Stocking Stuff
In our world, when Mr. Claus comes to town, with the list he's checked twice, he'll be checking video games to determine which have been naughty or nice. We've started the ball rolling for him. Check out these games we deem to be naughty or nice.
Console Games
SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
Blitz/THQ
PS2; GameCube; Wii
It's always a blast going back to Bikini Bottom, but as surreal as SpongeBob's past video game adventures have been, this one takes the fishcake.
The entire game is set within the whacked-out dreams of Mr. SquarePants, his pal Patrick and the suddenly enormous villain Plankton. Each of the game's nine levels are as weird as the creators could imagine!
Patrick's Starfishman fantasy is inspired by 1950s comic books and the film Being John Malcovich. Other levels let you leave the sea bottom for outer space or try to escape a giant sea worm — after you've already been swallowed.
While past titles have been primarily platformers, Krusty Krab adds racing, flying and a nice destructo level (which is most fun with the Wii's motion-sensitive controllers).
Superman Returns
EA Tiburon
Multiplatform
The problem with Superman has always been that he's too darn tough. Spidey's small and neurotic and Batman is basically a regular dude, but Kal-El is an indestructible alien.
The game designers got around that problem by making Supes' health connected to Metropolis itself — too much damage to the city and game over. Unfortunately, rampaging is far more fun than rescuing kittens, so that's a bit of bummer (though there's a playable Bizarro level where you won't be punished for reigning down destruction).
This free-roaming game boasts a massive 80 sq. mile city and traveling at the speed of sound is the game's finest achievement. The game also features heat vision, freeze breath and super breath! But in order to travel the mega city, you've got to get through a frustrating tutorial, repetitive missions and confusing narrative, only vaguely connected to the tie-in film.
The game was originally scheduled to launch in June (it was delayed until DVD release), but despite having more time to release it, it still feels unfinished. Hopefully Superman will return next time with a better game.
Disney's Kim Possible: What's the Switch?
A2M/Buena Vista Games
PS2
While the Disney Channel's Emmy-winning cartoon heroine isn't new to video games — her Game Boy Advance titles have sold over a million copies — Kim Possible's latest pixilated adventures are the first time she's made the leap onto an actual console.
This time you can play as Kim, her naked mole rat Rufus or her arch-nemesis — and now reluctant partner — Shego. That unlikely team is formed after an accident switches the brains of the evil Dr. Drakken and Kim Possible's also awesomely-named sidekick Ron Stoppable.
Over the game's eleven acrobatic missions, the duo use numerous neat gadgets to dispatch robot monkeys and assorted evil minions.
While the game has cartoon-style graphics, it is still a handheld-style side-scroller and the two-player isn't co-op. And although the gameplay is simple, this is really a fans-only franchise and they may find it kim possible to switch off.
Trauma Centre: Second Opinion
Atlus
Wii
While the Nintendo DS touch screen and stylus seemed like the ideal technology for a medical simulator — think of it as a futuristic version of the board game Operation — this "Wii-make" of last year's Under The Knife works even better with Nintendo's new motion-sensitive controllers.
You play Derek Stiles, a newbie doctor gifted with the time-slowing "healing touch", but living in a near-future world where many illnesses have been cured. So you're left largely plucking out glass shards from car accident victims or removing polyps from a rock singer's throat. That is until the discovery of the mysterious, manmade disease GUILT (Gangliated Utrophin Immuno Latency Toxin).
But the bioterrorism storyline is really secondary to the awesome operating room gameplay where you get to make incisions, drain fluids, remove tumors and stitch up gaping wounds, not to mention fire up the trusty defibrillator if your patient's heart stops.
Fun and educational. But mostly fun.
Handheld Games
Elite Beat Agents
INiS/Nintendo
Nintendo DS
Looking for a quirky and challenging rhythm-based music game starring dancing, black-clad secret agents and Avril Lavigne? Then look no further.
This North American remake of the popular Japanese import Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan uses the same vaunted gameplay, but with all-new Western cover songs including relatively new pop-punk such as Sum 41's "Makes No Difference", Ashlee Simpson's "La La", and Lavigne's "Sk8er Boi", along with classics such as the Stray Cats' "Rock This Town", David Bowie's "Let's Dance", and The Rolling Stones' "Jumping Jack Flash".
Using the touch screen, you have to tap, drag and spin your stylus to the rhythm of the song to maintain your "elite-o-meter" and progress through a series of silly stories, told in manga-style comic panels. The stories include ones about shipwrecked celebs, ninja auto execs, 15th century painters, sarcastic truckers and romance-minded babysitters.
Just like sports and comedy, Elite Beat Agents is all about timing.
Death Jr. 2: Root of All Evil
Backbone/Konami
PSP
Accused of having too many titles simply ported from the Playstation 2, PSP advocators happily pointed to Death Jr, last year's Tim Burton-inspired portable platformer.
Now DJ, also known as the Grim Reaper's trouble-plagued son, has returned for another baby goth adventure with his pal Pandora (you can now play as either character or bring along your own buddy for co-op mode). When the adorable hellspawn accidentally awaken an evil Furi during science class, she starts to "totally take over the world".
The gameplay itself is still very traditional. The camera control has improved, but it still isn't perfect. But really, this title is all about its dark art direction.
From the deadly scythe, exploding hamsters and flaming toilet paper gun weapons, to the imaginatively twisted settings — toy cemeteries, llama farms, the River Styx and a waffle world where the syrup is not maple but acid! — Death Jr 2 keeps the franchise alive.
Lumines 2
Q Entertainment/Buena Vista Games
PSP
Ever since Tetris helped sell millions of Game Boys, handhelds have required a great puzzle game. For Sony's PSP that was Lumines, a Tetris-like block-dropper that acclaimed designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi gave extra audio-visual oomph.
Lumines II's gameplay remains ridiculously addictive and insanely tense thanks to the vertical "timeline" racing across your screen to the music's beat. But with all the essentials intact, it's more of a Lumines 1.5. Still, the game's bigger with more challenge modes, a new "mission" mode and way more background skins.
This time the endlessly repeatable electronic instrumentals are joined by familiar radio hits complete with music videos — but too many listens to Gwen Stefani or Black Eyed Peas can be as frustrating as the game itself.
Luckily, there's a Skin Editor that can skip right past Hoobastank and a sequencer so you can remix your own music tracks.
Yoshi's Island DS
Artoon/Nintendo
Nintendo DS
As if the double dose of New Super Mario Bros. and Super Princess Peach hadn't given us enough old-school side-scrolling goodness, Nintendo sets another iconic mascot loose on its hit handheld.
This sequel to the green dinosaur's star debut, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, offers the same basic platforming structure, though it joins the dual screens into a single big one. And while the touch-screen stylus isn't used, it's also not missed.
The brightly-colored 2D graphics are eye-popping. The levels are wonderfully well-designed as Yoshi explores the island with Baby Mario on his back, while eating the bad guys and turning them into projectile eggs. But you will also be rescuing baby versions of Luigi, Peach, Wario, Donkey Kong and even Bowser, all of whom give Yoshi new abilities and access to different hidden areas — thus handily increasing the game's replay value.
