It’s to the developer’s credit that this does not feel at all like "Pharaoh" with a Greek touch, but has its own feel and style to it.

The healthy collection of missions provides plenty of variety to try out some of your moves, although sometimes the breakdown of these missions into short objectives can spoil your fluency.

The definitive action game for hardcore gun fetishists -- it''s second only to Goldeneye in the first-person adventure stakes, and a close second at that!

Add in the camaraderie and chat, the shouts of alarm and the odd comedy moment to lighten the tension and you have a cracking game that would be perfect if only there were a couple of branches down the very straight and narrow.

While accomplished would be a better adjective than flamboyant when it comes to gameplay, Amuze deserves kudos for the cinematic quality afforded the game's script and musical score.

A high watermark for where epic hack'n'slash games should be at this stage of the Xbox's lifecycle.

With nerve jangling 5.1 audio that perfectly complements the washed out (purposely of course, in a Ring/The Grudge style) well-detailed visuals; Tecmo has created an atmospheric treat that truly delivers on all counts.

The story mode is too short but the challenges and multiplayer options make up for it. Although it's not a massive improvement over TimeSplitters 2, it is definitely just as good in terms of pure entertainment.

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.

You might not find yourself playing Crazy Taxi constantly on the day you buy it, but you'll still be picking it up for a quick blast of arcade action this time next year.

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 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.

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).

Gameplay is great, the graphics are fine (without being jaw-droppingly good), the presentation is good and the difficulty level can be tweaked to your exact specifications.

Looks, sounds and plays every bit as good as "Gran Turismo 3" while bringing some great new additions to the genre.

The action just lacks the fluidity and finesse of some of the competition, like "Tekken" and "Virtua Fighter," and that certain sparkle that makes good beat-’em-ups great.

Xenosaga II is a worthy follow up with richly detailed characters and great battling, but it seems a little unfair to expect European gamers to jump onboard so late in the game.

Someone out there obviously thought that creating a simulation of real-life farming was a pretty good idea -- the worrying thing is that they might just be right! It may be all too much like hard work but this game can make growing cabbages seem as addictive as Hagen Das ice-cream!

This is what Doom is, and for those who’ve never played the PC original before, it’s wonderful.

Fans of "Ready 2 Rumble" will find a great deal to enjoy here - even if it doesn''t quite reach the classic heights of the first game there is still plenty of variety here to keep you coming back for more.

The aforementioned RPG mode is where we’ve found most of our time invested in Colosseum vanish. The darker-than-usual portrayal of the Pokémon world is an interesting and commendable change in style and the gameplay itself offers the player a substantially different experience to the handheld games. [JPN Import]

The only downside to the visual experience is the terrible crowd – but the game is so fast your eye is on the puck at all times so you won’t notice it too much unless you’re into watching replays a lot.

The next time a game developer gets a wacky idea, and an original game design, they should concentrate on offering a full adventure, rather than knocking off a few levels and making it depressingly hard to get through.

What really elevates the game, though, is the impressive implementation of the Havoc 2.0 engine. Fling an enemy into a wall, and his broken body will slump lifelessly to the floor, throw him into a barrel and chuckle wickedly as the hapless guard goes sailing through the air like an oversized rag doll.

This isn’t the prettiest adventure to hit the cathode-ray tube, but as an enjoyable and well-woven game it holds together in an enjoyable and consuming manner without resorting to pigeon philosophy and half-hour digital fireworks.

A suitably impressive game, if not for its sparkling gameplay, then for its determination to do something different with the whole genre, in which it remains almost unique.

Serious Sims fans might be a little disappointed. It's entertaining but doesn't have the depth of the earlier games in the series.

Ultimately, while Kingdom Under Fire might be considered a Korean homage to Blizzard, there’s plenty here to enjoy in its own right.