VIDEO

DVD BYTE

Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was a fast-paced RPG-style FPS that kept us playing well into 2008. CoD: World At War heads back to World War II. The game focuses on dual campaigns spanning 15 missions. One campaign features Private Miller in the Pacific theatre. The other campaign features Private Petronko as Russia pushes the Germans back to Berlin.

Strong support voice acting roles by Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman help the narrative, but World At War does not resonate as emotionally as Modern Warfare—perhaps because of the jumping around between campaigns, or the step back to the overplayed World War II setting. The flamethrower in the single-player game had our attention, though.

World At War's not living up to Modern Warfare in the CoD series is not harsh criticism. It's a solid, entertaining game that's not groundbreaking but well worth playing.

In Resistance 2, you return as Nathan Hale almost immediately after the conclusion of the first game, knowing that an infection changed humans into the Chimera. As you may recall, Nathan was infected in the first game but never turned. Now, it's time for round two.

Resistance 2 fails utterly in its incoherent and generic single-player narrative. You don't care about the characters or even the bland protagonist. Ultimately, you just jump from scenario to scenario across the United States. Those scenarios provide background for some massive set-piece battles, but developer Insomniac didn't take the time to flesh out the story.

The single-player sci-fi campaign can be considered a training ground for the robust multiplayer options. The "co-op" game features a World Of Warcraft-style method of gaining XP and leveling up to eight players in the game universe. There's also 60-person multiplayer support with Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, and Skirmish modes. Pick the game for its multiplayer option and otherwise steer clear.

When Eidos released Tomb Raider: Legend back in 2006, the game was a refreshing new take on an old favorite, including a dramatic revamping of the series' graphics sophistication and some new moves and control elements, to boot. If you played Legend and enjoyed the huge leap it represented from the seemingly endless stream of knockoffs of the original TR game, you should know that Tomb Raider: Underworld won't wow you that way; in fact, it very much looks and feels like a sequel to Legend.

That's not such a bad thing, though, as Legend was quite entertaining, and Underworld serves up a slew of lush new indoor and outdoor environments, a few new moves, and a (somewhat) new mystery to solve via adventures in exotic locations. The obligatory training session in Croft Manor very quickly gives way to gameplay that's a decent mixture of new and old elements, including a dash of combat, a smidgen of puzzle solving, and loads of enjoyable exploration.

You'll discover the experience of a zombie apocalypse in Valve Software's tightly honed and polished co-op multiplayer game, Left 4 Dead. The sprinting "Infected"—the zombies—are swarming everywhere as you and your three compadres work tightly as a team to survive. The minimalistic narrative leaves much of the game background to your imagination, which works well in the scope of what's to come.

The game features Campaign, Co-op, and Versus modes. The first two modes are made up of four maps. Think of each map as its own self-sustained horror film scenario with yourself in the midst as your group makes its way to the rescue point. The Versus mode pits eight players together: four as the humans making the escape and four as specialized zombies. There are five "special infected" zombies: Boomers (spew zombie-drawing vomit onto characters), Smokers (fill a room with noxious black smoke), Hunters (draw hapless survivors away from the safety of the team), Tanks (inflicts and accepts massive damage and requires teamwork to take down), and Witches (ultra-lethal when disturbed by light or weapons fire).

Having four maps seems limiting until you see the AI Director in action. The AI feels like a person watching each game and customizing the zombie behavior so no game on a map feels the same. Left 4 Dead is a natural on the PC. It looks less impressive on the Xbox 360 but plays every bit as well. Overall, it's one of the best co-op multiplayer games in existence.

Runners Up: (1) Spore, (2) World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

Gears Of War 2 is everything a good sequel should be. It's funny, because when you play Gears Of War 2 you think, "Yeah, this is exactly how I'd expect GoW2 to look." However, go back and play through a few levels of the original game and you'll see how significantly improved the visuals are. The story element manages to make you care about the Gears world. Though it's conclusive at the end, GoW2 leaves many new unanswered questions, which we look forward to having addressed in subsequent sequels and, perhaps, downloadable content.

The multiplayer limit has been raised to 10 players, and the maps are well suited to the increased player size. By purchasing the original game, you get a single-use download code for the five maps from the original GoW. The all-new and very challenging co-op Horde mode brings wave upon wave of enemies against your team in a very addictive arcade-style showdown that we couldn't get enough of after completing the campaign in co-op, which supports an additional player.

