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.

As the entire game is played at fever-pitch, you soon find yourself looking forward to the next mission briefing, if only for a chance to catch your breath. The only mystery to Black is why there is no multiplayer mode, since such intense battle settings would make for great competitive bouts.

The number of times I got ripped apart by wild dogs made me regret ever wanting to be a lizard. Didn’t stop me coming back for more, though.

The learning curve is gentle, the controls simple to master, but there’s little new here.

Though NFL Street 2 does enough to entertain for an hour or two, fans of proper football, played with feet, are likely to find it quite dull.

This is not merely about killing anything that moves (though it helps), since horse-riding and poker playing are among the many other skills needed along the way.

This close to Christmas, Special Forces is probably for the game’s most loyal fans only — the folk who have played it so much that they are already desperate for new features to layer upon their already intense online experiences.

The graphics are terrible. They tried way too hard to make the people look as they do in the animated series, but the result is that it all looks pretty flat. Even the first Budokai had more depth. People tell me that I judge the game too much by the graphics. I agree; but this isn’t right. Seriously.

Rugby, with its elaborate set-pieces and impenetrable laws, is a hard game to render on computer, but this is an extremely good try.

This may be a fine simulation, but it is not entirely realistic – for example, hapless government ministers do not meddle, passenger trains are not cancelled because drivers pull sickies and no key routes grind to a standstill because of leaves on the line.

The characters are just as brilliantly executed, with a range of facial expressions, voices and movements that would do any animator proud.

Fans of the series will have plenty to be happy about, but you can't help feeling you've been here and done that in the previous games. That's the real horror here.

As in the film, every other word is a four-letter one, and although the graphics can be a little choppy, the game is at least engrossing, with levels short enough to demand that they be replayed.

During matches, a new passing feature allows for better control of long passes, using a combination of buttons to produce greater ball control in mid-air. In the right hands, the new move can be lethal.

What singles out this series from the rest is that it homes in on the sheer intensity and ugliness of war.

"SimCity" in its later incarnations became too laborious, so that cyber-builders even found themselves planning and maintaining water systems. City Life scores high by keeping things more straightforward.

Fans of the series will have plenty to be happy about, but you can’t help feeling you’ve been here and done that in the previous games. That’s the real horror here.

During matches, a new passing feature allows for better control of long passes, using a combination of buttons to produce greater ball control in mid-air. In the right hands, the new move can be lethal.

There are countless appealing touches about the 100 or so additions here, such as the chance to take pictures that you can then hang up at home. Absorbing fun.

The game becomes more strategic as it progresses, I am assured by fans of the ten-year-old series, but by then it is very hard to care.

Though The Godfather is competent, it is also bland, despite the voices of James Caan and Robert Duvall, and you rarely feel a sense of power.

Roam around Tokyo, find some bad guys, see some load screens, a couple of cut-scenes, some more load screens, press some buttons in fight mode and so on.

Forget storylines, or any pretence at one: this game is simply about quick reflexes and lightning-fast button- pounding.

The game-within-a-game concept is fantastic and the simulation of the MMORPG experience is flawlessly executed.

Even by the high standards already set, Pursuit Force is an astonishing title... The best PSP title yet.

Project Rub makes no use of the DS’s wireless communication feature, so there is no multiplayer event. Still, this off-beat gem is a must-have game for any fledgeling DS collection.

The construction sites are nicely animated, and newly ordered buildings pop up quickly.

As in the film, every other word is a four-letter one, and although the graphics can be a little choppy, the game is at least engrossing, with levels short enough to demand that they be replayed.