Gears of War 2 (Xbox360)

The original Gears of War became an action genre classic thanks to its incredible graphics, cinematic presentation, and solid cover system. The sequel repeats this formula, and though it introduces new weapons, enemies, and environments, it remains an incredible yet familiar experience. The 10-hour campaign is rambunctiously entertaining, with clever set pieces and epic confrontations that punctuate the exhilarating stop-and-pop gunplay. The multiplayer offers more significant upgrades, with four new modes, 10 new maps, and support for up to 10 players instead of eight. These things make for a package with significant longevity, and though Gears of War 2 ultimately refines more than it innovates, it still deserves a place in any action fan's collection.

Gears of War 2 picks up the story six months after the end of the first game. The Locust are so powerful that they can sink entire cities from below, whereas the humans are becoming even more desperate thanks to the spread of a disease called rust lung. With fears that the last city of Jacinto might fall, it's down to Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago to take the fight to the Locust in a desperate last stand against their alien foes. Survival is at the centre of Gears 2, but there's also personal drama, with themes such as family, death, and even love interwoven into the grand plot. This sheds some light on the characters and the universe, and though it ultimately uncovers more questions than it answers, the game has a much grander premise than its predecessor.

In terms of gameplay, Gears 2 is fundamentally the same as the original game, but fans of the series should be able to spot some key refinements. The cover system has been honed so that you cling more accurately to surfaces, and the weapons have received subtle alterations to make them even more balanced than before. The revival system has also been tweaked considerably. Not only can your AI teammates heal you if you're injured, but now you can also tap A to crawl toward them more quickly when you're injured. This makes the game a lot fairer in terms of difficulty and allows for some heart-pounding moments as you race to your teammates to avoid a fatal curb-stomping from the opposition.

Although the assault rifle is still the go-to firearm for the duration of the campaign, there are plenty of other weapons to play with. New to the Gears universe is the flamethrower, which doesn't have a great range but is excellent for dealing with groups of enemies that get a little too close for comfort. Then there are the heavy weapons, which stop you from being able to roadie run but make up for this with their immense power. The mulcher is a high-calibre chain gun that can cut through even the biggest enemies in a single burst, whereas the mortar rains down a shower of explosives from afar. Grenades have also seen improvements; you can stick them to surfaces so they become proximity mines, there's a new model that gives off noxious gas, and the smoke grenade delivers a concussive blast that knocks surrounding players off of their feet. All of these new weapons are great fun to use, and crucially, they're well balanced for use in multiplayer.

The first Gears of War was brutally over-the-top in its violence, and the sequel manages to take this even further. You now have four ways of executing your enemies, all of which are mapped onto the face buttons of the joypad. X performs the standard curb-stomp, B delivers a quicker blow to the back of the head, and Y flips your foe over for repeated punches to the face. Finally, the A button lets you grab the wounded enemy to use as a meat shield, affording you some protection until you decide to finish it off with a neck-break. The signature chainsaw move has been adapted so you cut upward from the crotch if you approach from the rear, and if two players ready their saws, they enter a duel that's won by whoever taps the B button the fastest. These new additions improve on the already gritty and satisfying melee combat of the original Gears of War and make close-quarters combat even more gruesomely rewarding.

Gears of War 2 has a considerably different look from its predecessor. Whereas the first game was characterised by derelict cities and crumbling monuments, a good portion of the sequel takes place in huge outdoor spaces and underground caverns. You'll see fluorescent lights, snow-capped mountains, and enemies so big you'll actually need to get inside them to destroy them. There are also more vehicle sections, and though they can be a bit fiddly to use, these segments are thankfully short and infrequent. The traditional stop-and-pop gunplay still makes up the majority of the campaign, and it's a raucously enjoyable ride that you'll want to play again and again.

Gears of War 2 is best when played with friends, and the entire campaign now features drop-in support and independent difficulty levels for two players. The competitive multiplayer has also been substantially improved and now offers more players, maps, and game modes to select. Warzone, Execution, Assassination, and Annex modes all make a return, along with King of the Hill, which was introduced in the PC version of the game. There are also three new standard multiplayer modes called Submission, Guardian, and Wingman. Submission is a variation on Capture the Flag, but here the flag is a civilian who you carry to the checkpoint using the meat-shield technique. The hostage also carries a gun and is hostile to anyone who comes close, making for a really great twist on the traditional CTF game mode. Guardian is a team-based game with a designated leader; keep the leader alive and everyone else can respawn, but if the leader dies then that privilege is over. Finally, Wingman splits players into teams of two, with the emphasis on working together to kill and revive. You've probably seen these game modes before in other games, but they fit perfectly into Gears of War 2 and add even more variety and longevity to online play. Thankfully, the benefits of being the host online have also been lessened, making the online experience much fairer across the board.

The final multiplayer mode is called Horde, and it's the most addictive and challenging take on Gears yet. It could be described as a cross between single- and multiplayer, in which a team of five COGs take on wave after wave of Locust enemies. As long as one player stays alive at the end of each round, the entire team respawns and the game keeps going, with progressively bigger and more difficult enemies. It's an incredibly tense and exciting game mode, and despite the steep difficulty curve, it's highly rewarding to play with friends. Gears 2 is also accommodating to new players and those without Internet connections, with five training missions and bot support for every multiplayer mode except Horde. The bots are surprisingly good at replicating human players, and they make great practice for people who have never played the game online.

Gears of War 2 includes a total of 10 new multiplayer maps, plus a code to download five remastered maps from the original game. The new maps take inspiration from the locations in the campaign, whereas new environmental effects change some of the maps as you're playing. For example, Hail features razor-sharp rain that gradually kills anyone out in the open. Furthermore, Day One has a huge emergence hole in which a beast can take swipes at any surrounding players. Finally, Avalanche is completely transformed when a snowstorm hits, turning it from a multitiered level into one flat plane. These environmental effects don't feature in every map and game mode, but they definitely liven up standard deathmatch-style multiplayer game types such as Warzone.

The original Gears of War was a spectacular-looking game, and the sequel maintains this high technical and artistic quality. Instead of pushing for increased visual fidelity, the graphics engine adds a couple of other dimensions to the presentation, with walls that crumble under gunfire and dozens of enemies onscreen at once. These new features don't necessarily affect the gameplay, but they look good and help add to the dramatic scale that the designers have chosen. The new organic capabilities of the Unreal Engine make for one particularly memorable level in which you literally have to kill a giant enemy from the inside. Gears of War 2 also has impeccable sound design, with terrific voice acting, meatier weapon effects, and another beautiful cinematic score.

Gears of War 2 has a lot in common with its predecessor, but the new environments, darker storyline, and epic scale certainly have a lot to offer fans. The new weapons, melee attacks, and co-op options make for a campaign that you'll want to complete a number of times, and the new multiplayer modes give the game variety and longevity. Simply put, Gears of War 2 is a superior shooter that no action fan will want to miss out on.

Little Big Planet (PS3)

Although Little Big Planet could be described as a platforming game, its dedication to creativity in every area takes it far beyond the confines of the genre. Everything from your character to the environment is geared towards user creation and adaptation, via stickers and costumes right up to a full-blown level creator. Each level of the story mode is an unforgettable trip through the wild imagination of the designers, and it would be difficult to find a game that's as much fun to play with friends co-operatively. It's a little disheartening that the Story mode is over so quickly, and although there's some longevity to be had from finding all the hidden extras, you can still see everything the story has to offer in six hours. Then there's the level creator--an astoundingly powerful toolset that theoretically allows you to recreate anything you see in the included levels and much more. However, it still requires a great deal of time and skill to develop something that people will actually want to play, and despite the best intentions of the developer, it's a feature that not everyone will be able to take full advantage of. The overall result is a game that's incredibly fun while it lasts, and one that has the potential to be taken further by its community.

The titular Little Big Planet is the place where all human imagination collects--the planet above the cosmos where our untapped creativity escapes when we're asleep or daydreaming. That's the background, anyway, and though characters occasionally refer to each other in the game, this fantastical journey has little in the way of exposition or backstory. There are eight themed worlds in total, and they vary in style from places such as the African savannah to the Mexican desert and ninja-obsessed Japan. Each world has either three or four individual levels, most of which can be completed in less than 10 minutes, and each level also has a bonus challenge or race if you can find the key hidden within. These bonus levels offer some of the most fun and imaginative experiences in the game, with an homage to Line Rider, skipping contests, and even drag racing competitions.

Little Big Planet's emphasis on creativity is completely embodied by its mascot, Sackboy. This endearingly cute rag doll acts as a blank slate for your creativity, and as you collect new materials and clothing in the story mode, you can constantly try out new looks. You can dress him up in costumes, add accessories such as hats and glasses, and even change his covering from that familiar brown to a particularly gaudy pink. Sackboy is also highly expressive, and you can use the controller's triggers and analog stick to move his arms and even smack unruly players. The D pad controls his facial expressions: up for happy, down for sad, left for scared, and right for angry, and repeatedly tapping in that direction further emphasises these emotions. You can also use the motion sensor to move Sackboy's head and hips, nodding knowingly if you win a level, at least until someone inevitably smacks you in the face for being so smug. With so much control over your character, you often end up spending a good deal of time just changing clothes, pulling faces, and maybe even sticking a "LOLZ" sticker on your buddy's forehead.

Although the character customisation may be in-depth, the platforming itself is not. There are only two action buttons: X to jump, and R1 to grab hold of swings and move objects. Sackboy doesn't use any special powers, and he doesn't become any faster or stronger throughout the course of the game. This is platforming in its purest form: jumping from platform to platform, dodging obstacles such as fire and electricity, and collecting blue orbs to score points along the way. What makes Little Big Planet unique is that it frequently goes way beyond platforming into something else entirely, seemingly for no other reason than to satisfy the designer's rampant imagination. With scenarios such as hot-air balloon riding, animal prison breaks, and ninja henchmen battles, every level of Little Big Planet demonstrates incredible imagination.

The main story mode follows a sequential progression, so you open up new levels by completing them in order. However, even when you've finished a level, you'll want to return to collect the hidden items, keys, and point bubbles that you likely missed the first time around. Collecting items allows you more creative freedom in the form of stickers and costumes, whereas music and materials can be used in the creation mode afterward. You can also collect loot drops by putting stickers down in certain places, and there are puzzles that you can only solve by playing in the two- to four-player mode. These include gates that can only be opened remotely, objects that require multiple characters to pull, and in one brilliant scene, a car driven by one character while another dangles on a trapeze underneath.

