Byte Size: Exciting mix of wrestling and driving.

Byline: Richard Ashdown and Paul Barry

WWE Crush Hour 

PlayStation2 - pounds 39.99

THIS is our kind of wrestling game - mainly because there is absolutely no wrestling involved.

WWE Crush Hour is one of those titles that borrows a brand from one genre and sticks it on a game from another - in this case all your favourite wrestlers from America's biggest federation are battling it out in a Carmageddon- style motorised deathmatch.

You can play as any one of the WWE's 32 fighters like The Rock, Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Trish Stratus.

Each has his own unique vehicle with varying combinations of handling, defence, strength and speed.

Each round begins with all the razzmatazz of a normal wrestling bout, with each competitor getting their own video introduction before driving triumphantly into the arena.

But when the game begins, the wrestling pomp finishes. You drive around the arena picking up different weapons, health and speed power-ups while trying to destroy your opponents. They are, of course, trying to do the same to you.

It works well - the controls are simple and so is the gameplay. No special moves, no combos, just straightforward driving and blasting. The game is good enough to not have to rely on its famous branding, but the WWE tie-in will be a bonus to wrestling fans. 8/10

Richard Ashdown

Postal 2 Whiptail / Running With Scissors

PC - pounds 24.99 Rated 18

THERE are several ways for a videogame to earn an 18 certificate. Allowing the central character to use a domestic cat as a weapon silencer is one of the more elaborate methods.

That's one of Postal 2's more disgusting features, and there are plenty more. Not only is it unsuitable for children, even adults with the most warped sense of humour are likely to find the game nauseating.

It's a first person shooter (FPS) set in the sleepy town of Paradise, USA. You are Postal Dude, scratching out a living for a software company that makes puerile videogames. And who said the Americans couldn't do irony?

You could play the whole game as a pacifist, but it gets very dull very quickly. Sometimes events leave you no choice but to defend yourself, but the only way to break the intervening long periods of mundanity is to open fire and cause mayhem.

This is the worst looking FPS we've seen in years. And if you follow the missions, you can spend as much time looking at the load screen as you do playing.

Our advice is to leave this game on the top shelf. 3/10

Richard Ashdown and Paul Barry

Wonder websites

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Everything you ever wanted to know about Albert Einstein.

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Pegasus Mail is a very good, and completely free, e-mail program for Windows.

www.medici.org

The Medici Project is a digital archive of historical information about the influential Italian family of the same name.

CAPTION(S):

GAMING ACTION: Scenes from WWE Crush Hour (above) and Postal 2 (below)