MYSIMS RACING

Publisher: Electronic Arts

System: Nintendo Wii, also for Nintendo DS

Price: $39.99 ($29.99 for DS)

Age rating: Everyone

“MySims Racing” plays a heck of a lot like the “Mario Kart” series but has enough of its own merits to stand out as an alternative to Nintendo’s kid-friendly racer.

The driving action is very similar to the “Kart” games. After designing a little Sim character, players zoom along tracks against several rival drivers, picking up attack and defense items along the way, jumping over obstacles and avoiding hazards.

Each course is littered with colored gems that increase a driver’s boost meter for extra speed, and in story mode can be used along with blueprints to purchase performance and cosmetic upgrades for the player’s cars.

The three kinds of cars (compact, midsize and large) can be customized and kitted out however a player chooses, with new parts becoming available all the time as players complete tasks for various characters who live in the game’s racing town.

Outside of the story mode, players can face off against each other in split-screen play or take on solo races, multi-course championships and time trials.

CELLFACTOR: PSYCHOKINETIC WARS

Publisher: Ubisoft

System: Sony PlayStation 3 (PlayStation Network download), also for Microsoft Xbox 360 (Xbox Live download)

Price: $9.99 (800 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360)

Age rating: Teen

“CellFactor: Psychokinetic Wars” is a familiar take on “Unreal Tournament”-style arena combat with standard modes such as deathmatch, capture the flag and assault.

It’s inexpensive and features a handful of characters that play very differently from each other, and from those in most other shooters.

“CellFactor” is all about moving fast and shooting down other players online (or computer-controlled bots). There isn’t even a story mode, just a series of challenges tied to each character to familiarize players with their abilities and useful tactics, and to unlock items for the three combatants.

The character Bishop has highly developed mind powers – she doesn’t even bother picking up the various weapons on the field, simply absorbing their effects and applying them to her innate energy blasts. She can mentally grab and throw pieces of debris, charge up her telekinesis to send out a shower of junk and fly around the battlefield for brief periods of time.

Guardian is the opposite – this robot has no mind powers but can wield two weapons at once, make a second jump in midair and smash into foes with a damaging charge.

BlackOp is between extremes. He can use one weapon at a time, throw single pieces of junk, raise an energy shield and teleport modest distances.

“The Legendary Starfy,” starring the starfish prince of Pufftop Kingdom, is a mostly underwater adventure with a cute cast, crisp visuals and game play that doesn’t feel like a rehash of other side-scrolling mascot adventures.

The series has been around since 2002 in Japan; this is the fifth installment but the first to be released in the United States. It serves as a fine introduction.

Starfy is doing his starfish thing one day when a rabbit in a spacesuit plummets to Earth, chased by three shadowy figures. Starfy fends them off, but the rabbit, Bunston, is so scared that he runs off.

Starfy follows, dragging along his clam buddy Moe, in the hope of helping the amnesiac Bunston by returning a strange crystal he dropped. From there, he’ll move on to new environments, each with several levels and secret areas.

Most 2-D platform games involve swimming at some point. Not so many have it as the main event, as “Starfy” does. Starfy is at his best in the water during his adventure, where he is able to swim quickly and perform a spin in any direction; this serves as his main attack and as a useful tool for moving obstacles out of the way and breaking through blocks and into hidden passages. Out of the water, he can dash for extra speed, but his spin is more limited.

Once Starfy tracks down and befriends Bunston, he gains the ability to merge with the space rabbit to form creatures with unique abilities, such as a fire-breathing dragon that can burn through enemies and certain obstacles with equal ease.

In some stages, a second player can join in via Wi-Fi to play as Starly, Starfy’s kid sister who has a different set of moves, including a wall jump and a crouching crawl that allow her to get to some places Starfy can’t.

The game play is simple and engaging, similar to the “Kirby” games but in the water instead of the air, and there’s a set of mini-games to mess around with solo or with up to four players. “The Legendary Starfy” is a bit easy, even for a game aimed at younger players, but it’s fun and charming.

Nintendo's "Punch-Out!!" boxing games date back to the mid-1980s with the original arcade version, but most gamers are probably more familiar with the 1987 home version for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

First in "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!" and later in the slightly revised version without the Tyson license, late-'80s gamers learned to counter the dirty tricks of such hulking, caricatured boxers as King Hippo, Bald Bull and Piston Honda with the steady punches of the diminutive Little Mac.

The series had been dormant since "Super Punch-Out!!" in 1996, but now there's a new version on the Wii.

