What's New?

As I put it not thirty minutes ago - bur-limey. That's a lot of games. And yet, out this week we have only a handful of must-have titles. It's easy to skim the cream from this one - Colin McRae Rally 3 on both PS2 and Xbox, FIFA 2003 on PS2, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 across PS2, Cube and Xbox, Soccer Slam on the PS2 and perhaps Spyro 2: Season of Flame on the GBA. But the undeniable pinnacle of this week's mountainous haul is Konami's phenomenal Pro Evolution Soccer 2. We'll have a review of that very soon, but despite a couple of niggles (awful commentary, lack of Dutch player names) there is virtually nothing to say against it. In fact, Kristan will be presenting his thoughts as an ode to PES, and will be performing his work in a show touring Northern pubs later this year.

However, despite only a handful of top titles, there are a number of excellent budget offerings to take heed of this week. Max Payne arrives on PS2 Platinum - arguably not the best way to experience it, but there are worse. Anachronox, Ion Storm's other good game, appears on Eidos' Premier label, where it deserves to fare well, and elsewhere the Premier label welcomes Soul Reaver 2, Startopia and Project Eden. Also, the Focus label trots out Settlers IV, various NovaLogic combinations and a Rainbow 6 mission pack. Even PSX owners have something to shout about, with Eidos' Tomb Raider III & IV double pack.

The GBA is easily the most beneficial of the consoles this week though, although we'd be hard-pressed to tell you how much of it's worth buying. We can speak for James Pond: Codename Robocod and Kid Klown in Crazy Chase, both of which were fairly good Super Nintendo releases, and Spyro 2: Season of Flame has been a long time in the coming. We're not sure how well Rocky will translate to the GBA, nor what comprises Nintendo's Game & Watch Gallery 4, but both tickled our fancy, and you can always fall back on Chris Tarrant (even if you'd rather push him off a cliff) in the shape of Who Wants to be a Millionaire Advance, which we're reliably informed is actually out this week. Woo.

On the whole, coupled with some significant gains (TimeSplitters 2, for one) in the past couple of weeks, heading out to the shops today would be very advisable. And if you like football, buy Pro Evo 2 immediately. Now. Get on with it. Off with you. Shops. Go. Now.

Now.

New Releases - PS2Colin McRae Rally 3 Eggo Mania eJay Clubworld FIFA 2003 Max Payne - Platinum Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 Pride FC Pro Evolution Soccer 2 Rocket Power: Beach Bandits Sub Rebellion Soccer SlamCube Eggo Mania Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 NHL 2003 Rocket Power: Beach Bandits Super Bust-A-Move 3000 XboxColin McRae Rally 3 Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 NHL 2003 Terminator - Dawn of Fate PC Airlines 2 Anachronox - Premier Butt Ugly Martians: Martian Boot Camp Casino Empire Crimson Skies - Xplosiv Delta Force 1 & Armoured Fist 3 - Focus Delta Force 2 & Commanche Gold - Focus Dexter's Laboratory: Mandrak's Lab Europa 1400 - The Guild Frankie Scooter Scramble Year 2 Iron Storm KiPulKai: The Secret of Kiboa Matchbox Cross Town Heroes Mig 29 Fulcrum & F22 Raptor - Focus NHL 2003 Project Eden - Premier Settlers IV - Focus Silent Hunter II - Focus Soul Reaver 2 - Premier Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds Saga Startopia - Premier Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Black Thorn - Focus Tweenies: Messy Time Magic GBA Ace Lightning Beach Soccer Boulder Dash Ex Game & Watch Gallery 4 Hey Arnold! The Movie Invader James Pond: Codename Robocod Kid Klown in Crazy Chase Matchbox Cross Town Heroes Pinball Advance The Recruit Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction Rocky Samurai Jack Spyro 2: Season of Flame Who Wants to be a Millionaire Advance Woody Woodpecker: Crazy Castle 5 WWE Road To Wrestlemania X8 PSX Austin Powers Pinball Tomb Raider III & IV Double Pack Related Feature - UK Release Date List