Controlling the Master Chief, on his mission to save the multiverse from the nasty Covenant aliens, has never been so enjoyable. Conversions may be a risky business, but here, the risk has paid off. Halo is a sublime piece of software.

The ever-changing gameplay really keeps you riveted.

Regardless of how you feel about graphics in The Wind Waker, one thing is a definite; adopting a cel-shaded style hasn't harmed the game. In fact it has added to it.

Simply astounding. Combining all the best things about Action/Adventure games and mastering everything it attempts, Sony’s Santa Monica studio have crafted a true work of genius.

The multiplayer is well designed, but contains flaws that will cause a lot of gamers to turn away in disgust.

You could quite literally configure a different game of Unreal Tournament 2004 for every day of your life. Each map can be played either online or with bots. Online play is, as ever, greatly preferable, but the bots seem the cleverest to date and can provide an enjoyable challenge.

The best MMORPG on the market, of that there is no argument. By taking the choicest cuts from previous titles in this genre, Blizzard has constructed a fairly unoriginal but nevertheless brilliantly assembled game world.

Unfortunately, when the game is outclassed by its rivals, it feels rather bland. The career mode may rival that of Gran Turismo 4 in the anal depths it descends to, but seems to lack the love and attention (for instance, the wrong cars competing in the wrong championships) of the Polyphony Digital classic.

A better game than "Mario 64." Super Mario Sunshine is gorgeous on practically every level, from storyline to graphics, sound to gameplay, design to concept – nothing has been left to languish in an uncared for state, and everything is polished to perfection.

Continued innovation combined with respect for the series’ heritage means Solid Snake fans have yet more hours to wile away in Kojima’s land of deception and false-truths, but many are likely to be left scratching their heads at an even more frequent rate than at the release of Sons of Liberty four years ago.

The most striking thing about the way Ninja Gaiden plays is that there isn't a cheap gimmick or the odd handy feature: it's that the animation and control are coupled perfectly to make a fluid and almost effortless game experience.

Looks gorgeous and its gameplay is intense and ambitious. There are just enough new features to justify its massive hype, giving fans of the series many reasons to be excited. But it is not yet the finished article.

Despite being a completely different genre, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga manages to do that one thing that not many others have managed: it transcends the barrier set between genres, and the result is nothing short of brilliant. Bouncy, platformy fun.

Rarely are games so well judged and lovingly crafted as this, and we defy anyone playing Metroid: Zero Mission not to lament the fact that brand new 2D gems like this could become a rare occurrence when the PSP moves hand-helds into 3D-ville.

With a subtle, yet engrossing mix of comedy, intrigue, conspiracy, betrayal, mythology, magic, sadness, rage, joy and excitement wrapped up in a wonderfully charming oriental package, there are considerably worse ways of investing the 20-25 hours it'll take you to play through first time around.

We’re now thoroughly claustrophobic, agoraphobic and generally panophobic (afraid of everything). Far Cry has left us well and truly scarred, but after the experience it’s given us, we’re not ones to complain.

There are downsides to the game, though, the biggest of which being the absence of any form of multiplayer.

Basic yet brilliant, it’s been ages since we were this obsessed with a game.

If you have gleaned even the slightest bit of enjoyment from the series down the years, youâ??ll never look back. Another awesome PSP game.

With the changes made to the gameplay, there’s no doubting Namco has turned the series around to deliver one of the strongest beat 'em up performances we’ve seen since "Dead or Alive Ultimate."

So on a positive note, if you didn't have a graphics card with enough oomph to play Doom 3 the first time around on PC, this is a suitable and acceptable way to finally scare the bejesus out of yourself.

Offering silky smooth visuals with some of the most frantic gameplay we’ve seen to date on the diminutive, yet highly capable, machine.

This is the ultimate in claustrophobic corridor blasters, and no matter what cynical hacks might say about the flashlight system, take no notice because it’s one of the most unique and cunning ideas we’ve seen in years – plus, it bloody well works!

Those who struggled to get to grips with the original game will be delighted to know the handling has been rebalanced to allow for greater accessability.

In terms of being a conversion, Pandora Tomorrow on PS2 suffers from the technological drop quite badly, but it’s not like we weren’t expecting it. After all, the PS2 will be four later this year, so a few things going awry here and there doesn’t exactly leave us weeping tears of pain.

