This is a quality sci-fi blockbuster brought alive with sleek visuals, superb voice characterisations, explosive sound effects and a robustly stirring music score.

The game contains scores of puzzles, requiring a mixture of logic, observation and luck. What’s great is that it gives you time to solve them, rather than placing you under constant pressure from grisly baddies. There’s also a plot-twist or two.

There’s not much left to do in games after this.

An epic, not only because the immaculate world you inhabit is so immense, but also because the gameplay is fantastically intense.

An epic, not only because the immaculate world you inhabit is so immense, but also because the gameplay is fantastically intense.

An explosively over-the-top romp.

The graphics are solid and sharply focused, while the cities that used to expand all too predictably now take on more organic growth patterns that spread to encompass land between cities more naturally.

The graphics are sublime — smooth and detailed even on the increasingly humble PS2, yet with enough gimmickry to make the replays delicious feasts.

It’s a gritty Second World War caper that loads the gaming experience to the hilt, leaving players battered, bruised and thoroughly stirred.

Pandora Tomorrow is a miniature masterpiece. This goodlooking, great-sounding and convincingly voiced espionage thriller delivers two satisfying game outings.

The level of detail in the various maps and multiplayer levels will have you reeling, while the integration of voice communication software allows you to chat with friends, in real-time, in mid-battle.

But the really ingenious element is the Drivatar AI, in which the computer learns your driving technique.

It’s a simple idea, but the best ones always are.

A solid, nicely rounded 3-D adventure that is annoyingly satisfying to play.

Shadow of the Colossus has more style than real substance and it is slightly baffling why Fumito Ueda, the game's creator, didn't develop this into something a little more Zelda-esque in order to make best use of the world he has created. He might have had a classic on his hands.

This is one of the best-looking games on the Xbox. That it also boasts fluid, intuitive gameplay, and does not condescend to the audience by making the fighting too simple or automatic, is miraculous.

The courses are stunningly handsome and the golfing action and ball physics are true to life. The game has an almost limitless replay value.

The game is at its best when played online or across large networks, since real opponents can be ingenious and make better fidgety targets.

This all-new version adds minute details to the daily rituals of the little inhabitants — you can almost zoom in to see specific ingredients as meals are prepared, or read book titles on shelves. Watching the Sims dance is a triumph of animation.

The locations are varied, but with the usual generic locations, and a repetitiveness noticable in the track layout for each stage is reduced somewhat by the addition of numerous shortcuts along each route.

Just for its astonishing look — imagine a very bright 1950s cartoon about a future full of robots — this port from the Gamecube is worth the money.

The locations are varied, but with the usual generic locations, and a repetitiveness noticable in the track layout for each stage is reduced somewhat by the addition of numerous shortcuts along each route.

This sim certainly delivers the goods. Keeping an eye on the details involved in running a winning team is so engrossing that, once you accept your first management job, you can bid farewell to months of free time.

A thoroughly immersive product, thanks to handsome level design, decent sound effects, an unnerving music score and lines delivered by real actors, including Diesel himself.

Yes, there are tweaks, better graphics and further development on the cars’ physics, but nothing groundbreaking. For the most part it seems that the past four years have been spent improving the playback of your car whizzing around the track once you’ve finished the race.

With its bright colours, chirpy soundtrack and tricky but not wall-bashingly frustrating challenges, this is a game you will pick up once and never put down.

The courses are stunningly handsome and the golfing action and ball physics are true to life. The game has an almost limitless replay value.

The courses are stunningly handsome and the golfing action and ball physics are true to life. The game has an almost limitless replay value.

Combinations become instinctive and defence second nature. Throw in an engrossing career mode, as well as the facility to create your own boxer, and you finally have a heavyweight boxing game.

In PES6 you can make a sliding tackle and come up with the ball, and the AI has been greatly improved. The passing and shooting have been made harder to master and the players’ movement off the ball is better.

An exceptional game that brings history alive with enormous flair and clarity.

A nice innovation is the use of the PSP’s internet access, through which you can download the ‘ghosts’ of other players whose fighting style will be utilised in place of the ordinary AI the game draws on to control your opponent.

An evocative gem of a game, one all Long John Silver or Johnny Depp wannabes should thoroughly enjoy.

The game’s greatest strength, along with its smoothness and superbly rendered backdrops, is its appeal to both newcomers and hardened hands.

