Price: £39.99 Players: 1 Widescreen: No 60Hz: No Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes Xbox Live-enabled: No Based on the DC/Vertigo comic book, 'Hellblazer', Constantine takes us into the world of John Constantine, played in the 2005 movie by Keanu Reeves, although here he's certainly not voiced by him. The man has been to hell and back, literally, as that's how this character gets things done. They say your past can sometimes come back to haunt you, so it's a bit of a bugger when demons from the underworld pay him a visit when he returns home. Apparently the plot to this game takes the plot of the movie, which I haven't yet seen, and breaks it up to suit the pace of a game. However, I've seen enough clips to know what's going on. Either way, it doesn't feel like you need to know anything before hand as there are plot points throughout which take you from one location to another, and which serve no other purpose than to do just that.

This is another of those games where all hell breaks loose on Earth, literally this time, as the baddies start to take over. Here, the main character looks a bit like Keanu Reeves in the game, but not enough to cause the developers to have to pay royalties, particularly since it's not Reeves doing the voice. In addition to shooting the enemy or giving them a good twatting when they get too close, what else is there to make it stand out from the crowd? Not much really. You can cast spells by tapping out the order of the A, B, X and Y buttons as instructed in order to step into hell, there are flasks of enlightenment spreadabout - although these are just energy drinks to regain strength and there's no chance of free-roaming - it's a linear environment as you can only go from one place to another via a prescribed path. Notes are scribbled in your journal, although this is just some bits to read inbetween killing the aliens. You can't often interact with scenery that doesn't pertain to the game itself - for example I could start up a record player but not blow it away. Same went for shooting at a line of cars a bit later on.

Jumping and climbing is a lame event - you only have to run towards a gap, or lean into a stationary object that must be vaulted and it'll do the necessary automatically. I didn't even have to time a button-press! I've only seen this cop-out performed in the kiddies' PSX title, Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone. It even tells you when to drink from your flask every time! Just where is the challenge? Then there's 'True Sight', which is just the ability to press a button so you can see in the dark. We had the same thing in the far better The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, although here it does allow you to see the occasional thing which normal light doesn't allow, and is required to progress in the game. You can also collect Tarot cards to gain bonus material, but lots of games have that so it's not a great feature. The graphics a bit 'sticky' as you move about, although the hell sequences are nice when you see cars and trucks fly overhead. However, you soon realise all of that is on a very short loop The only neat graphical flourish I liked was running into towels on the line in the laundry, but the Hitman series did this far more smoothly. The camera that follows John around it a bit of a dicky one which doesn't always work out as you'd hope. It's a plus that if there's not enough room behind John to get a decent view that the outlook switches through to 1st-person, but at other times and depending on where you are it can flicker a bit. There's no widescreen mode either, which is a great disappointment.

So, is there anything good about this movie tie-in? Yes, the sound - it's excellent. Get the DD5.1 speakers on in full effect, with the subwoofer kicking in on a regular basis, and at least it'll be aurally-engaging, such as with the fantastic ticking clock that hovers around all the speakers in the main menu. However, every time John Constantine yawns, after he's been standing still for a while, it sounds like he's having an orgasm :) Constantine is all about the unexpected, but everything that happens here - from the same old monsters coming at you, to 'shock' moments happening at triggered places - is exactly what we expect! Sorry, SCi, but there's not a lot really here for seasoned gamers to get their teeth into. And the repetitive nature would be the kind of thing that would keep young children amused if it wasn't so violent and didn't have a high age-restriction rating on it.

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2005.