In "Bioshock," the protagonist battled hulking figures called Big Daddies. In "Bioshock 2," the protagonist is a Big Daddy.

Subject Delta, one of the first Big Daddies created in the game "Bioshock," is the protagonist of "Bioshock 2."

Tekken 6

"Glory of Heracles" is set in a version of ancient Greece, an uncommon locale for a Japanese RPG.

Sony Computer Entertainment "Little Big Planet" allows gamers to create and upload levels of play themselves and download others' levels.

Sony Computer Entertainment "Little Big Planet" allows gamers to create and upload levels of play themselves and download others' levels.

"Glory of Heracles" is set in a version of ancient Greece, an uncommon locale for a Japanese RPG.

This is actually the fifth game in the series; the other four have been released only in Japan, the last one in 1994. But this one feels like a good jumping-in point.

The game opens with an amnesiac young man washed up on a Cretan beach. He's found by a young warrior named Leucos, who not only figures out that this bit of driftwood is an immortal but who is, in fact, one herself (or is it himself?).

Surmising that the mysterious wash-up is none other than the legendary Heracles, Leucos joins him, and before long, they've gathered several other immortals to their band.

The presumed Heracles adopts an assumed name, and the group resolves to journey to Mount Olympus to find out why they've been made immortal – it's no treat, apparently. Heracles, of course, wants to have his memories restored.

The basic structure of the game is very familiar: Travel on a map to reach the next town, temple, dungeon or other location, talk to people, battle monsters in random encounters and so on. It's fine, but nothing that hasn't been done a hundred times before. The stylus controls pretty much everything, and sometimes it's a little finicky.

The battle system is a treat, however. It feels a lot like the combat from the older "Suikoden" games, with fast-paced attacks, lots of reactive and complementary abilities, and a quick progression that for the most part keeps individual fights from dragging on. Party members will act effectively if instructed to fight automatically, which keeps things moving along for low-stakes battles.

Heracles, Leucos and the rest can learn new abilities at various statues of the gods scattered about Greece.

Skills and abilities can range from special attacks using certain weapon types to protective abilities, attack and healing magic, and support skills. There are two rows of combatants on either side of a fight, and some abilities affect the entire front or rear rows, or can be used to reach enemies hiding in the back, or move enemies from one row to another.

Magic is the most complex aspect of the battle system.

Characters each have a pool of magic points they draw from to cast spells, but each battlefield also has a stock of ether, ambient magical energy that corresponds to the magical elements.

Each spell can change the balance of ether, and casting a spell of a certain kind – say, fire – when that element's ether is depleted will damage the caster.

The visuals are something of a mixed bag. They tend to look pixelated and low-resolution, especially during the quick zooms and camera movements of heated battles, but the sprites are detailed and fluidly animated. The game looks much better in motion than in stills.

GLORY OF HERACLES

3 stars

PUBLISHER: Nintendo

SYSTEM: Nintendo DS

PRICE: $39.99

AGE RATING: 10-plusSmall World

There's not enough space to go around in "Small World," a fun, light territory-control strategy game with a silly fantasy flavor.

Two to five players each pick a fantasy race, such as Elves, Halflings, Orcs, Skeletons or Trolls, and take turns conquering patches of land. It takes two of a race's limited stock of markers to conquer an empty territory, plus one for each enemy piece or other marker there.

Each controlled territory gives a victory point to its controller at turn's end; whoever has the most at the end of the last turn wins.

Each race has an innate power: Skeletons gain a new marker for every two occupied territories they conquer, Humans get an extra point for each region of farmland they occupy, and so on. Races are randomly paired with special powers for an additional bonus. Commando Orcs can conquer with one less marker than usual, for example.

No matter the race and power combo, eventually a race will be unable to expand any longer. At this point, the savvy player forces that race into decline, remaining in control of territories already conquered by the race but unable to fortify its defenses or use its powers. The player then chooses a fresh race and power combo to begin conquering anew.

As ludicrous in its own way as the recent "Bayonetta," "Darksiders" likewise revolves around a battle between the forces of heaven and hell.

The character War, one of the Four Horsemen, is blamed for the apocalypse at the outset of "Darksiders."

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers

The character War, one of the Four Horsemen, is blamed for the apocalypse at the outset of "Darksiders."

As ludicrous in its own way as the recent "Bayonetta," "Darksiders" likewise revolves around a battle between the forces of heaven and hell.

But instead of being on one side or the other, the player, as the apocalyptic Horseman War, is caught in the middle. Someone has summoned War too soon for the end of the world, but end it does, and the blame is pinned on him.

The Charred Council, a circle of stone faces that keeps the balance between the forces of good and evil – and for whom the four Horsemen work – is not happy. The council sends the weakened War back to the now-ruined and demon-infested Earth to battle demons and angels and try to clear his name.

"Darksiders" is a pastiche, drawing bits and pieces from successful games that have come before and smooshing them together. It isn't the best-looking game, nor is it very original, but all that it does, it does well.

The exaggerated style of the characters calls to mind the designs of Blizzard's games, for example. War himself looks a bit like the Death Knight Arthas in "WarCraft III" crossed with the Blood Elves. Huge creatures and massive enemies abound, all with a distinctive look.

