Mech Assault. Format: Xbox. Publisher: Microsoft. Price: £44.99

THE Xbox is rapidly becoming the console of choice for heavy metal fans - and I don't mean the music.

If you're a sci-fi fan who loves nothing better than a game featuring giant robots battling it out, then Microsoft has the software for you. Just take a look at the roster already available: Battle Engine Aquilia, Robot Wars, Gun Metal, Phantom Crash and Robotech. Is there a more crowded genre on the Xbox?

Now comes Mech Assault striding confidently into the arena. Does it have what it takes to get noticed or will it sink without a trace?

Mech Assault has a good pedigree. It's the latest incarnation of the popular Battle Tech franchise that has, until now, been a big hit on the PC.

The idea is pretty simple. It's the far future and wars are fought not by soldiers in trenches but by Robo Jocks who control giant 40ft mechanised battle suits designed for one thing only: to be state-of-the-art killing machines.

It's a bit like gladiatorial combat only with massive robots. Your job is to come out on top.

Interestingly, the processing power of Xbox has allowed the game designers to play Mech Assault from a third person perspective. This way you get to admire your battle suit's smooth movement as it moves across the futuristic landscape. Previously, console designers had to use a cockpit view to hide the fact that they didn't have enough beneath the bonnet to render your mech, the special effects and a detailed landscape all at the same time.

It's not just for show, either. The landscape is destructible - if you stomp all over it or shower a city with rockets then it reacts in a realistic manner. Windows shatter and explode, walls take damage, holes appear and the steel skeleton can be glimpsed among the cracked masonry. It may be juvenile but it ain't half fun.

In single player mode you have to complete more than 20 missions. None of them are too taxing - wandering around looking for targets and taking out the enemy is about the full extent of it - but as the game progresses they get more and more difficult.

Mech Assault is about tactics. Pick your targets carefully or you'll end up in a wrecked robot. Bad guys don't just keep coming, if you inflict serious damage they will try to escape for repairs in the hope of fighting again another day. And when you move in for the coupe de grace beware a crossfire trap that may be waiting.

But there's more to Mech Assault than a single-minded single player shoot 'em up. You can opt to play in split screen against a mate or go online (when the Microsoft Xbox online service begins shortly) and take on human opponents from across the world.

Sadly the game doesn't give you the opportunity to fiddle with your robot suit and the missions don't reward players who choose to use lateral thinking - there's the right way to complete a mission and every other one tends to be wrong. In fact it all feels a bit dumbed down for the console audience compared to its cousins on the PC.

Of course none of this will matter to genuine heavy metal fans who will rhapsodise over the wonderful visuals and sheer mayhem on offer in this title. The robo wars are over, it seems, and Mech Assault reigns supreme. For now.

ToeJam & Earl III: Mission To Earth. Format: Xbox. Publisher: Sega. £44.99

ToeJam & Earl III? Don't worry you haven't missed the two previous instalments on Xbox this is a series resurrected from the 16-bit era when it was something of a hit on the Sega Mega Drive.

The first ToeJam was an innovative character-led platform game that garnered many a favourable review and spawned a hastily rushed sequel.

Almost a decade later we have the three-quel and it seems the guys at Sega have just the reflective period in-between to polish up all that was good about the first game and ditch most of the second.

ToeJam, Earl and Laetitia wander a dozen worlds on the usual quest to save the universe or whatever and teach humans how to dance. Yep, that's correct, this is a platform-fighting game that's also a musical!

Attacks consist of Funk Fu - a kind of dance rhythm that defeats non-musical enemies - and each character has their own funky attributes. You can switch between them whenever the need arises.

There's a massive story mode and when you get through that (no easy matter) a random world generator throws up more challenges.

ToeJam III is a typical Sega product: polished, pleasing to look at, non-threatening and a load of good old-fashioned fun. It's one in the eye for gamers who believe the only way to enjoy next gen consoles is to up the violence quotient. If this is back to the future gaming then bring on new versions of other Sega classics.