When the time came to finish playing Squad Leader, I couldn’t uninstall it quick enough. Mentally scarred from the horrific experience, the only thing that kept me going was the chance to warn others about it.

Without Warning fails miserably at whatever it set out to achieve. A lousy camera and ropey AI take a lot away from the cinematic style, and the sheer weight of repetition involved in the missions does little to expand on an idea that could have become a great title.

It's simply so nut-twistingly rank, so grit-sandwichedly unpalatable that any speechless incredulity invariably gets rammed into your brain with more than enough force for it to pop right out the other side, leaving you gasping with an enlightened sense of faecel awareness.

Gameplay progresses at a frustratingly slow pace, and it seems the most rudimentary powers of deduction have been substituted for the need to find a small piece of evidence hidden away in the least likely place.

If you’re buying this to play on your own, you’ll get bored very easily. More than any other title released so far, this game is one to be shared. The more friends you take on, the more fun you’ll have. And if you don’t join in the fun, you’re dithpicable!

The weird and wonderful world of Jim is well suited to the GBA – fast-paced and addictive, with enough challenge to get the little grey cells working – but this disappointing port hasn’t done its slimy hero many favours, and GBA owners will find much better elsewhere.

If you want a shallow, no fun, sexist, rip-off of "Prince Of Persia," taken from a terrible idea for a film, then why the hell are you reading this magazine?

Nasty visuals, odd camera work, silly levels - Shadow suffers from all the problems for which people have criticised every other 3D Sonic game only, for the most part, to a greater degree. Deserves to get lost among the Christmas rush and never found or spoken of again.

A dreadfully wasted opportunity - especially when it looks so good.

At a tenner this would have been okay, but for a penny under £20 this just can’t be recommended.

The controls are all over the place, the collision detection is laughable, the missions are dull and it is the biggest waste of time and money since that thing KLF did ages ago. By no means be fooled into buying this, nah, you won't be, no-one is that stupid.

"Mad air, mad attitude, mad trix" is what 3DO say. "Mad to part with forty notes" is what we riposte.

Yes there is some fun to be had but you’ll get bored long before you unlock all the characters or see the final 26th level.

As it is only the most hardened fan would find any enjoyment here and we can only recommend that the door be locked and the key thrown away to this particular dungeon.

The controls are pretty lousy, characters will often merge with each other and scenery, and moves feel limited; plus, why can't we grapple an opponent when they're stunned?...Avoid this rubbish at all costs.

Sure, you can punish them all you want or play ball with them, but soon it all becomes rather too monotonous and, most importantly, you really don't care when the little freaks kick the bucket.

The problems are not just with the dullness of the game, the scrappy presentation or the lack of focus, but the controls are a bit shoddy too.

Although not very technical, there is still a great deal of fun and the Disney sparkle just shines through.

The game works, but suffers from a few flaws: The table is a little too short to enable you to build up tension over long periods of time and the two player lets it down.

It’s fast and quite good fun for the first few levels, but a complete lack of variety causes you to repeat the same thing over and over again, just with tighter time limits in place. Boredom sets in quickly.

Just don't come running back to us if little Johnny decides he hates you and moves out aged six when he finds this under his Christmas tree.

One particular puzzle is solved by gathering Oompa Loompas and setting them to tasks while Charlie does the more physical work such as throwing vine balls into pipes. It's as pointless a task as Sisyphus' punishment in Hades, and you have to do it five times. In a row.

You do this with the aid of obscuring camera angles, slow reactions, moves which force you to fight in the wrong direction, clumsy controls and a loading time that exceeds all expectations.

To think this dire piece of programming is worth 40p, let along £40 is an insult to everything we believe in as dedicated gamers. Buy it...go on, we dare you. You’ll be the only fool that does...

Aside from the fact that the concept isn't nearly as enjoyable as it sounds, the poor collision detection and generally cheap feel ensures that any potential excitement that could come from the game drains away after a few minutes like motor oil from a battered engine.

The competing cars really don't have a clue that you exist, happily veering into your vehicle should it happen to occupy a piece of track that they fancy for themselves.

It’s sluggish and unresponsive and absolutely riddled with annoying bugs that should have been detected early in the production process.

Playing T3 was a joyless experience, and only our loyalty to the Big Man kept us playing.