Rockstar X-Box Games

Ever fancied being a tooled-up hoodlum, living on the wrong side of the law and mixing it up with street gangs in a war over turf, drugs and cold, hard cash? Welcome to Grand Theft Auto III. Big brother of previous outings on the PSone and PC, GTA III has gone fully 3-D to bring Liberty City to life. Any worries about graphics speed on the PS2 are quickly dispelled the first time you carjack a taxi and take off like a lunatic, mowing down the innocent and incurring the wrath of the law.

It has to be said that GTA III fully warrants its 18 certificate, dealing as it does with mob warfare, indiscriminate murder, auto crime, prostitution and more. The language gets a little "fruity" from time to time and you can't help but wince as you watch innocents get in the way of a good firefight. At the end of the day, though, this is a game and nothing more; thankfully, it's a good game, a very, very good game. --Chris Russell

There can't be a more sure-fire hit in the gaming world than Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Not quite a full-blown sequel, but far more than the average lazy mission disk, it relocates the action of the previous game from the NYC-styled Liberty City to the Miami-influenced metropolis of the title. As the game starts you take control of Tommy Vercetti (voiced by Goodfellas star Ray Liotta) who gets involved in a bungled drug deal and must set himself up from scratch as a crime boss. Unlike GTA III, you're not restricted to being a small-time hood any more; the game now allows you to purchase property (porn studios, strip clubs, cab companies and so on) and run extortion rackets. This cleverly widens the scope of the game while keeping the controls and gameplay pretty much the same. Indeed, in most respects the game is very similar to its predecessor--the graphics, for example, are improved but hardly ground-breaking--though there are numerous minor additions, most notably the chance to ride motorbikes--which is particularly satisfying--and fly proper aircraft. --Harrison Wilder

New in Midnight Club II are the presence of the police and the ability to drive a motorcycle. Much of the game consists of cruising around three large and well rendered cities: Paris, Tokyo and Los Angeles, following a red dot on a map. The dot is a rival racer; once you track and chase them down you flash your high beams and then you can race them. It's a clever way of giving you a warm up, keeping you immersed in the game and best of all, teaching you the layout of each city.

Racing is fun, fast and furious. This isn't a simulation, it's an arcade-style racer--but the physics system is internally consistent so it feels more realistic than it actually is. Rockstar has put a premium on keeping you in control, keeping the thrill-factor high, and giving you a heart-stopping sense of speed. The graphics are fantastic and the cities are incredibly detailed. As a counter-point the voice acting is just plain awful.

Midnight Club II offers a wide range of game modes, ensuring it will be playable for a long time to come: career, mission and a mode that lets you just jump into a race. Multi-player is possible in hot seat mode. All of this makes Midnight Club II a great addition to any video game racing fan's library. --Bob Andrews