Little Big Planet poses a bit of a dilemma; it's miles more fun in multiplayer, but also more flawed. Figuring out the puzzles and experiencing the set pieces for the first time with others is one of the most memorable experiences we've had this year, and chances are that you'll find yourself recounting the best moments with your friends afterwards. Unfortunately, there's a downside to playing in multiplayer, and it's something that often afflicts platforming games: the camera. It frequently struggles to frame the action, and considering many precision jumps are required, certain sections become nigh-on impossible. The generous spacing of respawn points lets you retry most of the tricky sections, but if you fail after using up your lives, you have to restart the entire level. There were many occasions in multiplayer in which we intentionally killed ourselves, just so that one player could try a section without the camera jerking around all of the time.

Sadly, with no scalable difficulty level and relatively few truly testing challenges, stalwarts of the genre will be able to reach the last boss in less than six hours. This isn't counting the time it takes to go back and collect everything, but the fact remains, you can see all the main levels in one prolonged sitting. Clearly, if the community jumps on the creation tools then this longevity will be extended, but it will take time and great skill from home designers to match the creativity and professionalism of Media Molecule's work.

Once you've finished the story and built up a stock of items, stickers, and other creation tools, you'll want to head to the My Moon that orbits Little Big Planet to start building your own levels. The creation tools are comprehensive, which is why you have to go through plenty of tutorials to learn the basics. You begin by moving items around, but things become a lot trickier when you start creating characters and moving objects. For example, enemies and allies have to be given an AI routine so they know whether to follow or run away from a player when they're approached. The physics system is easy to understand, so making things is common sense, but it can still be very time-consuming to construct even the most simple moving objects. You can create structures and glue everything together with ease, but it takes a lot more work to use motors, pistons and springs. These help to set traps, make puzzles and add vehicles, which makes for more interesting levels, but creating and testing everything is a lot of work for the creator. Given the work required to build even simple systems, it's a pretty momentous task to re-create something on the scale of the levels made by the developers.

Thankfully, the task has been made easier by the inclusion of premade objects and level templates from the main game. This makes it a lot easier to start dropping in characters, structures, and vehicles, although you'll still want to adapt them to create your own look. The other problem for budding designers is that the game has three separate planes to work on, which lets players move between fore, middle, and background when playing. This means that unless you think on all three levels when making obstacles, players can simply pop into the foreground and avoid them completely. Once you have all of your main content in place, you can add finishing touches such as respawn points, dynamic music that changes according to player proximity, and characters that offer instructions on what to do. You can also throw in point bubbles and prizes to encourage players to play your level, and of course it's a good idea to play through repeatedly to make sure that others won't get stuck.

With all of this in mind, it's no small feat to create a Little Big Planet level that people will actually want to play. The reality, at least according to what we've seen happen in the game thus far, is that home designers will use the tools to make much smaller-scale creations than the levels in story mode. We've seen some great creations based on a nightclub and even TV show The Crystal Maze, in addition to video game homages such as Space Invaders and Breakout. They're simple ideas that incorporate systems already built by the developers, and they're probably a good indication of where the community is going to go with the game.

Going online with Little Big Planet is a breeze as you can see which of your friends are online and jump straight into their pod. The multiplayer online mode works well, even if it's not as smooth as the local multiplayer. You also can’t play the create mode online, though a future update will purportedly enable this feature. Sharing is also well implemented, and you can choose to move levels from your My Moon to the online Little Big Planet. When people play a level here, they can choose from preset tags to help describe the level for other players. This helps Little Big Planet to group similar levels together, so if you like what you're playing, you can search for creations that players have awarded similar tags. You can also add a heart to your favourite designers and search through all of their levels, and the system streams content live from the network so you don't have to save anything. There's even an option to play 'Cool Levels' from the main menu if you want something at random. If you really like a level or fancy adapting what you've seen, you can take levels submitted by other people and copy them to your own moon for later. All in all, it's a system that looks like it can cope with the content that's set to come out after the game's release.

This is a beautifully assembled game, with a patchwork visual style that covers the technical achievements underneath. There are smaller details such as reflections in the collectable balls to look out for, as well as some really nice fire, smoke, and electricity effects. It may be cruel to watch Sackboy die, but he can be electrocuted, burned, and disintegrated in a variety of ways, each resulting in highly detailed effects. Special mention should go to the physics system, which is pitched just a fraction beyond realistic to allow for some amazing stunts, jumps, and races. Then there's the soundtrack, a mix of genres from indie artists such as The Go Team and Jim Noir that all suit the game to a tee. Finally, a nod has to go to the pitch-perfect narration from British comedian Stephen Fry, and apart from his insistence that you don't post anything rude online, his voice is just as charming as the rest of the game.

Little Big Planet is a startlingly imaginative take on the platforming genre, and its story mode, while short, is truly outstanding. It's down to the community to elongate the life of the game, and while only the most ardent fans will be up to the task of making compelling content, the tools here certainly have some potential. If you've not got a creative bent then you might feel like you're getting half a game, but that doesn't stop Little Big Planet being a star that burns twice as bright, half as long.

Braid (Xbox360)

Have you ever wondered how the princess locked away in the castle must feel? Or what's going through the head of the eager hero--the valiant young man who gladly leapt over treacherous pits and onto the heads of dangerous foes--after receiving a cursory kiss on the cheek for risking his hide? The motivations of these archetypical characters are rarely explored, but Braid tries to answer these oft-ignored questions. It serves as the contemplative companion to the typical Mario adventure while embracing the unbridled fun found in the best platformers. Clever gameplay mechanics are the driving force, pushing you toward your inevitable confrontation with the woman you've lost, but it's the engrossing story that cements this as something really special.

Braid is the rare game that will make you rack your brain trying to solve puzzles one minute while challenging you to come to terms with its mature tale the next. The plot is succinctly summarized before you enter the first world: Tim, the hero, has made a mistake that cost him his love; now, he has to rescue his lost princess from an evil monster. The story, told through books before each of the six worlds, chronicles Tim's ruminations on the subjects eating away at him. These could be labeled poetic or sappy--depending on your level of cynicism--but they add powerful context to the running and jumping action that follows.

Tim's thoughts often drift toward changing the past, which ties in nicely with the time-shifting mechanics you'll be employing throughout the entire adventure. Your standard ability allows you to rewind time with the push of a button. The most basic use of this is simply pushing back time to avoid being killed by an enemy or reattempting a mistimed jump, but it goes much deeper than replaying failed opportunities. However, there are green objects and enemies in the world that are unaffected by your time changing powers. So if you unlock a green door and rewind time, it will remain open. Your ability to control time is used in many unexpected and often brilliant ways, making you use parts of your brain that are rarely tapped during most puzzle games.

Later levels retain this basic mechanic but add unique twists that ensure every world feels completely different. Which time manipulation tool you are given depends on what world you're currently exploring. In the fourth world, you control time simply by walking. Every step forward pushes objects and enemies forward in time, while moving backward takes them into the past with you. Because these levels have enemies and items that move in direct relation to you, they have been meticulously constructed to make navigation possible. In another world, you make a copy of yourself every time you rewind time. Your shadow can jump on enemy heads, pull switches, and unlock doors; you just have to perform the action yourself first. The different solutions built around these powers vary widely, so you have to figure out the extent of your powers before you happen upon the always logical solution. Though the puzzles are formidable, Braid never frustrates.

Each of the first five worlds in Braid has 12 different puzzle pieces to collect. The levels are actually extremely short, so if you wanted, you could run through most of the game in little more than 15 minutes, but you'll have to collect all 60 of the deviously placed pieces if you want to see the poignant conclusion. The entire game should take more than six hours to finish, depending on your puzzle-solving acumen. It may seem unfair to ask you to collect every little piece to see the thrilling ending, but by encouraging you to tackle the most challenging puzzles, the game is ultimately much more rewarding than it would have been otherwise. Though the game only forces you to backtrack during one very early puzzle, it's unlikely that you'll be able to nab every piece the first time you play through the worlds. It is only after mastering your abilities and learning your limitations that you'll be able to conquer the puzzles that seemed impossible your first time through.

Most of the puzzles in Braid emphasize clever thinking over quick reflexes. The actions you're required to pull off should be second nature if you've ever jumped on goomba heads in the past. Braid certainly realizes that its running and jumping encounters feel an awful lot like Super Mario Bros.--there are clever references to the venerable plumber throughout the game. From the dangerous plants coming out of pipes to the flag pole that greets you at the end of every world, there are constant reminders of Braid's progenitor. Like the musings from Tim's books before each level, these homages tie into the overarching story of the wounded hero's subconscious longings.

The subtle visuals are eye-catching but never distracting. The world looks like it was composed with pastel watercolors, swirling blends that create a very distinct look. The characters themselves--Tim, his enemies, and the princess--stand out prominently against the serene, multilayered backdrop. They're like flat, cardboard cutouts colored by markers. The score is elegant and mild--quiet songs that mirror the deliberate pacing. The music bends with the time, racing forward and backward along with your actions. Braid's presentation is uniformly impressive, and serves to complement the gameplay rather than draw focus away it.

It is impossible to ignore Braid's price point. At 1,200 Microsoft points ($15), it is one of the most expensive games for the Xbox Live Arcade service. But do not let a few extra dollars deter you from an exemplary experience that can rival many full-price, retail games. Braid is worth every penny. The captivating ending sequence, which makes use of your rewind ability in a jaw-dropping new way, provides the exclamation point on this remarkable game, but the adventure is consistently engaging throughout the entire ride. The clever puzzles alone are enough to make this an adventure worth taking. Braid's deep and mesmerizing tale is evergreen: it is outside of and beyond time. It will never get old.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (Xbox360)

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was one of the premier games for the Xbox 360 launch. It established low-cost downloadable games as a worthy alternative to full-priced, big-budget fare and made leaderboard races between friends a reason to keep playing through the night. But with such a simple mechanic, the idea of a full-fledged sequel being able to capture the same addictive nature of the original seemed like a pipe dream, especially after the subsequent sequels came and went without causing a stir. More than two years after Retro Evolved ushered in the next generation of gaming, developer Bizzare Creations has devised a game that doesn't just top the original, it blows it away. With five new modes that require unique strategies and cutthroat multiplayer competition that is among the best for any XBLA game, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 is the new standard for frantic downloadable games.

From a gameplay perspective, the biggest difference between Retro Evolved 2 and the original is the addition of geoms. These tiny green gems are the key to racking up ridiculous scores. Instead of raising your multiplier by shooting enemies, you have to collect the goodies that they drop. The original game put a 10x cap on your multiplier, but in the sequel you're limited only by your reckless desire to collect more geoms. Your multiplier will no longer reset when you die, so your best efforts from the XBLA original will seem like puny nothings now. Furthermore, you no longer need to worry about being stuck with the shoddy weapon while being surrounded by those dastardly snake creatures; there are no weapon upgrades, and your standard gun is more than enough to keep those evil shapes at bay.

