Mario Kart 64 is much more of an arcade combat game than before but its lastability, like the 16bit original, will be measured in years not months.

Having old enemies join forces against Apocalypse is a decent idea for an X-Men story, it's a shame that it has been rendered into a series of dull maps and substandard action. One for collectors.

For the most part this is a fairly solid example of the genre, although positioning the cone can feel somewhat erratic thanks to the slightly jerky controls.

These games are massive, easily rivalling any recent console release in terms of size, scale and re-playability.

The fact remains that the improvements that NHL Hitz 20-03 has over the first game just can’t justify yet another £40… it’s just not different enough.

The bottom line is that Smackdown!: SYM is the only wrestling game on any console (not just the PS2) to have everything that the fans want… and a whole lot more. If that’s not enough of a reason to go out and get it, we don’t know what is.

Playing as Kong is a joy, (see boxout for details) but it's all too brief a flirtation with primal rage - scooping Ann up in his oversized hand and fending-off a Jurassic Park of tyrannosaurs with wrestling inspired moves, after swinging through a jungle canopy with all the grace of Ico is inspiring, but it feels like little more than a cameo.

For such a promising, daring game ultimately to play no differently at the end than it did at the beginning only underscores what a tremendous disappointment it is. As a pure cinematic experience it's absolutely unrivalled; as a videogame, it falls tragically short of the mark.

Despite the game's incredibly high difficulty level (that sometimes borders on the frustrating); the intricately designed levels, sumptuous aesthetics and razor sharp gameplay will constantly pull you back, until all you can live for is annihilating your previous high score.

The painfully overused 'gangsta-speak', the cop with a grudge against you and Josie Maran trying to pop your hood the whole time are all completely unnecessary, although not particularly obstructive, adornments. Otherwise though, this is everything you already love about Need For Speed plus the pigs.

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.

The physics engine wraps the package up nicely, so much so, that watching five bikes leap like frogs across the countryside becomes very mesmerizing.

As great and good and wonderful and new as SOCOM is, the game has a MOAB-sized room for improvement and before we go deeper into the communal experience of multiplayer combat we should cover a few points that prove that we’re not going to be fully-fledged cyber soldiers just yet.

There’ll be times when you curse it for being so tough, but when you do get anywhere the feeling of elevation is immense.

The learning curve of Ape Escape 2 is damn near perfect... If you’re looking for top-flight platform entertainment then you really cannot go wrong with Ape Escape 2, it’s brilliant.

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.

The tracks! Wow! The first ones... well, they''re okay, and they seem fast, but they're not really anything you won't have seen before - that's for the first one or two. But from then on... hold onto your hat, or rather, hold onto your lunch! If you thought rollercoasters were bad, try this! Loops, dips and multiple junctions that make it possible to take a different route for every lap of the race.

There have been many games in the past that have taken the "Baldur's Gate" gameplay as source material and, frankly, fudged the deal. But Legends succeeds because it treats both the "Baldur's Gate" gameplay and the X-Men licence with respect

The huge array of skills and the depth of character development stay true to Fallout's predecessors while the play is a devious mix of precision and inspired tactics with a healthy dose of an army motto, "Check, check and check again!"

Has the cars, moments of originality and the track designs to threaten even the mighty Project Gotham Racing and if the graphics were a little more impressive it may just have pipped it.

It’s worth playing through the game a few times to find varying routes through the levels, but after that all you’ve got left is the split-screen deathmatch, a feature that not only plays badly but really isn’t needed.

Definitely an improvement on previous editions and it seems that EA is some way towards emulating "Pro Evolution Soccer" on the PS2. Unfortunately for Xbox fans, it hasn't quite got it yet.

The worst part of all is the shocking lack of a multiplayer mode, and this is one of the main reasons why it doesn’t get a higher score. Still, jolly good fun… for a while!

Small problems like this, the brightness level and the basic control system are heavily outweighed by the exceptional gameplay and the stunning world laid out before you in Thief. [XBM]

Combines elements of countless classic games and adds three years' worth of great ideas to create something that in our opinion betters Nintendo's best attempts.

Whilst the game certainly contains plenty of exciting and innovative touches (such as stamina, hero units and the points scoring system to improve units) these are all somewhat nullified by the utterly chaotic nature of combat, and the fact that the single player campaign always pits you against impossible odds that make the game much harder - not because the computer is clever, just because it has bigger and better units.

My only major gripe is the over-emphasis on combat. You seem to spend most of your time repelling massive onslaughts from the enemy, then frantically rebuilding before the next one begins.

The sheer quality of V-Rally 3 from its graphical detail and effects through to the depths of the Career mode shines through. It’s only the lack of a multiplayer option that spoils the party.