This game doesn't only look great it also sounds amazing. The meaty gunfire and explosions will shake the very skin from your bones.

It also looks immensely cool to see Jacques swinging through the air. Later, his whip is upgraded to a segmented sword-cum-whip combo - as brandished by Ivy in Soul Calibur - once again demonstrating the disparate influences that have gone into his design. [JPN Import]

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

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!

Not only is the atmosphere of this one second to none, the game that it surrounds is massively rewarding and challenging in equal measures.

It's a tough, fun game that will have you coming back for more until you've mastered it. But it all feels a little dated now. Be aware that this isn't your typical shooter either... silent, but violent.

Quite simply, Beetle Adventure Racing is the most fun, most exciting and most satisfying racing game on the N64 to date.

If you can look past this failing though, P. N. 03... is massively enjoyable game. Each room is another challenge, asking you to think on your feet while being attacked from all angles, and strangely, it never gets too frustrating.

Relies a little too heavily on the creativity, imagination – and popularity – of the licence, without adding much in terms of innovative gameplay. However, for younger gamers, it is a simple and enjoyable game, and a perfectly pleasant walk with the dinosaurs.

A fantastic port of the PC title and is incredibly addictive to play, but it could've been so much better. As it is, this is more like the Jack Sparrow of the pirate world; it doesn't quite reach the kind of class you'd expect from a pirate like One-Eyed Willy.

The bikes handle brilliantly, with a real sense of momentum and a transfer of weight to the front and rear wheels under acceleration and braking.

It may have allusions of "Grandia", it may have huge sections marred by cheese-fuelled music that can sound as if it has actually being produced by a fifteen-year old sound chip, but it's still an excellent title that can be so gripping you may find yourself considering a life as a tabletop wargamer, dice in hand and grin on face.

Colourful, fun and even – dare we say it – educational, Barbie Groovy Games is nicely designed and perfect for its market.

The Juiced of 2005 is virtually unrecognisable from the Juiced of 2004, and quite frankly it puts "Need For Speed Underground" to shame.

Playing NFSUG is like driving through the West End at midnight wearing Vaseline smeared sunglasses. Quite how a game can look both polished and blocky is beyond us, but that's exactly what EA has managed here.

As long as you don't want to be blown away with an audio-visual feast adventure fans will really enjoy it.

When useful new features are added to an already excellent title, surely this just makes the experience that much more enjoyable. Go on, swallow your pride and play a damn fine PS2 game on your Xbox. [XBM]

A definite improvement on last year’s version and while it’s still some way from perfection, it is the best and only proper offering this Xmas.

Another criticism levelled at last year’s release was the dodgy AI. This time round the CPU players are much more intelligent making for a more challenging, yet rewarding game.

Massively superior to the pre-Xbox original, Headhunter: Redemption doesn't stand up as anything really special in this crowded genre, but instead flashes with moments of quality and intriguing entertainment that sparks life into a strictly one-way stroll through endless corridors.

Despite being a fun, polished and highly stylised game, Ratchet & Clank 2 feels like it's playing catch-up in a crowded genre, a feeling made all the more real considering its running on a year old graphics engine.

Tweaked sounds and graphics make it look slightly better and sound slightly nicer, but it’s not really a sequel in the true sense of the word. The Sims Bustin’ Out adds logical improvements to an already winning formula without blowing us away with any stunning revelations.

Our longest wait was just over 60 seconds (longer than our quickest match-up) while an announcer blathers on about the next match and we sit confused, assuming that the game has crashed.

We found that the need to hammer the A, B, L and R buttons repeatedly did get quite painful after a while. Doubtless fans of the Ready 2 Rumble series will love it though.

We don't dislike Brothers In Arms - far from it - but can only be disappointed that we expected a classic war game and instead Ubisoft merely delivered a very good one.

Good in the sense that it means anyone can instantly pick it up and perform miraculous feats of head-cleaving prowess. But bad because it means you can effortlessly plough straight through it without having to work very hard.

As a party game, PaRappa the Rapper is top notch. It is totally hilarious when you have the cheesy cartoon hip-hop pumped up loud and people get into difficulties trying to follow the lyrics in time.

A solid looking, solid playing basketball game that sits firmly in the ‘realism’ camp.

Playing Worms Forts is not entirely unlike finding that you have just been poured the worm out of the bottom of a tequila bottle. You're not entirely sure about whether it's a good thing or not; but swig back this odd looking creature and an hour later good times follow.

The great thing about Mischief Makers is that it keeps you guessing. There's no fixed pattern to the levels, for example; bosses pop up all over the place and one minute you could be running for your life from a volcanic eruption, the next be free-falling down a seemingly-bottomless pit.

For all its flaws though, Scrapland's immersive gameplay, enjoyable storyline and quirky, unique atmosphere are more than enough to keep you hooked until the very end.

Great for hardcore Forgotten Realms fans as well as a tasty prospect for those of us who would rather read real books and have never played a single game of Dungeons & Dragons, but still want a decent dabble into an agreeable world where numbers aren't as important as your ability to slay hordes of evil monsters and find keys.

