Advantages: Smooth frame rate, decent combat, nice cut scenes, good music
Disadvantages: Short, lacking replay value, no faces, dodgy voice acting

...Spiritually the fourth of the Quintet quartet along with the Super NES titles, 'Soul Blazer', 'Illusion of Gaia' and 'Terranigma'; Granstream Saga is said to run at 50 fps (maybe 60 even) and the result is silky smooth animation. There are nicely done anime-style sequences (including the Laramee shower scene), however, with regards to the in-game graphics, there are slight pop-up problems present and the characters have no facial detail. Outside of combat, the close overhead view used does not feel too restrictive because there is not much emphasis placed on exploration - many of the buildings cannot be entered and there are no routes between locations to traverse. The dungeons are average for design and puzzles. Granstream Saga can feel slow in places, like the section where Eon (whom you control) has to obtain pieces of Obsidian... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: epic, ambitious
Disadvantages:

...Eon is a big, big novel. It has a huge scope and a fascinating plotline. A lot of extremely ambitious novels disintegrate close to the end, but this one goes all the way. It also has some of the best writing that I have read in science fiction for a long time. The war sequence is especially well done: the hairs on my neck prickle when I think about it. Worth the monet, for sure. Don't bother with the sequel though, it isn't nearly as good. Another good story is Blood Music, but stick with the short story version. It says it all... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Smaller than a digibox!
Disadvantages: Limited processing power

...As well as being a reasonable 'thin client' the Neoware Eon Preferred 2000e - MediaGX could be described as a generic Personal Computer, admittedly with a relatively modest specification, but PC nonetheless! I came about using a Neoware system from almost entirely the opposite direction from most people. The unit is marketed primarily as a 'thin client' - the 32Mb ROM allows a linux-based terminal emulator to run which can connect to a number of hosts using standard TCPIP over an Ethernet - and supports windows terminal emulation, 5250, TV100 etc. The applications run on a host server, and all the client does is do the media presentation stuff. On the other hand, looking at the system architecture, it's actually a modestly specified PC in it's own right. At the core of the system is a Geode processor - a cut down low... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Epic storyline, incredibly addictive to read, superb plot development
Disadvantages: Over technical in some places, very open-ended finale

...... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great coffee, Good Looks & Ease of Use
Disadvantages: Quite Big

...... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: See review
Disadvantages: See review

...it becomes clear that Largo is involved with Petachi's sister, Domino. After several encounters with Largo and his deadly female assassin Fatima Blush, James finds himself Largo's prisoner and has his suspicions confirmed: Largo has the bombs. Can the world's most famous spy save the day? I'll apologise in advance, this review is going to contain many comparisons between Never Say Never Again and the 'original' Thunderball. While it may not be fair to make such a comparison we'll make it anyway. But first some background... When the original Thunderball novel was written, Ian Fleming developed the story along with Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham. When the EON production team bought the rights to Fleming's novels McClory retained part ownership of the novel and although he allowed the book to eventually be made, he also signed an agreement... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Good service, free electrisave meter, excellent website
Disadvantages: A bit pushy getting you to stay with them

...About 18 months ago I used to be with Npower, but switched over to Powergen (as it was then known) after USwitch showed that I could save a lot of money with them. The switchover was completely hassle free. I was signed up to the Online Dual Fuel tariff which meant I would manage my account online and wouldn't receive any paper bills. I needed to give meter reading during the switchover, which was very easy to do online. I then went for about 18 months with very good service. The website works beautifully all the time, allowing me to view my paper bills as PDF files, and enter meter readings whenever I liked. Even during the period in which Powergen became E.ON, everything on the website remanined the same. After a while I switched to their Green Tariff which doesn't cost much more than the standard online one. As part of this I... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Good action sequences
Disadvantages: Dull leads, pretentious

...Eon productions, the studio behind the indestructible James Bond franchise, made a big decision when they parted company with Pierce Brosnan sometime in the wake of 2002's Die Another Day. Although into his fifties, Brosnan still looked relatively good and seemed to deserve one more adventure. Die Another Day was very successful but hardly classic Bond and Brosnan deserved at least a better picture to sign off on. Why did they put the Brozza in the ejector seat anyway? Rumours aside, the principle reason was Eon finally aquiring the rights to Ian Fleming's first Bond novel Casino Royale. Bond producer Michael G Wilson had floated a 'young Bond' film in 1986 and been vetoed by Cubby Broccoli who promptly hired fortysomething Timothy Dalton. Broccoli felt that Bond should always be an established agent with a bit of maturity. Anyway, Eon... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Excellent sound, style, size, functions
Disadvantages: Erm, no multi-disc - but I found that a waste of time on my last HiFi !!

...and looked really, really horrid, and felt tacky. It was one of those "sporty-style" systems - yellow, black and silver! The JVC System - the UX-P5R. An excellently designed system, with RDS?EON; a timer (alarm); CD-R/RW playback; Bass boost (2 levels) - I found this was the best of all the Hi-Fi's I tested - even most seperate systems!; Optical out (for digital recorders, like minidisc); Aux. In; Two-tone display light; removable speaker Grilles; excellent remote; CD-Locking; CD>Tape direct copy - improves sound quality and automatically stops recording and turns over tape when recording from CD to tape.. it also adjusts the sound settings to get the best recording quality; auto-reverse tape deck; simple menu system; equalizer-by-genre (ie Jazz, Rock, Dance)- it optimizes bass levels etc. For the type of music you are listening to. It had 50w...