"God of War II" closed with anti-hero Kratos riding the Titan Gaia up the side of Mount Olympus to bring the pain to Zeus and the other gods of ancient Greece.

Kratos takes a ride on a three-headed hound of Hades in "God of War III."

Aliens vs. Predator

There was nothing quite like "Sins of a Solar Empire" when it was released two years ago, and there still isn't.

"Diplomacy" adds new options for interfaction negotiation and manipulation to "Sins of a Solar Empire."

The remarkable thing about "Final Fantasy" games is that they're all remarkable, and never in the same way.

Surly Lightning, left, and brash Snow are in the main cast of "Final Fantasy XIII."

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom Ultimate All-Stars

The misfit soldiers of "Battlefield: Bad Company" return in this sequel, which offers a solid solo campaign as well as an expanded slate of online modes.

The crew of "Bad Company" is on the trail of a World War II super-weapon in "Battlefield: Bad Company 2."

Infinite Space

In most games, the story serves the game. play. In "Heavy Rain," a fantastic-looking serial-killer yarn with a brooding noir flavor, it's the other way around. The player guides four characters through the game's many chapters, and any of them – as well as various secondary characters – can die, leaving the story to continue without them.

Army of Two: The 40th Day

FBI agent Norman Jayden searches for clues with his advanced evidence- gathering tools in "Heavy Rain."

Loosely based on the first part of Dante Alighieri's epic poem "The Divine Comedy," "Dante's Inferno" uses that classic work's descriptions of hell and its inhabitants as the basis for a solid action game in the same vein as "God of War."

In "Dante's Inferno," the hero wields symbols of both death and salvation.

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