Sonic's world is falling apart at the seams, with a parallel-universe Eggman trying to collect special emeralds and eroding the boundaries of the reality in the process. Sonic's alter, the newcomer Blaze the Cat, is also after the emeralds and the two may need to team up to stop the twin Eggmans in their tracks.

Sonic returns to classic form on the DS in a massive 2D side-scroller played out at breakneck speeds. Playing as either Sonic or Blaze - the two are virtually identical, save for level order - the challenge is to hurtle through 14 large levels and seven 3D boss stages, collecting rings and trying not to crash into anything pointy. Skillful (and stylish) play increases the character's Tension Gauge, resulting in a further burst of nitrous. Worlds include the junglesque Leaf Storm, vertiginous Altitude Limit, and the obligatory neon bumpers of Night Carnival.

The game that gave birth to a legend. The evil Dr. Robotnik/Eggman is capturing innocent animals and turning them into his own robot army - the Badniks - with which he presumably intends to take over the world. He has already conquered a number of areas, including the rolling Green Hill Zone, lava-themed Marble Zone, and life-sized pinball table Spring Yard Zone. Only one person has the power to stop him: Sonic, the lightspeed hedgehog with attitude.

Thus, as Sonic, you must sprint through the various side-on lands in pursuit of the mad doctor. Speed is of the essence and by curling into a ball, Sonic can quickly reach mind-addling velocities as he ricochets across the landscape. The various badniks that litter the landscape may be freed from their metal coccoons with a well-placed bounce or high speed ball attack, but Sonic must take care to avoid fireballs and spikes. His defence against such problems are the rings he may collect on his travels; collision with the unpleasant is only deadly if he has none in stock, otherwise it will cause his collection to scatter to the four winds. For the hardcore player, secret Chaos Emeralds may be obtained from the spinning maze special stages.

Dr. Robotnik is at it again, this time in an attempt to construct a monstrous doomsday weapon named the Death Egg. Sonic takes up the challenge of racing to stop him before his plans are completed, this time sprinting through much larger arenas such as Emerald Hill Zone, Casino Night Zone, and Metropolis Zone.

In addition to the larger levels, Sonic is packing a few extra aces up his spiky blue sleeves. Importantly, he is now able to rev up on the spot before launching into a spin, allowing him to easily shoot up ramps and round loops even from a standing start. Also new is the appearance of Miles "Tails" Prower (think it through), the two-tailed flying fox. As well as providing automated enemy-busting assistance to his spikeyness, a second player may take control in order to rescue Sonic from sticky situations. The Chaos Emeralds, this time acquired through pipe-running into-the-screen bonus stages, are essential in order to access the very final stages.

Dr. Robotnik's Death Egg wasn't completely destroyed at the end of Sonic 2, instead crash-landing on the mysterious Floating Island, home of the Chaos Emeralds. Realising the power he could extract from the gems, and that Sonic would soon be on his way to finish the job, Robotnik tricks Knuckles, the island's guardian, into working for him. The redheaded echidna thus dogs Sonic at every turn, booby-trapping the terrain and doing anything he can to "protect" the emeralds.

This time, either Sonic, Tails, or both may take part in the action as they dash and hover across the island in search of Robotnik. The sheer size of the terrain (which includes the likes of Angel Island, sunken Hydrocity, and Marble Garden) means the welcome introduction of the ability to save your progress. Help is also available in the form of a new midair shield attack, and the variety of shield-based powerups littering the landscape. Should you be fortunate enough to find the Chaos Emeralds before Robotnik (this time through a tense 3D maze minus brakes) Sonic can turn Super on collecting 50 rings.

Part of the (increasingly complex) Legacy of Kain series. Kain, the time-travelling vampire, inadvertently started a genocidal war against vampires with the slaying of tyrant-to-be King William the Just. This sent him further into madness, spurring him on to take control of the land of Nosgoth. After being killed Kain, the winged Raziel was brought back from the dead by the elder gods and sent to purge the land of its evils. Soul Reaver 2 continues his quest, as he is sent back in time by Kain to discover why he did what he did.

So as Raziel, you journey through Nosgoth in pursuit of Kain and the truth behind his actions. The inhabitants are none too accepting of his un-un-undead ways and so progress is dogged by vampire hunters who must be fought in 3D third-person style. Raziel can pick up and use the weapons of his opponents as well as his claws, but it is the Soul Reaver, a mysterious ethereal sword bound to his right arm, which will come to his aid in tight moments. Being a vampire of sorts, he must feed upon the souls of slain enemy in order to maintain his life. Failure to do so will send him to an alternate spirit realm for a time, which may actually be required in order to pass some areas.

Fantasy Land is under attack from the evil Dark Harrier, and it is up to you to put things right. Choosing to play the levels in any order, you must run and fly on your hoverboard thing into the screen. Trees and other ground-based obstacles must be avoided as they hurtle toward you, and the minions of Dark Harrier shot with your missiles. At the end of each level, a boss must be faced. When all of the normal levels are complete, the final can be accessed.

Dizzy stars in another adventure of his, and the gameplay hasn't changed much. A mishap with a spellbook sent the Yolkfolk to another world, and Dizzy's task is to get them home. He does this by solving item-based puzzles to find his friends' prized possessions, and also a collection of stars. Where Spellbound Dizzy really makes its impact is in its size. In many ways, it's too big. There are over 100 locations to explore, and a lot of tedious trekking back and forth.

You play the pilot of GERALD, an extremely obscure acronym that means that it is your job to explore alien worlds. Spindizzy takes place on one such world, with 386 locations and a tight time limit. The screens are viewed from a rotatable isometric angle, and are made up of a grid-based system of ramps and flat areas. You move around by controlling the acceleration of your craft, forcing you to require the handbrake which decreases your timer when used. Time can be further shortened by falling off the edge or smashing into the ground from a height. You must also collect the 200 jewels, which fortunately replenish some time when picked up.

Splat! sees you playing a spider/bug thing, stuck in a very dangerous maze. Grass and plums can be collected to improve your score, but just about everything else (water, drawing pins, flashing squares) will kill you. This is more problematic than it sounds, as later parts of the single maze feature tighter sections and your character moves very, very fast. The real problem is that the screen scrolls around by itself, and you are killed if you hit the edge.

In a desperate attempt to save humaity, a group of humans were loaded onto a deep space shuttle and sent to the outer reaches of another galaxy. The journey was met with problems, and the colonists spiralled out of control into an inhabitable solar system, where they strived for survival. Unknown to them, they were being watched over by the Protoss, a telepathic race specifically engineered to be pure of form. The civilisation that created them had also created a race with purity of essence; the insectoid hive creatures known as the Zerg. The Zerg proved too powerful for their creators, and they destroyed them and assimilated their knowledge. Now the Zerg have learned of the presence of the human colonies, and have deemed them unfit for assimilation. The Protoss have attacked an infested colony in an attempt to save the humans, and the humans have responded by doing what humans do best.

So begins a three-way three-campaign battle for supremacy over a number of planets, with each species vying for total domination. Viewed from an isometric angle, each mission is played in real-time with you mining minerals and gas and creating an army. Each race has their own collection of structures and units, and their own advantages and disavantages. The nomadic Terrans, able to adapt to adverse situations, can move the majority of their buildings at will. The Protoss can use their psionic abilities to manipulate reality, and every unit is surrounded by a regenerating forcefield. The Zerg units, and even buildings, are organic and can regenerate lost hit points, but bases are limited to the biological "creep" that spreads across the floor.