The combat borrows aspects from the "God of War," "Devil May Cry" and even the "Legend of Zelda" series, with War able to combine attacks from his great sword, Chaoseater, and a couple of sub-weapons, a giant scythe and a hefty gauntlet. Each weapon can be assigned an enhancement, such as Hellfire or Bloodthirst, to boost its effectiveness.

Wrath abilities are powerful special moves that War can employ when he has gathered enough yellow souls; the Blade Geyser does about what it sounds like, and Affliction summons demons and spirits against War's foes. He'll gain a number of passive abilities as well, such as shadowy wings, a monstrous Chaos Form and the ability to summon his great steed, Ruin.

War eventually gathers a selection of useful tools, some similar to those Link might find in a "Zelda" game – the Abyssal Chain can latch onto enemies and objects, the Crossblade can be thrown at multiple targets, the Earthcaller horn blasts enemies backward and opens certain gateways. The lock-on mechanism in combat also feels a lot like that in most 3-D "Zelda" games, allowing the camera to center on a single foe while War maneuvers around and attacks it at will.

All these borrowed elements, and more, combine to make an entertaining whole.

Picks and Pans

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, 2 stars

In "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers," players take the role of Layle, one of the few Crystal Bearers of the world.

The young Layle – an outcast, like others of his kind – works as a mercenary. On an escort job, the airship he's protecting is attacked by one of a presumed-extinct race of beings, the Yukes.

The "Crystal Bearers" graphics are great, but the game play isn't as good as the looks. That's a shame, because the game has some neat ideas.

A crystal embedded in Layle's cheek allows him to control the powers of gravity magic; he can grab and manipulate objects, slow his fall, pull himself to distant objects, throw switches and so on. These actions are mainly controlled with movements of the Wii Remote.

Occasionally the player must engage in a mini-game, such as blasting attacking enemies with a gun or steering a failing airship through canyons.

Layle's main mode of attack is grabbing a foe and throwing it, or throwing something else at an enemy, but aiming these throws isn't very accurate. A poor camera and a useless world map make navigating the game's pretty locations a pain.

Nintendo Wii; $49.99 • Age rating: Teen

Dark Void Zero, 3 stars

"Dark Void" was recently released for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. "Dark Void Zero" is the 1980s-era game it's supposedly a remake of, only "Zero" didn't exist in the '80s. Instead, it's a clever piece of faux-retro gaming, and quite a good one at that.

Players control Rusty, whose only weapon against the alien race the Watchers is a peashooter of a gun, until he finds his rocket pack. Then he can jet around the game's sprawling stages in search of card keys that open locked doors blocking the way to the exit. He'll sometimes be forced to discard his rocket pack and make his way on foot.

Rusty can pick up various other weapons, such as a rocket launcher, to boost his firepower, though like the pack, he'll often be forced to discard one for another in order to progress. This gives the player flexibility in many areas but requires one to work with the tools available in others. It's a good balance.

Nintendo DSi (DSiWare download); $5 (500 Nintendo Points) • Age rating: Everyone

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers

As the March release of "Final Fantasy XIII" draws nearer, it seems appropriate to look back on what the popular Japanese RPG series was up to a decade ago in "Final Fantasy VIII," recently released on PSN for download to the PS3 and PSP.

As the March release of "Final Fantasy XIII" draws nearer, it seems appropriate to look back on what the popular Japanese RPG series was up to a decade ago in "Final Fantasy VIII," recently released on PSN for download to the PS3 and PSP.

The main character is Squall Leonhart, a gifted but socially aloof student at Balamb Garden, a school for the elite SeeD corps of mercenaries. The game's first couple of hours are spent on Squall's final exam, a live combat exercise.

After that, he and some fellow SeeD agents are given an assignment to help a resistance group free their backwater town, an assignment that turns into a quest to save the world from a wicked sorceress. The story is interesting, and the characters, while prone to teen drama, make for a memorable cast.

"Final Fantasy VIII" makes some pretty drastic departures from longstanding "Final Fantasy" tropes, and in so doing it delivers one of the more intricate game-play experiences in the series.

Instead of gaining money from defeated enemies, the player's party pulls down a regular salary from the Garden. Instead of many pieces of equipment, there are only weapon upgrades.

Instead of the familiar magic point system for casting spells, magic is drawn from monsters during battle, found at draw points scattered around the world or refined from items and lower-level spells. Characters can carry up to 100 of each spell, which are used up like consumable items; they can also be traded between party members.

Spells serve another purpose as well: When attached – or Junctioned – to one of a character's core statistics, such as strength or hit points, the right spell can boost that statistic to varying degrees. Spells also can be Junctioned to allow their effects – such as poison and blindness, or fire and ice elemental damage – to be passed on or guarded against.

This system offers an intricate way to customize each character, but makes it easy to transfer their bonuses to another if needed.

To Junction magic to anything, however, a character must first have Junctioned a Guardian Force. These powerful beings can be summoned for battle, but their real utility is the many abilities they can learn and impart to their users.

The downside to this Junctioning is that it makes the six main characters more or less blank slates. Each of these wonder teens has a unique attack that can be called on in times of danger, but other than that, there's little difference between them.

FINAL FANTASY VIII

3 1/2 stars

PUBLISHER: Square Enix

SYSTEM: Sony PlayStation Portable and PS3 (PlayStation Network download)

PRICE: $9.99

AGE RATING: Teen