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BEST GAME: “BioShock.” Available for the Xbox 360 and PC. $59.99. Rated M.
A first-person shooter turned morality play, a thinking person’s action game, a piece of electronic fiction with a soul.
There are many positive ways to describe this gripping game and they’re all true. There’s just nothing else like this eerie vision of an undersea social experiment gone horribly wrong.
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BEST DEAL: “The Orange Box.” Available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC for $59.99. Rated T through M.
For $59.99, the innovators at Valve Corp. have provided one of the best bargains in 2007. You get five games, and all of them are excellent.
“Portal,” in particular, seems destined for legendary status, having spawned a cottage industry for plush companion cubes. (If you don’t know what that means, you’re really missing out).
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows PC, $59.99, Rated T through M.
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BEST GAME THAT INVOLVES GETTING OFF THE SOFA: “Rock Band.”
Close the windows, lock the doors and warn the neighbors before you blare the volume.
“Rock Band” elevates music rhythm games to arena-filling levels in a game that gets better the more people there are.
For a true rocking experience you’ll at least need two guitars — lead and bass — plus a drummer and a singer to belt out the dozens of tunes. Groupies are optional.
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MOST TIRING CONTROVERSY: “Manhunt 2.”
OK people, it seems pretty obvious that “Manhunt 2″ is not a game for the kiddies. So why all the uproar?
Ratings issues aside, if a game that lets you perform execution moves is a turnoff, change the channel.
Parents have a tough job keeping content like this away from their children, but it’s ultimately part of the responsibility. And this game is no more graphic than any number of R-rated movies I’ve seen — except they aren’t being altered to appeal to industry ratings groups.
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MOST OVERRATED GAME: “Halo 3.”
Yes, I went there. And I’m not saying “Halo 3″ is bad. It’s a decent game, with some good fighting and excellent online modes, no doubt.
But don’t believe Microsoft Corp.’s marketing and PR hype machine. “Halo 3″ changes nothing about video games.
“Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” has a more interesting multiplayer component. And “Halo 3’s” single-player story is baffling and leaves this supposedly epic saga feeling somewhat incomplete.
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