Best game on the GameCube? Definitely. In fact, if there was ever a game that required the purchase of its native console just to play it, then this is it.

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.

Go ahead, look up the word 'Epic' in a dictionary; you should come across the following entry - 'Surpassing the usual or ordinary, particularly in scope or size'. This simple explanation describes The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion perfectly.

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.

A superbly detailed labour of love. The game really benefits from over 10 years of development, and is smooth and polished.

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.

All you need to know is that if it was a poker hand, Forza would be a royal flush. If a football score, it would be a 7-0 win. As a game, it is the finest straight-up racing game to grace any home console system and as such, is an absolute must buy.

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.

An incredibly impressive re-imagining of a gaming classic.

Snake Eater just pips "Resident Evil 4" when it comes to boss battles, with Konami's title boasting some of the finest boss confrontations since the first PlayStation Metal Gear Solid; we’re talking Psycho Mantis territory now people, for inventiveness, sheer scope and fun.

Everything that an epic adventure needs to be. Memorable enemies, a story that allows the player to use their imagination, tight controls, and one of the most impressive soundtracks of recent note.

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.

If you own a 360, and don’t own GRAW, then you’re missing one of the finest single-player experiences that gaming has to offer. Absolutely top notch.

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

The most substantial – and perhaps the most essential - title on the DS right now, and the perfect antidote to the short-lived fun of gimmicky mini-games.

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.

A very compelling game to play and one of the few titles I will continue playing long after reviewing. In fact, that is exactly what I am going to do right now.

Graphical flair is measurable in bucket loads, and the longevity of the title is not in question since multiplayer and Xbox Live modes are included (with both working well). What confuses me is how I can play the game for half an hour, and then be so bored with it that I'm desperate for the match to end, so I can save my progress and do something else.

To not buy this just because you don't 'see the point', want to 'use guns and rockets and stuff' is just cutting your nose off to spite your face. You will have fun playing this, and with no monthly fees, you can afford to.

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.

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.

As pure a game as you could ever wish to play. Adrenaline, frustration, addiction and the largest hunk of retro gaming pleasure that you could purchase. If you own a DS, and you don’t even give this a chance, you might as well get your consoles listed on eBay. Give up. Buy it. Now.

The level design is regrettably less inspired. Many stages are disappointingly contrived to funnel the player into acting out a fixed, linear solution, precluding creative tactics and diminishing the realism created so well by the visuals.

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

Hardcore beat em’ up fans and casual players alike have something here available to keep their heads faced towards their handheld consoles for a long time to come. If they had included a fully online fighting system, this would be nearer to getting a perfect score, but even without this much wanted feature, the game is a great accomplishment.

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.

Sure, there’s some slowdown in places, and graphically everything looks as current-gen as it possibly could, but the gameplay mechanic and the sheer fun you’ll be having reliving your school days will make you completely oblivious to any of these problems.

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.

Unfortunately, now the major problem of mundane backtracking has been remedied, the minor flaws have become overly pronounced. Despite this, Kingdom Hearts II is still a hugely pleasurable experience.

Graphically and sonically, Kirby: Canvas Curse excels and impresses with apparent ease. If you fail a level, then that wonderful “one-more-go” feeling that eats up so many hours of our lives as gamers comes into play, and whilst this game isn’t the longest by any means, it’s possibly the most enjoyable on the format so far.

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.

The atmosphere is as thick as ever, the battles are tougher and grittier, the highs higher, the lows lower, the enemy more cunning.

An incredibly solid title, and one that keeps Pandemic's run going strong. You'll be coming back once you've completed the game, just to play with the vehicles.

It really does little better than Tekken or DOA. Possibly time would have been better-spent working on a PS3 title rather than releasing this. It’s time for the genre as a whole to move forward.

A wonderful puzzle game, a superbly frantic challenge and some ridiculously funny dialogue make up a package that you’d have to be a complete fool to miss.

With online play that is surprisingly smooth and lag free, an offline career mode that is surprisingly fun to play and graphics to die for, Fight Night Round 3 is a superb all-around title.

Psychonauts isn’t for genre enthusiasts; Psychonauts is for anyone who’s ever looked at a game.

I was expecting a lot from Instincts, and boy, I got it. Smooth as silk, pretty as a picture and as vicious as an angry lion, Jack Carver's second title is as good as his first, and is pretty much a must-own for any fan of the FPS or stealth genres. Top notch.

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.

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.

I very much doubt you’re going to see a better beat-‘em-up of this ilk on the 360 anytime soon – unless of course Sega decide to port Virtua Fighter 5 over, but until such a dream occurs, this is more than adequate.

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.

An undeniable classic tainted by an awful control mechanism that still doesn’t feel natural after some ten hours’ play, with a few fun extras more suited to the input method.

A superb game. Probably the best title on the 360. The flaws are forgivable because it’s simply fun to play. If you are anal for completing a game in its entirety you’ll be on this forever. It’s a practical impossibility to complete all the missions and sub-missions in the 72 hour-mode (it actually lasts about 10 real-time hours).

If you're bored of the current slew of "shoot, run, shoot, run" FPS titles, then EiB's limited tactical bent might be enough to liven things up for you.

The Movies is addictive. The Movies is compelling. The Movies is innovative. The Movies is one of those games that you could become lost in for a very long time – should you devote the time to it.

Absolutely towering over the likes of NBA Live and all of the other pretenders to the throne, NBA 2k7 is an incredibly solid game that looks, sounds and plays as smoothly as you could ever wish it to – and goodness, its addictive.

