It's certainly slick and professionally done, and those who find platformers to be their favourite genre will find this very enjoyable. However, if you like your gaming to be different then all you'll get from this is a distinct feeling of deja vu.

The fact that NHL Hitz is so easy to pick up and then so playable once you're hooked is the thing that makes the game a total success in our book – there are so few sports games around these days that manage to do the job so well.

The town is massive and the whole style of the game just brings a huge smile to the face.

MTX:Mototrax is everything you have come to expect from a motocross game, but not that much more. Play is fun and fast but does not deserve winning honors.

2D beat-'em-up aficionados are unlikely to be convinced by the game.

The reduced teams make this game not only easier to follow but also a lot more fun to play than the EA hockey game.

The problem is that you have no control over where the camera is pointing so 50 percent of the time you'll be aiming at something off the screen.

Surprisingly, it's this split between the game's determination to showcase new elements while reintroducing more traditional gameplay that makes Sonic Advance 3 such a success; there's something here for everyone, no matter which era of Sonic you prefer.

Should you feed this particular 12 shiny purple centimetres of powerful, liberating gameplay to your hungry PS2, you’ll be grateful too: you won’t remove it until you’ve finished the whole thing at least twice.

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.

A lazy PS2 port. Make no mistake this is a perfectly decent piece of software, but when you handed over your cash for the Xbox you probably weren’t expecting to be playing hand-me-downs from a machine significantly less powerful.

Mario Party reflects Nintendo's current policy in Japan of knocking out gimmicky video toys instead of those pesky expensive-to-produce games. A good laugh with a group of friends, but it's no substitute for the games that made Nintendo's name in the first place.

The perfect example of how to update a classic game without losing the spark of sheer enjoyment that made it great in the first place. This is the first must-buy game of 2003.

Burnout is the worst example to date as you can be in first place yet still run out of time, a facet which is both infuriating, common to several courses and, considering the likelihood of at least a few collisions, utterly predictable.

Once you start playing however, you’re more than likely to find yourself running about like a blue-arsed fly as the game passes you by, such is the level of AI of the computer-controlled players.

Although it's wonderful to drive around a fully realised 3D Springfield at breakneck speed in Otto's bus, we can't help but feel that things are a little formulaic.

In motion, Alien Hominid is like nothing else - there's always so much going on and the smooth characters and animations most modern 2D titles to shame.

The game is very long. Playing through all 18 holes, the action does drag somewhat and you will have to put aside at least an hour to battle through the one player challenge.

The greatest shame about Midnight Club: Street Racing however is just how repetitive it can become.

The end result is, like the best blockbuster movies, a flawed but enjoyable waste of time.

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.

No matter how many times you die in the same place, no matter how frustrated you get, it has that magical power to make you snatch that controller back and soldier on.

This is by far the most impressive extreme sports game that we have played on the GBA. It truly is a remarkable piece of handheld programming.

The main problem lies in the fact that this is really nothing more than a re-done "SSX Tricky."

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!

Acceptable character animation and slightly angular backgrounds, decent combat and imaginative puzzles make for a warm gaming experience that's heavily undermined by a total lack of voice acting.

In wishing to both typify and exaggerate the visual style of a bygone age, Rez ultimately commits the cardinal sin of placing graphics before gameplay – a facet attributable to SEGA's desire for the title to be seen as art.

With some occasionally spooky moments, dialogue that isn’t afraid to say **** and NPCs that don’t mind the occasional vomiting session you’ve got a game that does the source film justice.