Ubisoft Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Platinum PlayStation 2 Games

The plot, such as it is, has something to do with wars on Mars and evil empires battling for control of the place, but really the plotline fades into utter insignificance as soon as robots start stomping. Armoured Core 2 has all the look and feel of a slick arcade game, the controls are very simple to pick up, there's plenty going on at any given moment and given a little volume the sound will knock you backwards out of your chair--it's THAT kind of game.

Graphically, it's robust rather than beautiful, the bots themselves are nicely built with lots of angular good looks and plenty of bright primary colours to suggest loud rather than garish. The beauty of this game, and the point at which departs from raw arcade action, is in the setup of your robot.

There are 15 categories of weapon, armour and body parts to choose from all of which can be tweaked to suit individual tastes - it makes for an interesting addition to the game and brings up memories of FASA's MechWarrior series of games--a nice touch.

Mission structure is quite comprehensive too with the choice of a single player campaign, arena based combats or one-on-one with a friend - mighty good fun all round.

Armoured Core 2 really requires some serious play to get the best from it, the equipment granted the player at the start of the game is weak to say the least and a few good scraps are required to raise the cash for modifications, which will make for a serious blasting session, but if you're prepared to spend the time this is really good fun. --James Gordon

The gameplay is perhaps most similar to a more focused version of Soul Reaver, with plenty of Batgadgets to play with, and even a little bit of Metal Gear-esque sneaking around required. There's also an excellent 3-D combat system and a bunch of driving and puzzle sub-games of varying quality.

A few obvious niggles do manage to get under your tights, such as the oversensitive controls, the intrusive loading times and the often frustratingly obscure level designs, but the joy of being Batman and flinging exploding gas balls at everyone manages to overcome. In the video games world Spider-Man still rules the superhero roost, but this is easily the best Batgame yet seen. --David Jenkins

Just like Dark Alliance, Champions of Norrath is an action RPG that's heavy on the action and light on all the other boring stuff. It's essentially Gauntlet for the 21st century and could almost be described as a shoot-'em-up if it weren't for the role-playing elements that see you gaining experience points and constantly replacing your armour, weapons and other items.

Apart from the excellent graphics (which, despite a bit of slow down, are some of the best ever seen on the PS2) the main draw with Champions of Norrath is its multiplayer cooperative mode--particularly the online option. Played with some trustworthy friends this is as excellent as it sounds, although Sony have been rather naive with the trading system, which makes it all too easy to get ripped off by errant traders. Despite this, Champions of Norrath works extremely well and although it's utterly unoriginal it's certainly the best Western-styled action RPG lately, beating both Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes and Dark Alliance II. --David Jenkins

Despite all the graphical finery Flipnic is at heart still a pinball game. There are four main themed worlds with two "tables" apiece, and on each table there are around half a dozen separate areas. You can switch between any of these areas by simply flicking your ball through a tunnel and, as long as you know the way back, you can return at any time. There are mountains of secrets to unlock that have you trying to feed monkeys, catch butterflies, shoot UFOs and much more besides. Succeed and you can usually unlock more areas--or at least rack up a huge score. As long as you accept the principle that it is still essentially "just" a pinball game, Flipnic is pretty much perfect at what it does: it's fast, funny, attractive and tons of fun. --David Jenkins