If you're looking for a definitive collection of the World's best-ever shoot 'em ups, you've reached the end of your search right here. Gradius has been synonymous with top-notch blasting action since 1985 and has been the pioneering authority until today. The Gradius Collection is your chance to own the series in all its perfection, plus bonus features tracing the history of Vic Viper versus the scourge of the galaxies.

With its roots in arcade gameplay, this Gradius Collection is perfectly suited to PSP. Each level can be treated as a stand-alone challenge, and your progress saved at any time. If you're just getting started as a Vic Viper pilot, you will enjoy the challenge of facing each new wave of horizontally-scrolling levels, swarming with enemies and packed with tricky obstacles. In fact, we envy your maiden voyage of discovery! The more experienced players among you will want to better that high score and see how long you can survive without taking a hit.

The basic gameplay involves flying the iconic Vic Viper spaceship, shooting everything in its path, and collecting power-up capsules from certain defeated enemies. Cool new weapons, protective shields, and extra speed can be added to the Vic Viper for improved performance. Another Gradius claim-to-fame is the menu system used to select weapons, adding an element of strategy and greatly adding to the tension.

Gradius is especially famous for its creative design, with some enemies resembling Easter Island heads spitting mouthfuls of lethal spores, giant golden dragons, and monstrous firebirds that try to incinerate you with their wings. Fantastic encounter such as these are the reason most people cannot rest until they've battled all the way through to the end.

Among the games included, Gradius I-IV are perfect conversions of the arcade originals from 1985-1999. Gradius Gaiden was originally released for PlayStation in 1997 but only in Japan, and so this is something we European fans can really treasure. All the games can be played in their original arcade aspect ratio, or stretched to fill the entire PSP screen.

Gradius Collection celebrates its legacy with a Gallery mode that includes movies from the series and audio tracks. Additional options allow purists to disable 'slowdown' making the gameplay faster, smoother and therefore more challenging.

• 5 of the greatest shoot 'em ups ever, yours to play on the move
• Features every game in Konami's celebrated Gradius series
• Gradius Gaiden is a brand new treat for all European blaster fans
• Celebrates the legacy of Gradius with exclusive multimedia galleries
• View the action in full-screen PSP mode or in original arcade ratio

WB Kids and Cartoon Network?s Xiaolin Showdown is another red-hot cartoon license for Konami, transformed into a blistering martial-arts extravaganza for PS2, Xbox and PSP.

In the TV show a young orphaned monk-in-training from a Xiaolin Temple joins forces with street-smart kid from Brazil, a technical wiz-kid from Japan and a cowboy from Texas USA. Omi, Raimundo, Kimiko and Clay are chosen by an old temple master to become Xiaolin Dragons, with the mission to find and protect sacred artefacts from forces of evil.

Players must combine the young Dragons? mystical powers against their enemies in environments filled with hazards, enemies, and collectables. The 30 sacred artefacts of ?Shen Gong Wu? imbue the kids with magical kung-fu powers, used to defeat robots and ancient witches controlled by their nemesis: Evil Boy Genius Jack Spicer.

In story mode, players travel the world in search of the sacred pieces, battling enemies on the way to martial arts ?Showdowns? versus formidable ?boss? characters. If they win, they secure another piece of the Shen Gong Wu which increases their strength for the next quest.

Four friends can choose to play as the four Dragons, competing for the coolest artefacts to trigger the most impressive attacks in hectic melee combat. Each character has their own special moves, and players can unlock two of the show?s villains to cause even more havoc.

On the Nintendo DS version, four friends can play as the four Dragons via the wireless connection in combat style mini-games based on themes such as King of the Hill. Winners steal magical Shen Gong Wu orbs from the losers. These ?Showdowns? are ideal for quick burst gameplay on both of the leading handheld formats.

• Based on the ?WB Kids? animated series on Cartoon Network
• Six playable characters, all with mystical kung-fu powers
• Fast-paced 1-4 multiplayer co-operative gameplay modes
• Fight epic boss characters in winner-take-all arena combat
• Engage in Showdowns testing martial arts skills to the max

In Coded Arms Contagion you play a Special Ops officer Jacob Grant whose unit is deep into a training mission within a newly commissioned combat simulator. When he suddenly loses contact with his squad, it is evident that the simulator has gone wrong and must immediately locate him missing team and get to the cause of the problem. It quickly becomes evident that hackers have taken over the simulation and infected with a virus that has corrupted the system, mutated enemies and turned the internal defences of the training program onto the Spec Ops unit themselves.

With the virus running ragged through the three main gameplay worlds that make up the 15 levels, there is a huge amount of interaction to be had with the environments. Players can hack into turrets, terminals and doors to gain access to new areas or gain themselves valuable breathing space. Weapons, armour and abilities can be upgraded as well as collecting more experimental weapons affected by the virus like the Data Leech.

All the while the player is communicating with the Military Command HQ who hosted the training until the hackers took over as both parties try to escape the disease infecting the system. Improved graphics, tighter gameplay and a fantastic eight-player multiplayer option featuring adhoc or infrastructure modes gives huge gameplay variety on specially created deathmatch levels.

• 12 huge levels set over three vast worlds
• An arsenal of 15 unique weapons
• Upgrade system to enchance weapons, armour and abilities
• Up to eight player deathmatch action
• Interact with in-game military command during gameplay

Steel Horizon offers players complete control of Naval fleets in a series of missions within a fictional scenario featuring well-known World War II battles. The game is inspired by popular pulp fiction stories set during World War II, and delves into the key events and characters behind historic battles. Its scenario tells of a shady third party pulling the strings to orchestrate the war, using futuristic technology to advance the carnage for their own ends.

Players compete in both turn based and also real time strategy battles, plotting moves and attacks in the turn based section and getting hands on by switching to the real time combat mode where they?ll be in charge of firing and reloading the weapons. The emphasis is not on trying to blast everything that moves however, as the player will often leave their vessels exposed and in significant danger.

Keeping the right ships afloat is key, as the player will need certain craft to enable to them gain new bases and increase their fleet and others, like Submarines, to take out the heavyweight attack carriers of your enemy.

As you would expect with a game of this nature, it?s perfect for two-player action and the wireless connections of both machines enables friends to compete against each other. With 20 single player missions to take on and the option to customise the player?s own flagship, there?s plenty to get stuck into.

• Build and command a powerful Naval fleet
• Mix turn based strategy and real time action
• 20 missions to play through
• Wireless two player battles
• Customise a flagship and choose playing style