What's New?

PS2 owners struggling to fill the hours before next week's release of GTA Vice City (which has already topped a million units in the US, by the by), will be left pining, lonely in the corner this week, as, though the postbag is bursting with new releases, the PS2 goes sadly unloved by anything particularly desirable. Ecks vs Sever and Runabout 3 are both questionable, whilst Twin Caliber is a bit of a laughing stock and Total Immersion Racing is curiously absent from our code piles. Still, those with a spare £20 will find Zone of the Enders on budget a decent use of it, and those with a penchant for American sports will probably prefer NHL Hitz 20-03 to last month's EA offering.

On the Cube front, things are a lot brighter. TimeSplitters 2 makes a belated appearance, flanked by Eternal Darkness (review up shortly), FIFA Football 2003, NHL Hitz 20-03 and Crash Bandicoot - The Wrath of Cortex. Not a dud among them, although Crash errs on the wrong side of 'good' for quite a while. And in Eternal Darkness, Silicon Knights have crafted an almost unique survival horror game. Most definitely worth considering.

Xbox owners once again miss out, although today is a good day to think about buying an Xbox, what with the Sega GT 2002/Jet Set Radio Future bundle out on the streets for £159.99. Sadly, FIFA and NHL Hitz are the only standouts for existing owners, with Tennis Masters Series and Total Immersion Racing in the wrong column on our list.

And pickings are quite slim on the PC, too. Neocron and Project Nomads both finally appear from CDV this week, but the rest of the line is mostly budget re-releases, like Rogue Spear, and linchpins FIFA and Total Immersion Racing.

GBA owners get a good deal for once though, with SSX Tricky appearing in a field of odd-sounding duffers, and even PSX owners have something to shout about, as evidenced by the sparkling copy of FIFA Football 2003 currently lounging in my PSone. Sure, the visuals and frame rate obviously suffer, it's still nice to see a new game on the PlayStation. Not everybody can afford these newfangled monstrosities.

New Releases - PS2 Ecks vs Sever NHL Hitz 20-03 Runabout 3 Summoner 2 Total Immersion Racing Twin Caliber Zone of the Enders - Budget Cube Crash Bandicoot - The Wrath of Cortex Eternal Darkness FIFA Football 2003NHL Hitz 20-03TimeSplitters 2XboxFIFA Football 2003NHL Hitz 20-03 Tennis Masters Series Total Immersion Racing PC Battle Realms - Focus Conflict Zone - Focus FIFA Football 2003 Myst III Exile - Focus Neocron Project Nomads Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Rogue Spear - Focus Total Immersion Racing GBA Butt Ugly Martians BKM Battles Deadly Skies Gekido Advance Kong Lego Bionicle - Matoran Adventures Santa Claus Jr SSX Tricky Tennis Masters Series PSXFIFA Football 2003Related Feature - UK Release Date List