'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.

'Mass Effect 2'

Game developer Bioware, recognized for renowned role-playing games such as Baldur's Gate and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, has become the go-to team for great RPG experiences. 2007's Mass Effect and 2009's Dragon Age: Origins continued to show its impressive ability to create compelling interactive game worlds with expansive histories and stories. Released in late January, Mass Effect 2 boasts a great new innovation in the genre while delivering the same magnificent player-based storytelling the developer has perfected.

Assassin's Creed II

Assassin's Creed got a justifiably mixed response when it was released in 2007. I loved it for its free-running style in a giant open-world setting and its perspective on religious history, but I also loathed it because of the repetitive missions and the lack of combat AI. With the newly released sequel, the developers go a long way toward fulfilling their promise to address players' complaints about the original.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

After another trip to World War II last year for the annual Call of Duty series, Infinity Ward has finally released the sequel to its monster hit Modern Warfare, and it has already gone beyond anyone's expectations. In the first 24 hours the game was available, more than 4.7 million copies were sold, generating $310 million in revenue, Activision reported. That made Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 the biggest entertainment launch in history, with higher day-one receipts than The Dark Knight movie or the final Harry Potter book. The buzz around Modern Warfare 2 is outrageous, but it's well deserved.

Tim Schafer has made some cult-classic video games over the past decade, with amazing creativity and humor in his catalog: Grim Fandango (consisting of a mystery in a society of grim reapers), The Secret of Monkey Island (a hilarious pirate-themed adventure), and the award-winning Psychonauts (a summer camp involving psychic powers and a plot to take over the world), even though none of those was a big seller upon release. Four years after the hilarious and highly praised Psychonauts, fans are treated to Schafer's latest project: Brutal Legend, a game set in a fantasy land inspired by heavy metal. Yet despite a vast mythology, a great soundtrack, and hilarious dialogue featuring Jack Black, the overall game delivers more annoyance than enjoyment.

'The Beatles: Rock Band'

With three Rock Band titles and a whopping 11 Guitar Hero titles that have popped up in the past four years, plus another three coming before the end of the year, figuring out a starting point or must-buys for the music-simulation genre can be overwhelming. With Guitar Hero 5 and The Beatles: Rock Band released earlier this month, this is an excellent time to evaluate what's available.

In the early '90s, Batman video games based on Tim Burton's movies were bright spots for Nintendo and Super Nintendo, with easy controls and simple combat. But the games based on Batman Forever and Batman & Robin suffered from the same deficiencies as their filmed sources: They lacked the elements that made their predecessors good. Sadly, the handful of games since then haven't improved much. But the new Batman: Arkham Asylum shatters any generalizations about the games with an all-new story based on the comic mythos, a fantastic presentation, and an amazing combat system that leaves you coming back for more.

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.

The big-screen adaptations of X-Men left a foul taste in many fans' mouths, because Wolverine was not depicted as the bestial killing machine of the comics. Granted, he has a samurai's training, but when push comes to shove in a fight, he regresses to a vicious animal. And while X-Men Origins: Wolverine crushed big-screen hopes once again, the movie-based video game goes far beyond them.

The game was originally designed to be a stand-alone Wolverine title, and it was in production since late 2007. Once the movie had a release date, developer Raven Software was asked to adapt its game for the movie, causing a bit more of a rush on the final product. The end result is the one of the best Wolverine games yet, but it's not without its flaws.

In 2007, the Dynasty Warriors franchise branched out from its "hack and slash" games based on the epic Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms and went into the future, teaming up with the anime space drama Mobile Suit Gundam. While the resulting game was vastly different from previous Gundam games that were rooted in technical aspects, the hybrid was successful. Now (just in time for Gundam's 30th anniversary) comes the second installment of Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, adding new mobile suits, pilots, original stories, and the inclusion of colossal Gundams. But unless you're a Gundam fan, there's little chance you'll appreciate this game for longer than an hour or two.

 

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