The twitchy controls mean that instant death is just a flick of the analog stick away, and even though we’re not psychic, we can guarantee you’ll die many, many times just trying to either work out where you’ve got to go or nab yourself a handful of bonus items.

The sad thing is that, like the real game, this is consigned to be played once or twice and then put away to collect dust for half a year before being dug out again on a rainy day.

We can’t help feeling that this half-hearted PS2 port has no place on the Xbox.

Admittedly, if you liked the first game, then your going to love this to bits - but it'll be a bit boring for your average gamer.

Essentially a straightforward and linear trawl around vaguely familiar scenarios from the film, requiring little thought other than bashing at the buttons to attack, or flipping switches to progress.

Without the huge stars of the NBA to play against, it already falls flat next to EA’s "NBA Street" and despite all of its urban trappings this is a very bland and unexciting ballgame.

AF does a better job with collision detection, though unfortunately damage balance is regularly far from perfect. Taking out an enemy as insignificant as a rat may only take a single punch, for example, though strangely it takes many more attacks with a metal bar.

But the worst crime of all is the dynamics – or rather, lack of them. You can plough into a police car at top speed, and mostly come to a grinding halt.

The in-game graphics are as primitive as ever – simply doing their job of representing the positions of your various units around the map – and the basic turn-based concept won’t be every gamer’s cup of tea, but there’s surely enough depth and engrossing potential here to bring hardcore adventurers back for more while enticing a good number of newbies.

Sadly, this promising variety of stealth, third-person shooter and vehicle-based gameplay rather predictably sees each element being delivered half-baked. A distinct vein of average runs throughout proceedings – from the lacklustre visuals to each mission’s overly linear string of objectives.

Neat little touches such as his over the top armour, and the way Jack loses clothing as his health decrease are amusing enough to draw out the odd giggle from most players. However, when these jokes wear thin, the realisation that the worlds of Samurai Jack are as sparsely populated as areas in the Sahara desert really tests the will of the gamer.

As it is only the most hardened fan would find any enjoyment here and we can only recommend that the door be locked and the key thrown away to this particular dungeon.

With controls that make accurate aiming tiresome and visuals that could be forgiven for being quaint, until they move, finding areas where this one should be recommended is akin to picking gnat shit out of pepper.

The excitement is just too short-lived and even the biggest fans of the movie are more than likely to be disappointed.

The combat flows nicely, the graphics are bright – if never really revolutionary – and the gameplay defines the term solid. It’s hard not to like Alter Echo, but by the same note, it hard to get truly involved in it.

The ridiculous handling makes these additional modes practically impossible to play.

Meritless in terms of taking their genre forward or, worse even, invoking the warm glow of nostalgia. Spend £15 on a NES and the original games instead.

Most unforgiveable of all though, is the abysmally bad combat. Once your army is built, there is really nothing for the player to do other than point them at the enemy and hope to be last man standing.

The gameplay is way too limited and repetitive, and you won't have any desire to move to the next level; after all, you know full well it'll just be even more button tapping. Yawn...

Frankly, this an ugly piece of game that hopes its strategic heart will cover up meathead combat and disgustingly short draw distances. Not for this money, no way. Strictly for fans only, and we mean that.

The Curse comes in the form of a yellow mist. A yellow mist with some social problems, it likes to posses the dead, hence the zombies and also inanimate objects. So it's slightly different to Resi Evil and the zombies run fast, like in 28 Days Later. Ooooo. Sounds fascinating. It isn't.

It may be simple, often slow, and quite basic, but the novelty value alone makes it worthwhile.

Boundless disappointment is perhaps the best way to describe the gut feeling Dino Crisis 3 elicits in the player. Vast empty spaces on the ship manage to create a real sense of isolation, but at the same time, the game's emphasis on backtracking turns any feeling of exigency into tedium. [Japan Import]

It’s supposed to be a cartoon and it definitely looks like one but however you look at it there aren’t many polygons in any given level – so why on earth is the frame rate so choppy?

This is as much fun as working in a butchers, if you happen to be one of those spooky automatons that stand in the window and carve meat for eternity.

Insufferably bi-polar difficulty levels attacks that can't be repelled or escaped from no matter your skill and combat because your stuck on the ground in a death loops is something so lacking in grace that it numbs you.

All the belly laughs in the world can't save such a shameful game. Perhaps it's a lack of pace, or the fact that the puzzles seem more of a chore than a challenge, that makes Futurama such a tame title.

Still, while mindlessly hacking away at guards, the player can at least enjoy the neat visuals, which are brilliantly authentic and effectively designed.

