Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Media Molecule
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now

There are very few games that reinvigorate the passion we all share for gaming. It could happen a few times in a generation; it might even only happen once. It’s a game that’s so fantastic, so refreshing and so unexpected it reminds us why we play, why we choose to leave the ordinary and immerse ourselves in the extraordinary. LittleBigPlanet is one of those games. It’s simple, addictive, fluid, and has a spark of ingenuity that’s often attempted but rarely achieved. It’s games like LittleBigPlanet that pull us from the doldrums of sequels and rehashes and excite us enough to share our passion and love for our hobby. Critics recognized this last year, and thus we’ve been treated to LittleBigPlanet: Game of the Year Edition.

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Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive
Developer: Griptonite Games
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now

It’s a curious thing when a movie-based tie-in game has nothing to do with said movie. But when you want to squeeze every dollar out of a hot property, some things need to happen. Right, bean counters? When you pop in, play and finish Where the Wild Things Are, you might be left scratching your head, saying, “Whhaaa?” Sure, there’s a kid named Max, and he wears a wolf suit. He also navigates his way to a fantasy island inhabited by some kooky-looking “wild things.” But the similarities between the movie and the game end right about there.

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Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Insomniac Games
Genre: FPS
Release date: Available now

Popular wisdom has it that all stories in books, movies, even videogames, can trace their roots to a handful of basic plots. For games, one of the most popular of these is the “what if” scenario. What if the Germans had beaten the U.S. to the atom bomb? What if Abraham Lincoln had contracted H1N1 and decided to skip his trip to see “My American Cousin”? What if the Romans had had 21st-century weapons to use against the Mongol hordes? In 2006, developer Insomniac explored the idea of the Russians unleashing an alien virus that turns soldiers into horribly mutated creatures bent on world domination at the beginning of the Cold War in Resistance: Fall of Man. Two years later, hybrid soldier Nathan Hale returns to battle the Chimera in Resistance 2, which brings the fight to American soil.

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Publisher: Sidhe
Developer: Sidhe
Genre: Puzzle
Release date: Available now

Grab your shiniest shirt and your favorite glow stick; we’re hitting the clubs. Well…not actually, but playing Shatter will make you feel like you’re grooving at the swankiest spots. This game can only be described as Brick Breaker at a rave party. While the same basic mechanics of trying to keep a bouncing ball from dropping off the screen are present, it has so much style you might forget you’re playing it while wearing pajamas in your parents’ basement.

Shatter is, however, more than just another take on the brick breaking formula that has been around for decades. Sure, you’re still charged with clearing out stages full of blocks by slamming balls against them, but Shatter updates this tried and true formula with a modern look, trendy sound, advancements in gameplay and dazzling effects. Once you unleash your first ricochet-like combo, the shards explode all over the screen and the techno hits its groove, you’ll be glad that you’re playing this on your 52-inch HDTV and not your TI-86.

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Publisher: Zen Studios
Developer: Zen Studios
Genre: First Person Shooter
Release date: Available now

With the release of games such as The Punisher: No Mercy on PSN, we might just be witnessing the decline of the bargain bin. Why waste time and money manufacturing hard copies of a budget game and shipping them to retailers when you can distribute the game digitally at a cheaper, more attractive price? The current generations will be Web browsing through the latest B-list games such as No Mercy instead of doing what we all did as kids: walking to the mall and thumbing through the waist-high piles of cartridges at FuncoLand.

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Publisher: Koei
Developer: Omega Force
Genre: RPG/RTS
Release date: Available now
Review by: James Dolbeare

Before playing Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires, my only experience with the Dynasty Warriors series lasted about an hour, five years ago, in Japan. Even based on such a fleeting contact with the series, I can say that very little has changed since then. Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires is designed for people who know and love the series. Even with the addition of strategy elements and a character creator, this game is still an action RPG that’s all about mashing buttons.

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Publisher: Tik Games
Developer: Creat Studios
Genre: Puzzle
Release date: Available now
Review by: James Dolbeare

It takes a lot of staying power for a game to remain popular for more than a century. Mahjong has been around for about 2500 years, so by any account, the game has enduring appeal. But can a game like Mahjong succeed on a next-gen gaming platform such as the PS3? TikGames and Creat Studios think so. With Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom, the developers have brought Mahjong to the Playstation Network, and have added some new flourishes to boot.

