Mini-Review
Rage of Mages II
PC	From: UbiSoft

The first Rage of Mages game wasn't exactly stunning but the Russian developers decided it needed a sequel and here it is. It's rubbish. The game's hardly been updated and is certainly not flush with innovative gameplay twists. It's a quest-based trudge during which you wander around and hack and slash any baddies you come across. The thing is you're going to be killed more than you kill because you're probably in the wrong quest. It's not big, it's not clever and it's annoying to play. ROM 2 does nothing to advance the genre, and is more of a pain than a pleasure to play. We can only guess why it is that Russian gamers are deprived of decent RPG/strategy games, and will put up with this sort of thing. We'd suggest you don't.

FG verdict

40%

Mini-Review
Links LS 2000
PC	From: Microsoft

Microsoft keep updating and re-hashing the Links series with a new version each year and why not eh? It works for EA and the rest, and it must be financially beneficial or they wouldn't keep doing it. So, what's new for this year? Very little it would seem. You've still got your digitised golfers, your Powerstroke method of hitting the ball, and a hat-full of game modes in which to play (including online) but that's about it. If you've got Links 99 we really can't recommend you go out and get this. If you haven't, and fancy a good golf game to play on your PC, then this is one of the best around. We're scoring it low though because it really doesn't offer much more than last year's model.

FG verdict

55%

Blue Stinger / War of the Worlds