One interesting touch is the apologise button. You can wave to a rival racer in the hope that they'll forget the pummelling theyíve just received.

There simply isn't enough in terms of innovation, subtlety or charm in this game for it to be considered worthy of spending £40 on.

But chopping realistic arms off of realistic zombies soon loses its appeal, and it’s not long before Hunter becomes a bore to play.

Yes there is some fun to be had but you’ll get bored long before you unlock all the characters or see the final 26th level.

This is a shame as the idea behind the Masters Series mode offers great depths, it’s just a shame the core gameplay is found wanting.

A dreadfully wasted opportunity - especially when it looks so good.

There is so much here to dislike it is generally making us dizzy.

Sadly every single part of this game seems average and we can't help but feel that the fans are being let down.

For a character torn between good and evil, Heaven and Hell, Spawn can be a pretty dull guy and so very, very average.

Half-baked doesn’t even begin to describe this fodder – which is a shame because even with its clichéd eccentricity it could have won as an example of style over substance. It doesn’t.

The gameplay isn't as sharp though, with 'who cares?' combat scenes and the vine-swinging, platform-jumping action that is unforgiving to the slightest degree, slowing down the game even further.

Another disappointment is the hardcore matches, where instead of the huge selection of weapons we were looking forward to using and abusing, we were presented only with a couple of chairs.

It plays like a cobbled together collection of repetitive, below-par sub-games. Quite simply, it’s extremely boring, and the sensation of fun never once makes its presence felt.

Throughout the controls are frustratingly unresponsive and the difference between a turn and a slide is too often dependant on chance rather than skill.

This is an average platformer. Everything from the double jump and the by-the-book boss fights to the pickups and the 'special moves' feel...well...overused.

We never thought we’d say this but here’s a game that seems to be drawing inspiration from "Minority Report," itself an average, licensed title.

We don't like to say this about an X-Men game, but Wolverine's Revenge is an unplayable beast of a game.

Not only is it ugly, it’s just plain emotionless. You move around the lakes (which should look gorgeous) with all the connection of a robot.

A let-down of legendary proportions. It’s a resurrected beast of the gaming world, only rather than being intact and brilliantly playable, it’s rotting and bits are falling off in large chunks.

Another glitchy/stupid thing is the CPU AI. On occasions when surrounded and unable to attack the CPU character was literally just standing there, not helping.

A step back to the bad old days when the name was more important than the game -- a practice that Ocean was supposed to have left well behind.

Too slow-paced to keep the laughs coming and keep the game wacky, zany or at a lively pace for long-term entertainment.

Name almost any gaming cliché and Ty is making you yawn by using it.

Unfortunately the Dress-up system isn’t enough to save Evergrace from being very average. The horribly bland visuals, limited exploration and short life span (around 5 hours per character) drag down what could have been a rewarding and unique adventure.

A plodding beast of a wrestling game that’s been made even worse by the fact that the PS2-to-GC conversion process has rendered it almost unplayable.

To say that Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure has the worst soundtrack of any game EVER, is an understatement.

Step aside, gaming connoisseurs and parents, because it's most definitely a kids' game.

Sadly the effects you get on all these rarely impress and like the rest of the game they’re not much to look at.

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

The competing cars really don't have a clue that you exist, happily veering into your vehicle should it happen to occupy a piece of track that they fancy for themselves.

Movement is achieved by moving using a massively cut down version of Dance Dance Revolution (press buttons on cue) that if done correctly results in a Manga-esque cut scene of destruction. Effectively then, Time Dilation is an elaborate smart bomb. Like its name implies this game is merely a varied echo of what once was original.

It's not horrific in a way that will leave stains on your fingers, but standing alongside "Dead Or Alive: Ultimate" and "Mortal Kombat: Deception," Fight Club is like putting a teddy bear into a lions den.

The fact that the game is so difficult is purely down to the excruciatingly painful controls.

Yes folks, Cel Damage stinks – and what's worse it's not one, but a whole shopping list of things that makes it difficult to play with wanting to run away and never play a game ever again.

Admittedly, it has a streak of good humour running through it and a few unlockable two-player mini-games, but they're unlikely to encourage completion.

Indeed, it seems as though very little thought has been put into the single player campaign full stop...What's worse is the fact that the computer cheats like fury in the single-player campaigns.

The digital equivalent of a Steven Seagal movie or a Yorkie bar - a man's videogame if ever we saw one. Unfortunately, it's also a game to make grown men weep bitter tears of frustration.

