If you like your racing fast, fun, highly controllable and mouth-wateringly gorgeous to look at, however, then this is definitely one title you want to add to your pool of games.

One of the major restrictions in Asheron's Call has always been the relatively limited skill system, and sadly the Dark Majesty expansion does nothing to improve on this.

FIFA 2002 has consciously observed the strategy and brilliant mix of simulation and arcade gameplay within Konami’s ISS series and, in doing so, has made the FIFA series infinitely more approachable for the gamer who would never look at the licensed game, preferring to bury himself in ISS.

That the plot is furthered only periodically, rather than religiously at the end of each mission, highlights Namco’s tempered hand, ensuring that it’s the gameplay which remains firmly at centre stage.

Burnout is the worst example to date as you can be in first place yet still run out of time, a facet which is both infuriating, common to several courses and, considering the likelihood of at least a few collisions, utterly predictable.

EA has decided to make the graphics grainier and more gritty but all this has done is make the game the worst-looking PSone FIFA game so far.

It still has a definite 'one-more-go' appeal and thus the sense of satisfaction when you complete missions is immense. Whilst not quite as accomplished as the Medal Of Honor games, Crashdown is certainly recommended for those looking for a decent FPS treat.

MechWarrior afficionados only.

A touch that I particularly liked was the ability to delegate certain tasks to commanders who join your campaign at various stages. If you don't really want to spend ages establishing a base then it may be to your advantage to delegate this task to someone else, leaving you free to concentrate on attacking the enemy.

For goodness' sake don't play this on evenings when you have to work the next day because the odds are you'll still be in front of your machine in the early hours, striving to build one more bit of your spaceship, or conquering just one more city before you go to bed.

Although it makes some effort to disguise the fact that it's just a textured mesh over which you constantly travel from A to B for no good reason, the game never truly manages to convince.

I don't use the word 'glorious' lightly - Myth III's use of 3D is possibly a new benchmark against which subsequent RTS titles will be judged.

Like so many classics, the fun in Tony Hawk's 3 comes from being given a liberating amount of freedom.

Fundamentally it’s the same game as "Tony Hawk’s 2," only it chugs along like a broken steam train! It stutters, splutters and jerks around like a breakdancer with broken legs and it feels like the batteries are running low on your PlayStation.

A deeply unsatisfying experience, although younger players may have some fun just running around as Mike and laughing at his crazy antics.

The icing on the cake though is the two-player link-up game...it’s fantastic! Believe us when we say that StreetFighter has never been this playable or fun – you simply have to own it!

Tougher than a room full of ninjas, but action hero lovers will have a lot of fun trying to put an end to The Joker’s scheme.

Considering we’re talking about a Game Boy title here, Doom is incredible.

All things considered, this is one of the best games to try and merge two genres, and it does so very successfully - despite a few minor flaws that don't detract too much from the gameplay.

A massively capable game designer with almost innumerable options allowing limitless application.

Main problem: you can only fire your Batgrapple at specific points...We wanted the freedom of Tenchu and all we received was a hook through the nose with a finger pulling us the right way.

Easily the cleverest game to emerge in some time and making your way through it's intricate innards is one of the most rewarding experiences the PS2 can currently offer. A slice of gaming heaven.

A remarkable achievement of proportions we never imagined possible. It has single-handedly changed the way we see all videogame entertainment and the repercussions it should have for the industry are staggering. In one fell swoop your entire games collection has become obsolete, all other games seeming pathetic attempts to waste your time.

Whilst its general pace is unequivocally pedestrian and the missions are overly long and drawn out, Top Gun remains a surprisingly seductive prospect, albeit one devoid of significant exhilaration.

This is a great combination of fun, education (you never know when you might need those siege tactics in Tesco's) strategy and resource management that is a fantastic addition to the sim stable.

It’s the style of the game that makes Spider-Man a cut above the rest. Unlike most super-hero based games, Spidey is created for the fans, who'll lap it up.

Shows a total lack of innovation and desire to improve the gaming experience, but it does have cute animals in it. If you can accept the fact that you are here to manage tigers rather than whatever the focus is in any other management game then you can have a lot of fun.

A groundbreaking title that takes the genre in a new and exciting direction. Capcom has once again managed to breathe life into a genre that had been stuck in something of a rut of late.

It's a solid enough game that will test your RTS skills and relies on something more than churning and burning units. It could be a match made in heaven, it could be your idea of hell...

Skirmishes themselves are also still painfully primitive in their nature. Trying to introduce any kind of superior tactical operations into proceedings is nigh on impossible, with the two sides generally showing all the tactical nous of bar-room brawlers.

A superior product.

The main problem with Patrician 2, however, is the lack of delegation.