The most divergent of the five new modes introduced in Retro Evolved 2 is Pacifism. As the name implies, you won't actually be shooting enemies. Instead, the level is loaded with slalom-type gates that explode when you fly through the center. However, if you accidentally bump into the orange edges that hold this contraption together, you will be the one who explodes. The idea of playing Geometry Wars without a gun may seem impossible, but you face off against lemming-like blue diamonds that dutifully follow as you lead them down death's trail. It is incredibly satisfying to get a huge fleet of these troopers to follow you as you burst through multiple gates, destroying the platoon in a massive explosion.

Other new modes don't stray quite as far from the standard GeoWars formula, but they are every bit as engaging. Waves returns from its stint as a Project Gotham Racing 4 unlockable. A wall of orange missiles will emerge from one of the four sides every few seconds, making you constantly watch your back as another massive fleet closes in on you. King mode places three circular safe zones around the map that are the only places from which you can fire. Since these havens will disappear soon after you enter them, you'll have to constantly swoop around the battlefield, collecting geoms while you desperately try to find a new home where you can hide and safely destroy enemies again. Sequence is the only mode that has an actual ending, but only expert players will ever be able to reach it. Here you'll blast through 20 levels that have the same enemy placement every time. Memory won't be enough to ensure victory because the rooms are near to bursting with enemies, which makes survival seem like a crazy fantasy. It's exhausting but extremely rewarding, even if you never make it to the end.

The remaining two modes are tweaked versions of the traditional free-for-all. Though Evolved mode is structurally the same as the original, the addition of geoms changes the strategy of battle. You'll have to constantly circle back on enemies that you've destroyed if you want to extend your multiplier, which makes the risk/reward dynamic all the more satisfying. Deadline limits the carnage to just three minutes, which makes collecting geoms your number-one priority. Both of these modes should satisfy Evolved veterans looking for more traditional shooting action.

Retro Evolved 2's visuals are definitely a step up from those in the first game. The screen is bursting with even more colors now, and every explosion fills half the screen with gorgeous lights. The enemies are much more distinct, too, and their brighter colors make it easier to identify them and work out a contingency plan. The sound is also much improved from the original. Every mode has its own music track, which gives each the tone that it needs. Pacifist offers a much more subdued feel, whereas Waves is just bursting with chaos. The explosions are extremely sharp and punctuate the music with bursts of energy.

The multiplayer mode takes the whole experience to another level of crazy fun. You can quadruple your firepower with cooperative mode, though it doesn't make the game any easier because keeping track of everything onscreen adds another layer of depth in an already frantic game. Copilot is utterly ridiculous: In this mode, one player steers while another shoots, so you place your fate in your friend's hands. Competitive mode is even tastier. Fighting for geoms while trying to stay alive longer than your friends is a teeth-baring treat that should keep you coming back for more. There are even scattered power-ups here that upgrade your weapon, freeze your friends, or turn you into a geom magnet, among other things. It's a shame that this mode is offline only, but it serves to make an already great game almost impossible to put down.

Retro Evolved 2 is a shockingly good sequel. The only problem is the lack of an online multiplayer mode. Everything else on display here is a drastic improvement over the original. Every new mode is extremely fun to play and requires a totally different play style to master. The geoms put upgrading fully in your hands; you have to decide if you want to risk your life for a couple of green gems or if you want to focus on staying alive. Even little tweaks--such as including your closest friend's highest score in the upper right corner of your screen to constantly give you a new goal to strive for--raise the addiction level. At only 800 MS points ($10), this is not only a great value but also one of the best games on XBLA.

Soulcalibur IV (Xbox360)

When Soul Calibur was released for the Dreamcast in 1999, it set a new standard for fighting games on home consoles. Subsequent entries in the series have changed very little as far as the weapon-based fighting mechanics are concerned, and have introduced new features and gameplay modes with varying success. Soulcalibur IV is no different in that respect; the series-first online play is a great addition, but though the visuals have improved and the gameplay has undoubtedly evolved, it still feels very familiar. And that's no bad thing.

The majority of the characters on Soulcalibur IV's roster will also be familiar if you're a fan of the series, though only around half of the 30-plus combatants are available at the outset, including Yoda on the Xbox 360 and Darth Vader on the PlayStation 3. Others are unlocked by defeating them in the single-player Story and Arcade modes, and by purchasing them with the gold that you're awarded for winning fights. There's more than enough variety on the roster to ensure that you can enjoy playing as at least a handful of different characters, and a robust customization system gives you the freedom both to edit their appearances and to create your own fighters from scratch.

Regardless of who you play as, Soulcalibur IV is accessible enough that even first-time players will have no trouble performing some powerful and great-looking moves. Rather than memorizing lengthy combo attacks and knowing how to attack your opponent, the challenge here comes from knowing when to attack, when to block, and when to sidestep around the arena. That's not to say that the combatants in Soulcalibur IV don't have impressively large repertoires of moves, because they do, it's just that very few of them are tough to pull off.

Your goal in Soulcalibur IV, of course, is to defeat your opponent by depleting his or her health bar. Alternately, you can win by knocking your opponent out of the "ring," which is possible in almost all of the game's beautifully realized arenas. New to the series--though reminiscent of a feature in 1997's Soul Blade--is the soul-gauge system, which appears alongside the health bar and changes color if you spend too much of your time blocking attacks and not retaliating with your own. When the gauge turns red and your health bar starts flashing, you're just an attack or two away from entering a defenseless "soul crush" state, at which point your opponent can perform a one-hit-kill critical-finish move. It takes a long time for that to happen, so the soul gauge isn't always an effective deterrent as far as overly defensive players are concerned, but it at least discourages online players from trying to score cheap victories simply by landing a couple of blows and then blocking until the time runs out.

Online play is where Soulcalibur IV really shines, though there aren't many different modes of play available. The action is fast-paced and free of lag for the most part, though if you have a slow Internet connection, you might find that your character takes a split-second longer to respond to your inputs than you're used to, which can prove fatal against a skilled opponent. You can choose to play ranked battles online against random opponents or join up to three other players in an unranked lobby, in which the winner of each round gets to stay in the fight as spectators get their turn in the ring. Both Arcade and Special modes of play are available online, the difference being that in Special mode all of the characters' move lists are augmented by special skills bestowed on them in part by weapon and clothing choices. Disappointingly absent from Soulcalibur IV, both online and offline, is an option to pit teams of fighters against one another. Team battles have appeared in the series previously, and given that the tagging mechanic is present in the single-player Tower of Lost Souls mode, its omission is baffling.

Considering that Arcade mode does nothing new and Story mode is really short and text-heavy, the new Tower of Lost Souls mode is where you'll find the majority of Soulcalibur IV's compelling single-player content. Taking control of one to three fighters, you must ascend (and later descend) the tower one floor at a time by defeating multiple groups of enemies without ever having your health replenished. Variety comes courtesy of opponents with carefully tailored skill sets, as well as battle-specific challenges that can be completed to unlock treasure chests containing new armor and weapons. For example, you might have to defeat three fighters who all have the ability to leech health from you, or who are impossible to force out of the ring. Optional challenges during these fights can be completed by meeting very specific conditions, such as landing the final blow as the timer ticks down to zero, performing four or more counter hits, or for defeating all opponents by knocking them out of the ring. As you ascend the tower, the difficulty level can ramp up pretty quickly, and you might find that you have to revisit the character-customization mode to prepare your chosen combatant for certain challenges.

How you go about customizing or creating a character for Soulcalibur IV depends on the use that you have in mind for the character. For Arcade mode, the only thing you need to concern yourself with is how your character looks, and you'll find that the number of armor pieces and weapons available for you to choose from increases quite dramatically as you spend time playing. For other modes, you'll have to consider the pros and cons of everything that you equip, even if that means ending up with a character who looks like he or she has just stepped out of a medieval thrift store. That's because just about every item has an impact, not only on your basic attack, defense, and health attributes, but also on the distribution of skill points, which fall into five distinct categories labeled power, impact, boost, gauge, and special. For example, equipping an executioner's breastplate will give you 30 power skill points to spend and will boost your attack and defense attributes, but at the expense of health points. There are dozens of items to choose from, and they're balanced so that it's possible for you to make more specialized fighters but not to gain an unfair advantage. Even skills such as temporary invisibility, unblockable attacks, and health recovery--which on paper sound like they'd break the game--are kept in check because to get any real benefit from them you have to forgo spending skill points in other areas. It's worth mentioning that more powerful (and costly) skills can be used only if you've played your character enough to reach a certain "style level," but reaching the level-nine cap doesn't take very long.

Style is something that Soulcalibur IV certainly has no shortage of. The nicely detailed character models look even better when the flamboyant animation kicks in, and the sheer variety that's on show in the arena locales can't fail to impress. The orchestral soundtrack ends up feeling a little too epic for its own good in places, but that's largely because it's paired with cheesy character dialog and an announcer who delivers his melodramatic lines without even a hint of irony. Fortunately, this isn't a game that's ever in danger of taking itself too seriously, as evidenced by the presence of Star Wars characters, animal costumes, novelty weapons, and plenty of amusing arena details.

Perhaps the most amusing, or at least laughable feature of Soulcalibur IV is that Yoda, Vader, and The Apprentice from LucasArts' upcoming Force Unleashed game all have stories that attempt to explain their sudden presence in the Soulcalibur universe. In terms of gameplay, none of the aforementioned fighters from a galaxy far, far away are a great fit with the rest of the roster, but they're certainly not so far removed that they ruin the game or anything like that. Some Force powers aside, Vader actually isn't radically different from some of the other members of the cast. The Apprentice uses the force a lot more liberally and, at least until you figure out how to fight against him, he can feel like a really cheap opponent when he throws lightning bolts and even his lightsaber across the screen at you. Given his diminutive stature, it's no surprise that Yoda feels very different from any other character in the game. He's impossible to throw and, considering that he spends most of his time jumping around very acrobatically, he can also be tough to hit. He doesn't use the Force a lot, though, and he moves around the arena relatively slowly, so he's not so much overpowered as just tricky.

The fact that Yoda and Vader are exclusive to the 360 and the PS3 respectively is easily the most pronounced difference between the two versions, but given that both games have an empty box on the Star Wars row of the character-select screen, it seems reasonable to assume that it'll no longer be an issue once downloadable content starts coming. The only other noteworthy difference between the two games is that the PS3 version offers an optional install to make the load times between fights shorter. Depending on how seriously you take your fighting games, the controllers that you use to play Soulcalibur IV might also be a consideration The PS3 controller's D pad is superior to the Xbox 360's on this occasion, but the latter's analog sticks fare a lot better. The question, then, isn't whether or not you should play Soulcalibur IV, it's which version you should play.