This must rank as one of the blandest-looking shooters on the Xbox - after all, we have been treated to Mercenaries and Microsoft's own MechAssault 2, so there really is no excuse for the low-res, blandly textured environments found here, made all the worse by the disgracefully close draw distances.

The reasonably well-designed tracks are sold short by a ludicrously slow response to trick commands.

H3O’s problem, in a nutshell, is its subject matter – the wave, whilst a stunningly beautiful natural phenomenon, provides a most monotonous forum for a videogame imaginable.

This game rocks the party like it's 1996 for all the wrong reasons. It's a PSone game with sharper graphics.

There is just too much to think about whilst racing around the levels. Virtually every single part of the pad is used and some of the buttons are used twice! Add to this the multitude of power-ups and there’s just too much to handle.

The biggest indictment against From Russia With Love, however, is that it makes the whole experience of being Bond seem about as much fun as an afternoon spent at a stamp-collecting convention, which is something 007 should never stand accused of. It's dull, banal, boring and any other adjectives that can be used to describe a game unworthy of your attention.

A lame, tawdry and charmless affair.

Even for a baseball game it's boring.

No, what really annoys is the fact that the developer feels it doesn't need to make an effort because it's a game for kids.

Only really recommended for wide-eyed children who are yet to tire of jumping on switches and collecting thousands of shiny, yet meaningless, tokens.

Visually, the game disappoints by looking less like Kornikova and more like Navaratilova...You should forget this game ever came out...wait for the arrival of Mario Tennis instead.

All the young pretender could do was look prettier, and show off his facial damage. No contest. He got a damn good beasting that day, and every day there after.

Despite looking long and hard, we can’t seem to find any actual game in here?

On one hand, it’s got quite a good structure and the technical style is impressive, but on the other it’s just not fun to play.

Outside of a tolerable multiplayer, there's nothing to redeem this. Battle Nexus had potential and it will stir the interest of old and new Turtles fans but sadly, it satisfies neither the misplaced nostalgia nor the itch for a cel-shaded violence.

Ninety-five per cent of these games are rubbish, but you just can't help a quick trip down memory lane.

And yes you did read that right, there are just six measly levels. Which disappointingly explains the reason that tasks (or rather chores) such as mini- bosses and end of level fights can be extremely tiresome and the wrong side of difficult.

If you're a huge Dreamcast or Sega fan then the online side of Battle Street may warrant a rent. But, for the other 99.9% of Xbox gamers, we'd say leave the past in the past.

Unfortunately, the camera grates throughout proceedings and you often find yourself either stuck behind scenery or with Frogger running directly toward you and thus not being able to see where you are going.

Nasty visuals, odd camera work, silly levels - Shadow suffers from all the problems for which people have criticised every other 3D Sonic game only, for the most part, to a greater degree. Deserves to get lost among the Christmas rush and never found or spoken of again.

A very dull experience. You can't help but feel this might have actually been all right as a light gun game.

The game feels more of a chore to play than anything and to be honest, there are better beat-’em-ups out there… heck, we’d even push the ‘good, but not amazing’ game that is Bloody Roar: Primal Fury over this.

If you really, really want a diving game, this is as good as it’s likely to get. You shameless little weirdo.

The only people we can imagine buying this are confused parents who do not understand the world of the mystical home entertainment that is the videogame.

It's a Japanese RPG in the truest sense and conforms to all the clichs of the genre. It has its misfits, its central (male) character with a mysterious past (and a strange birthmark on his shoulder) and a turn-based battle system with magic and hit points. It has its world map.

No sense of competitive racing, no sense of control and an almost total lack of emotional connection between you, the car and the road.

Despite this heinous gameplay, the game is remarkably easy to get through (even if it does make you sporadically scream out in anger).

A tediously simple game, utilising all of two buttons and an analogue stick to do just about everything - which isn't much. This minimal depth repels any desire to want to return to this game ever again.

Invisible walls, unintuitive controls, an overgenerous landing ability and an overall sensation of direness that’ll make anyone who’s familiar with extreme sports games, find playing this one just dull.

The game's balance is all wrong. The controls are overly simplistic and you seem to take more damage from the little helicopters that flit around than you do the other monsters.

Frankly games like this give the industry a bad name, because every kid suckered into buying this tosh is consequently decreasing the chance of them buying a game ever again.

A pretty plain, non-radical slice of action that can’t even get close to other Extreme Sports games.

Without Warning fails miserably at whatever it set out to achieve. A lousy camera and ropey AI take a lot away from the cinematic style, and the sheer weight of repetition involved in the missions does little to expand on an idea that could have become a great title.