Depth is a rarity in sports games with an enjoyable single player mode even rarer but Fight Night Round 2 has managed to come up with both.

If you’re even remotely interested in RPGs, you have to bury yourself in this – it takes a bit of time to grow on you, but once Dark Cloud 2 has you, it won’t let go for a very long time.

There's no denying the marked improvements which make Pandora Tomorrow a far more amicable gaming experience, unfortunately it's the similarities that keep it from greatness. This plays how the original should have.

Exceptionally well designed, plays on a greater scale and requires more thought than Volition’s pretty baby ["Red Faction"] and so comes highly recommended.

It’s all very “out-there”. It’s all very stylish. And apart from the addition of some new and fairly self-explanatory mode updates and some stylishly presented menus this is really what makes Guilty Gear X2 stand out from the crowd.

It's refreshing to see a development team add so much to a sequel while maintaining the spirit of the original.

One thing that really needed attention in the Japanese version of Tenchu was the over active camera that follows your character. Skipping around with stomach-turning irregularity during fights and wandering off to give a confusing partial view of you or your opponent because it couldn't deal with nearby walls, this spoiled an otherwise very enjoyable game.

Hit top speed on a lengthy straight and the world slips into a stylised flat-out blur that offers an impression of unblinkable speed almost unparalleled since the original "WipEout" on PlayStation.

An absolute must buy for basketball enthusiasts (football fans think of "Pro Evoultion Soccer 3," with a license and Live capabilities). For anyone else: this is as good as console basketball gets, so try it.

There is nothing here that will convince flight sim haters to reconsider their approach, but invest time in this game and you will be rewarded with a fine gameplaying experience.

Flawed, yes, ambitious definitely - Silent Hill is a whole new experience adding to the challenge of "Resident Evil 2," while maintaining what it set out to do... drain you psychologically and scare you shitless!

Add in multi-player action over won.net and you have a truly excellent game that puts "Force Commander" well and truly to shame.

The biggest letdown of this game is just how short it is, though to open up everything does take a couple of runs through and you will want to play it again after that for sheer fun value alone! A truly gorgeous game, Onimusha Warlords is a must-buy for fans of the genre.

If the game world wasn't so big and the developer wasn't trying to push the limits of the machine then Mercenaries wouldn't be anywhere near as playable. As it is the sense of immersion in this huge war is inspiring.

A no-frills tank sim that has a very solid base but not a great deal in terms of extras or window-dressing. Tank sim fans will find this a pleasing and detailed addition to their collection but anyone who is looking for the latest graphics, frantic shooting or options by the bucketload will not find them here.

Though I never though I'd say it, Total Annihilation rises above every strategy game there has ever been. To put it bluntly, it is the best.

Bigger, more intricate and rather more absorbing that the first half of the story, The Lost Age is not only a great continuation of the Golden Sun saga but also a deeply satisfying game in its own right.

A definite improvement on last year’s version and while it’s still some way from perfection, it is the best and only proper offering this Xmas.

The Midas touch that has served so many Rockstar games has found its way into Midnight Club II, and although the game is by no means perfect, it is the breath of fresh air that should lift it above the glut of average racers that have wormed their way onto the console recently.

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

The game delivers an all important experience that harks back to the elements that made the films great when they were originally released, and even from the start it becomes obvious that a phial full of that authentic LucasArts MagicTM has been sprinkled throughout the game.

We're in this dream of a game right now and we don't want to wake up and start again- it has to continue and any interruption is akin to a fire alarm going off in a cinema during your favourite fantasy movie. Lovely stuff.

Despite being essentially the same ride as before, the improvements make this as good - if not a little better - than the original.

Cooper is without doubt the best character we’ve had the pleasure of meeting on the PS2 so far. If only the rascal would stay around for longer so we could get to grips with him better.

It might take some getting into and it’ll all but certainly fry your brain after extended play but trust us… Amplitude is well worth the mental and physical torment and you won’t play a better music game this year.

It's fluid action all the way, absolutely no problem to pick up and learn for even the most novice of gamers, striking to look at and lengthy enough to keep you going for months. And we've still not played it in English. [JPN Import]

The battle system is light years ahead of anything else in the RPG world - remarkably, it actually makes dungeon crawling fun - and the sheer amount of options you have with it means that you'll never get bored. [JPN Import]

This is one of the fastest, most intense racing games we’ve played on any system and makes rival games look absolutely sedate by comparison.