A massive improvement over the previous Mat Hoffman title on the PSone. It’s nothing too original and it does have its flaws.

A highly playable and very fast arcade racer.

Easily the best game in the series to date. We can, at last, put the mess that was "Conflict: Vietnam" behind us and continue down this far brighter path.

OK so it's not exactly packed with originality neither will it take you weeks to complete but it's loads of fun and after all isn't that what's important? Put simply, it's quite possibly the best Bond game yet as far as its overall 'Bondness' goes.

It’s a good looking game – without being stunning – it handles well and offers a refreshing alternative to the usual racing fare. Some of the races do get frustrating, but on the whole, Midnight Club II is an enjoyable experience – particularly in multiplayer mode.

Quite involving after a while with some excellent puzzles for you to solve and many strange people to talk to, but it does take quite a while to get into.

Yeah, this is what videogames should be all about -- indiscriminate carnage on a massive scale without a trace of cuteness, "nurturing and trading" or thought.

Wisely staying away from being a full on sim, NBA 2K5 features incredibly slick gameplay, intuitive action and - most importantly - delivers a fantastic game of Basketball that dumps on EA's recent effort from a great height.

There's a lot in Warioland to wow you but, at the end of the day, it's just a GBC adventure with nice graphics. Which is REAL daylight robbery.

That said, there is no doubt that this is a fantastic game that contains believable characters (surely a rarity in the world of RPGs) and although occasionally stuttering in a fit of lost focus, manages to both charm and delight with its fresh locales and gung-ho attitude.

The missions vary between furious dogfights, bombing runs and escort duties, there's even a spot of stealth. The sound is stunning, and visually the game is equal to the best of the genre.

The same easy scoring from 'sweet spots' plague the game and for some reason it's nigh on impossible to score from five yards out, one-on-one with the keeper. And because of the reliance on motion captured animation and pre-set special moves, you still never feel in complete control of the player. This aside, the improvements outweigh the old problems.

Although it could have been improved even further — the graphics and vaguely cumbersome feel of the movement still need more refinement — as a tactical squad based shooter, this is easily the GameCube’s best.

Its shallow atmosphere aside, there is little wrong with Smuggler’s Run. The graphics will stun even the deepest of cynics, whilst the array of sub-games and variety of missions highlight "Driver’s" limitations.

A few flashy new moves hardly compensate for the lack of subtlety and polish that was so evident in the original title.

The speed, responses, combination moves and array of fighting styles intertwine to present a tactical beat-’em-up with enough edge to coax even the most-hardened arcade junkies out of their smoke-caked games dens.

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...

With up to four players racing together, Downhill Domination offers plenty of adrenalin- pumping action and if you are looking for a different and rewarding racer then this is one mountain worth climbing.

Whereas other shooters may have a 'just one more go' factor to them, the careful build-up to events in Ghost Recon 2 can crush the will of the less-dedicated gamer when it comes to repeating the same level for the fifth time. Even the addition of a save anywhere feature doesn't quite remove the teeth-grindingly annoying aspect of playing certain levels.

Getting golds across the board certainly ain't easy, but decimating your mates/siblings/granny (shame on you!) is what'll keep you coming back to Ronald long after the snow has thawed.

It has personality, it has clever puzzles, it has things to collect and above all, it's an absolute blast to play. It's only the dream sections that let this down and repetition does creep in towards the end but even so, it doesn't take the sheen off a sparkling sequel.

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.

A refreshingly original take on a notoriously starchy genre; tongue in cheek, sword in hand and pants around ankles. Hail to the king.

Like "SSX Tricky," ATV2 relies on tight playability to keep your mind off the averageness of the visuals. The only real moan is that crashes lack any sort of bone-jarring impact.

The multiplayer mode is where the real fun lies then, and this game can genuinely suck hours from your existence with the aid of a few bloodthirsty friends and an unhealthy obsession with scrap metal.

The control system (using the right stick for punches) is an inspired idea and has been well balanced with the stamina meter. However, it only seems to work smoothly half of the time.

Doubts aside, if you're after a quality shoot-'em-up that's as filthy as you like then Roadkill is for you.

This is really just an upgrade to DW3, so if you’ve got that, you’re probably better off waiting for DW4, but then it does open up new features in DW3 and has an extra hard difficulty level, so if you’re a DW nut... But if you fancy taking your first foray into the series, this is definitely the best one so far.

The original game was impressive and perhaps left little room for another but Venom has managed to produce a sequel that really packs a punch.

If you missed the first game altogether, we suggest you get behind the wheel of Big Mutha Truckers 2 right now as it's a trucking good laugh that cannot fail to raise a smile. A hit? Truck yeah! (Sorry.)

Yes, the game rewards the time you put in and trust us, this is one game you'll be coming back to again and again.

Mischief Makers dropped some hints about what the N64 can do in 2-D, but Yoshi's Story pushes the boat out so far it''s run ashore on the other side ... but once you've got past the initial sense of ''ahh, isn''t that sweet'' it doesn''t take long before all that sugar rots your teeth and sets your stomach a-churning.