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (Xbox360)

Ever since its inception in the early 1990s, Sid Meier's critically acclaimed Civilization series has challenged players to "build an empire to stand the test of time." Civilization Revolution is the newest scion of the series, and like its predecessors, it's a turn-based strategy game in which you take charge of a notable historical civilization and lead them from humble beginnings to world domination. Faced with the great challenge of preserving the strategic breadth of the series while streamlining the experience for consoles, developer Firaxis games has succeeded admirably. The result is a distilled version of Civilization that will please series veterans and newcomers alike.

Before the game begins, you must make an important choice: Which of the 16 civilizations will you command? Each has a starting bonus and four era bonuses that you'll gain as you progress through the ages, bonuses that will aid you in some way on your path to victory. There are four types of victory in Civilization Revolution: cultural, economic, technology, and domination. Each has particular victory conditions, and civilization-specific bonuses are a good way to start down the road toward meeting those conditions. Those seeking a cultural victory will appreciate that the Egyptians start with an ancient wonder, whereas military-minded players might choose the Germans and their veteran warriors. Trying the different civilizations on for size is great fun, as you adapt your unique strengths to grow your empire and deal with your opponents.

Once you've chosen your civilization, the game begins in earnest. As you set down your first city, you'll see icons on the surrounding squares indicating how much food, production, or trade each produces. Food grows your population, production builds units and buildings, and trade furthers scientific research or fills your coffers with gold. Being aware of these resources is the key to your civilization's prosperity. As your city grows larger and encompasses more squares, you'll have the option of telling your workers to prioritize one resource over the others, or to work certain squares instead of others. Unlike in previous Civilization games, individual squares cannot be improved, and workers now exist only within the confines of the city menu screen. Despite the worker's reduced role, the bulk of its strategic relevance has been preserved. Now certain buildings and technologies will increase your resource yield, so the challenge lies in choosing what to research and what to build to optimize your city's production. This interweaving of strategic considerations is engrossing and spurs you to constantly refine the myriad facets of your grand plan.

With your first city up and running, you begin to go about the business of expanding your realm. You build warriors to defend your city and explore the surrounding area. Barbarians will threaten you early on, and destroying them will grant you gold, or perhaps a bonus unit. There are also friendly villages that will offer similar bonuses, and sometimes even grant you a new technology. Discovering impressive natural wonders, such as a great forest or a vast desert, will also garner you a gold bonus and the gratifying right to stamp a name on it that will last throughout history. There are also a few ancient artifacts, such as the Lost City of Atlantis, that grant substantial boons to the civilization that discovers them. Although it's already a thrill to explore uncharted lands, these bonus incentives add more urgency to your wanderings and encourage you to keep up a brisk pace.

As you explore, create units, and settle new cities, you'll soon discover that you're not alone. Leaders of other civilizations will contact you with offers of peace, but don't expect these truces to last. Depending on your difficulty level, you may have a few leaders asking to trade techs, or they all may try to bully you out of hearth and home. You can do some bullying of your own from the diplomacy panel, as well as make peace, trade techs, or even pay a leader to wage war on another civilization. However, long-term trade agreements are gone, and previously marketable resources like wine, iron, and silk now merely provide resource bonuses to nearby cities. Degrees of peace, like non-agression pacts and open borders, are also gone, the latter of which is particularly missed during online games, when passing through an ally's territory will cause a declaration of war. The controls for navigating diplomacy are easy, but it does feel a bit limited.

If you refuse another civilization's demands for tribute, or want to pursue a domination victory, you'll declare war on your enemies and march your legions off to battle. Every combat unit has a separate attack and defense rating, and it's important to play to their strengths. For example, in the early going, archers are twice as powerful on defense than offense, so leaving them to defend your cities while your more powerful attackers advance to the front may be a good move. Positioning yourself advantageously is rewarding, not only because of terrain bonuses, but also because of the satisfaction you get from winning a carefully executed encounter. Cutting through your opponent's forces and taking their cities is immensely gratifying, though large invasion forces can get cumbersome since you can no longer combine diverse units into a manageable stack.

Actual combat is merely a matter of sending your unit onto an enemy unit's square and seeing how things play out. Victorious units will gain experience and can earn special abilities, such as improved city defense. Combat has been streamlined, too, and the number of units available throughout the ages has been pared down. Ships can no longer bombard land squares, but positioning them on the coast adjacent to your warring armies will give your land troops a boost in combat. Without square improvements to destroy, siege warfare is limited to parking your forces on squares to prevent a city from working them. Furthermore, even the smallest ship can transport a huge number of units, so sending armies by sea is feasible in any age. Thankfully, these changes don't feel like omissions because the strategies that the lost elements supported are still present and can make or break your martial campaigns.

There's a lot of information to take into account when playing Civilization Revolution, and fortunately there are a number of built-in tools to help you. You have a cadre of advisors who pop up to consult you in the city and tech screens, and they, like the leaders of other civilizations, are large, animated characters who react to your decisions and push each other out of the way amusingly as you switch your focus. They do make some repetitive noises and their gibberish speak can get annoying, but they are quite helpful in the early going and once you're in the rhythm of the game, you'll likely tune them out. Other audio effects and background music are more appropriate, and the dramatic flourishes of victory or wonder creation are quite invigorating.

One of the highlights of the game is the robust civilopedia, which is accessible from almost any screen with the press of a button. All of the pertinent game information is here, as well as a wealth of multimedia knowledge for those curious to know the biographies of the great people who appear in their cities, or to see a video clip of a galley at sea. It's a fantastic addition that you'll find yourself consulting often as you refine your game strategy. Though it does take a few seconds to load, it's well worth it to make sure that you choose the right wonder to build or tech to research.

Tying it all together is the vivid, clean presentation and simple control scheme. You can scroll around the map with either analog stick, though the right one is required to issue movement commands. Cycling through units with the directional pad is a breeze. The left trigger zooms out, though not as far as you might like, and the right trigger gives you a quick look at your tech, culture, and treasury growth. City and diplomacy menus are a mere click away. This accessibility is complemented by the vibrant unit designs and animations, as well as the eye-catching city representations. The ocean looks lovely as waves lap at the shore and fish frolic in the clear water, and mountains, forests, and rivers are equally beautiful. Scroll around a busy map and you'll experience some choppiness, but not so much that it's detrimental to the gameplay.

Single-player games are rich and varied, but you can mix things up further by playing the included scenarios or taking on the Game of the Week and seeing how you rank against other Civ players. You can also test your skills head-to-head online. Each match has five civilizations but a max of four human players. You can face off one-on-one, join up with a teammate against human or AI players, or cut loose in a free-for-all. A headset lets you conspire with your fellow players, but be careful to use the private chat feature lest you alert your enemies to your plan. Be sure to block out a few hours for these matches, which can sometimes last quite a while. You can limit the turn time to speed things up, but with four human players and one AI civilization, there's a lot to do. Online matches do have a strange pace to them that's not quite a sequential flow, and they move more slowly than solo games. Nevertheless, if you've got the patience, there's nothing quite like matching wits with another human player.

Played against human or AI opponents, Civilization Revolution is an excellent game that will let you plumb different strategic depths each time you play. It's incredibly easy to get engrossed in the rhythm of expansion and evolution, and you can happily lose hours and hours at a time. Sid Meier and Firaxis Games have done a fantastic job of streamlining many of the key game mechanics, and they've cut out some of the micromanagement without gutting the strategic options. If you enjoyed Civilization on the PC and are worried that this version might feel stripped down, fear not. Although it does seem simpler at first, you'll soon realize that it's the same signature gameplay you know and love. If you haven't played a Civilization game before, you should get your hands on this worthy new entry in the Civilization canon.

Devil May Cry 4 (PC)

If you play Devil May Cry 4 on the PC, you should expect all of the same visceral carnage featured in the console versions, but there's a caveat: You'll need a gamepad. If you're a glutton for punishment, you can try using the game's keyboard control scheme, but it's awkward and frustrating. However, assuming that you have a decent controller, you'll find that this excellent sequel is Capcom's finest PC release in years.

It's a challenging experience, though its smoother difficulty curve makes it far more accessible than Devil May Cry 3. In this vein, you're given an excellent number of gameplay choices that help you tailor the challenge to your preferences. You can initially choose one of two difficulties (and if you want to cry like a little kid, you can unlock several more), and you can even choose whether you want the game to perform some combos for you automatically. No, you aren't apt to find Devil May Cry 4 to be excessively tough on your first play-through, although it is no walk in the park, either. Nevertheless, it is generally excessive, and that isn't a bad thing. Stylish action, terrific boss fights, and beautiful, melodramatic cutscenes will inspire you to push forward, and they serve as an appropriate reward for a well-played sequence of demon slaying.

It isn't surprising that a game featuring the charmingly insane Dante would be so over the top, though the series' famed antihero is not the real star this time around. Don't worry; you'll still get to play as Dante, and he brings with him a good selection of weapons and fighting styles, just as Devil May Cry fans would expect. But you'll spend the majority of the game as newcomer Nero, who has a selection of impressive and elegant moves of his own. Nero is an excellent character, capable of delivering a few wisecracks, a brooding glance, and a heartfelt plea of love to his beloved Kyrie in a few moments' time. He's clearly cut from the same cloth as Dante, and it's a bit disappointing that the game doesn't explore this connection in more detail. Regardless, you'll want to follow Nero's exploits as he struggles to learn the truth about his own religious organization, The Order of the Sword, and Dante's apparent murder of its leader.

The story doesn't offer up a whole lot of surprises, but it embraces a certain attitude of self-indulgence. Cutscenes are overwrought, visually stunning affairs, and are among the best you are likely to see in any game in recent years. The theatrical dialogue, impossibly athletic animations, and swooping camerawork make for quite the spectacle, but somehow it's a spectacle that manages to stay on just the right side of cheesy. Devil May Cry 4 takes itself seriously, but not too seriously, so for every shocking, bloody cutaway, there's an equally funny quip that helps keep the narrative in check. There are a couple of cringe-worthy exceptions, such as one scene in which Dante decides he's a tango dancer (don't quit your day job!), but overall, you're apt to find the scenes to be gorgeous, thought-provoking, and emotionally stirring.