Great for a quick game on the bus, perfect for those extended sessions on the train, Burnout Legends is right up there with Lumines and Virtua Tennis on our PSP must-have list. Truly brilliant.

It's Freedom Force, basically, but with a bit of spit and polish. It wouldn't be unfair to say this could've retailed as an expansion pack, except for the fact virtually no-one bought the first game.

The melee mechanic works well for its first outing, and with a little tweaking it could really come into its own on the next generation. Bored of Halo? Get Unreal Championship 2.

City of Heroes sporadically delights and contains many great ideas that require more diverse in-game options before ascending from its current level of interesting diversion to essential purchase.

SWAT 4 is no "System Shock 2" – it’s not going to break any boundaries. However, in a world where professional finish and attention to detail is increasingly rare, its focus on filling a job role rather than filling terrorists with holes is refreshing and admirable, and is definitely worthy of investigation from anyone capable of exercising the restraint required to fully appreciate what this game is about.

Definitely the best Onimusha title so far, based on a purely aesthetic level.

A fantastic game which is an absolute must buy both for fans of the genre and people looking for a real grown up challenge on the Gamecube.

Not as good as either of the first two games...What it is, is a rather decent homage to the greatest stealth game ever made, which does a reasonable job of recapturing the ethos and style, and a great job of recapturing the gameplay of the game we all fell in love with.

For newcomers, what you’re getting is the ultimate vision of the best game from the 90’s.

Fast, fluid and thoroughly absorbing, Virtua Tennis World Tour is not only as essential a purchase as "Lumines," "WipEout," "Ridge Racers" and Co., it’s a reason to buy the PSP itself.

We were disappointed by the length and size of the maps sometimes, sure, but there is no escaping the fact that the wealth of options present in Invisible War make it one of the most approachable games we have ever encountered since, well, Deus Ex.

Has neither the dexterity of "Outrun 2," nor the thrill of "Burnout 3." It does little to either further the genre or master a particular element, yet to a degree this is a title that can be enjoyed in short spurts.

As if intentionally trying to be the best it could be, Battlefield: Vietnam has possibly the greatest musical score known to game-kind.

Online, Sunrise is beyond fault. There are plenty of games to join (albeit most of which requiring a minimum of GCSE French) while if playing on your lonesome happens to be your thing, plenty of tracks are available for download, with your creations - if any good - are guaranteed an eager reception.

It's a shame that the rag-doll physics are the worst we've come across since, ooh, Rainbow Six: Raven Shield, because you'll often find that lifeless and unconscious bodies fall in the most ridiculous and impossible positions.

Breathtaking attention to detail served with great graphics that'll run on anyone's system all make it highly commendable. The game provides a lot of intensely focused carnage, but absolutely nothing else, and that wasn't quite enough to keep us entertained for it's whole duration.

The visuals are simply superb, and as we mentioned earlier, the courses look gorgeous and animation is up to the high standard Nintendo has created for itself.

The story is very perplexing at times, no doubt. There’s an awful lot of backtracking and some really tough spots. But the game does everything that it wants to and everything it needs to to secure itself at the top spot of scary games chart.

Harvest Moon is hugely addictive and will almost certainly have you playing for hours on end when you only expected to fill that blank half-an-hour in your schedule.

It’s uncomplicated, enjoyable and unashamedly action-packed: this is for gamers who don’t know exactly what they want. If they want meat, they’ll have chicken; if they want a drink, they’ll have lager; if they want a strategy game, they’ll have something good looking, easy to get into and more fun than a drunken weekend with Kiera Knightley.

The fusion of many games into one is uninspired and lazy, which is all the more depressing when you consider the basic frame of the game is a solid one.

The gameplay might be simpler, the setting more clichéd and the duration shorter, but the ideals of the old ‘Looking Glass Aesthetic’ remain intact. If you care about this, you’ll love Invisible War like your own child.

It’s a wonderful game with a clichéd, though entertaining plot and some hefty system requirements. If you can meet the latter and don’t give a damn about the former then you will find plenty here to enjoy. Especially the tanks.

A brilliant game. Even though at no point is the Terran Empire playable, the Virons and their unique melding technology (two units can be ‘melded’ together to create a different unit) makes up for this loss by adding a new level to the strategy.

The lack of real longevity as a result of this and the chronically unvarying things to do, combine with a curious mixture of shoddy and great graphics to create an odd concoction. It's so much fun swinging around and beating up baddies, but so painful to see the same situations again and again.

