Half-Life 2 establishes a class-step in gaming we haven't seen since "Elite" on the BBC Micro.

Fight Club is to fighting games what Tyler Durden's posturing is to Bruce Lee - a piss-poor impression.

A fascinating but flawed game.

It's a blaster dressed in perfect olive greens that makes previous "Medal Of Honor" games seem slightly robotic and soulless in comparison.

Jam just feels remarkably like the quickly cobbled together game it so obviously is, leaving it in the awkward position of being less balanced than "Alpha 2" or "Street Fighter III," less joyful than "Marvel Vs Capcom 2" and far uglier than "Guilty Gear."

Combat is a fluid, nippy affair more in keeping with 2D fighters like Guilty Gear than Tekken and includes a fine array of attacks that can be learnt and built on.

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

Whereas other shooters may have a 'just one more go' factor to them, the careful build-up to events in Ghost Recon 2 can crush the will of the less-dedicated gamer when it comes to repeating the same level for the fifth time. Even the addition of a save anywhere feature doesn't quite remove the teeth-grindingly annoying aspect of playing certain levels.

The track design however is where Crash 'N' Burn gets let down. Visually it's a hit and miss affair but the actual track layout is about as basic as you can get.

The game's balance is all wrong. The controls are overly simplistic and you seem to take more damage from the little helicopters that flit around than you do the other monsters.

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.

For anyone who likes their games to be more than a desperately frustrating chore we recommend steering clear of this one like the Black Death.

It's not a must-have classic but it's certainly one of the best fluffy platformers on the Xbox. The sheer polish of the game should also help broaden Blinx's appeal even further.

Ninety-five per cent of these games are rubbish, but you just can't help a quick trip down memory lane.

It's not horrific in a way that will leave stains on your fingers, but standing alongside "Dead Or Alive: Ultimate" and "Mortal Kombat: Deception," Fight Club is like putting a teddy bear into a lions den.

Every single scene, be it a village, a forest clearing or an enormous city, is brimming with character and attention to detail.

The grand, over-the-top nature means when Call Of Duty does go right, little can match it. Sadly, these moments don't happen often enough to sustain any enjoyment and being funnelled through the same linear missions over and over again is like watching the same chapter of a "Saving Private Ryan" DVD on repeat.

Need for Speed's underground isn't a gritty, electrifying one, it's a relaxed and velvety one. But damn does your gearbox ever sound sexy.

The game is solid. Especially on the multiplayer side of things.

For all its good intentions and car modifying appeal, there's a real lack of exhilaration under the bonnet that cripples the game the moment it leaves the starting line.

Nothing comes close to the feeling you get when the Eznite shuts down your systems for the first time and you have to reboot.

Calling them puzzles is a bit of a misnomer - calling them Slightly Challenging Platformy Bits That You Don't Have To Think About is far more accurate, if not quite as catchy.

It can actually be quite a laugh in a very basic sense - but the fact remains that there are better example of both genres, albeit independently.

Aside from the occasional piece of ropey responsiveness from the game engine, Jak and Daxter's moves are among the slickest on any console.

The Urbz is simply not fun. At all. Not only are your Urbz's bodily functions hyper-accelerated, but satisfying one of them, naturally to the detriment of another, is too time consuming with animations lasting an uncomfortably long amount of time, especially when you'll be seeing them so often.

The fact that you can't control the camera beyond a 'bring to rear' command is still very annoying when you've got enemies approaching from all sides.

It could be argued that Halo 2 multiplayer is not only leagues ahead of any other broadband enabled game, but it may even leave the single-player experience in the shadows. The options for online play are far more varied than even Ubisoft's Clancy titles, and the interface and lobby systems represent everything that Xbox Live is truly capable of. [XBM]

No, what really annoys is the fact that the developer feels it doesn't need to make an effort because it's a game for kids.