Though the Chaos mode great fun, there really isn't much to enjoy beyond this. The wealth of game modes, secrets and graphical wizardry we saw in "Kung-fu Chaos" is simply lacking in State of Emergency.

Grumbling aside, Hit & Run is a decent stab at doing something different with a The Simpsons game, but it still can't help being very, very unoriginal and dragging everything down to the lowest common denominator - collect stuff!

As for the new and imaginative innovations that we now expect from every EyeToy game, they're just not here.

Eight missions, plenty of multiplayer maps (including the most popular four from Ghost Recon) and the promise of at five downloadable desert missions means this is worth your cash.

What you have is a mish-mash of two gameplay styles, neither of which is particularly enthralling. Particularly not when you’ve got games like "Timesplitters 2" hitting the streets at almost the same time.

Playing Serious Sam is like one long deathmatch only the grunts youíre up against are far from clever.

An enjoyable yet unoriginal game.

The tight and sometimes confused battles may be bad for the gameplay but great for the overall 'Nam experience.

The best accolade Philosopher's Stone can receive is that it makes the events of the first story (published way back in the twentieth century) seem fresh for the fans, while hiding nothing from the uninitiated.

It may not be a startlingly original game but Need for Speed: Underground is an enjoyable one, and for racing fans, it's a must.

All platform games need are a healthy dose of variety and fun. If a yellow simpleton made of sponge can do it properly, then so can you.

Despite our disdain of the very concept of this game we did find it fairly engrossing.

So you're looking at what, three nights of fun for £69. There are ladies here who don't cost much more than that, and ladies, as we know, have boobs.

A major problem (though one that is sadly unavoidable) is the way in which activities can’t be fast-forwarded... The result is that a great deal of time is spent watching a Sim doing something utterly trivial and dull.

The game has scope. And so another question pops into your mind: What exactly has been sacrificed to accommodate this? The answer: A young girl, a goat and, unfortunately for Xbox owners, some technical proficiency.

With the bonus of a simple-yet-effective track editor, your ‘stunted’ growth is only limited by your imagination and patience, making this a game that will appeal to those inclined towards all things extreme.

Gladiator has a well-planned multiplayer mode that works on and offline so we're left with a fairly empty, meaningless experience of stupid weapons, coin collection and weapon upgrading that makes you wonder why you're playing. The answer: Multiplayer or you're recovering from a coma.

Walks a middling line between being a straightforward RPG and an action explorer but unfortunately excels at neither style.

It's a good, solid adventure game with plenty of cool little touches along the way, but (and there's always a but) it's nothing worth getting frothy at the mouth for.

Despite improvements, the game does look visually dated, and as such can't hope to top PGR2 in a beauty competition.

It’s just too short: the game takes around ten hours to complete.

If you mature, and don't get Star Wars at all it is possible that you may consider that this is more an quality Lego Star Wars product than it is a gripping Lego Star Wars game. This is one for the younglings. Move along.

The trouble is that The Thing just doesn’t scare us and that, you’d think, is a vital part of any horror game.

If there were a little more meat on this, we’d be looking at one of the best pinball games around, but as it stands, we can’t help but want for more.

Does little to break the classic platform mould but those of you who enjoy these types of games should find enough in it to provide some enjoyment.

Below the surface insanity though, is a much deeper fighter.

Stylistically, it's all neon pinks and shiny gadgetry. Think "Halo" or "Phantasy Star Online" viewed from above. Its strange then, for such an organic looking game that the control interface is awfully clunky.

There's no denying that Amped is a far more accurate depiction of snowboarding as a sport, but if it's fun you want you can't go far wrong with this.