Phew! It's a good job that our parents don't get to choose both our first name and our surname when we're born. If they did, we might all end up with names as humourlessly cheesy as this month's gaming heroes, Ryan McKane and Yager's Magnus Tide. Or even as silly as 'Gavin Ogden'. Magnus Tide is a wise-crackin' freelance pilot with an ego to match his spiky hairdo.

That's you, that is. As Magnus, you'll play through a series of 22 missions, the majority of which place you in the cockpit of his posh new Sagittarius ship. As a freelancer for Proteus, a trade organisation that effectively governs half the planet, you get to go on dangerous missions in return for cold hard cash. Bunce...

Of course, this is all an excuse for a good old-fashioned blaster. And Yager ticks off quite a few of the boxes any self-respecting shooter needs to if it's to impress the Xbox crowd. For a start, many of the sights you'll see from your lofty perch are truly lovely. The digital brush has been dipped into almost every section of the Xbox colour palette to produce some of the dreamiest skies and dusky vistas we've yet to see in other games.

All this is seriously colourful stuff, and it makes the world of Yager a very appealing place in which to fly about - even though the draw distance isn't as big as some.

Striking design doesn't stop at the evocative scenery - Yager's got some of the most impressive explosions this side of the Big Bang. The way enemy ships go up in smoke always looks good and is sometimes spectacular, with bits falling off the ship, sparks flying and the final, terminal explosion ripping the vehicle apart. Even better are the ones where a hit from your laser sends an enemy ship into a death plunge, and you watch it spiral full speed into a hillside. That's gotta hurt!

The effect of these kabooms might make your ship feel ultra powerful, but curiously this impression is diluted by the weedy weapons Magnus has at his disposal. You get more as you progress, but even the increasingly powerful hardware never feels quite as destructive as you'd like. Regardless, the explosions in the game are among the most satisfying we've come across since our first ejection of an Elite from his Banshee in Halo.

The overall experience of piloting your ship is well thought out. The Sagittarius has two modes of flight - Hover and Jet - which you can switch between with a click of an analogue stick. Hover enables you to aim more accurately and pick up munitions, but makes you a sitting target. Jet is better for dogfights, as long as you're skilful enough to keep a flighty enemy in your sights.

The control scheme works well, but as with the weedy weapons, there's something that prevents it from feeling quite right. The Jet mode is supposed to turn the ship into a speedy killing machine, but it fails. Even when you're flying at full pelt with an additional boost power-up the Sagittarius feels too sluggish to be truly exciting, as it is in Deadly Skies.

Even so, Yager manages to provide some hectic moments. The action starts getting pretty tricky after a few missions and you'll really need to master the ship's controls to make it to the end of the game. When three or four enemies are out for your blood all at once and you've got only limited ammo, getting through the situation demands plenty of skill. Accordingly, it's satisfying when you complete a tough mission - and there are plenty of those later on.

Magnus Tide is one of the game's problems. As with this month's racing character, Ryan McKane (from TOCA Race Driver), and despite the grand name, Magnus fails to captivate. He's also more irritating than Ryan and his cringe-making quips are way too frequent for his own good. Magnus totally misses the mark as a character to whom the player is supposed to relate, and sometimes he even manages to make the entire package feel rather sub-standard. A crying shame given that the action deserves a whole lot better.

It's not Magnus that prevents the game from achieving Elite status though, it's the rather puny feel of the weapons and lack of speed. But while it's not a must-buy, in terms of free-roaming flight combat, it's solid, fun and sends a few heat seekers up the exhausts of games like Deadly Skies, Reign Of Fire, Fireblade and Defender.

If cruising around picturesque islands and downing baddies in spectacular balls of flame sounds like your kind of thing, then ignore Magnus and give Yager a shot.

Power
Expansive, detailed environments, but draw distance is a little short compared with others we've seen.

Style
There's a clunky feel to the ship, but it doesn't prevent dogfighting from being plenty of fun.

Immersion
Getting the hang of the ship and bringing down hordes of enemies makes the fun missions fly by...

Lifespan
...until they start to get very tricky - it'll take serious skill and some time to beat the last mission.

Summary
A decent, enjoyable blaster that falls a wee bit short of greatness. But check out those explosions...

1. Looks great!
2. Some engaging battles.

1. Magnus Tide can irritate
2. Weapons fella bit wimpy
3. The ship is too slow