Wipeout 3 Special Edition, published by Sony Europe for PlayStation

Wipeout, which in its various guises has long been seen as a classic Playstation game, returns again with a new "best of" edition.

For the uninitiated, Wipeout is a futuristic racing game where you take control of a turbo-charged hovering spacecraft, and try to manoeuvre it around various twisty courses while hurtling along at an outstanding rate. Along the way, you are also able to pick up an impressive arsenal of weapons and other goodies to help you gain an advantage over your racing competitors.

Generally, the game is very good. It looks great (as it always has) with tracks from both past and present versions available to race. In addition, all the tracks have been polished up with little tweaks added here and there leaving the game looking better than ever.

Whilst playing the game, one thing that grabs you is the sense of speed present. Control of your craft feels very natural and slick, and this helps you obtain racing speeds that sometimes feel ludicrously fast - this game isn't exactly an asthmatic ant with some heavy shopping!

If you already own one of the previous Wipeout titles, then you may feel that it is not worth your while forking out again for something similar, but if you haven't and fancy a racing game that is a bit different, then this game is worth checking out.

Graphics 4/5

Sound 4/5

Gameplay 4/5

Gamespan 4/5

Overall 4/5

RICHARD GOWLAND

Kiss: Psycho Circus - The Nightmare Child, published by Take 2 Interactive for PC

SPECS: P266, 64mb ram, 4xCDROM, D3D compatible hardware accelerator, modem or LAN for deathmatch

Based on Todd McFarlane's Kiss Psycho Circus comic books, the Nightmare King has returned to pervert the fabric of our existence and the only thing that stands in his way is the glam metal rock band Kiss... now is that a worrying scenario?

You play as one of the four Elders (the band members), gathering armour (parts of their stage costumes) as you search through the four elemental realms of earth, air, fire and water to reach the fifth nightmare realm. As well as the game, you get a killer soundtrack and cinematic sequences cutting in to set the scene.

The game boasts "more on-screen enemies than any other first person shooter" and "possibly the most bizarre selection of twisted freakshow enemies ever seen in a first person shooter", and has some pretty awesome graphics. I still await the fire-hurling unipyschos and the bloated eight-legged aracniclowns, although I suspect it may take me a long time to get past them...

Overall 4/5

RACHEL LACY