A cracking effort from Nintendo’s former arch-rivals, but not the longest game you could ever wish for.

Nothing terrible, nothing amazing.

An average game that looks like the characters were developed first, with the gameplay being filled in as the coders went along.

The new "Dual Wielding" option allows you to pick up two guns at once and use them together, which provides a feeling that again, other shooters just don't come anywhere near.

What the game could have done with is more content and a darned sight more polish – both of which it severely lacks.

The only slight downsides to Up Your Arsenal are Clank's solo missions, where the wee robot has to solve ridiculously simple puzzles on his own, which can be a bit of letdown. Not too dissimilar to the previous titles there, then. The other is that in some respects, the game can be slightly too easy.

Excellent gameplay is the order of the day here, and the classic franchises will make Dreamcast and Saturn fans teary-eyed just at the thought of them. This is the best EyeToy compilation to date.

You'll not appreciate the "on-rails" feeling that Killzone provides. You will appreciate the wonderful graphics and score that ' barring the enemy voices ' is one of the best I've heard in a long while.

I don't think I've ever been more bored when playing a game. Punch, kick, throw into wall, throw into wall, punch, throw into wall, “Godzilla 2000 wins!”, next round...ad infinitum.

The season mode will last you a fair old while and if you decide to create a character, you won't even play a match for the first two hours, thanks to the depth and breadth of CAW options available to you.

Some less "hardcore" players will find themselves frustrated to a fault, as Tails falls into a pit of spikes for the hundredth time, but if you can put up with the heartbreak, harking back to ten years ago can be great fun.

There are genuinely funny moments and the soundtrack and voiceovers are some of the best I've heard in a game for a long time, but that doesn't stop the action from being hackneyed and predictable.

If you have Xbox Live, then let the good times roll and be prepared to get pasted by the world's best players. A lot more could have been added.

One of the most compelling, atmospheric and in some places, downright beautiful combat flight simulations ever made.

Even after all these years OutRun’s core-dynamics have virtually remained unchanged. The new, slicker looking OutRun retains that Sega magic, something that eludes most games nowadays, so it’s testament to both Sumo and Sega for bringing something that’s plain fun to pick up and play.

Scaler was never going to set the gaming world alight, but if you're looking for something to while away a few more of those cold winter hours, you could do much, much worse.

The development team have gone all out in the tension stakes and made the game into one of the most palm-moistening titles available for the Xbox today, but the lack of AI and some incredibly shoddy graphical work takes off a considerable amount of sheen.

Genuinely funny in places, groan-making in others – Under The Skin is a bizarre concept that could have been really good fun. Unfortunately, it needs a few more strings to its bow, as the final package feels very much like it could have been named "One Trick Pony."

Technically, the game could be classed as above-average, but no matter how many times you make use of the more-than-adequate control system and your far-too-limited selection of moves to grind your opponent down, they always seem to pop back up and have the amazing ability to pin you without really doing any work beforehand.

Despite the superb presentation which, as usual, is currently unmatched by any other game, the players still feel like they are sliding about the pitch, rather than running. When kicking the ball, the contact between ball and boot is more realistic than in previous iterations of the game, but the trajectory of the ball is still very strange.

I really wanted it to work, and continued in the vain and unfounded hope that it'd all come good at some point. It doesn't.

Prudish I am not, but some of the in-game "action" can be fairly shocking simply because you don't expect it of a videogame.

Savage karnivores may still enjoy this bloody-rare slab of fighting beef, but genre gourmets should look elsewhere.

An incredibly sold game. The on-court action is on a par with NBA Live and for the price £19.99, you can’t really go wrong. The atmosphere of the arenas and the passion of the fans is there, the gameplay is there, and a huge chunk of addictiveness is certainly there.

Basically more of the same, albeit with a little more freedom to roam.

Approach it as a simulation of a complex sport and Colin McRae Rally 2005 will serve you perfectly as the best rally simulation game to date.

An example of narrative dictating game, uncovering a decent mix of game styles along the way. The developers should be commended - they've listened to their fans, grown as a team and created a game that stealth action fans will lap up.