Mechanically, this "Punch-Out!!" is nearly identical to the old one (which is available on the Wii's Virtual Console for anyone who wants to check out the similarities).

For defense, Little Mac can dodge left or right, duck and block. For offense, he has high and low punches and the more powerful Star Punches.

Players can control the game with just a Wii Remote, for which the controls are pretty much like the original NES game, or with the Remote and a Nunchuk, which uses motions for the punches. The Wii Balance Board can be added to control ducking and dodging.

Little Mac's limited arsenal is part of what makes the game such fun. Each boxer is a puzzle to crack, and while the first few matches are pretty easy, the challenge ramps up quickly.

The lineup of rival boxers includes everyone from the original NES game except Mike Tyson and his eventual stand-in, Mr. Dream, along with several fighters from "Super Punch-Out!!" and a handful of series rookies.

Each of the fighters has an arsenal of regular punches and a signature special move. More powerful moves are telegraphed by signature taunts or movements, but that doesn't always make them easy to avoid. For example, King Hippo's two-handed smash must be ducked or countered with a body blow at just the right moment, and Great Tiger creates a phantom version of himself that's easy to spot but can still spoil a player's defense timing.

Opponents tend to have a tight defense, so the player has to watch for openings in attack patterns and exploit them. Little Mac will tire if he blocks too much or if his own punches are blocked, but his foes won't.

Hitting opponents in the right way at the right time may produce the stars that are used for Star Punches, or in some cases knock them down outright. Mac can win with a knockout, three knockdowns in a round, or by a decision at the end of three rounds.

After defeating the final boxer in Career Mode and claiming the big prize, Little Mac must defend his title against his previous opponents in the tougher Title Mode; they come back to the ring with new attack patterns.

Players having a tough time on a particular match can head to training mode for practice against a harmless hologram.

This "Punch-Out!!" is the first in the home series to offer a "versus mode" – two Little Macs can fight in split-screen fashion, and if they manage to fill a special meter all the way, they can temporarily become the more powerful Giga Mac.

PICKS AND PANS

Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2

2 1/2 stars

Series veterans know just what to expect from "Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2": the same nearly mindless hack-and-slash action that defines the series. But this installment improves quite a bit on the first "Gundam" spinoff. The game play remains incredibly repetitive, but it's entertaining and well-done.

Players can select from several characters to go through the Official Mode, which ties into the anime series, or take on specific challenges in Mission Mode. Either way, the core of the game lies in guiding a powerful robot fighter to key points on the battlefield, pounding hordes of enemies until the contested zone is under control, then moving on to the next. The missions are arranged so that multiple paths to victory may crop up, depending on what the player does.

More powerful enemies appear from time to time, and sometimes the player must face gigantic foes that can be taken apart piece by piece.

Microsoft Xbox 360, also for Sony PlayStation 3, PS2; $59.99 ($29.99 for PS2) • Age rating: Teen

Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II

2 stars

"Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II" offers several campaigns each for the RAF, Luftwaffe, U.S.S.R. and U.S. Army Air Forces. Players have limited planes with which to complete a campaign – lose them all and it's back to the beginning for another try. It's unusual for a modern game not to offer "continues," and "Air Conflicts" is a reminder of why: It's simply frustrating to waste all that effort.

The limited number of planes is balanced out somewhat by the campaign structure: Whether a mission is failed or passed, the timeline still progresses, so the game moves on to subsequent missions as long as there are planes left.

The game play is fairly simple, with controls for acceleration and braking, firing guns and rockets, dropping bombs and so on all easy to master. Leading enemy planes properly is trickier to figure out, and sometimes hits seem to pass through their targets.

Sony PlayStation Portable; $29.99 • Age rating: Teen

Stalin vs. Martians

1 1/2 stars

"Stalin vs. Martians" is a silly strategy game that does exactly what it says on the tin. Under orders from Josef Stalin himself, the player battles an invasion of pastel aliens with a variety of Soviet vehicles and infantry, which can be instantly replaced by spending points in the reinforcement menu.

The game's arcade presentation is different from most real-time strategy games – players run over icons dropped by defeated enemies to restore health, increase attack, gain more points for reinforcements and other effects.

The graphics are middling, the sound is annoying and the game play hasn't been polished; troops are sluggish to respond, and attacks are hit-or-miss.

"Stalin vs. Martians" is available via several online marketplaces, including Steam, GamersGate and Direct2Drive.

PC; $9.99 • Age rating: Not rated

– Justin Hoeger

"Red Faction" was a decent shooter with an awesome gimmick.