This is strictly for the hardest of the die-hard RPG fans, those with the grubbiest vests and wittiest one-liners, everyone else steer well clear.

The graphics are impressive and the sense of speed is top notch too.

How much fun you can have just hosing down iron with bullets is something for you to decide, since we’ve gone beyond that and are only truly happy with precision. But that’s the whole Time Crisis point, ain’t it?

2D beat-'em-up aficionados are unlikely to be convinced by the game.

Final gripe of the day is that you can come first or second in a race by simply holding down accelerate and bouncing off the walls. Need we say more about the skill level involved? No, didn’t think so.

Why have Capcom produced a game that once you've played it, you won’t want to pick up ever again?...This is rubbish!

A nice-looking and solid dungeon crawl that offers a viable alternative to the excellent range of PC RPGs out there.

The designers have gone for a serious challenge mode. This is not a puzzler for the faint-hearted!

Lego Racers 2 races along at a fantastic pace, with extra bursts of speed in places, and the graphics are lavishly colourful, featuring impressively effective weapons. It has set an impressive president as the first highly recommendable cart racer to appear on the PS2.

Those who have always wanted to have the chance to star in a real life cartoon should look no further than this fun little game. The cult starts here!

Jumpgate's gameplay is what makes it a success - Wing Commander-style simplicity combined with some great in-game physics.

Bass Strike’s main ailment seems to be its rather delicate control system...Sensitive? It’s like a freshly exposed groin wound; you move too quickly and the fish is off, you wind in too slowly and the – fish – is – off.

Unlike the original Kessen, KII is far more accessible and the fantasy element gives the whole show a far more epic feel in the style of TV’s Mahabarat (okay, it’s a Hindu show, but you get the idea).

It’s not going to keep you amused for a very long time.

From the stable that gave us "Symphony Of The Night" and "Metal Gear Solid," more is rightfully expected.

A mediocre and rather flaccid RTS in the mould of "Command & Conquer"...an unoriginal and ultimately dull game.

The element most central to the game - combat - is very flawed and completely un-strategic. As such, Throne of Darkness fails to be anything more than mediocre.

An impressively complete product, able to coax anyone with the slightest interest in its subject matter onto the ice – just don’t forget to bring a potential convert with you… it’s THAT kind of game!

From chasing down a hijacked Interceptor to protecting friendly forces or shutting down an enemy base, Spy Hunter rarely leaves you with less than four things to think about with each of the fourteen levels boasting some of the most exhilarating set-pieces your likely to have witnessed for some time.

With its groundbreaking realism, intelligent opponents and top playability, F1 2001 has set a new standard in racing simulations.

The proof of the pudding is in the tasting – and this is a toothsome treat.

The game is practically faultless and comes recommended to all, but it won’t last forever and is over too soon. Then again, the same could be said for sunset, but people don’t stop watching that because the onset of night is inevitable and quick.

But despite Robinson’s remarks, oodles of atmosphere and a decent enough multiplayer mode, compared to Millionaire in the console quiz show stakes, it still manages to be the weakest link. Goodbye!

It's refreshing to see a development team add so much to a sequel while maintaining the spirit of the original.

It rapidly descends into an overly-linear memory test which, without the physical act of aiming or the genuinely engaging ducking mechanic of "Time Crisis," all too quickly becomes repetitive and dull.

A great fun game and something a little different. So put on your sparkly trousers, bouffant your hair and get out on the dancefloor. Vogue!

It's simply so nut-twistingly rank, so grit-sandwichedly unpalatable that any speechless incredulity invariably gets rammed into your brain with more than enough force for it to pop right out the other side, leaving you gasping with an enlightened sense of faecel awareness.

This game is a good, solid beat-’em-up, but it’s no Street Fighter or Tekken. Despite the fact that the fighters are in 3D, the game is really a 2D experience.

3DO, you cannot trick us, this is ANOTHER Army Men game, now vying for the Lara vote with a feisty new heroine.

What impresses is the structural coherency of the game world: anything you see and think ‘I ought to be able to stick a bike on that’ will indeed be solid and available for tricks duty, from moving cars to power cables, scaffolding and tree branches.

But once you get past the amazing new backgrounds, funky tunes and endless different game options, the best thing on this cart is just the basic Tetris game, played the same as it’s always been.

The most entertaining, instantly involving and technically innovative PC game of the year so far.

One of the most ingenious games ever to come from the Nintendo stable.

But once you've completed the new missions you'll be looking for further challenges - this is where the online features come in.

Don’t overlook this one – it’s quite quietly one of the most agreeable racers we’ve seen for some time.

