Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now

Rabbids Go Home marks the debut of the slightly deranged (but always comical) Rabbids in a console game without their usual anchor character, Rayman. The Rabbids have always been amusing creatures on their own, but are usually part of the backdrop or the antagonists. Now you can have some fun controlling the havoc that ensues whenever they’re around.

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now

When movies are made into games, they never seem to work out. They always feel too much like studio marketing department gimmicks designed to convince consumers to buy something that was churned out in a few hours of development. Of course, there are exceptions (Batman: Arkham Asylum, Chronicles of Riddick, Ghostbusters: The Video Game), but usually this is because the games’ storylines and adventures are completely separate from their movie counterparts. So how does the well-received “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” movie fare in its foray into videogame land? Pretty well, I’m surprised to say.

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Publisher: Activision
Developer: Now Production
Genre: Fighting/Brawler
Release date: Available now

As a 37-year old dude, I pride myself on my ability to stay hip to what the kids are playing these days. While some of that may come from the fact that I’m a parent, I also stay up-to-date on all the latest fads simply out of pure interest and curiosity. No matter how old I get, that boy in me who first geeked out over collectible Star Wars cards knows that “Force” will never die. That said, I admit that when my son first threw down a Bakugan on a Gate Card, he had his old man stumped. Would this new collectible critter craze be the one straw that broke this camel’s back? Alas, I’ve rolled with the best of them, racking up scads of G-Power cards so when Activision decided to take the Bakugan Battle Brawlers into the digital realm, I was ready to enter the ring.

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Publisher: THQ
Developer: Blue Tongue Entertainment
Genre: Action
Release date: Available now

Superheroes are big business these days. With most summer multiplexes reading like a Who’s Who in the Marvel Universe, it’s no surprise that the console market has seen a steadily increasing line of licensed properties looking to take their tights and flights to the digital domain. And while the developers can simply slap Woverine’s mug on a box and anxiously await their coffers to fill, there’s a genuine desire to mint a new generation of fervent fanboys. That’s where THQ and Blue Tongue come in, with their latest release Marvel Superhero Squad taking aim at the pre-tween set as they leave their Baby Einstein behind and graduate to big boy fare.

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Publisher: Frontier
Developer: Frontier
Genre: Puzzle-Platformer
Release date: Available now

Roughly halfway through this current generation of consoles, I can safely say that I have mined more entertainment and unique gameplay experiences from the bite-sized morsels available on the various digital distribution streams (such as WiiWare, XBLA and PSN) than I have from the mega-budget retail releases. Looking back over the last few years, my end-of-year Top Ten lists have skewed heavily towards the independent developers, with games such as Braid and World of Goo standing taller than their supposed big brothers. There just seems to be an air of creativity at the grass roots level that diminishes the higher you climb in the stratosphere, and while I’ll happily tackle the next GTA or Halo clone, my juices really start flowing when I’m adventuring through another finely crafted puzzle game. This digital revolution kicked off around the time the WiiWare service launched, featuring its greatest showcase title, LostWinds. Developer Frontier has toiled tirelessly for the last two and half years to finally offer fans their long awaited follow-up, Winter of the Melodias.

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Game Arts
Genre: Action
Release date: Available now

It’s amazing to think that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been around for 25 years. Throughout that time, the four now-iconic heroes have graced comics, television series, movies, a whole slew of merchandise (I think I had at least one lunchbox as a kid), and of course, games. After the enormous success of the Smash Bros. series from Nintendo, Game Arts and Ubisoft have seen an opportunity to pit these beloved characters against each other.

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Publisher: Tecmo
Developer: Seamless Entertainment
Genre: Sports
Release date: Available now

When EA infamously locked up exclusive rights to the NFL, thereby firing a shot directly to the midsection of all competitors, they effectively blocked everyone from producing a game of professional football with any chance of retail survival. Without the teams and player likenesses that come with those coveted licenses, there really is no point as the industry is long past the days of Ten Yard Fight where we’d simply marvel at the ability to play the sport on our TV screens. These days we want to get into the game and ink the big contracts. That said, if there is one company out there with a trump card, it’s Tecmo, whose classic Tecmo Bowl lives long and strong in gamers’ memories, having heralded them through the Golden Age of the NES. While the dream of a next-gen Tecmo Bowl remains a fond wish, Tecmo has once again thrown on the pads with their latest release, Family Fun Football, and all eyes are upon it to see if it provides enough of a nostalgic kick to warrant grabbing another brand of pigskin.