As rebellious miners caught up in a resistance against the oppressive Ultor Corp., players could blast chunks out of the Martian tunnels and high-tech bases they explored, using the destruction to sneak around enemies or destroy their cover, among other uses.

"Red Faction II" brought the action back to Earth and limited the usefulness of the game's so-called "GeoMod" features, which was kind of missing the point of the thing.

But "Red Faction: Guerrilla" is back in the sweet spot, only instead of destroying the Martian landscape, players destroy pretty much all else.

The main character, Alec Mason, goes to Mars to meet his brother Dan, who is part of a rejuvenated Red Faction rebel movement. Seems the Earth Defense Force that liberated the miners at the end of the original game has replaced Ultor as oppressors.

Mason gets an early lesson in this when an EDF aircraft kills his brother. Before a patrol can finish him off, members of the Red Faction save him and recruit Mason into their ranks. He becomes a vital part of their plan to liberate Mars' habitable regions.

The name of the game is "Guerrilla," not "One-Man Army." It's not all about shooting, like the first two. It's a game about blowing things up and tearing stuff down. Mason is outnumbered, and the EDF soldiers are good shots and tough to kill, if not very smart.

He can opt into numerous side missions such as hostage rescues, convoy thefts or destruction, demolition and so on, along with main-line missions that advance the story. If Mason dies, he'll fail his current mission, reappear at a Red Faction safe house, and morale will fall a bit.

Mason also has a supply of remote-activated demolition packs that double as grenades, and these along with his powerful hammer form the core of his structure-destroying repertoire. Most of the other weapons are good for fighting EDF soldiers – there are shotguns, pistols, rocket launchers and assault rifles as well as exotic guns such as a lightning thrower that zaps enemies inside vehicles, leaving the hardware with only light damage.

All the destruction has a purpose: It weakens the EDF's hold on a region and increases rebel morale. Eventually the EDF will be driven out.

The going can get tough, but collected salvage can be used to upgrade Mason's weapons, buy new ones, increase his ammo capacity, apply armor plating to his clothes and so on.

The online multiplayer consists of mostly familiar game modes spiced up with the game's destructible buildings. Several of the game types focus on destroying enemy buildings and defending the team's own structures. And Wrecking Crew, the game's terrific party mode, has players pass around the controller to see who can wreak the most destruction on the game's multiplayer maps.

PICKS AND PANS

UP

2 stars

Publisher: THQ

System: Nintendo Wii, also for Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 2, DS

Price: $39.99 ($19.99 to $39.99 for other versions)

Age rating: 10-plus

Based on the Disney and Pixar film, "Up" emphasizes teamwork between the main characters, the elderly Carl Fredericksen and young Wilderness Explorer Russell.

As they explore the South American jungle while tethered to Carl's floating house, they help each other climb up ledges, push obstacles out of the way and solve various puzzles. A single player can switch between the characters at will, and a second player can drop in at any time.

The game play isn't great and the visuals aren't that good, though "Up" features nice music. But there isn't much here.

FREAKY CREATURES

1 1/2 stars

Publisher: Abandon Interactive

System: PC and Macintosh

Price: $19.99 and recurring fees for online play

Age rating: 10-plus

Part toy, part game, a "Freaky Creatures" starter pack includes a couple of monster action figures, a 1-gigabyte flash drive and a code good for a month's free play of the online dueling game in which digital versions of the figures are used. For what the game offers, it's a stretch for it to require a fee.

There are a couple of starter packs available – this one comes with a monster called Trappern and a dragon-man called Dracon. More monsters can be bought separately.

The dueling game allows players to pit their creations against each other in simple turn-based battles. The access code provides a selection of body parts and items for players to customize their monsters – equip a beast with weapons, horns, tentacles or wings, and a tail, and it's ready to fight.

There are several damage and defense types, and players can further customize their fighters with powers as they level up.

MIGHTY FLIP CHAMPS!

3 stars

Publisher: WayForward Technologies

System: Nintendo DSi (DSiWare download)

Price: $8 (800 DSi Points) Age rating: Everyone

"Mighty Flip Champs!" is a devious puzzle game for the new Nintendo DSi. Controlling a character named Alta, the player must rescue her friends and in each level reach the Fishman, who serves as a teleporter to the next stage. But there's never a direct route. However, the player can change the layout of the stage at will – each level has one or more alternate layouts in a "stack" that can be flipped through at the press of a button. By cycling through the mazes, Alta can reach her destination, but she must avoid traps. The game grades players on time and number of flips it takes to finish each stage, so there's plenty of reason to play these over and over.