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Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Guerrilla Games
Genre: FPS
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

Killzone 2 is one of the most anticipated PS3 games released so far. The “too-bad-it-wasn’t-true” E3 ’05 trailer might’ve been spun a bit too much, but after the smoke cleared, even after the first “real” screenshots were released, the hype machine continued chugging along like some gargantuan generator, hardly scathed. So it’s here now, and I have it. Perhaps I should just break out the Seal of Excellence and get it over with.

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Publisher: TikGames, Creat Studios
Developer: TikGames, Creat Studios
Genre: Puzzle
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

There’s grandma, quietly putting together a jigsaw puzzle by the fireplace, listening to Bing Crosby and yelling single-syllable curses at the fichus plant. Flash forward two generations to Tetris; two lines from the top and all you want is a @#$%! straight piece. I could go on further about color matching, role-playing elements and a host of other complications that can cause unpredicted swearing in the puzzle genre, but I won’t. I’ll just say that Cuboid is a dirty little %#@$ and its simplicity is beautiful.

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Publisher: SCEA
Developer: thatgamecompany
Genre: Casual
Release date: Available now
Review by: Matthew Dart

If you ever thought that controlling flowers to combat the ugliness of the world (and support the ecosystem to boot) would make for an exhilarating video game, then think no more. Developer thatgamecompany’s Flower brings captivating visuals, musical elegance and a unique play style that anyone can love, despite its hippie premise.

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: From Software
System: PS3
Genre: Action
Release date: Available now
Review by: James Dolbeare

Ubisoft and From Software have had a giant robotic brainchild and named it Armored Core: For Answer. As it follows the previous game in the series, Armored Core 4, you might be tempted to call it Armored Core 5, but it’s actually the 13th game in the series. This newest addition returns you to the violent yet elegant world of mech-based combat.

For those of you new to the series, in the distant future the world has become so polluted that people have been forced to move into floating colonies far above the Earth’s surface, the only place where the air is fit to breathe. In the chaos caused by diminishing resources, the economic gap has widened and corporations have become all-powerful. They have turned their prosperity into military might and toppled all of the world’s governments. Their primary weapon is Armored Core technology, gargantuan robotic suits of armor, the most elite of which are called NEXTs. But the corporations have begun to fear the power of the NEXTs, so they have abandoned them on the poisonous surface, where the weapons have been salvaged by mercenaries of an organization called Collared.

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Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
System: PS3
Genre: Action
Release date: Available now
Review by: Michael Moody

What was once a prototype for Resident Evil 2 has become a full fledged franchise of its own. Devil May Cry is the signature series for fast and stylish action. Devil May Cry 4 brings back original creator Hiroyuki Kobayashi, also noted for Resident Evil 4. Does it progress the franchise further as DMC 3 did, or lose its charm like DMC 2? Read to find out. P.S. I promise to keep the story stupid simple and not give anything away.

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Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Naughty Dog
System: PS3
Genre: Action Adventure
Release date: Available now
Review by: Michael Moody

Every so often, a title comes out that tries to capture the magic of a great summer movie while retaining the essence of gameplay we’ve all come to appreciate. Naughty Dog’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is trying to attempt what most games, even movies, fail to achieve. Does Uncharted lose its sense of direction or does Naughty Dog strike it rich?

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Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Ninja Theory
System: PS3
Genre: Action
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Iatomasi

A warrior clan protecting a sacred object has been decimated. Beaten down to nothing by King Bohan and his army, they run away, hoping to protect their Heavenly Sword for as long as possible. Knowing Bohan will stop at nothing to get the sword, the clan’s leader gives it to his daughter, Nariko, for protection, warning her to never use it, because doing so would cost her life.

Heavenly Sword, developed by Ninja Theory, is the story of Nariko and the Heavenly Sword. Against her father’s wishes, Nariko wields the sword to fight off Bohan and his army. Frustrated, Bohan sends in his generals to stop Nariko and to kidnap her father, in hopes of trading his life for the sword.

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Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Incognito
System: PlayStation 3
Genre: Multiplayer
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Iatomasi

A war wages on between the Eucadians and the Chernovans. The two factions are engaged in constant battle on land and in the air. Bases have been constructed, and towns have been ravaged, as the Eucadians and the Chernovans fight over… Actually, I have no idea.

The only thing made clear in Warhawk, developed by Incognito, is that the two opposing factions hate each other, yet share a mutual love for Capture the Flag. The game offers no back story as to why the fighting began, which I guess allows the player to make up his own. I’m going with a Eucadian man falling in love with a Chernovan woman, sparking a kind of Helen of Troy-type scenario.

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