Nero's claim to fame is his demonic arm, better known as the devil bringer. With it, you can grab on to distant enemies and pull them in, pick them up, and slam them around for some excellent combos, plus deliver a few other surprises. These mechanics are easy to pull off, and they represent a general shift from the defensive gameplay of Devil May Cry 3 to a more aggressive approach. As you play, you can pull off some incredibly satisfying moves, both in the air and on the ground, and the most violent of these are accompanied by slick, bloody animations and appropriately gory-sounding thwacks and slashes. Timing these various moves can be tricky, but like in the previous games, eventually the subtleties of your combos will click, and in time you'll be pulling enemies toward you, slashing them into bite-size pieces, and smashing them into one another with glee.

The devil-bringer moves go a long way, which is probably a good thing, given that Nero has neither as varied an arsenal as Dante nor access to multiple fighting styles. However, he does have his standard sword, the red queen, and a revolver known as blue rose, and later on he earns another weapon that franchise fans will enjoy seeing in action. As you progress, you will earn proud souls based on your performance in any given mission, and with them, you can purchase new combos and upgrade existing ones. And you'll need them to handle droves of demons that get progressively tougher--and which are awesome to look at, to boot. You can choose these new moves individually, or you can let the game autoselect them for you based on how varied you want your array of attacks to be. It's worth noting that you can't really make a mistake here; if you don't like the move, or if there is a more powerful upgrade available to you, you can unlearn what you have purchased for a full refund and use the souls for something else.

You'll also encounter a number of secret missions scattered around, and you'll no doubt find them to be the most challenging aspect of the game. In some cases, you have to execute a certain move a set number of times in a row, or dispatch every demon within the allotted time. Although those missions are challenging, others require you to have purchased a particular move before you can manage it. If at first it seems that some of these missions are simply unbeatable, have faith and return to it later. There's a good chance that you were simply missing a piece of the puzzle. You aren't required to do these missions, but the orb fragment that you earn is a perfectly fine reward, and accomplishing these difficult tasks is incredibly gratifying.

About halfway through the game, you'll take control of Dante, and you'll likely go through a period of adjustment while you get used to the change in gameplay techniques. Frankly, the devil bringer is a great mechanic, and losing it is a bit of a disappointment, considering that it's likely to be the center of your fighting style. Instead, you'll have a new set of actions and combos to get used to, new weapons, and four (eventually five) fighting styles. Yet once your arsenal of melee weapons and guns expands (Pandora's Box is a favorite), you'll enjoy their cheerful boldness. There's a lot more variety here than with Nero, and it's a lot of fun to switch styles and weapons on the fly, just to find more interesting and flashy ways of crushing demons to a pulp.

In addition to the dazzling action, you'll work your way through some light puzzles and platforming sequences. The puzzles aren't tough, but they do require you to roam around a bit from time to time, bashing on some switches, using a special device to slow down time, and accomplishing some other odds and ends. They help break up the pace, but all too often these breaks result in lulls that last a bit too long, making you long for another crazy demon attack. Some of the platform sequences are fine, requiring you to use the devil bringer as a grappling hook to fling yourself around, though some of the more standard sequences suffer from bad camera angles and an annoying tendency for the camera to change positions in midjump.

Don't let the variety of weaponry and special moves lull you into believing that the rest of Devil May Cry 4's design is similarly diverse. In fact, the many different ways of killing enemies is quite a stark contrast to the repetition at the heart of the experience. It's true that backtracking and repeated environments have been a problem in past games in the series, but the newest entry takes these issues to an even higher level of monotony. Many successive levels take place in the same castle hallways and forest meadows, and when you switch to Dante, you visit them all over again. Granted, most of these areas are easy on the eyes due to their gorgeous architecture and grand outdoor vistas. Yet when you see them over and over again, and when some of the simple puzzles have you traipsing back and forth, you will wish for new sights. It has the effect of making a seemingly grand adventure feel oddly limited.

That repetition even makes its way into the admittedly spectacular boss fights. These battles are easily the shining star of Devil May Cry 4, and each boss is wildly different from the last, requiring split-second timing and good control over your reflexes. From a giant toad to a hulking stone behemoth, these bosses are cleverly designed and a good deal of fun. Yet as Dante in the second half of the game, you'll face all of the same bosses that you fought as Nero. Although the game could have benefitted from some new blood during these missions, the differences in styles between the two at least lend some diversity to the repeated bosses and test the newest additions to your arsenal. However, amazingly (and irritatingly), Capcom brings most of them out for a third time in the game's padded and plodding penultimate mission. Yes, these fights are fun, but forcing most of them on you three times is overkill.

On consoles, Devil May Cry 4 is beautiful; on the PC, it positively dazzles. The game includes DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 modes, and both look spectacular and run beautifully. Both Nero and Dante are fluid in motion, and they showcase a good deal of flair and subtlety in their movements. The more damage a move does, the more astonishing it looks onscreen, and few games can approach the pure razzle-dazzle of Nero jumping into the air, his cape flying and the glowing devil bringer tossing lumbering demons around with matchless grace. From an environmental design standpoint, the visuals can be gorgeous to behold, and moments like your first glimpse of Gran Album Bridge are bound to take your breath away.

The sound design, like the storytelling, is merrily over the top. The vibrant brutality of your most impressive moves is accompanied by equally squeamish and powerful sound effects. Fortunately, the talented voice cast never hams it up, even when delivering the most melodramatic lines. As Nero, Johnny Yong Bosch can be both remarkably sincere and sneeringly sarcastic, and his superb acting makes for one of the most appealing new game characters to be introduced in some time. But you may not find the music as universally appealing. This is the one area where Devil May Cry 4 feels too clichéd; it relies on the standard heavy-metal grinds that accompany most demon-inspired games and films, and replays the same couple of tunes during combat ad nauseam. Luckily, it never gets in the way, so though it may not stand out, it doesn't stick out, either.

The PC version doesn't support online leaderboards, but it includes two excellent additions: Legendary Dark Knight mode and turbo speed. LDK mode fills the screen with insane numbers of demons at a time and delivers plenty of excitement without becoming unfairly difficult. You can turn on turbo speed before heading into a mission, which hastens the tempo and makes for a great thumb workout. All told, Devil May Cry 4 is a great game, and it delivers a lot of quality action that will please fans without alienating those new to the series. If you liked previous entries, you'll find what you're looking for here; and if you were turned off by Devil May Cry 3's insane challenge, then you'll feel a lot more comfortable this time around.

Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 (DS)

Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 is the sequel to 2005's Under the Knife, which introduced the world to the amazing Dr. Derek Stiles and a deadly infection concocted by a crazed terrorist group hell-bent on destroying humanity. Many puzzle fans couldn't put the game down despite its outrageous plot and painful difficulty, and the sequel is just as addictive. Though you'll still spend time fighting fictional diseases spread by bioterrorism, Under the Knife 2 is such an exceptional medical-themed puzzler that you'll forget the game's absurdity as you're sucked in by its consuming gameplay.

The game recasts you as Derek Stiles and opens in Costigar, a fictional African state attempting to recover from decades of brutal civil war. It has been three years since the eradication of GUILT, the man-made infection crafted by terrorists, and though it has been successfully treated worldwide, it seems that those who had previously suffered from the disease have developed new symptoms, prompting Derek to return to the United States to contend with new strains.

Gameplay in Under the Knife 2 proceeds in much the same fashion as in the original, and operations play out in chapter episodes after a cutscene provides the appropriate backdrop. Before each operation, you're given a patient briefing and a surgical objective by your assistant, after which the standard five-minute time limit appears and the patient's life is in your hopefully very steady hands. You work externally to internally, making incisions with the scalpel, removing foreign objects with the forceps, and coating the patient's wounds in the strongest antibacterial gel ever created. You complete an operation by fixing whatever ails the patient and are awarded a rank according to how quickly and effectively you work.

Though it sounds simple enough, operations in Under the Knife 2 quickly intensify because the fast-paced procedures require you to tackle multiple tasks simultaneously; the difficulty comes not in any one procedure's complexity but in the speed with which you need to perform it as you struggle to stabilize a patient's vitals while feverishly sucking out pools of pus and zapping tumors. This hectic push for speed is the game's high point and significantly increases an operation's difficulty--since the slightest slip of the hand damages a patient's vitals. Fortunately Derek has a healing touch ability, which appears to slow time as he moves faster than an infection can progress. You'll also receive clear verbal cues about your next procedure from your assistant, which is a blessing when a patient's condition is spiraling out of control and you're clueless as to what to do next.

If you've spent any time at all with the Trauma Center series, then the game's standard tool offering won't surprise you; in fact, most of the tools are identical to those in the original game and function similarly, with the exception of the defibrillator, which comes in handy when patients go into cardiac arrest. You drain disgusting bodily fluids by drawing the stylus up from the target pool, stitch up gaping wounds by zigzagging the stylus across them, and make clean incisions with the scalpel by following the dotted line. Any sloppy suturing isn't likely to get you chastised, but Under the Knife 2 is more of a fast-paced puzzler than a straight medical simulation, and the mixture of both elements makes the game incredibly fun and addictive. The surprising amount of operation variety is also refreshing considering the plot's heavy focus on the new GUILT; you'll do an organ transplant, extract fragmented bones in the dark, inject color-coded serum into bacteria, and even play laser tag with giant moving tumors.

Atlus took Under the Knife's strongest criticism to heart when designing its sequel, forgoing a single punishing difficulty level for three difficulty modes. You can adjust these for individual chapters, which should make the game accessible to anyone intimidated by the original game's insane difficulty. You'll still end up repeating a fair number of operations, even on normal mode, but the additional settings make it possible for you to do so without pulling your hair out, which is a welcome improvement.

The game's presentation is similar to its predecessor's; the instructions, time limit, and stage score are displayed on the top screen, and the operation field is on the bottom. Patient models are in 3D and feature comparatively more-realistic organs and wounds, while the game's 2D anime style has been toned down a bit so that characters look less comical. With that said, their dialogue is still ridiculously melodramatic at times, complete with "I'm a doctor!" and "Pull yourself together!" lines. The music is very quick and upbeat, with great tunes supplied during key operations that are sure to get your blood pumping. Minimal voice work is also provided to emphasize important plot segments.

Under the Knife 2's only flaw is that it feels a bit light on content, offering only 38 operations that take a few minutes each to play through. You won't necessarily complete them all first time, of course, but even allowing for failed attempts and lengthy cutscenes it shouldn't take you more 15 hours or so to beat the game. Finishing the game does grant you access to "confidential" operations, but these are set on extreme difficulty, leaving those who shied away from the hard setting woefully unprepared for the challenges ahead. Even with these bonus operations the game still feels padded, containing entire episodes without operations that amount to little more than lengthy dialogue filler. There's some replay value at least, since the ranking system encourages you to repeat past surgeries to increase your score. All in all, Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 successfully blends a creative medical theme with bizarre but fun puzzle gameplay to create an addictive treat.

