The story is as good as ever and backed by some of the best sound of any PSone game and a smattering of smooth FMV scenes the atmosphere is bang up there with the best.

A particularly good example of why SEGA and Sonic Team are so revered within the games industry.

This has got to be one of the nippiest first-person shooters we have ever played. It just reacts so well that you can''t fail to feel that you''re performing a useful role in the battle and are not just there to stomp around while looking fierce.

The question on everyone's lips though, is whether all of this is enough to take it up to the heights of Ace Combat? Well sadly no and we get the feeling that this is never going to be lethal enough to take on the Namco shooter.

The game represents an interesting twist on the traditional hacking and slashing themes but at the end of the day, it is still just that to anyone who can't be swayed by some RPG-lite elements and a few more enemies on screen.

A game that does everything it needs to do with just a touch of garnish here and there.

Quite simply Outtrigger IS better than "Quake III Arena" and "Unreal Tournament," even if it is lacking in Internet options. If you want to look at it in percentage terms, think about it like this; Outtrigger with online play would probably get around 96%.

If you can adjust to the tricky controls and the shockingly hard difficulty setting, then you'll find a fun, original title that mixes current 3D game design with the style and atmosphere of a retro classic.

Shadow Hearts has some intriguing elements, but disappoints with its battle dynamics and some terrible scripts.

If you want destruction and racing get "Burnout 3." This feels as fun as throwing a Lego car around a bathtub while a bald man shouts in your ear about how pissed off he is. Oh, right, there's the music volume down switch. Damn.

This could have been Activision's finest hour, but it looks likely to be nothing more than an agonising five minutes of fame.

The single most impressive thing about this game is the visuals. It ‘s quite remarkable to behold. Not in a “isn’t that pretty as an oil painting” kind of way, but in the sheer grand scale of it.

We’d recommend Primal to those of you who like games to act as a dictator rather than an instigator. And those who find fetching cups off coffee comparable to the heroic tasks undertaken by the heroes of Greek mythology.

For fans of the films and of fast future racers there is no better alternative to "Wipeout: Fusion" on the PS2.

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

Fighting games are based on fast reactions and timing; this game doesn’t bother to interpret either of these fundamentals with fights being far less engrossing and hands-on than playing with plastic dinosaurs while making “grrroooar!” noises.

Yes, this is the best AC yet, but come on, how about a new approach that includes a sense of scale?

Aside from some dodgy camera work (as always) this is a simple and at times fun game, which will be enjoyed by very young players. But there are plenty of better games like this out there.

There is enjoyment to be had here but it is so short lived that there is no point donating much more than one evening to the game. For a franchise that started out so well this does indeed seem to be the fall of Max Payne.

There's no denying the snippets shine with sheen, but while Frodo et al are off saving the world, your party feel like impostors - the real adventure is elsewhere. And it is - in a legion of other superior RPGs.

The multiplayer is okay, with nine additional maps, but it's otherwise a fairly short adventure without much variety and, annoying as it is, you won't return too often.

There are enough varied magical effects to keep the action interesting and fill the screen with the occasional burst of bright, explosive light effects.

What the original was intended to be - but it's still no "Alpha Centauri." [Feb 2001, p.78]

But of more importance to fans will be the array of movies, cast interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, which pads out the back end of the game. This isn't just squeezed in for added value either.

Most unforgiveable of all though, is the abysmally bad combat. Once your army is built, there is really nothing for the player to do other than point them at the enemy and hope to be last man standing.

It's very insistence on realism is what makes it so successful as an experience. It makes you feel that you're just an ordinary person (not a videogame hero, for example) in extraordinary circumstances and with very little chance of survival.

Those who have always wanted to have the chance to star in a real life cartoon should look no further than this fun little game. The cult starts here!

A slight update of a decent game but with other similar titles making significant additions to their gameplay itís in danger of stagnating.