That Is So Last Decade Give a man a knife and name him Shank, and you can expect the worse. Klei Entertainment's latest game is a 2D side-scrolling brawler in the vein of the Rodriguez and Tarantino films. Amongst its many references to popular culture, Shank keeps retro gaming close to its heart.

Smooth; sophisticated and very fun to play; retro and modern is finely balanced

Monotonous in long sittings; if played for too long you may turn into a braindead zombie

Final Fantasy XIII is a good game, but it's definitely nowhere near great, and that's extremely disappointing given all the press and hype that the developers, publishers, and other media seemed to generate for this title.

I started to play Final Fantasy XIII in preparation of the launch of Final Fantasy XIII-2. Put it down to review the sequel, and am now finally ready to review Final Fantasy XIII. This Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 video game is a work of art and modern technology.

Final Fantasy XIII is set on the world of Cocoon, a world that is controlled by magical beings called Fal'Cie. These beings control everything from the climate to food. The citizens of Cocoon are content with this arrangement and see the Fal'Cie as their guardians.

Square Enix invite us to take part in hectic battles featuring a bunch of great characters. But is this really a welcome evolution to the classic RPG series?

Fantastic characters; great graphics; amazing environments

Shamelessly linear; streamlined gameplay; monotonous

The background to the game is crucial, and players may find themselves consulting the Datalog option in the main menu quite often for information. The Datalog contains updated information on the thirteen days that lead up to the events of the main characters' l'Cie transformation, along with...

"It's the end of the road." "But at least it's not the end of the line." The conversation between two wooden characters in Final Fantasy XIII is a fitting description of the Final Fantasy series.

At least the fighting was fun - after the game had decided I'd done well enough with the remedial classes and gave me access to everything. Each character can take on a number of roles. Ravagers blitz foes with attack magic, while Commandos deliver powerful melee attacks.

It is actually a decent game once you get into it. It just takes some getting used to and the whole game is timed so you can't just wander around.

It's final fantasy

You can only play as Lightning.

I am a huge Final Fantasy fan and so I had to have this game when it came out. I will say it was a bit strange to play this game on the Xbox instead of PlayStation but don't let the platform change discourage you from giving this game a try.

Great graphics; amazing soundtrack; lovable characters

Storyline gets a bit foggy at times; linear gamplay; lack of customization