Guild Wars: Factions is a rich, detailed and diverse world with plenty of scope for expansion, and already has me looking forward to seeing Chapter 3 when it comes out. This game can convert even the most ardent Planetsiders (most of my Guild actually) and the fun that both chapters offer is never-ending.

I don’t claim to be a Star Wars buff – far, far from it, in fact – but Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy makes me want to check out the storyline a little more, provides a heck of a lot of entertainment for the asking price and a few bugs aside, has been put together incredibly well indeed. Very, very good.

The best action game on the current generation of systems; it has everything you could ever want in such a title within the genre – including the most important facet of all, depth – and lots of it too.

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

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.

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.

You can customise your locker room, create your own title belts and compete for them in the much-improved online mode, connect the game to the upcoming PSP version, recreate classic matches – seemingly, whatever you want or need to do is right here. Absolutely superb.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Whatever the future may hold though, Fahrenheit is itself a compelling, truly adult adventure of rare literary and filmic qualities, and that’s more than enough to satisfy for now.

Nintendogs shows its attention to detail in the main game modes in so many different ways. [JPN Import]

To be quite frank, TOCA Race Driver 3 is a great game - one of the best on the Playstation 2 - and certainly does compare to Gran Turismo 4 in specific areas.

All in all, I’m very impressed so far – City of Villains is fun, there’s consentual PvP and there’s base construction, but the best bit is that if you already have "City of Heroes," the monthly fee will also cover you for City of Villains.

This game may be worth playing in about a year’s time when Obsidian has finished patching this clunky monstrosity, but right now, it’s a strictly average affair.

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.

Online, SOCOM 3 is better than ever, packed full of new locations and genuinely exciting. This latest edition will do nothing to dent the massive popularity of the SOCOM series.

You played the original Sonic games for the eye-numbing speed, the best-in-class platforming action, the wonderfully detailed backgrounds and of course, the challenge. With Sonic Rush, Sega have managed to cram in all of that with improvements, although some may not like the way in which the difficulty level is achieved.

One of the few games that have glaring holes in the gameplay, and gets away with it scot-free. Why? Atmosphere.

The only thing you pretty much can’t do as a pirate is getting your own parrot, which is a shame but we’re willing to overlook it just this once.

Nothing short of stunning – for the greater part. Depth, longevity, looks and some fantastically booming old-school sound schemes (complete with satisfyingly throaty engine tones) are all accounted for here.

It’s like being thrown into a top quality thriller movie; you’ll feel incredibly on edge and at times have second thoughts on venturing into the darkened trail of the killer.

Put it this way, I must have clocked up around 30 hours of play so far and I'm still not tired of simply moseying about town, popping a few grinds and flip tricks, trying to get an astronomical high combo score to unlock an achievement. It just feels so right and ultimately therapeutic.

To call this game pointless would be trite, but it’s unrelentingly shallow and really nothing more than mental chewing gum. Nothing else tastes quite like it, though, and if you have any sense of fun about you, you’re bound to enjoy the goods.

If you like ice hockey, then NHL 2k6 delivers the goods – and how. The franchise mode will suck you in for the long haul, and the party games are easy enough to pick up for some multiplayer action.

The missions to the story are extremely well designed, and the tasks are considerably varied. The shooting missions are joy to behold too, set out in true 3rd person shooter style with no automatic lock on. But once all the razzmatazz of the story has gone, and the dust has settled on “the Row”, there isn’t enough variety to keep you coming back.

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.

The epitome of a sound investment. Exciting gameplay, some very innovative uses for the stylus and graphically passable, this is one title that really hits the spot.

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.

Its well put together, well finished and is lifelike.

A fine selection of courses, a smooth graphical performance, intuitive controls and some of the most addictive gameplay available for your PSP mean that Everybody's Golf really is a challenger for the title of "Best European PSP Launch Title."

While it is playable – Onimusha enthusiasts will still probably enjoy it – there isn’t a huge amount here that you won’t find in previous instalments. And that’s it; ultimately there just isn’t anything here that hasn’t been done better by another game.

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

I implore you to give this a go if you’re a wrestling fan, and even if you aren’t – it might well be worth a play. I like the improvements that have been made, and I’ll be playing this long into 2007.

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.

A very simple idea, brilliantly put together: a high speed nostalgia trip that, unlike other games you remember from your youth, won’t leave you thinking: ‘Surely it was better than that’.

Graphically stunning and sonically amazing, the gameplay lets it down for me. In multiplayer, there is fun to be had, but the single player challenge is a long, hard slog that is pitted with dodgy AI and too many anomalies.

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.

It’s well put together, a joy to behold and a marvel to look at, but it’s just a lot of never ending sameness.

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.

Finally a Star Wars strategy game that got it right. Everything works the way it should, and that is no mean feat.

The best football game available for any format. Period.

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.

If you've played and enjoyed other fighting games on the Xbox or any other platform for that matter, but you've never played "Third Strike" then this is well worth a try. The fact that you also get "Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition" and the Street Fighter II animated movie thrown in as part of the deal is purely a bonus.

Lazy level design and the inability to die make the game too easy, leave you questioning why you want to carry on, and may even lead you to just not bother completing the game.

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.

Had Evolution been released as a full price game the short single-player campaign would have been a huge disappointment, but considering that it retails for under £20 and there's an impressive set of online game modes included as well, it's a steal.

There’s no one title that makes the package an absolute must, but if you want an arcade-perfect (and multiplayer) Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, you’ve come to the right place.

I couldn't get past the bad spelling, lack of save ability and the general frustration. For some reason Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes just gave me very negative feelings.