Final Fantasy IV (DS)

More than 15 years ago, SquareSoft shocked the world with its masterpiece Final Fantasy II (which was actually the fourth game in the series but only the second released in North America). For the first time, console role-players weren't given a few generic heroes and charged with stopping the evil wizard and saving the world; instead, they were introduced to a wide assortment of realistic characters who struggled with complex adult issues such as love, hate, honor, duty, betrayal, and redemption. Now, this epic saga has been entirely remade in 3D on the Nintendo DS, and whether Cecil, Kain, and Rosa are new faces or old friends, this is one adventure that you shouldn't miss.

Cecil is a man with a dilemma. Though bound by his duty as the lord captain of the Red Wings of Baron to serve his king and country, his conscience is heavy with the sins that he is committing in their name. The formerly loving and caring king who took Cecil in as a child and taught him the ways of the dark sword has become a sinister and greedy tyrant who covets the sacred crystals of the world for reasons unknown. Upon returning from a mission to Baron's friendly neighbor Mysidia, in which Cecil and his men were forced to steal one of the crystals like common thugs, he finally dares to question his king's motives. For his insubordination, Cecil is stripped of his rank and sent on an errand north to the village of Mist, where his destiny is revealed to him and his journey of atonement begins.

Throughout his quest, Cecil is joined by a number of intriguing characters: Kain, his best friend and a dragoon of considerable skill; Rosa, his lady love, who became a white mage to support him on the frontlines; Rydia, a summoner capable of calling the legendary Eidolons (referred to as summon monsters in other games) to her aid; Tellah, a revenge-driven sage who's forgotten more than most have learned; and many more. Together, they represent some of the most diverse and thoroughly fleshed-out characters in the long history of the Final Fantasy series. Standing on the other end of the spectrum across a sea of monsters is the sinister Golbez, a larger-than-life mastermind of evil clad in full body armor as black as night. His lieutenants, the four elemental archfiends, are equally memorable, particularly the urbane Rubicante, who insists on healing your wounds before doing battle with you so that you can fight him with all your might.

Golbez and his goons may have most of the cards, but that doesn't mean that Cecil and his pals don't have an ace or two up their sleeves. Each of the characters that make up your party have a set class that they grow more powerful in as they gain levels. Each class has its own unique abilities, such as the dark knight's darkness, which casts a self-buff that doubles damage for a few turns at the price of the wielder's own HP, or the sage's recall, which randomly casts an otherwise unavailable high-level spell. Though class-specific abilities aren't anything new, in this DS remake you now have the power to customize your characters by giving them additional abilities called augments. Augments can be found throughout the world, given to you by leaving party members, or even stolen from certain enemies, and they can do everything from passively increasing stats such as HP and MP to granting class-specific abilities like darkness or recall to normally nonqualifying characters. If you look hard enough, you may even be able to learn the abilities of the elemental archfiends, such as Cagnazzo's tsunami attack.

If you're willing to put the time into experimenting with augments, you will uncover a slew of powerful combinations that just may give you the edge you need--and you'll need all the help you can get because the difficulty in this iteration of Final Fantasy IV has been increased tremendously. A majority of the bosses require very specific strategies to defeat, and the uninformed will likely perish several times in these encounters before they grasp how to claim victory. Even if you're a seasoned veteran who knows all of the tricks, don't expect things to be simple; some bosses have changed just enough to throw you off of your game, and all of them are a lot tougher than you remember. By the end of the game, even the normal monsters found in random battles are tough enough to wipe the floor with a superpowered party of heroes if they're unprepared.

Besides the radical addition of the ability to customize your party, several other minor gameplay tweaks have been made. The characters in your party now share their thoughts with you on the menu screen, offering personal anecdotes and potentially helpful advice about the current situation. An entirely new quest line featuring Namingway--a moogle-like wanderer who in the original version was satisfied with renaming your characters when asked to--has been added, in which Namingway renames himself as he tries out a number of different professions with humorous results. Finally, Rydia receives a unique new Eidolon named Whyt that can be completely customized by conversing with Fat Chocobo, who fans will likely remember as a bank for extra-item storage (that service is no longer necessary because the item cap has been removed). Through Fat Chocobo, you can customize Whyt's appearance, assign him an assortment of attacks, level up his various stats by participating in touch-screen-heavy minigames, and even battle your friend's incarnations of Whyt in one-on-one matches via local DS wireless.

However, outside of Whyt's minigames, there isn't much going on with the touch screen. When not in battle, the bottom screen is occupied by an area map that automatically fills as you explore dungeons, and it's possible to navigate your party around the world by manipulating the stylus. At most other times, the touch screen is nonfunctional. Thankfully, the button controls are very effective, and so it's generally best to not even try to mess around with your stylus.

Final Fantasy IV is easily among the best-looking 3D games on the Nintendo DS. The heavily stylized characters are impressively expressive, from the manner in which Cecil broods as he reflects on his guilt to the way that Rydia hops up and down and waves her hands to get your attention at a shop when you find something that she can equip. Now that dungeons are rendered in three dimensions, there is a vast sense of size and depth (particularly in the final dungeon) that wasn't previously there, and it makes your journey seem that much more awe-inspiring and epic. As part of the new graphical update, key moments of the game are shown off in cinematic-style cutscenes, many of which are accompanied by full voice acting for the characters. Unfortunately, as excited as series fans may be to finally hear Cecil speak, the voice acting is actually the game's weakest point. Some voices seem completely out of character or introduce unnecessary melodrama.

Although it has been rereleased several times throughout the years, this full remake of one of the most celebrated stories in video game history is in many ways more poignant and impressive than it was all those years ago, despite minor irks with the voice acting. With a cast of memorable characters and villains, a more accurate and authentic translation, a new skill-customization system, and a few important new story elements that help to better explain key plot points, this is the definitive version of Final Fantasy IV that everyone should experience.

Top Spin 3 (Xbox360)

Top Spin has always been one of the more realistic tennis games on the market, and Pam Development has worked hard to keep up that tradition with Top Spin 3. While the game's challenging style may alienate casual players, it will keep dedicated ones occupied beyond this season and for a long time to come.

Despite being initially unforgiving, the controls feel responsive and straight-forward once you've got the hang of them. Face buttons perform flat, top spin, slice, and lob/drop shots, the triggers perform risky or power shots, and the shoulder buttons help you dash to the baseline or net. However, the timing of button presses has been substantially altered, and failing to release the button on time will result in a missed shot. Depending on your position to the ball, you might unleash a weak shot, a wild swing that misses the ball altogether, or an overpowered attempt that sends the ball beyond the baseline. The AI players rarely make clumsy shots either, forcing you to refine your technique--particularly when it comes to volleying--before mastering the game.

There are plenty of game modes, from the usual exhibition, career, tournament, and tutorial options, to online and offline multiplayer. If you're new to the Top Spin series, it's highly advisable to head to the school before taking to the courts, as the AI will punish novices even on medium difficulty settings. Doing so will give you a headstart on hitting those aces and returning every shot that comes your way. The game eschews traditional in-game meters and gauges, and instead requires you to use intuition, reflexes, and good, old-fashioned timing to nail your shots. The only onscreen displays are the score and a heart rate monitor, which gives you an idea of how your stamina is holding up. The higher your heart rate, the tougher it is to hit those hard-to-reach shots between the lines.

The career mode takes you through five stages: amateur, challenger, junior, pro, and legend. Throughout your career, winning matches will earn you experience points and unlock other points which you can use to increase your skills and buy new merchandise such as outfits, shoes, accessories and racquets. They're a nice addition to have, but will have no bearing on your performance. New skills include forehand, backhand, service, return, volley, power, speed, and stamina, and you can purchase dozens of different outfits, racquets, and accessories. The career mode matches Top Spin's serious approach to tennis, but it does mean the game lacks the variety and mini-games of other tennis games.

Beating three opponents in the game's career mode will advance you from amateur to challenger rank. Winning a tournament in this mode will then propel you to the lofty rank of junior. Junior--and the subsequent pro rank--lets you play through a regular season, choosing tournaments as you see fit with the aim of finishing the season with the highest rank. Do all that and you'll get a crack at the grand slams, and eternal tennis glory in the legend rank. Needless to say the competitors get harder as you progress, but as long as you keep earning experience points and using them to increase your skills you should have a fighting chance of making it at the highest level.

The roster of licensed players in Top Spin 3 is sizable with 40-odd players available, including Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Justine Henin, Andy Roddick, Amelie Mauresmo, James Blake, Andy Murray, and Gael Monfils. There's also a roster of classic players for good measure, including Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg, and Monica Seles, as well as a number of ficticious players. It's pretty cool to be able to face off current champions against those of yesteryear in a "what if" scenario. Recent French Open winner Rafael Nadal appears exclusively in the PlayStation 3 version (the only major difference between the two versions), so if you want a player even vaguely resembling him on the Xbox 360 you'll have to master the comprehensive create-a-player feature. This will no doubt come as a big disappointment for Xbox 360 tennis fans who can't play as the current world number two simply due to contractual obligations.

Top Spin 3's solid player-creation tool lets you make your mark on the tennis world without relying on licensed players. You can tweak dozens of settings for your chosen model including a range of settings for your face, body, outfit, and more, including tattoos, headwear, and even a desired grunt style and frequency. Some of the settings are a bit arcane, however, with eye colour being set via a numerical range rather than being labelled as something that actually makes sense--like, say, the actual colour of the eyes.

Top Spin 3 includes a wide range of famous licensed tournaments, including the French Open, the US Open, and the Australian Open. Wimbledon is an unfortunate exception, but the game does present you with the chance to play in more exotic and far-flung locations such as Seoul, Casablanca, and Buenos Aires, with more than 40 in total on offer. It will take you a long time to get sick of the variety of courts on offer, which are all recreated in fine detail including crowds that almost look life-like--normally unheard of in sports games and something other developers should take note of.

The game's multiplayer mode allows singles and doubles matches between human and AI opponents both locally and online. You can play a quick match, or compete in the World Tour mode's ranked matches either in individual matches or nine different pre-selected tournaments. We found the overall online experience to be lag free and there weren't any problems finding players to face off against in individual matches, or tournaments, and was much the same as playing against a friend sitting next to you. Online leaderboards will help you track your skill against the rest of the world.