Combinations become instinctive and defence second nature. Throw in an engrossing career mode, as well as the facility to create your own boxer, and you finally have a heavyweight boxing game.

Doom 3 has its flaws, but remains a graphical, audio and visual tour de force.

Pandora Tomorrow is a miniature masterpiece. This goodlooking, great-sounding and convincingly voiced espionage thriller delivers two satisfying game outings.

By turning round the normal rules so that the D-pad operates the functions and the right hand buttons deal with the camera, this intuitive system gives the gameplay a huge boost and also reverses the law of diminishing returns for sequels.

Given the subject matter, the game deserves its 15 rating but not a parliamentary debate.

The new features in FM07 enhance its already superior gameplay and maintain its healthy lead over its competitors.

Not one for easily bored older children, perhaps, but a well-crafted story that young players will enjoy.

The courses are as crisp as ever, while the bone-shattering mayhem on the roads looks and sounds just as convincing.

The visuals are first rate. News footage sets the scene of the chaos, while short in-game cut-scenes intertwine seamlessly with the action.

You could play straight through this game in a few hours, or dally with it for days. Therein lies its brilliance.

The visuals in this classy RPG are solid, while the level design and locations alternate between the inspired and the merely functional.

It may sound mundane, but there are enough winning touches to make the game very playable in short bursts.

But what is most important about We Love Katamari is that it represents a move in which Electronic Arts, the world's biggest games publisher, has been prepared to release a title that is new, entertaining, and ultimately, original.

The pressure of following in the footsteps of one of the console’s greatest successes seems to have removed any sense of humour from the game.

The graphics are superb, especially on the Xbox, and if you can cope with the frustration of replaying tricky scenes again and again, this could be the game for you.

The online action is about more than endless fighting, since players also get the chance to formulate strategies in a sort of chat-room environment.

The result is sweaty-palmed fun, teaming the adult joys of a well-paced thriller with the childish delight of playing hide-and-seek in the dark.

The disturbing difference is the 360’s much-vaunted graphics. Hair tosses silkily; veins stand out muscularly; bosoms jounce, waft and settle gravity-defyingly.

An unusual adventure game - an interesting concept competently carried off.

A completely engrossing game, designed for the patience of adult players, that will stand up to an almost infinite number of sessions. It’s a technically marvellous achievement by David Cage.

Right from the start in the tree kingdom of Kelethin, you are plunged into hack’n’slash heaven. The graphics are some of the best on the PS2, and there is plenty of variation in the gameplay.

Zombie hunters beware, though. The vibrating handsets make being caught an unpleasant experience.

The visuals in this classy RPG are solid, while the level design and locations alternate between the inspired and the merely functional.

This is a cracker. A lot of thought has clearly gone into making the most of the DS’s touch-screen capability here, and it works gloriously. Sure, you still walk down dark corridors blasting anything that moves, but here you are in control as never before.

The graphics are superb, especially on the Xbox, and if you can cope with the frustration of replaying tricky scenes again and again, this could be the game for you.

It’s the creepy atmosphere and the easy-to-pick-up-but-tough-to-perfect gameplay that most impress, and there are enough quirks and twists to ensure that you will do your damnedest to complete this compelling title.

You could play straight through this game in a few hours, or dally with it for days. Therein lies its brilliance.

The first-person caper is satisfyingly immersive thanks to some outstanding graphical touches - heavy rain splatters neatly on Jeeps and we can even see Red's freckles in close-up.

The visuals are first rate. News footage sets the scene of the chaos, while short in-game cut-scenes intertwine seamlessly with the action.

It's horror done "Ring"-style, low on explicit gore, but with plenty of chills and jumps, and the misty half-light of the action is beautifully complemented by one of the most unnerving soundtracks you'll hear.

The mechanics are competent, but it is the characterisations, especially the wooden delivery of some lines, that let the game down. On the plus side, the ample options include a story mode, multiplayer clash modes and a mission designer to open up replay values.

A little too retro to be anything other than a game to play in short bursts, this new-look Tetris would be just the thing for a short journey.

The graphics are superb, especially on the Xbox, and if you can cope with the frustration of replaying tricky scenes again and again, this could be the game for you.

The game is built sublimely, with an excellent interface and crisp, rounded sound effects that grip the attention.