The ability to lock and unlock the camera to the main enemy is a bonus in boss battles and works well, but since this idea doesn't filter through to the rest of the game, there is much to be frustrated with.

You'll be simply crying out for more after you've waltzed through the missions on offer in just a few short hours. What you do get for your money however, is a solid multiplayer game and an unfortunately short but immensely fun single player game that is well worth investigating.

The fact of the matter is that for the majority of Vietcong: Purple Haze, I was just plain bored. "Shellshock" at least provided a hint of tension and atmosphere during the first few missions to make you want to play on. Purple Haze doesn't. Enough said.

Quite simply put; this is the finest horizontal shooter on the PlayStation 2. In fact, it’s the finest horizontal shooter on any of the next-generation systems to emerge in some time - a game that can sit proudly in the upper echelons of gaming excellence.

Not a terrible game by any means, but a bit more time in the testing tank would have surely turned it into a masterpiece to stand alongside the Conflict series.

A stylish challenge that – should you be able to get past the more repetitive sections – will keep even the most hardcore of gamers entertained.

Voice acting is flawless with all the characters having a variety of accents, the score is grandiose and hits all the right notes, all held together by the polish and slick nature of the aesthetics, which can't be faulted.

For those who can live with the formula, the only real flaw is the latter half of the game where too much trudging through previously visited areas creates something of an anti-climax after such a gripping start.

Astonishingly good...This is pure, balls-out speed that will cause even the most hardcore of gamers to rock from left to right as they barely miss ramming a truck at two hundred plus miles an hour.

But if you are tempted by it’s smooth retro, isometric 16-bit leanings and complex combat-mechanics, then it’s as good as a starting point as any in the Nippon Ichi catalogue.

Realistic, challenging and far from ugly, the development team have put in a good performance here. I can't help feeling that a little more could have been done to round the package off, but even without online play, the game is still a decent proposal for hockey fans.

Graphically, I feel that Day Of Reckoning runs a little too fast a times. Wrestlers fly across the ring at the speed of light and when pulling off an Irish Whip on your opponent it is far too easy to completely miss them as they bounce off the ropes and come back across the ring towards you, simply because your move is so difficult to time.

As games lean increasingly toward po-faced realism, Viewtiful Joe provides a refreshingly irreverent and honest game whose old-school sensibilities prove that old dogs can still learn new tricks.

Only the steep difficulty curve may prove a deterrent: later levels especially can induce fits of blind GBA-throwing rage. For those with the grit to play it, Astro Boy: The Omega Factor makes a refreshing alternative to all those meandering wander-em-ups.

The fact that early on, a tutorial message appears to announce that "Rahma may go out of view occasionally, but don't worry" pretty much sums it up for me. I don't want my main character to go out of view and the camera system should stop it from happening, but rather than fix the problem, we've got a nice smoke and mirrors message to excuse it. I don't want excuses.

Challenging, smooth, plays incredibly well and is as accurate as you would like.

Despite being set in another dimension, Sudeki feels believable and somehow real.

One for multiplayer action mainly then, but still much, much better than the last few Olympic attempts.

Players that are new to the KOEI party will undoubtedly feel overwhelmed in the first mission, stunned in the second mission, and then ultimately bored by the time that missions five and six rear their blood-stained heads.

Play through the game for a while and you'll find something new that you previously wouldn't have believed possible. As I mentioned before, climbing up to the top of the highest skyscraper is something that simply HAS to be tried by all.

This game could have been so much better than it is, but I didn't think it would ever turn out as distinctly average as it has.

For general fans of racing, there are many, many titles available that will satiate your need for speed better than this effort. Not a tragic attempt, but at the same time, IndyCar Series 2005 is as close to average as they come.

An above average game. Most people will love the intense action and gunplay that features so prominently, whilst putting up with the control issues, occasional camera problems and sometimes downright annoying fact at you can complete a mission and feel very proud of yourself, before being told that you failed and that you have to do it all again.

Gets a final score of 70 simply because the minor changes to the PS2 version have somewhat lowered the quality of the gameplay experience. A lot of the tension has been forceably removed by the anomalies with the lighting system and for a stealth game, if you don't have tension, you don't have much else left to be going on with.