Essentially a filler game with a few new weapons and tools of murder, and, of course, its new and improved game engine. The problem is, while it’s nowhere near the leap from Hitman: Codename 47 to Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Hitman: Contracts is still a highly enjoyable game, and one that gives us hope that the next title in the series will have much more effort poured into it.

There’s nothing so wrong with Empire Earth II as to show it up for being the rather unexciting and decidedly average game it should be.

Certainly, the only other drawback is the lack of a hard drive for the PS2 version, which would have been ideal for storing copious amounts of tunes, but we can’t hold Codies responsible for that one.

These games really are the pinnacle of strategic warfare, and anybody of this bent who hasn’t already visited really should give the Combat Mission Anthology a shot. Sure, the complexity will be too much for many, but persevere and there’s a wealth of intelligent fun to be had here.

The sheer carnage you're able to unleash can verge on the glorious, and the copious amounts of vehicles available in some sections certainly boosts variety. But the only thing we can really recommend Conker: Live & Reloaded for is it's single player mode.

A vastly entertaining, if flawed, port of a modern day classic.

For a port of a PC game, Max Payne on the Game Boy Advance is astonishingly well-done.

Etherlords II, on the one hand, benefits from having an excellent combat mechanism lying within the game. Unfortunately it takes a nose-dive because the game that surrounds it isn’t worth a toss.

Tough, punishing and as unreliable as the timer on a second hand VCR, there’s an experience hidden beneath the lush foliage and 100 different types of weapons that’s hopefully the first of many to revolutionise the RTS.

Arena Wars is multiplayer RTS streamlined and polished to perfection. It looks good, it plays great and it has the potential to be a lot more than just a cult classic.

Suffers from the ailment of been there, done that, and got the +3 t-shirt of protection (+ 5 against missiles).

This is just about the racing cream of the GBA crop. Fast, flowing and more absorbing than industrial sponges, owning a GBA and not having this in your collection should bring with it a custodial sentence.

It offers a challenge to the experienced gamer that is second to none, and a level of innovation that, while undeserving of its boastful slogan "Real Time Strategy Reborn", could certainly reinvigorate a genre where something truly new and unique is so very hard to come by.

The story is nothing short of fantastic and it’s worth noting that this being the last Kain game under the direction of Amy Hennig (who is off to create games for Jak and Daxter developer Naughty Dog), she has really gone out with a bang.

It has its faults, shortcomings and severe community deficiencies, but if you put the time and effort in to learn the intricacies of how it plays in both grunt and commander modes, you could end up playing this one for a long, long time to come.

Its simplistic arcade gameplay simply doesn’t cut the mustard on the birthplace of stealth gaming, and its only lasting effect will be a strange desire for the involving, story-driven gameplay of the king: "Thief."

Its stylish looks, its innovative control and demented sense of humour make for a game that’s not only a complete joy to play, but also the first title for Nintendo’s newest console to actually use the touch-screen the way it was intended.

While it’s simple and easy to get into, Shadowbane seriously lacks the depth and long term appeal of titles like "EverQuest" and "Star Wars Galaxies."

A solid addition to a fine MMORPG but the technology used in Dark Age of Camelot is really starting to show its age. The interface is clunky and upon closer inspection, characters do look a bit blocky.

With a solid graphics engine and some decent audio effects to boot, there’s no doubting that Archer Maclean’s Mercury offers an engrossing, absorbing PSP gaming experience that offers the sort of longevity most titles can only dream of – even if you do run the risk of losing handfuls of hair each time you play it.

A special mention must also go to the Minicons, which provide for a lot more variation than expected, offering all manner of power ups and, when you’ve amassed a few to select from, allow you to gear yourself up more for a specific mission with the resultant tactical depth a welcome bonus to what is essentially another third person shoot ‘em up.

All these features help build a very competent and well structured strategy title, which is a must for strategy purists. However it’s quite a heavy game to get into, and those Command and Conquer lovers will find the extra features, and lack of base building, works against them.

If you want a great looking tennis game that offers more than just quick and simple play, Pro Tournament 2 offers almost enough to keep you going until next summer, when doubtless we’ll all go tennis mad again. Now leave us alone: Wimbledon’s on.

The enemy's endless determination to take you out (the A.I's strong point) balanced with the direct and simple nature of play results in a polished and genuinely enthralling experience. Always at the heart of the game is a determination to be fun.