A number of excellent set-pieces, good puzzles and some surprise changes in pace do keep the attention until the bitter, dramatic end but generally this is B-list stuff when compared to proper PS2 horror adventures.

We just find this new instalment (if not version) of the same game (oh-so) slightly better for reasons we can’t truly explain. It just is. Slightly.

Damn them… why could they not have implemented the fantastic Player Editor last time? Why couldn’t they have made it easier to get into last time? Why now a better interface, sideline players, cheerleaders and cool boxes?

This is what ultimately lets this game down – the boring simple things just take a little too long to do. Your villagers do not recreate on their own – you have to tell them practically everything in order for things to happen.

By Great Odin’s teeth, this is an average game of the most average order. Dull alsö.

What makes Remote Assault so refreshing is that it successfully transplants the accuracy and rules and regulations of combat as featured in these games and abandons the two-dimensional and turn-based elements.

The grognards out there will find much of value in Desert Rats, and I recommend it to them. Other gamers may want to think long and hard before investing their cash in a major niche title such as this.

This one is a little joy to play that’s packed with an innocence that will fail to raise bile in the mouths of even those for whom fluffy white bunnies amount to nothing more than medical testing fodder.

Quite simply Outtrigger IS better than "Quake III Arena" and "Unreal Tournament," even if it is lacking in Internet options. If you want to look at it in percentage terms, think about it like this; Outtrigger with online play would probably get around 96%.

With exceptional action, puzzles and scripting as well as good graphics and minimal loading times Extermination is a great and imaginative new addition to the horror/survival genre that will teach even Resident Evil a few tricks and ranks as Sony’s best PS2 game to date.

Pure, unadulterated, hard-core, ass kicking, pop a cap in ya' ass action and gunplay. Max Payne levels it’s .45 and sends stealth quivering back to the marketing table, where it belongs. And it’s all the better for it.

Graphically City Crisis is nothing special and after a while the gameplay does become rather repetitive as you simply perform the same operations over and over again.

Nothing can disguise the simple fact that Rugby is a quality game at heart, like the real thing, but it can be difficult work to fathom and master.

The lack of any kind of weather (wet roads isn't a weather condition, merely a clever effect), the frame-skipping problems (it just shouldn't exist!), and the lack of car damage (erm… this is a simulation, right?) drags the score down from the high nineties. Still, this game is without a doubt the best racer on any platform.

If you’re buying this to play on your own, you’ll get bored very easily. More than any other title released so far, this game is one to be shared. The more friends you take on, the more fun you’ll have. And if you don’t join in the fun, you’re dithpicable!

Invisible barriers also pepper the apparently open areas which grace certain courses – call us new-fashioned, but PLAY doesn't expect to be dismounted for no other reason than touching a piece of earth that the coders have deemed "out of bounds". Put a tangible obstacle there or let us the hell through!

The crux of Hot Potato stays the same throughout – clear a path and increase your score. And this simplicity makes it an incredibly fun game to play.

If you never buy another title for your Game Boy Advance, then at least get this one – it’s worth the cost of the console, all on its own!

There is nothing wrong with this game universe or the adventure within it, if only we all the had the time to enjoy it properly without the need for work, study or sleep getting in the way!

Those seeking a new challenge to rival "Tekken Tag" should steer clear, but for fans of the series and players just looking for a quick fix of frenzied and fantastical fighting should sign up now.

The vehicle and character designs seem to have been built from a kit consisting of ideas from games that share a similar theme, and in such a hurry that someone forgot to add grime and wear definitions.

Graphically the game is excellent and there are lots of quirky touches, such as the darts players in the local inn who throw a dart directly at the camera ''smashing'' the screen.

Initially it won’t take you that long to complete, but with other vehicles to try out and infinite scores to settle it is sure to keep you coming back, even after a long absence.

A game that does everything it needs to do with just a touch of garnish here and there.

Put it this way - if this is your first go of a Half Life game, prepare to be shocked by the AI of these guys.

As you can probably tell from this review, we at TotalGames.net were just slightly impressed by F-Zero. If you've got yourself a GBA, you really have to buy this.

The graphical detail throughout makes this a new watershed in handheld game design.

Despite being on a handheld, the visuals and music in the game really astound – they create just the right mood for a game about vampires and other nasty stuff.

You may argue that Mario Advance is old fashioned, but it’s a testament to the strength of the gameplay that it still pulls you in and keeps you fixed to your Game Boy.

Unfortunately, the game is let down slightly by a rather annoying control problem – by only having one button to lay down arrows, you need to keep pressing it repeatedly to switch direction.

Forget flashy rendered graphics – this is a bargain at 35 quid, and will mean you won’t have to buy another fighting game for a long, long time.