It isn't the longest game in the world and neither is it the toughest, but the psi-actions provide good entertainment for longer than they really should with the stealth action on offer standing up well, to boot.

Another refreshing innovation in Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 is the directional control that you have over your serves. None of this “press left to hit a wide serve” malarkey here my friends, just pure analog control.

The fact that the storyline really fails to draw you in at all will doubtless be the main barrier that falls across the path of the casual player.

Full Spectrum Warrior contains more polish than your average shoe store. Top notch stuff, and for once, I can't think of any way to improve things.

The different aspects of the game are so well-balanced that no single aspect ever wears thin or seems too prominent, and the game really lets you take on the challenges as you see fit.

Feels like a very short game. The extras, as I mentioned, will serve as a tasty bonus once you've completed the main game, but get dull fairly quickly.

There are a few rough edges such as the enemy AI being a little too dumb and the plot being basically useless to the player, but when it comes to running through a level dispatching bullets right, left and centre, Transformers gets the job done with relative style.

It does fail in attempting to create an identity of it’s own. Instead, choosing to plagiarise bits and pieces from successful titles within the genre that have come before it.

When you drive an autumnal rally in Britain with the leaves blowing up in your wake only to find that when raining, those now-wet leaves stick to the ground, turn into mulch and affect your vehicle's handling – you know that you're in the presence of a cracker.

The lack of any real reason to play the game again once the final credits have rolled also manages to hamper the score. Red Dead Revolver is truly stellar fun whilst it lasts.

It could have been a great game rather than a merely average one if it backed up it's shiny new exterior with some added substance. Expect to be pleased, but don't expect any surprises.

The frontend system looks like it has been pulled from a PSone title and the loading times are about as quick, whilst in the octagon, the fighters seem to have lost a little definition and gained a few of the dreaded “jaggies”.

If you're looking for multiplayer action of a party-type nature, Nintendo's own Mario Party series surpasses Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Party Game$ in almost every way.

Good, old-skool, over-the-top sporting fun. Get a few mates round, teach them how to play in five minutes and have a blast. A fair few hours will be wasted in singleplayer mode too. NBA Ballers is probably the best arcade basketball title since the original NBA Jam, and one that is just as much fun.

Should never have been released in Europe. By removing the co-operative aspect of the game, they've infected the game with a particularly virulent strain of the T-Virus. It shambles purposelessly for your attention, mindless of its origins. Totally dead on arrival.

Kill stuff, level up, and do it all over again. Whether the endless repetition is a good thing or not really depends on your threshold for endless button-mashing and levelling-up, since there’s really nothing else to the game.

So limited in multiplayer, fairly pointless in single player and far from anything that could be termed as “technically excellent”, Onimusha: Blade Warriors is a missed opportunity. What could have been a fantastic multiplayer game has ended up as a bit of a lame duck.

Incredibly strong plot. Unrealistic, yes, but absolutely compelling at all times – enough to make you go back and play through the game again from the other Agent's viewpoint, just to fill in a little more of the story that you might have missed.

It will frustrate you. It's unrelenting, but you'll keep coming back for more, not just for the challenge itself, but for the hidden treasures that lie within.

The game fails simply due to a lack of polish and attention. You can play 9-ball and 8-ball in "World Championship Snooker 2004," so I would recommend picking that one up instead to satiate your need for cuestick action.

The greens play far too slowly, even on the desert courses, and despite the greens being covered in a nicely implemented undulation marker when you come to putt, they are incredibly difficult to judge.

My surroundings are resplendent, yet my path to success lies in shrouding them with darkness. It seems strange that this wonderful Technicolor world is muted by the black-and-white night vision spectacles I view them with.

An incredibly impressive re-imagining of a gaming classic.

The in-game AI is nothing short of remarkable.

A solid and fun, if not very challenging offering that will appeal to children and casual gamers rather than the seasoned players of adventure games amongst you. The basic cel-shaded visuals and smooth animation gives it a unique style and the story is pretty entertaining along the way.

A game that needs lots of processing power, and a good amount of RAM for the best experience. The fact that many gamers will have already upgraded their PC to account for this is testament to the game itself.