If you’ve played "Brothers in Arms" you will no doubt find Full Spectrum Warrior a less refined, more plodding title.

It’s a massive, massive game that never gets boring and one that’s so easy to get into and so good-looking that anyone wanting good old fashioned RPG action would be stupid to even consider purchasing anything else.

A gripping storyline and entertaining puzzles that do not frustrate combine to help create a compelling adventure game.

The short life span hurts Everything or Nothing but it would be a crime for this game to be totally ignored.

An improvement over its predecessor, though only due to the expunging of the irrelevant mini-games with an entertaining yet shallow adventure.

Cossacks II is a very enjoyable game, yet very frustrating and overly reliant on reloads and retries as you try and perfect the exact battle tactics needed for your current mission.

With simplistic controls, the fluidity of the gameplay is neigh-on faultless, something that has manifested itself in the success of the team system in the game itself, which in itself gives the game more depth than it would otherwise have enjoyed.

To compare "Earth 2160" directly with past greats like "Command & Conquer" and "Total Annihilation" is to miss the point. No, it’s not as inspired or as absorbing or as fun as those earlier games. But to find a fresh game which dares to take the baton from those titles and carry it forward another hundred yards is a real pleasure.

An incredibly generic RPG. Often playable, but sometimes frustrating and never original through its 100 hours plus playing time. In a PC market that thrives on innovation, Larian Games seem to have missed something fundamental.

The play is original and refreshing in comparison to other generic sports titles, the controls are well designed and easy to use. The play style works in this RTS format: however, timed moves are provided for those more frantic times of play.

At every turn, Sega GT Online screams "middle of the road", beset with every GT cliché in the book and with few noteworthy features beyond the obvious online antics to make it stand out from the overcrowded ranks of Gran Turismo wannabes.

The faultless execution of the courses is also of note. Even though they’re all ovals, each one brings its own challenge - be it smoothness of the surface, the camber of the surface, the length of the course or the diameter of the track, all the courses have in common is the fact they’re ovals and that the racing is so close around them.

If you’re the sort of gamer who’s obsessed with statistical accuracy in your sports sims and can live with the uncanny feeling of déjà vu, Moto GP 4 proves to be a run of the mill arcade racer that will give you the most up-to-date bike game on the market, however bland it is.

Yet again, it is the inability of Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams to deal with 3D and learn from what has gone before that will leave the majority of gamers unenthused. There is nothing new to be learned here and no moments that are particularly original or unique.

But this overbearing sense of familiarity is what dogs Cold Fear down into the lower echelons of the genre – it just doesn't do enough to further survival horror in any way at all. In fact most of the time it just feels like a step back.

If you’re looking for the next big thing that uses Sony’s diminutive webcam as its principle control means, this definitely isn’t it.

A game that captures you with its atmosphere, makes you sit on a towel to prevent having to clean the chair after playing. But it is also a little short lived - there’s no multiplayer support, and you eventually stop jumping at the well timed monster attacks.

Every choice you make during play makes a significant difference to how the mission plays out, whether it's which weapons to use or which sandbank to take cover behind, and the only real problem is that the game seems to lack a certain spark of inspiration.

A first rate, old-school RTS which, while distinctive, any "Command & Conquer" fan will instantly be familiar with, and which has only enough strategy to fill a small egg cup.

We’d love to see a sequel with a beefed up handling engine, some damage models and online play, but as it stands, Enthusia is only recommendable to the more hardcore Japophiles with a penchant for motoring action.

So while Ubisoft's dedication to bring its best-loved franchises to the PS2 should be good news, this time the developer hasn't got it quite right, and if you want some rooting-tooting tactical shooting on your PlayStation 2, we recommend you go for the latest iteration of Ubi's other uber-brand, "Ghost Recon," instead of this.

At times, it's almost as if the game outdoes itself. Storm a room with a gaggle of enemy soldiers dug in, awaiting your arrival with full is pretty exhilarating stuff, but this soon gives way to frustration when you find you've had an enemy sneak up behind you and nailed you enough times to kill you before it even registers.

While it’s nothing spectacular and it won’t last you forever, it’s a far more appetising than picking up one of the older games in the series up on budget.

Waking up bleary eyed the next day, our mouths taste like dry Toads and the room smells of Peach. But that won’t stop us going to Mario’s for another party, with so much to do if he threw a party every day of the week we still wouldn’t get ‘board’.