Red Dead Redemption

The sequel to Red Dead Revolver, a story of vengeance in the Wild West, has been a long-awaited title from Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Games, with almost five years since its announcement. It was feared to be neglected with the developer's focus on 2008's critically acclaimed Grand Theft Auto 4 and its Liberty City expansions. Fear not though: This western tale (finally released this month) is a great experience that's heightened with finely tuned controls and a new innovation in multiplayer gaming.

'Bioshock 2'

Bioshock was a blockbuster success with its intense atmosphere and thrilling story about an undersea utopian society gone awry, with all the loose ends wrapped up neatly in what was (at the time) a stand-alone game. Not surprisingly, popularity and money gave the game what I like to call a case of the sequels. Bioshock 2 adds multiplayer and builds the mythos of Rapture, but the slow story and degraded graphics make it inferior to the original.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

The Tiger Woods golf games have been a solid play experience for the past few years on every platform. The Xbox 360's and PlayStation 3's easy-to-learn controls combined with strong online support have ensured a high replay value. Fans had hoped the Wii's motion controls would improve the game further but were generally disappointed.

Enter 2009 and the new Wii MotionPlus accessory, giving the remote control near one-to-one motion detection for games programmed to use it. Simply put, your movements will be perfectly reflected in games. The upcoming Wii Sports Resort and Red Steel 2 include swordplay to highlight the enhanced motion detection, but Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 was one of the first games available using this new add-on. If you're a golfer, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better golf simulator for use at home.

 

Working from the engine of 2007's Persona 3 (which spent about six years in development), Persona 4 is the latest entry in the Shin Megami Tensei series of role-playing games. Rather than delaying a sequel by developing for a next-gen system, the publishers decided to release a new chapter on PlayStation 2 before the platform was obsolete. This dark role-playing game with Japanese anime styling has a great mixture of style and life that elevates it above the norm.

The male protagonist has just transferred to a new high school. Rumors begin floating around about the Midnight Channel, a program that appears on TV on rainy midnights and will show people their true loves. One stormy night, the curious protagonist checks out the Midnight Channel, which turns the TV into a portal into another world. He does see a woman, but the next morning she's found murdered. The mystery only grows from there, as you and your friends look to find the murderer, and discover why you have gained the power to enter the TV world and summon powerful creatures known as Personas.

At the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2005, game-play footage for Killzone 2 was debuted as one of the big exclusive titles for Playstation 3. It looked fantastic, but there was debate whether the footage shown was actual play or a rendered video, making fans question whether the game would look as fantastic as suggested.

Fast forward almost four years to 2009, and with mega-hit shooter titles on the market such as Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, and Halo 3, the initial wow factor of Killzone 2 - finally released last month - won't be enough to make it a staple in the shooter category. But it's just like real life: It's not only about looks.