Top Spin 3 is a great-looking game, and is technically and artistically the best example of the genre. The re-creation of famous stadiums looks spot-on, even down to detailed crowd shots and authentic tournament advertising. On the technical side, we didn't experience any issues with chuggy framerates except for when the camera was introducing us to venues while loading--for some reason every one suffered from this. Characters have realistic movements, their clothes move and sway as you'd expect, and their faces have detailed expressions and animations. Winning a grand slam feels that much better when your character looks and sounds like the real deal.

Top Spin 3 is a serious tennis game for serious tennis fans, and it's incredibly true to the series' simulation roots. If you're looking for a deep, challenging experience, this should keep you busy for some time to come; but if you prefer the occasional arcade match, or like the variety of minigames that some of Top Spin's competitors offer, you'll want to look elsewhere. Despite a few minor complaints the game looks and sounds great, and it feels almost as authentic as having front-row seats to a real-life grand slam.

Rock Band (Wii)

PlayStation 2 owners were bummed when they had to wait an extra month for the greatness of Rock Band, but that's nothing compared to the seven months Wii owners have had to endure. Despite the lengthy period between the release of the PS2 and Wii iterations, the two games are mostly identical to each other. The Wii doesn't have online play and lacks most of the customization options of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but it still lets you and three friends form a band to rock the night away--and that's the important thing.

Rock Band includes a wireless guitar, drum kit, and microphone. The game supports a second guitar for bass parts, but you'll have to purchase it separately (FYI: the Guitar Hero 3 controller doesn't work). To use all four instruments at once you'll need to plug the included USB adapter into the Wii and then hook the instruments and wireless dongles into the adapter. Other than the drum kit now being white and the pads feeling a bit softer and bouncier, there doesn't appear to be much of a difference between the Wii hardware and other versions--the instruments are responsive and feel great. While we experienced no problems with the hardware during the course of reviewing the Wii game, it's worth mentioning that previous versions of Rock Band have had issues with hardware reliability that often weren't initially apparent.

There's plenty to do if you're a solo act (you can sing, drum, or strum along to any song), but Rock Band is a game best played with friends. Even without the ability to customize the appearance of individual band members and despite the fact that you can no longer travel the world earning new fans, equipment, and money, it's tremendous amounts of fun to come up with a name for your band, argue over song selection, activate overdrive at the same time, blame bandmates for messing up the end of songs, and swap instruments between tunes. The game mirrors the band experience so closely that nobody wants to be the bass player. Now that's realism!

Rock Band's tracklist features a great mix of songs that includes classic rock, punk, '80s rock, alternative, and modern rock. Most of the songs are performed by the original artists, though there are a few covers. There's music from the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, KISS, Bon Jovi, R.E.M., The Who, Weezer, Stone Temple Pilots, Radiohead, Beastie Boys, Soundgarden, and many more. There are a total of 63 songs, five more than in previous releases. The five new songs are "Roxanne" by The Police, The B-52's "Roam," "Dirty Little Secret" from the All-American Rejects, Oasis' "Don't Look Back in Anger," and "Rockaway Beach" by The Ramones. The Wii version has no online play, nor does it have the option to download tracks. However, starting in July you'll be able to purchase a disc that includes 20 songs that were previously available as downloadable content on the PS3 and 360. It's not the ideal way to get new tunes, but it's better than nothing.

The visuals aren't impressive, but they're functional and the frame rate is steady. When you aren't too busy rocking, you'll see that while the virtual band that rocks in the background looks pretty cool, they're nothing more than footage of prerendered characters. They don't react in real-time, and because there's only one pre-made video for song, you'll tire of seeing the same routine repeatedly. It's too bad, because seeing your customized characters own the stage was a blast on the 360 and PS3, and it was amusing to see the goofy photographs of your band in the load screens in those versions.

But it's not that important for a music game to look good; it's supposed to sound good. For the most part, Rock Band sounds terrific. The cover songs are generally very well done, and some of them, like "Train Kept a Rollin," are amazingly true to the original. If you don't have a stereo hooked up to your Wii, you're missing out. This is a game that's best played loud. The only (minor) gripes are things you probably won't notice if you haven't played the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions--the crowd is lively but doesn't sing along, and the effects that you can use on the guitar during solos and overdrive don't sound very good (though the normal guitar sounds just fine).

Thanks to a lack of online play and a stripped-down feature set, the Wii version of Rock Band isn't the best one available. But that doesn't mean it's not a great game; it absolutely is. Whether you're a lone rocker or have more band members than Parliament Funkadelic, there are dozens of hours of entertainment to be found here. Short of signing with a shady manager, developing a substance abuse problem, and dying tragically young in some sort of transit accident, there's no better way to live the life of a rock star.

Battlefield: Bad Company (Xbox360)

In Battlefield: Bad Company, no one is safe. Not a sniper hiding inside a tower. Not a soldier driving a massive tank. And definitely not you, as you bob and weave across a fiery sandbox of destruction. If you thought the action of the Battlefield franchise was intense before, you haven't seen anything yet. Thanks to a fleshed-out single-player campaign, Battlefield's trademark multiplayer action, and a new level of destructibility, Bad Company is quite simply one of the most fun shooters released this year.

With its Frostbite engine, Dice has created a warzone that is almost completely destructible. Nooks and crannies that were once a safe haven in other shooters can be reduced to rubble with a well-placed tank shell or mortar strike. Is a quaint Russian home standing between you and an objective? Blow a hole in a wall and walk right through. The system is not perfect since not all buildings can be completely destroyed. Some materials like brick may crumble to dust, but wood crates will often withstand whole missile strikes. Frostbite has its foibles, but Bad Company still gives new meaning to breaking and entering.

A good place for new players to enter is Bad Company's single-player campaign. That's right, a Battlefield game has a bona fide single-player campaign and not a collection of multiplayer maps littered with AI bots. You play as Private Preston Marlowe, recently reassigned to the 222nd Battalion, B Company, which is a collection of misfits and castoffs that the Army likes to send into battle first. B Company, in short, is expendable. You complete a four-man squad composed of Sergeant Redford, a grizzled veteran who volunteered for B Company so he could retire early; Sweetwater signed on to take advantage of a college scholarship without realizing he may actually have to fight; and Haggard is a country bumpkin and demolitions expert who loves to blow stuff up. Together, you'll fight your way into Russian territory and take out a number of well-guarded installations. When the Army leaves you stranded behind enemy lines--something about plausible deniability--the squad goes AWOL in search of mercenary gold. Along the way you'll rescue a flamboyant dictator that resembles Saddam Hussein on ecstasy, and then make your escape in a pimped-out gold chopper. No, the story isn't exactly the stuff of Stephen Ambrose, but the tongue-in-cheek humor and numerous unlockables scattered throughout the campaign make it worth fighting.

Marlowe is a jack of all trades and can handle any of the weapons and vehicles in Bad Company. Often he'll be in control of a mortar strike or laser designator that can lay waste to entire villages. The designator is meant to be used on heavy armor, but it's hard to resist dropping 50-ton bombs on lone troops just for the heck of it. There's a short recharge time so you don't inadvertently start World War III here, but you'll never get tired of unleashing explosive mortar strikes on our foes.

Your squadmates are full of friendly chatter during the campaign, but they never die and don't work together very well at times. Whereas multiplayer requires you to coordinate with your teammates, single-player feels as if you're truly playing alone, with three characters in the background that only list new objectives and provide a little comic relief. They'll take out a few enemies, man turrets and take cover, but you're doing the bulk of the work. This wouldn't be so much of an issue if friends could jump online for a little co-op, but there's no option to do so unfortunately.

Enemy soldiers are not exactly the sharpest bunch and some have no problem standing in the open, waiting for their own demise. Luckily there are so many enemies and objectives that the game never feels easy, but the firefights would be even more intense if enemies more frequently made use of cover, if only so you could blow it up. Marlowe comes equipped with an automatic health injector that refills your life bar and can be used over and over again after a short recharge. Is stabbing yourself in the heart with this panacea any more unrealistic than regenerating health as seen in Call of Duty 4 and Rainbow Six Vegas? Not really. But it certainly feels cheap plunging that needle into your chest every 20 seconds during an intense battle, something you'll surely do toward the campaign's final few missions that border on ridiculousness. You would think that four Army oddballs versus an entire mercenary force and Russian army equipped with tanks and attack choppers wouldn't stand a chance, but you would be wrong, thanks to the handy health injector.

When you've got the hang of the weapons and gadgets of the single-player campaign, jump into Bad Company's excellent online multiplayer mode. It's called Gold Rush, but it's really just a basic attack and defend mode in which an attacking team tries to blow up crates of gold. If you're successful, a larger portion of the map opens and the attackers push forward to do it all over again. This has been done before in other games, but no one does it better than Bad Company, thanks to absolutely massive maps that support 24 players, a vehicle list that includes tanks, jeeps, choppers, boats, and Humvees, as well as laser-guided rocket turrets and artillery cannons. There are five character classes in multiplayer and each has its own special abilities and unlockable extras that will make you giddy. The specialist can lace enemy vehicles for demolitions experts--their rockets will automatically hone in on tagged targets. The sniper can utilize the laser designator to nullify tanks, and the specialist can drop med kits, repair vehicles, and call in mortar strikes.

It's strange that the conquest mode in which teams vie for points on the map and drain enemy tickets, a mainstay of the Battlefield franchise, is absent. The mode will purportedly be made available as a free download at some point, but it should've been in the game right out of the box. That said, you're not likely to get bored of Gold Rush anytime soon. The maps are perfectly balanced with defensive turrets and offensive weaponry, and often matches are decided by the smallest of margins. This is the kind of game where you call your friends to let them know you somehow sniped an enemy chopper pilot or dropped a missile on the final gold crate on a map for the win. The game would've benefited from more vehicles; there aren't nearly as many on each map as you find in Battlefield 2, so teammates will often fight over fun toys such as choppers. But with its persistent ranking system and unlockable weapons, Bad Company is surely the most addicting multiplayer shooter since Call of Duty 4.

Be sure to crank the volume up to 11--Bad Company has some of the finest sound design out there. A sniper shot echoes perfectly through the mountains, while indoor firefights are so loud you may want earplugs. Visually the game does not fare as well. While it's by no means ugly, there is a strange graininess on each texture. Even looking into the clear blue sky in the first scene of the game, you'll be amazed at how fuzzy it looks. Of course, the destructible environments and exciting explosions make up for any graphical shortcomings.

Battlefield Bad Company is the most fun, addictive shooter released so far this year. While far from perfect, the intense sandbox warfare is something that you have to experience. Dice calls it tactical destruction. We call it explosive fun.

Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the most technically stunning video game ever made. It's also a fine example of storytelling prowess within its medium, combining gameplay and narrative so slickly and beautifully that it's impossible to extricate one from the other. It's likely you will emerge awestruck from your first play-through, wishing the experience would continue yet nonetheless satisfied with its conclusion. It's difficult not to sound hyperbolic when discussing MGS4 because every part of its design seemingly fulfills its vision, without compromise. There is no halfway.

Fully realized, lengthy story sequences will come as no surprise to anyone who has played a Metal Gear game. You'll spend a good half of MGS4 watching cinematics, but it would be a grave misinterpretation to assume that great gameplay takes a backseat to the story. Rather, these two elements are tightly intertwined, and this tapestry is held together by an important technical thread: Cutscenes that are rendered fully in real time within the game engine. It's impressive enough that these scenes look as good as any prerendered cinematic you've ever watched. It's even more amazing when those same scenes transition without pause into gameplay, and the same hulking mech you watched lumber about in the cinematic is looming above you. The subtle animations, the lush environments, and the rich textures are the same in and out of story sequences, and the effect is so seamless it may take your breath away. You can skip past the scenes if you prefer, but doing so would soften the experience. The story sequences carry more weight because of the intense gameplay that precedes them--and the gameplay feels more compelling because the story gives you powerful reasons to care about your mission. The high point of this fusion occurs in an exciting and memorable split-screen sequence that simply must be experienced.

Talking about what, exactly, is going on in the plot in the midst of MGS4's grand sweeping gestures is to risk spoiling each little surprise as it emerges. Snake, suffering from the rapid onset of aging, now must cope with stiff joints in addition to the looming specter of Liquid Ocelot's newest plans. This is Snake's final hurrah; yet as the story reaches one height after another, the juxtaposition of huge set piece battles and formidable bosses with Snake's deteriorating body creates tension and gravity even beyond the series' usual pretensions. Some new plot strands emerge while others get tied up, and old friends (and enemies) refuse to be forgotten. You'll also bear witness to a few reunions--some bloody, some teary, and some legitimately shocking. Parts of it are overblown, to be sure. The musical score gets heavy-handed and the voice acting and writing are frequently dogmatic, so while there are plenty of subtle moments, subtlety isn't really MGS4's strong suit. But it doesn't need to be. After all, the fate of the world hangs in the balance, and judging from a few silly attempts at humor that don't work, developer Kojima Productions was wise to err on the side of melodrama.

The gameplay proper is familiar to fans, but it's been cleaned up and expanded, holding as many twists and surprises as the story. For starters, both gunplay and close-quarters combat are more satisfying. Regarding melee, the controls have been streamlined, making it less cumbersome to grab an enemy soldier or perform a stealthy blade kill. Shooting mechanics are even more improved, so much so that shooting your way out of a pickle is just as enjoyable as sneaking around it. There are a huge number of weapons to play with; so many that you'll probably finish the campaign without using many of them. Yet, quality wasn't sacrificed for quantity: Every weapon feels just right, from your handy operator sidearm (best when upgraded with a silencer) and standard issue assault rifles to a powerful railgun. The standard over-the-shoulder view is fine for the most part, but you can gaze down the sights from a first-person perspective. Both views can be further improved with various enhancements, such as laser sights and scopes.

Not that you don't have all the tools for completely avoiding your enemies if you choose that route. Snake's got the basics covered: crawling, hugging walls, peeking around corners, and hanging from ledges, for example. Cover mechanics are tighter than ever, so you can crouch and take potshots from behind cover with ease. There are also a number of important gadgets that will make your life easier in this regard. The most obvious of these is your OctoCamo suit, which takes on the texture of your surroundings when you're prone or pressed against cover. Not only does this make it simpler to avoid watchful eyes, but it's also a cool visual effect. Eventually, you'll be able to camouflage Snake's head, and a few of the available camo options are bound to stir some fans' nostalgia. The Solid Eye is your other major tool, as it expands your compass into a sonic-sensitive radar and allows you to use night vision and a tactical first-person view. These are helpful gadgets indeed, even during boss fights, like a stirring encounter in a blinding blizzard.

Other gadgets, such as portable hiding places (cardboard boxes and rusty barrels) and the Metal Gear Mk. II (a stealthed robot that you can command as a scouting device), are useful to anyone who prefers the sneaky approach. Not every gadget is a welcome addition, though. For example, the much-ballyhooed iPod is a neat touch, but to use it, you cannot have another gadget equipped, so you'll quickly forget the option even exists. But aside from these nitpicks, one of the things that makes the core gameplay so enjoyable is that you're rarely strapped into a single style of play. Shooting your way through requires more thought and care than you'd put into a standard action game, but you never feel as though the gun mechanics are stuffed uncomfortably into a stealth game. If you'd rather sneak, you never have the impression that stealth was shoehorned into a game that's meant to be played as a shooter. Sure, you're Solid Snake--you're not supposed to get caught. But if you're stuck in a jam, breaking stealth isn't a death sentence, and in fact, facing certain enemies head-on is often a heart-pounding, challenging experience. The few levels that do force you into one style, such as one in which you shadow your target through an Eastern European city, are still great, if not quite as impactful.

You'll need to keep an eye on Snake's stress levels and psyche. Though these aspects are more peripheral than health levels, they fit nicely within the plot. When Snake gets stressed (if he gets cold or encumbered, for example), his psyche gauge starts to deplete. The lower the gauge, the slower you will move and the less quickly you replenish health. Generally speaking, the psyche meter is rarely a factor, and should you notice Snake groaning a bit more, there are items like compresses you can use for a pick-me-up. Should the meter get too low, you won't be able to hold up your weapon or rush for cover. This doesn't happen often though, and while you'll need to keep a close eye on your health for obvious reasons, you won't need to pay too much heed to psyche.

Regardless of the tactics you use, the level design and enemy artificial intelligence work in tandem to create unparalleled gameplay. If you go stealth, hiding in that rusty barrel isn't a perfect solution. Your foe may look at it suspiciously, kick it a few times, and eventually blow your cover, so don't expect to be able to trick your way through as you might in other stealth games. In full-on firefights, enemy teams will flank you, use cover to their advantage, and throw grenades with precision to force you out of hiding. Most of your surroundings, inside and out, are littered with objects and cover opportunities, from a trek through a South American jungle to a nostalgic journey through a snowy island base. Each level is more-or-less linear, but within the confines of these areas, you still have remarkable room to explore the various gameplay options and test the limits of your foes. Some enemies are standard soldiers, though many others are wonderfully imaginative. The colossal mechanical Gekkos, for example, are unpredictable and keep you on your toes, while female operatives that pounce from wall to wall intensify an early escape scene.

Later in the game, a few set piece battles deepen the core gameplay even further, including a few peerless on-rails sequences. One of these, a motorcycle chase, is as close as any game has gotten to translating the excitement of similar moments in films to a game format. Another level, which features a gigantic automaton, showcases destructible environments where walkways collapse on top of each other and the screen fills with smoke. In all of these cases, the controls are excellent, with the exception of that same mech's third-person view a bit later on (the first-person view works infinitely better). The interpretation of Metal Gear Solid as an interactive film still applies, but in a way you may not have expected: These levels make you feel like the star of your own action movie.

Boss battles are stimulating, though they aren't all that difficult. Nevertheless, a few of them are tricky and require you to put some thought into your tactics because just riddling the boss with bullets isn't going to ensure victory. Early on, it's clear that you'll be encountering the four members of the Beauty and the Beast unit--female supersoldiers that are as psychologically complex as they are fun to battle. These battles are long and normally require you to fight other enemies in addition to your primary target. In one of them, you can use your night vision to track your target's footprints and use the wind direction to your advantage. In another, you'll dodge missiles from flying creatures while taking on the main boss.

The gameplay and story would, perhaps, not be as effective if Metal Gear Solid 4 did not look and sound so impressive, but truth be told, it's an amazing piece of technology. From the gritty textures of concrete walls to the effective lighting and shadowing, there are few aspects you could reasonably fault. In the biggest battles, billows of smoke fill the screen and blood splatters against the camera--all while meticulously designed helicopters fly overhead and ad-hoc team members take potshots from behind grungy dilapidated vehicles. Yet in the midst of the visual drama, it's the little things that are likely to provoke awe. Small details, such as how Snake rubs his sore back when his stress levels get high or the authentic manner in which he ascends staircases, create as much atmosphere as cluttered underground tunnels and war-torn Middle Eastern cities. You will have to wait through some scattered install periods (just under 20 minutes worth, in total) and the occasional loading screen, and you may find some frame rate drops and low-res textures here and there, but these aren't issues in light of MGS4's impressive graphical accomplishments.

The sound design comes together nearly as well. The soundtrack on its own is rather pompous, but in context, it works just fine to create the appropriate mood for any given cutscene or battle. The voice acting follows suit but succeeds far better. Because the growling voice of David Hayter's Solid Snake is so good, the rare hamming from the mostly excellent supporting cast is easily forgotten. But the sound effects are unforgettable and excellent across the board. The Gekkos emit blood-curdling moos like gargantuan cows, explosions are outstandingly obnoxious, and everything from the clicks of the Solid Eye to the laughter and screams of the beastly bosses are top-notch.

On top of it all, Metal Gear Solid 4 offers some enjoyable online 16-player action to complement its superb single-player experience. Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are represented, of course, and they play just fine, assuming you don't approach the online component as a standard shooter. The maps are beautifully rendered and packed with detail, and while not every mechanic is as wonderful in multiplayer as it is in single-player (hiding in your cardboard box won't usually get you far, for example), it's all good fun once you adjust to the pace. The multiplayer star, however, is sneaking mode, a Team Deathmatch variant in which one player plays as Snake and another supports him as the Metal Gear Mk II. Shooting others is amusing--but sneaking enthusiasts will enjoy the violent, stealthy game of hide and seek you play as Snake. Playing support is equally entertaining because as Mk. II, you can go invisible, creep up on other players, and zap them with your electronic tentacle. It's a blast. Other modes include base mission, in which teams compete to conquer bases; a capture and defend mode; and rescue mission, which is similar to the same mode in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Unfortunately, the process of creating an online account is laborious, so expect to take a few minutes to enter a litany of information (a pain if you aren't using a keyboard). Thankfully, the variety of customization options and sheer numbers of players online mean that this process is quickly forgotten.

If the story-heavy presentation of previous Metal Gear games taxed your patience, Metal Gear Solid 4 won't change your mind. For anyone who appreciates games that rise above the simple act of pushing a few buttons and pulling a few triggers, Metal Gear Solid 4 is a stimulating ride that you won't soon forget. You'll want to see what happens next, yet when its long campaign draws to a close, you'll wish it would continue. That's not just because it's a well-told tale, but because that tale is woven through a thoroughly impressive game that tops its predecessors.