BURNOUT REVENGE

Formats: PS2, Xbox. Publisher: Electronic Arts. Price: £39.99. Family friendly? 12+

WHY bother with a next generation console when games for the machine currently nestling beneath your TV are as good looking as this?

The Burnout series has always been a looker as well as great fun to play but this version takes things to new heights. Revenge borrows liberally from another famous franchise, albeit one that is dormant at the moment - the Road Rash games - by fusing racing with combat. That's why it's called Burnout Revenge and not Burnout 4.

Series veterans will find a new mode - Traffic Attack - that's just a simple crash 'em up, rewarding you for totalling as many cars as possible in the set time. After a tough day at work it's a great way to unwind.

There's a great array of "dirty driving" tactics at your disposal, including the ability to nudge a rival off the road or create such spectacular pile-ups that chasing cars simply can't get through.

The courses reminded me of the LA/San Francisco Rush games with their branching routes and secret short cuts that have to be hunted down.

And then there're the jumps. The vertical takedown move just has to be seen to be believed as your car drops from the sky on top of an unsuspecting opponent. Takedowns may be ludicrous, gravity-defying stuff, but they're guaranteed to make you laugh out loud.

So, if you can't afford £179 for an Xbox 360 this Christmas, console yourself with Burnout Revenge instead. It's an instant classic.

GEIST

Format: Gamecube. Publisher: Nintendo. Price: £39.99. Family friendly? Nah.

OH Nintendo. You try so hard to innovate. And when you get it right (Pokemon, Nintendogs, etc) you produce a sublime gaming experience that's totally unlike anything that's gone before.

But when get it wrong (Virtua Boy anyone?) then I'm afraid you've got a major stinker on your hands.

Geist (short for Poltergeist) places players in the disembodied boots of the ethereal world. As a spectral operative, you are a ghost trying to regain your earthly form once again and in order to achieve that, you must work out why someone decided to keep your physical host alive somewhere in a mysterious complex.

The main "innovation" is that in order to make headway, you must possess everything from dumb animals like rats and dogs to...err...a can of drink. Bizarre? You can say that again.

You can possess human beings but to get inside their skins you have to scare them witless first. You do that by taking possession of a nearby object. Ho-hum. It doesn't take long to get bored.

Nor are the puzzles particularly tough because there's usually someone around to solve it - all you need to do is possess them for a short while. Taking over their form gives you access to their recent memories and they are packed with clues.

Nor do you feel particularly ghostly. Geist is played from the first person perspective so it feels more like a particularly dreary shoot 'em up. The voice acting is poor and the stodgy sound effects detract from the atmosphere the game is trying to build. Nor does it look very good, and the jerky gameplay betrays a title that seems to have been rushed onto the market, perhaps to bolster the GameCube's last Christmas as a serious contender.

This is not one of Nintendo's better efforts and the Gamecube deserves better in its twilight days.

BROTHERS IN ARMS: EARNED IN BLOOD

Publisher: Ubisoft. Format: Xbox. Price: £39.99. Family friendly? 16+

BROTHERS In Arms may be a more formulaic first person shooter than Geist but it succeeds in pressing all the right buttons.

As Sergeant Joe Hartsock you must lead your squad to help liberate all of Normandy. In doing so, the game craftily intertwines the plot with situations encountered in the earlier Road To Hill 30 Brothers... game.

Taking online tactics to new heights, Brothers In Arms: Earned In Blood offers more unique multiplayer missions and improved online support. The big scoop is an all-new co-operative Skirmish mode that allows one or two players to take a tour of duty through a series of authentic and harrowing custom combat missions. Arm yourself with additional authentic weapons and command new vehicles like the M10 "Wolverine" Tank Destroyer.

Ubisoft makes a big play about what it calls "a new, next generation artificial intelligence system" and the game does present a much tougher challenge than its predecessor. The situation awareness mode is still available and it's more vital than ever that you take a few minutes away from the field of battle to assess how the war is going.

Don't count on an under fire enemy to stay put. This time they will move to better cover or seek to out flank your forces. The graphics have also been given a bit of spit 'n' polish. Missions taking place in twilight look absolutely breathtaking.

Gamers who enjoyed the first Brothers... game will need no urging to buy this update. Armchair generals who missed out on the action the first time should be first in the queue for Earned In Blood.

www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk

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