of a cheap knock-off.

At best, it's a simple hack and slasher with an okay Co-op mode, but 10 minutes of play is all it takes to realise how shoddy the action is.

Drakengard 2 is decent enough, but ultimately looks a bit cheap and doesn't really pull off its ground or aerial combat with great conviction. It mutters 'average' from the first minute to the last.

Don't expect too many surprises if you've played a Dynasty Warriors, a Kessen or a Samurai Warriors game before, but don't expect this to be complete and utter sh.t either. After 17 similar games, you should know what you're getting.

If you long for those days then Splinter Cell Essentials is right up your street. Not only do some of the missions recall Sam's early years, the game as a whole is one long flashback to the hardcore stealth of old.

There's so much packed into this you'll be playing it long after you've completed the main story mode - and you can't say that about many PSP games now, can you?

Genji looks great, and bodes well for what PS3 will be able to do, but as a game it feels like a technical demo.

It looks really pretty, but it's too hard for kids, too childish for 'da yoof' and too much like a bad acid trip for anyone over 25. Even the most diehard Sega fan will find Sonic's latest a bitter slap in the chops.

Leaving aside the rubbish storyline, the dialogue sounds like it was written by a white chav who thinks he's black, and characters are only able to speak if they're waving their arms around at the same time. It makes the Fast and the Furious flicks look like Shakespeare.

But what it does well it does very well. It gets the feel of the book bang on, offering plenty of new locations, puzzles and setpieces to play through for fans. Newcomers will find a meaty mental test awaiting them with each new problem proving infuriatingly addictive.

The charm factor is certainly still here in abundance. Ultimately though, it's simply far too frustrating for its own good.

It's fun while it lasts, but the novelty soon wears off. It's authentic, and paints the culture of B-Boying in a great light, but it becomes just a little too b-boring, too quickly.

Original, fun and a fine test of the grey matter as much as it is of the reflexes. It's just a shame that there's not enough meat to make it a must.

A very solid mutant romp, with some cool levels, varied gameplay and pretty sweet graphics to boot. It's certainly better than the average movie tie-in, although we'd advise you not to rush into buying unless you have at least a mild interest in the X-Men universe.

The story is unchanged and the notion of unlocking tracks and videos also returns, yet even though his first outing on PS2 saw him get flamed by all but his most loyal fans, G Unit Edition is a surprisingly decent 50 Cent game. Westwood would be proud.

This is its own worse joke. Matt Hazard should have stayed retired. [May 2009, p.93]

The barrage of 'street'-speak, stupid player names (we want to punch the prick who calls himself '1/2 Man, 1/2 Amazing'), yawnsome hip-hop and seriously over-the-top commentary all becomes a bit much, though we guess it kind of comes with the territory. If you're after a more skilful alternative to NBA Street V3 then And 1 Streetball should be right up your, er, street.

The two-player multiplayer modes basically repeat the same flaws and even add some new ones, such as computer-controlled allies rarely pulling their weight. A waste of a licence, and a waste of your time and money.

Being locked in a room with Mr Blonde, a razor blade and a can of petrol would be more fun than playing this again.

Although the low price and decent racing make this good value, it's uninspired stuff.

A shallow and clumsy game that fails to make the most of the PSP and the AVP licence.

It looks charming in an early-90s 2D sort of way and is well put together, but the benchmark this generic title has set will easily be smashed by the likes of "Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII."

It looks and plays like a rubbish PC game from 1992 and no amount of multiplayer modes can change that.

Many of the games feel very unfair and almost calculated in the way they contrive to make you lose. Trying to outwit opponents by bluffing is a big no-no too, since there always seems to be one character that doesn't want to play ball and fold a hand. It just never feels like you're playing real poker against real people.

Made Man is a fine shooter after all, not just another crime sim-bynumbers. It's nothing you've not played before, but you won't have played anything as single-minded for a while. Forgeddabout it at your peril.

The PS2 game was never going to compete with the Xbox 360's graphics, and neither did anyone expect it to. What we didn't anticipate was a completely dumbed down version that doesn't seem to know whether it's a straightforward first-person shooter or a tactical war game.

With a slew of better mob games out there - "Scarface" for one, "Made Man" and even "The Godfather" - there's no reason for settling on this mess of a game.