Games: Stuntman <br/>Resident Evil <br/>Gitaroo Man

Just as the summer was panning-out as another head-achingly dull cavalcade of tennis sims and bog-standard shoot-em-ups, the French have come to the rescue with a genuine flash of inventive brilliance.

Stuntman
Infogrames (PS2)
£34.99
*****
Just as the summer was panning-out as another head-achingly dull cavalcade of tennis sims and bog-standard shoot-em-ups, the French have come to the rescue with a genuine flash of inventive brilliance. Stuntman has had a lot of build-up in the internet chat rooms, and the finished product more than lives up to the hype. The game has you working your way through a death-defying career driving cars on a variety of film sets, then crashing them in spectacular fashion at the command of the director. The graphics are as sharp as a tack, and the controls give you an incredible feel for the various different wheels you get behind. All this is topped off with a mode that allows you to design your own stunts, which gives the package longevity, to boot.

Resident Evil
Capcom (Game Cube)
£29.99
****
Remember a time before computer games were scary? Resident Evil was the game that created the entire "survival horror" genre, and it deserves a place in games history for that reason alone. Nintendo is now giving Cube owners a chance to relive the nightmare of creeping through the zombie-charged house looking for clues. Capcom has given the graphics a serious lick of paint, but kept the old magic intact. Lovely.

Gitaroo Man
THQ (PS2)
£34.99
***
Quirky music games are either your thing or they aren't, but Gitaroo Man has so much charm that it might even make a convert of those who usually avoid these things. The game has got Japan written all over it, but once you get used to the idea of controlling a boy with a flying hat and a mechanised dog, the gameplay is rather compelling, and a pleasant change from the usual standard of keeping up with the music.