The Original Trilogy's main strength is it's presentation and humour - the novelty of the Lego enviroments has not worn off from the first Lego Star Wars game and the music is excellent. The difficulty level is too easy, but a generous amount of unlockables offers decent replay value.

Decent graphics that hold up smoothly in the height of fighting, plus atmospheric cut-scenes, great locations and superb sound effects all measure up to a memorable, if utterly exhausting, experience.

It’s a shame, too, that the levels aren’t more exciting and spontaneous. Such predictability stops this game from being any more than an enjoyable flight simulator.

The over-theshoulder style does allow for the seamless integration of glossy scenes to drive on the plot and add a more genuine movie-like feel to the game.

The first-person caper is satisfyingly immersive thanks to some outstanding graphical touches — heavy rain splatters neatly on Jeeps and we can even see Red’s freckles in close-up. All this detail is demanding, so you will need a fairly powerful PC to prevent the visuals from occasionally chugging.

You could play straight through this game in a few hours, or dally with it for days. Therein lies its brilliance.

A completely engrossing game, designed for the patience of adult players, that will stand up to an almost infinite number of sessions. It's a technically marvellous achievement by David Cage.

The over-theshoulder style does allow for the seamless integration of glossy scenes to drive on the plot and add a more genuine movie-like feel to the game.

Although some found "Jak 2" hard going in places, Jak 3 is better all round, and soundly completes the adventure series.

Leisurely plucking helicopters out of the sky can be immensely satisfying, as can grabbing a handful of trees to toss around like darts, damning the consequences.

The 3-D graphics, though impressive, have changed little, and the fighting characters remain pretty much the same.

The mechanics are competent, but it is the characterisations, especially the wooden delivery of some lines, that let the game down. On the plus side, the ample options include a story mode, multiplayer clash modes and a mission designer to open up replay values.

One brilliantly thought out package.

As a first-person shooter, Prey makes up in design for what it lacks in depth. The game moves along swiftly, balancing a strong narrative with solid puzzle-solving and some very tasty eye candy.

A completely engrossing game, designed for the patience of adult players, that will stand up to an almost infinite number of sessions. It’s a technically marvellous achievement by David Cage.

Raising your virtual puppy is so realistic that this game should come with a ringing endorsement from Battersea Dogs Home.

Raising your virtual puppy is so realistic that this game should come with a ringing endorsement from Battersea Dogs Home.

The over-theshoulder style does allow for the seamless integration of glossy scenes to drive on the plot and add a more genuine movie-like feel to the game.

This episode has more depth than the two previous follow- ups, and its developer, IO Interactive, has introduced many intelligent refinements.

Raising your virtual puppy is so realistic that this game should come with a ringing endorsement from Battersea Dogs Home.

It has pace, style and replayability; and if it is not quite as inventive as "Ratchet & Clank," what is?

Most importantly, the puzzles are back on track. Traps, levers, pulleys, chains, chasms, secret passges, underground lakes, rotating knives - there's a cunning solution to each, designed to keep you puzzling for just long enough to gain satisfaction in the solving, but not long enough to make you want to hurl your own internal organs at the screen.

Most importantly, the puzzles are back on track. Traps, levers, pulleys, chains, chasms, secret passges, underground lakes, rotating knives — there’s a cunning solution to each, designed to keep you puzzling for just long enough to gain satisfaction in the solving, but not long enough to make you want to hurl your own internal organs at the screen.

And with 1,000 miles of road to roam, it comes closer than most games to re-creating the freedom of real life.

Games do not come much larger than SOCOM 3, which has been designed very much with the internet in mind: go online and you can play against up to 31 opponents.

This episode has more depth than the two previous follow- ups, and its developer, IO Interactive, has introduced many intelligent refinements.

Most importantly, the puzzles are back on track. Traps, levers, pulleys, chains, chasms, secret passges, underground lakes, rotating knives — there’s a cunning solution to each, designed to keep you puzzling for just long enough to gain satisfaction in the solving, but not long enough to make you want to hurl your own internal organs at the screen.

The courses in this game are just as much the stars as the cars. The dazzling downtown locations are massive, dominated by skyscrapers whose light bathes the streets in a radiant glow.

It's the creepy atmosphere and the easy-to-pick-up-but-tough-to-perfect gameplay that most impress, and there are enough quirks and twists to ensure that you will do your damnedest to complete this compelling title.

The graphics are top-notch and the sound helps immerse you in the wonderfully rendered action.