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Publisher: Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Torus Games
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now

I’m of the belief that licensed titles are rarely worth playing, even when I really love the property on which the game was based. I would therefore expect that maxim to hold even truer when the underlying work, for instance, Scooby Doo, was something that I never liked at all. Imagine my surprise, then, when I found that Scooby Doo! First Frights is actually one of the better games I’ve played this year.

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Publisher: Ignition Entertainment
Developer: Vanillaware
Genre: Action RPG
Release date: Available now

Call me a relic of the cold war: I was trained to fight in 2D, and I love ninjas. It’s why I’m afraid of sharks, James Kirk, and people who are really good at Counterstrike. It’s also why I love games like Muramasa: The Demon Blade.

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Publisher: Deep Silver
Developer: Sproing Interactive Media
Genre: Survival Horror
Release date: Available now

Cursed Mountain is a survival horror game, one that is steeped in mystery and a unique idea, if not just for the mountain and the ghost. It’s most promising aspects are its atmosphere and its capacity to keep you hooked. But the game never lifts its foot off the pivotal stepping stone into the realm of engrossing gameplay.

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Publisher: Natsume
Developer: Marvelous Entertainment
Genre: Sports/Fishing
Release date: Available now

It shouldn’t be surprising to find that whole cadres of fishing games have been developed for the Wii. Just one look at the Wiimote and you can picture the handle of a fishing rod as players battle a catch from the comfort of their living-room couches. Reel Fishing: Angler’s Dream attempts to cash in on this niche.

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Publisher: Ronimo Games
Developer: Ronimo Games
Genre: Real Time Strategy
Release date: Available now

If gaming history has proven anything to us, it’s this: Real-time strategy games on consoles have never really worked out. But sometimes, people learn from their mistakes. When I was given Swords and Soldiers, I was more than reluctant to play. My RTS background is on the PC; I was already a little biased to the genre. But you at least have to try things once, right?

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Publisher: Southpeak Games
Developer: Collision Studios
Genre: Action/Adventure
Release date: Available now

It’s simply common knowledge that what every kid wants to be when he grows up is a shaman. Now, they can all get their chance to call upon the spirits with Brave: A Warrior’s Tale, an action adventure title set in a Native American backdrop. The concept is intriguing, but gameplay always supersedes any of that. The kid friendly appeal masks an experience that no child should have to go through.

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Publisher: Disney Interactive
Developer: Genki
Genre: Action/RPG
Release date: Available now

Video-game consoles inspire a great deal of loyalty from fanboys ready to ignite flame wars at the mere sight of a message-board troll. Then there are the players who enlist alongside Master Chief or get to work freeing Warcraft from the Horde and settle down for a multiyear engagement with their game of choice, ignoring the lion’s share of competing releases. This loyalty seems to be an innate trait of the more mature gamer, though, and while the prime demographics have certainly skewed older in the last decade, there is still plenty of cash to be mined from the pre-tween set, who are less finicky about their game choices than they are about their veggies. Kids think nothing of pinballing from Pokemon to Bakugan and back again, allowing properties like Disney’s Spectrobes: Origins to make a serious run for the throne.

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Publisher: Oxygen Games
Developer: Twelve SRL
Genre: Platformer
Release date: Available now

The current generation of consoles has given developers the ability to latch onto archetypes from gaming’s past and pull them into the light for new generations to enjoy. We’ve already seen digital distribution channels such as Xbox Live and WiiWare reanimate the adventure genre through games such as the recently released Tales of Monkey Island. Side-scrollers have also benefited from the nostalgia, with Bionic Commando Rearmed and its ilk receiving wide acclaim. In an age when former gaming poster child Sonic hustles from gimmick to gimmick looking to reclaim a hint of his past glory, does CID the Dummy stand a chance to become America’s Next Hot Mascot?

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