Tecmo has effectively played it safe and delivered a game that while very good, does not offer the same enhancements to the genre that the original achieved. It's definitely worth picking up; just don't expect anything startingly original.

The content will make this fairly heavy going for the adventurer of light heart but, for serious role players, it makes a big change from the floppy hats and warty ogres.

Afar as 2D fighting games go, this is right up there with the best, if not THE best.

This might not be the most detailed of F1 simulators but for now it looks, sounds and plays the business!

Perhaps it’s not quite worthy of the asking price, but so long as you enjoy at least six or seven of the games (and you most likely will), you’ll be getting enough to keep any gamer happy for a good while.

A solid Career and Create-a-player mode nicely round off a genuine oh-go-on-then-one-more-go game but the real fun to be had is in fighting on multiplayer.

We'd suggest you're somewhat dead inside if you didn't succumb to Psychonauts' attractive lure; the comedy ranges from sublime to outright hilarious, the visuals are delightfully detailed and the level design, while focused on collecting for the most part, is both devious and thought-provoking.

The end result is that we get another decent Medal Of Honor Game set in the same Medal Of Honor mould when everyone knows that if your going to survive in the jungle you're going to have to adapt to survive.

While the balance between shoot-'em-up action, stealth and puzzle solving makes Rogue Ops a treat to play, what we love most about it is its openness. To every problem or obstacle encountered there's nearly always at least two solutions, sometimes even more (see panel for more detail).

The rewards to be reaped are well worth ignoring the occasional glitch or repetitive section, as haunting musical tracks, and some wonderfully Geiger-esque environments make this game one of the best presented on the console, even if it sometimes lacks a little bite.

It’s not going to rock your world, but it looks good, sounds good, plays great and is sure to put a big old smile on your face.

It's not a Metroid or a Zelda that you’ll plug away at solidly to completion, but it's a great way to let off steam and something you can dip into for a quick blast with the promise of something new always around the corner.

Aside from a few new gameplay aspects, this is "Rayman 2" all over again.

Where Shogo departs from its gaming relatives is in the mix of huge MCVs that can leap gracefully up the outsides of tall buildings and daintily tread on dinky people and the on hoof levels where your frail body is fully exposed to the bullets, laser bolts and high explosives.

The entire game is full of references to the TV series and the scripting/voice acting is perfect. It's mainly this reason that Hit And Run is so much fun to play, it's also why we're more than happy to ignore the GTA style.

This subtlety, off the wall humour and quaint fun makes Ribbit King multiplayer very compelling indeed.

While 32-bit consoles have seen a drift back to the old 2-D scrolling shoot-'em-ups, Star Fox updates the format for the 21st century. It's a stunning, state-of-the-art space opera.

As with most aerial-based antics most of the games' objectives are straight forward and involve little more than clearing the screen of enemies but the blend of black and white wartime footage, airborne action and wonderfully recreated propaganda posters immersed us so much.

DOD irresistibly draws you back for more time and time again. The level designs shine above so many other team-based shooters and provide the perfect stage for some unbeatably tense shootouts.

It really is something worth picking up if you want something that is bristling with its own attitude whilst managing to combine a lot of familiar elements together.

RedCard doesn’t concern itself with realism and whilst that may offend die-hard Pro Evo fans, the more casual player will have a great time.

If you're looking for a realistic and fun basketball game, then NBA Live 2003 will not disappoint.

It is far from an easy game to get into, but once embroiled in the seedy world of crime, the hours tend to drift by surprisingly quickly, and its longevity is assured as it is extremely difficult, even on the easiest of the four computer levels.

Coming out of nowhere and with little fanfare, this is certainly one of the genre's better titles. The only problem is that it's hard to identify with a cute robot who makes other cute(ish) robots break apart.

For those with an open mind The Summoner is a very original and very entertaining game that melds PC and console gaming perfectly to create something very original indeed.

When we hear the words “movie” and “license” we automatically start sharpening knives. In this case we were to busy moistening to the sight of total and unashamed gun-porn to want to draw blood. Yes, we feel ashamed.

It looks loads better, has more objects and Sim-building options; it gives you more freedom and sense of neighbourhood. The trouble is that it's not the giant leap of gameplay that would warrant another £40.

The sheer scale of the game is breathtaking, and there is an undeniable feeling of freedom in roaming the stars at your pleasure between missions.

There's something just so attention-grabbing about the game's approach to action and subject, something so intriguing about the story which makes it far more than the FPS-scrolling beat-'em-up early opinions suggested. [JPN Import]

It's not GoldenEye, let's get that clear; but there is plenty in the game for it to stand up and be counted as a genuinely class title.

The series may seem a little aged after just 12 months - something underlined by the superior alternative of Battlefield 2: Modern Combat which is already available - but there's a lot here to get to grips with, especially given that multiplayer effectively triples the potential, with offline and online modes fleshing out the action.

Unhappily then, ZOE is a novel, yet overly hyped PS2 game that ranks alongside "The Bouncer" as one of the biggest disappointments of the year.

Whether each play is successful or not is therefore something for which one rarely feels wholly responsible, although the overall sheen ensures that your suspension of disbelief can easily compensate.

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!