Understandably, the stop-and-pop cover system mechanic that GoW popularized in 2006 is no longer innovative. However, the game's focus on fine-tuning and improving its core gameplay is largely successful. At the end of the day, Gears Of War 2 is bigger, badder, bolder, and better than its predecessor in every way.

Runners Up: (1) Fable 2, (2) Viva Piñata

You can read our full review of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots in the September 2008 issue of CPU, in which we awarded it Game Of The Month. Looking over the PlayStation 3-exclusive releases for year-end 2008, it would seem that MGS4 continues to hold up strongly.

The game is a technical tour-de-force. The animation, audio, gameplay (revamped to be stealth-action rather than stealth-only), new features (Solid Eye and OctoCamo), and all-conclusive, end-all-be-all storyline make MGS4 memorable well after its mid-2008 release. The lengthy cinema-quality cutscenes would have benefited from cinema-level editing but still enhance the story. Besides, it's a small nit to pick for an epic game that provided such a powerful single-player experience. For those with PS3s who haven't yet tried MGS4, pick up and experience the "wow" for yourself.

Runners Up: (1) Little Big Planet, (2) BioShock.

Our full review for Boom Blox can be read in the August 2008 issue of CPU. With Steven Spielberg's name associated with a game, you'd be forgiven for expecting deep emotional impact or epic combat mirroring the man's films. That's OK, because the highly addictive Boom Blox is the polar opposite and is successful for just that reason.

Boom Blox is a challenging puzzle game that can be played by all ages and is perfectly suited to the Nintendo Wii. Whether you're flinging a ball at blocks or gingerly pulling out blocks, the control feels perfectly nuanced to what you see on the screen. The Wii has legions of games that have been created around its motion-control sensibilities, but very few feel as naturally suited to the Wii as Boom Blox.

Runners Up: (1) Mario Kart Wii, (2) Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Far Cry 2 is an all-new story without any link to the original. You can play as one of nine mercenaries in a fictional open-world African nation embroiled in civil war. The day-night cycle and stunning visuals (weather, environments, etc) preserve the sense of location. The overarching plot is to take down a notorious arms dealer known only as the Jackal, but it's the journey, with its healthy mix of stealth and action elements, that we enjoyed.

The sprawling terrain is the best "African" experience we've ever had in a game. The first time we got ourselves into some hot palaver, we were relieved to have a friend snatch us from the jaws of death. Unfortunately, that same character was killed in the encounter (but not on subsequent replays). So although the main story is linear, the individual missions can be completed in any number of ways. Running and gunning your way into every situation is a disservice to both your experience and the game. It looked stunning on all three platforms and is a world we want to see fleshed out in the future.

Runners Up: (1) Fallout 3, (2) Prince Of Persia.

Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive experienced more than its share of turbulent times in 2008, as it jockeyed for position in renegotiating the contracts of key Rockstar Games personnel and fended off a takeover bid by Electronic Arts. Both issues apparently worked out the way Take-Two wanted them to, however, and of course the company enjoyed the financial benefits of yet another blockbuster GTA release.

Grand Theft Auto IV is a study in contrasts; the impressive realism and nearly flawless graphics serve to heighten the gritty, often despairingly bleak existence of its characters' lives as they lie, cheat, steal, and fight their way through the criminal underbelly of a big American city modeled after New York. The dark events that take place in the game's storyline missions are in turn frequently offset by the childlike glee brought on by accomplishing some of the series' trademark amazing driving stunts and playing the game's many minigames, and the impressive quality of the in-game music (perfect licensed tracks and surprisingly good original tracks alike) is the perfect foil for the sophomoric humor blasted over Liberty City's talk radio stations.

As we stated in our original review (July 2008 issue), however, GTA IV's crowning achievement is providing such a tight, coherent package of wildly disparate gameplay styles and experiences. The inevitable shortcoming of me-too products from other developers is that they pair some pretty good content with game elements that fall horribly short of the mark, the result of which is usually an uneven and often dissatisfying experience. GTA IV pulls off all of its various elements with style and, perhaps more importantly, segues from one experience to the next seamlessly so that your immersion in the game is never rudely interrupted while you fight with a particular control type.

And, as has been the case in the last several GTA installments, Rockstar packs so much to do and see into the game that you will tarry in Liberty City a much longer time than it would take to systematically complete the main story-related missions. Such a combination of fun and longevity is almost unheard of, regardless of game genre, and combined with the game's many more obvious qualities makes Grand Theft Auto IV a shoo-in for our 2008 Game Of The Year award.