A fascinating but flawed game.

The inoffensive, safe, non-threatening nature of the title just doesn't ever inspire fun or even frustration, merely, and perhaps most disconcertingly, ambivalence.

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.

The best beat-’em-up you can get and it certainly puts "Tekken" in its place showing that 2D still rules the roost.

The mini documentaries on each beach at the start of every run and the cool jazzy music suit perfectly. This would seem to make Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer the perfect game for hard-core surfing fans.

The Star Wars game that will have fans in absolute rapture because the presentation and authenticity is totally flawless. Forget technical prowess or ground-breaking gameplay (although Battlefront is by no means ordinary in this department), this game has been built from the ground up by fans, for fans.

Simply flying around and admiring the scenery is an enjoyable enough pass-time. When you get serious with the game, it's demanding but fair, constantly pushing you further in mastering the various craft and the environment.

It may be far from perfect, but there are fleeting moments of exhilaration where FIFA 06 resembles a game of football like no other, and when this is coupled with a 15 year Career mode that now even enables you to choose your team's sponsor, even the most stubborn EA-hater will have to concede that this, for the most part, is a success.

As addictive as its predecessor thanks to its hypnotic racing, perfect feel and disregard for videogame rules.

It would be easy to dismiss it as a PlayStation port but it's a top game in it's own right, if you're prepared to look beyond the occasionally ropey visuals.

The only problem is, just as the visual style has been ramped up and reduced to looking like an episode of an anodyne Saturday morning cartoon, the gameplay has been reduced to fit.

Any country that regularly throws machine-recovered meat down their throats while sucking on a drink that tastes like it should be pumped down the gullets of burns victims can’t have their tastes taken too seriously.

Sadly, your competitors behave like drones, slaves to the racing line. When a rider glances over at you, your presence has not really been registered.

As with "Amped 2," it looks like the developers have sidelined the game feel in favour of faithful sporting recreation, and all things considered, the game benefits greatly.

A little more depth would have made it a classic, but it's still a must for Spidey fans, or anyone else after a big, brash citywide blast.

Whilst the game might handle like a superlative arcade racer from each dynamic moment to the next, it neither looks nor behaves like one in any real, wider sense...it's far too concerned with vainly struggling to be a simulation.

While it’s tricky to recommend a game that doesn’t run too well on a piece of hardware with static tech-specs, the fact remains that, gawd bless ’im, old Max had us entirely enthralled until the end of his adventure.

Simply the most atmospheric game we've played this year. In terms of overall presentation, it is beautifully accomplished, but, and it's becoming more and more rare these days, beneath this veneer lies a game that's enjoyable whether you approach it as a stealth specialist in need of a fresh and fulfilling adventure or simply as a mindless blast-a-thon.

If you liked the previous games you’re going to love Munch’s Oddysee – it’s as simple as that!

The story following McKane and his fictional personal battle in the real TOCA environment not only makes this stand out from other racers but it also opens the racer up to a wider mainstream appeal.

If you’re prepared to put up with this lack of variation, you’ll find a good, solid game with many parallels to the Tony Hawk’s series itself.

Everything about this game sounds better on paper. The locations, range of vehicles and even the zero gravity final show down all fall short of their billing.

The visuals are sharp, the audio is awesome (whack up the 5.1) and the action comes thick and fast in what is one of the most frenetic and exciting shooters we've seen for a while.

The presentation of the game is spot-on and it's an interesting challenge for those hardened adventurers who prefer a who-dunnit puzzler to a comical romp in the park.

Simply put, if you don’t like the genre previously known as an RPG then there is nothing here to shine you on, but what there is has been created with such a level of craft that there’s no denying its artfulness. It’s a beauty and as near (yet far) to a Zelda release as we’re going to see.

It’s a fast and furious blast that should appeal to all grapple fans. Now how’s about giving us 80’s Metal Vendetta next, EA?

If Capcom wants this hard-core beat-’em-up to appeal beyond a niche market changing the control system alone is not enough.

Call us old fashioned, but shouldn't a game be tougher at the end than the start? Amped 2 does start to pick up after several stages, and once the methods have been mastered there is some serious enjoyment to be had.