There is personality and atmosphere everywhere in this game and even small things such as the body language of pedestrians sets the scene in every neighbourhood you visit.

One of the very few management games that actually allow players to get up close to the action and you can really feel part of what is going on.

The cosmetic changes made to "Dead or Alive 2" do provide a level of intensity most beat 'em ups cannot reach. After the first few hours though, the wow factor will decline, leaving very little else in its place.

Strikes a powerful blow against racers that aspire to be something quite other than a videogame. Providing the player instead with an incredibly simple and enjoyable, basic playing experience.

Does what it intends to do and that is to provide players, specifically younger players with an addictive but classic style platformer immersed in gorgeous graphics and a mix of unique features.

Something that will prove infuriating regardless is the utter unfairness of the game’s final boss, a confrontation that only serves to highlight the game’s major problems.

The game shows a chronic lack of progression, which eventually leads you to question whether or not the admittedly imaginative concept should really have been made into a videogame at all.

Each element fits in perfectly, however the amount of time the game requires you to put in may put off more casual gamers, but it's definitely a classic for strategy enthusiasts.

A great game that will more then likely have you addicted to the fun that is mind games, bitchy women and creepy men, thank heavens it’s only a game, right?

Magna Cum Laude is a bore to play, repetitive mini-games, constant loading screens in-between locations and no challenge whatsoever makes this experience a very tiresome one indeed.

It has its gimmick transformers style morphing and some of the fighting can be quite addictive but there is nothing here that separates it from any other FPS out there, pretty standard stuff with a big licence name.

The combat herein is a tour de force, oozing over-the-top charm and playing with as much balance as any of the more traditionally respected fighters out there. However, the experience will, most likely, be at least tainted for newcomers by a tacked-on one-player challenge that is not so much badly implemented, just poorly thought-out.

Unfortunately the problems with the original 'off-board antics' are still here with chunky controls and annoying camera angles but on the whole, THUG 2 is as addictive as Tony Hawk games get, if you're a fan of the series then this game is a must.

Unlike many tactical focused titles the game doesn’t bog you down with unnecessary commands, the interface has been kept simple and this accessibility only adds to the enjoyment of an action packed strategy title that’s packed with loads of missions.

So, what is it really like to be an evil genius? Well you can have a fantastic lair, hordes of loyal workers and tons of money but to be honest, it can be boring at times, you see, the truly evil one never gets to do any of the dirty work, they just sit and watch; and what makes it worse is workers that don’t seem to have much between their ears making the ‘watching’ a frustrating task.

The unforgiving nature of the game and the constant restarts of certain areas are bad enough but add the constant unskippable cutscenes that you are forced to watch in full every time you die just tips it over the edge for me.

Unfortunately though for the less patient among us, The Silver Earring makes detective work a boring job, the witnesses have nothing interesting to say half the time and tend to babble on in the most boring manner and the quiz at the end of each chapter is enough to make you want to give up completely.

It introduces a lot of new content and modes of play in its single player mode and the introduction support for multiplayer action via Xbox Live means that there's plenty of replay value.

I suppose the most telling thing about this game is the way that it draws you in, making you ponder every turn-based move, knowing it will affect the outcome of each battle with each enemy army that takes offence to you.

Dodgy controls, annoying cameras and repetitive gameplay (think obsessive scanning!) makes the game get tiresome very quickly.

In all fairness it’s a title that is probably geared towards the more experienced MMORPG gamer who should get a lot of enjoyment from the title, while more casual gamers or those new to the genre may find the experience a little daunting.

No game, however has managed to bond together two completely different games into one storyline and actually make it work. Second Sight is an exception.

Animation is fluid and the games frame rate manages to stay consistent no matter how frantic action become.

While The Saga of Ryzom is probably more simplistic then most MMORPG's its a lot more approachable to those new to the genre, however this is likely to deter those looking for something to challenge them.

A few more campaigns would have been nice to but hopefully this will be remedied in an expansion.

The aging system coupled with the aspiration system just makes The Sims 2 more addictive than ever.

After overcoming the games tricky controls you are quickly pulled into the action and the games story.

The great thing about Sly 2 is that it never seems to get boring, you are always pushing ahead to unravel more of the story and to get that little bit further to the end (which incidentally is a long, long way from the start!) and with the free roaming environments, great controls and unique, switch-able characters.