THE OUTFIT

Publisher: THQ

Format: Xbox 360

Price: £49.99

Family friendly? 15

IN the short while it has been available, the Xbox 360 has become the default home for war-based action games.

Thankfully The Outfit isn't yet another first person shooter (FPS), but an action game played from the third-person perspective. As someone who finds themselves getting nausea after a lengthy FPS session, this was reason enough to feel grateful.

So what else does this game have to offer? Set during World War Two, The Outfit takes players behind enemy lines, battling the Nazis through a variety of combat missions.

You choose your gaming avatar from three playable squad leaders, each with their own skills and abilities. Tommy Mac, voiced by Hellboy actor Ron Perlman, is a heavy weapons specialist. JD Tyler is a scout with a long range rifle for sniping and a shotgun for close quarters fighting. Finally, Deuce Williams, who is acted by Terminator 2's Robert Patrick, is an explosives and anti-tank specialist who totes a devastating bazooka.

Sadly you can swap between the three main men when a mission starts. Changing on the fly would have been a neat option. Once you've selected one of these guys they must lead a squad of battle-hardened soldiers on a dozen different missions ranging from reconnaissance and rescue to search and destroy. With interactive and fully destructible environments, you have the freedom to shoot, blow up or demolish anything in your path.

With "Destruction On Demand" you can order in everything from tanks, jeeps, half-tracks and other combat vehicles to machine gun nests and anti-tank emplacements, or call in for squad reinforcements, air or artillery strikes.

If you find something in your way just call up an air strike and blow it to bits as you fight your way to victory. You have to earn the right to use this destructive firepower, however. To do this, your team has to take over outposts, storm Nazi bunkers and generally get rid of the bad guys.

Need to dig in? Then set up gun nests and anti-air batteries to consolidate your position. As well as the main mission, there are a number of secondary objectives which can also earn you some points. The game allows your guys to revisit completed levels to finish off any secondaries you may have missed. In multi-player,the online maps are completely free-roaming. In destruction mode, the aim is to destroy as much of the enemy's equipment as possible. This is terrific (if mindless) fun on-line with up to four mates.

Strategic Victory mode is more like capture the flag. Around the map are strategic points that your team must take, the longer you control them the faster your opponents battle points go down. When you control the entire map, victory is yours.

Granted, some 360 games look a lot better than The Outfit, but they don't have so much happening on-screen and here the action always remains glassy smooth no matter how complex the graphics become.

The controls are generally good but the slight stickiness of the key pad controls can sometimes lead to what feels like an avoidable death.

The Outfit probably isn't a game you'll want to show to your mates eager to see how good-looking 360 software can be. It is, however, a lesson in how glossy graphics aren't always a pre-requisite for addictive interactive fun.

FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 3

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Formats: PS2, Xbox, PC

Price: £29.99

BOXING fans have good cause to be grateful to Electronic Arts. Starting with The Foes of Ali on the ill-fated 3DO console, the world's biggest games publisher has knocked out several devastating displays of pugilistic prowess for lovers of the noble art.

In fact, the games have improved in inverse proportion to the heavyweight division where the current title-holder didn't win his belt in the ring but was gifted it when the actual champion was forced into retirement.

Thankfully, Fight Night Round 3 allows players to trade blows with the all-time greats like Ali, Oscar De La Hoya, Joe Frazier, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones.

There are three new Impact Punches which can change the course of a bout by landing a perfectly timed knockout. Of course, if your haymaker misses, you can expect to be the one sitting on the canvas. Fight Night Round 3's total punch control requires total concentration. Punches are thrown with help from the analogue stick so button mashers will get, erm, mashed. Ducking and parrying punches take some time to learn.

Fans will enjoy watching ESPN classic footage of real-life bouts and recreating those old grudge matches. Fancy helping Smokin' Joe put the Louisville Lip on his backside during the Thriller in Manila? Then this is your game.

You're having fun even before a glove is thrown in anger, with heated press conferences full of hype, trash talkin', and fights at weigh-ins. The fully licensed boxers use tactics and strategies that match their real life counterparts.

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