– Justin Hoeger

Players in "Infamous" have complete freedom to explore Empire City and watch events unfold based on the role they play and the actions they have taken.

One minute, Cole MacGrath is on a courier run with a strange package; the next, he's the only survivor of an explosion that's taken out several blocks of Empire City.

The blast leaves Cole with superpowers – and how he uses them determines if he'll be famous or "Infamous," as the game's title suggests.

Two weeks after the incident, the government has quarantined the city, and violent gangs rule the streets. But something's not normal about these gangs.

The black tar they're pumping into the water supply is a dead giveaway, and there are plenty of other hints that there's more to this quarantine – and the disaster – than meets the eye.

Cole can reach practically anything he can see, high and low, and that's no superpower. He's just really good at climbing and balancing on narrow poles and thin cables, and his new abilities enable him to shrug off long falls.

Empire City is a fun place to explore above all else. The town is littered with collectible items and side missions, and Cole's actions have a noticeable effect on the city. New areas open up as Cole moves through the game's intriguing main story line.

Completing side missions in a neighborhood will prevent the gangs from returning there, making it much easier to get around than when they're taking potshots at Cole from the rooftops.

Cole's superpowers allow him to control, absorb and project electricity at will. He can shoot small bursts of lightning, throw a shockwave of energy, cause an explosion upon landing and deliver charged punches and kicks. He can pin stunned enemies to the ground for good or give injured citizens a jolt to heal them.

Cole can always perform his basic actions – shooting, climbing, healing and so on. But for the fancy stuff like his lightning grenades and precision shots, he has to stay juiced up, which he does by drawing power from cars, transformers, generators, air-conditioning units – anything with energy.

Cole may have superpowers, but he doesn't have to be a superhero. He can opt to kill or immobilize civilians instead of healing them, and he can fatally draw the bioelectricity from downed foes and citizens to recharge his batteries.

And then there are the moral choices the game's missions offer him – for example, whether to induce a crowd to riot against police barring exit from the city, or to charge the line himself at the risk of harm.

In general, evil choices will harm others, and good choices will harm Cole.

PICKS AND PANS

Boom Blox Bash Party

4 stars

"Boom Blox Bash Party" offers more of the block- toppling physics mayhem of the original game while shoring up its weaknesses and adding a healthy dose of new stuff.

There's more of everything – more "blox"; more toys to knock them over with, such as a slingshot and a cannon; more cute, blocky characters; and more ways to play.

The game is broken up into several categories of challenges. Players of the first game will recognize some, such as the Jenga-like block-removal game and the standard demolition game. But a host of levels are now set in zero gravity or arm the player with paint balls to play a match-three puzzle game, among other new styles.

Players can now upload levels they design and download new ones freely, and each game type has an option to search for more levels of that kind.

Nintendo Wii; $39.99 • Age rating: Everyone

Ninja Blade

2 1/2 stars

"Ninja Blade" crosses parts of "Ninja Gaiden" and "God of War," aping the former's acrobatic hack-and-slash game-play style and adding the Simon-like timing challenges of the latter.

The result is an action game that's bogged down by its overly frequent timing challenges and a rather nasty difficulty level that can lead to frustration.

The plot is ridiculous stuff, with worms that mutate their hosts into all sorts of monsters, and the ninja squad sent in to eradicate an infestation of them in Tokyo. It's an excuse to fight all sorts of gross beasties, and Ken's arsenal of upgradeable swords and elemental shuriken is entertaining to use.

Microsoft Xbox 360; $59.99 • Age rating: Mature

Fable II: See the Future Pack

3 stars

The second downloadable add-on for "Fable II" includes a handful of new quests and a bunch of new items.

"See the Future" feels a bit lighter than the previous add-on, "Knothole Island," but what it has is interesting. Murgo the trader has some new items for sale. These include some new clothing, face paint, hairstyles and some potions that turn the hero's dog into different breeds and back again.

He also has a few enchanted items. The first quest involves a trip into a cursed snow-globe world leeched of its hues by primary-colored phantoms. The second is a journey into a cursed skull that involves dressing up like various monsters to help break a necromancer's curse. And finally there's a brief vision of the future.

After the new quests are done, players may enter a new version of the colosseum to earn prizes by fighting wave after wave of enemies.

Microsoft Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade download); $10 (800 Microsoft Points) • Age rating: Mature

– Justin Hoeger