Save the Universe in These new Titles

Doug Elfman - Richmond Times - Dispatch

Nov 27, 2007

Time to Save the Galaxy / There's Worlds of Fun to Be Had with These Three New Games

As harmless small stars fell onto Mario's idyllic town, his longtime love, Princess Peach, waited joyfully for him in her castle. But like so many tragedies that have befallen Peach, Bowser the brute swooped in and kidnapped her.

And so, nothing short of Mario's saving the universe will lead to her emotional rescue. That's how Mario tales wag. The damsel in distress is most in peril whenever her mustachioed hero is away.

In Wii's "Super Mario Galaxy," Nintendo's crafty gamesmanship once again makes a familiar-looking Mario game seem like one of the best kids' titles of the year.

Mario (in your hands) explores fiery and watery planets in distant galaxies. There's nothing special about that. But the way you travel the universe is cool and new.

Planets are little things, appearing in the center of your TV screen as if they're just large globes; variously, planets are merely the sizes of an Earth house or an Earth neighborhood.

This keeps you on your toes. It's harder to avoid death when you're walking and jumping upside down, sideways and diagonally around a violent orb.

The usual cutesy Nintendo villains try to snuff you out: Mushrooms squint cruel eyes at you; toothy giant flowers attempt to smash you with heavy heads.

I have to disclose that I didn't finish "Super Mario Galaxy" before writing this review. I ran out of time while playing it and two other great new releases - each of which could take 20 hours just to speed through - so I can give you impressions of all three titles in time for holiday shopping.

The other two superb games will appeal to hard-core gamers who love to shoot things.

"Mass Effect" is an action-role-playing game from BioWare, the maker of the fun "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" and "Jade Empire."

The look of "Mass Effect" is a cinematic feat. You watch the game's graphic films about as often as you play the game.

Sci-fi soldiers and aliens from the 22nd century chat gravely about a complex political and military struggle. You pick your responses during these conversations, issuing snippets of curt dialogue such as "What did you find?" and "Why is Williams here?"

Yeah, that's odd, but fans of role-playing games eat this stuff up. The fun for me comes from saving the universe by shooting evil robot-looking aliens, or whatever, across space stations, foreign planets and finely detailed capitols.

As shooting goes, though, my favorite war game in a while (especially online) is "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" on Xbox 360 and PS 3. Bad guys are terrorists (a little heavy on the Arabic, if you ask me). And the game play and illustrations are excellent, seamless and rich.

I just shot two guys in the back, in a dingy makeshift war zone littered with blown-up buses and fences, after I sniper-

rifled a loser in his torso. I have to say I feel pretty good about that.

So there you go. You can save the universe from terrorists in "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" or from aliens in "Mass Effect" or from mean mushrooms in "Super Mario Galaxy."

"Call of Duty 4"

-- Plays very fun, especially online. Looks great. Moderately challenging.

-- 4 stars

-- Price: $60 for Xbox 360 and PS 3; $30 for DS

-- Rated: M for blood, gore, intense violence, strong language

"Mass Effect"

-- Plays fun. Looks stellar. Moderately challenging.

-- 4 stars

-- Price: $60 for Xbox, 360

-- Rated: M for blood, language, partial nudity, sexual themes, violence

"Super Mario Galaxy"

-- Plays fun. Looks very good. Easy to moderately challenging.

-- 4 stars

-- Price: $50 for Wii

-- Rated: E for mild cartoon violence

Coming soon

-- "Puppy Luv" is another pet simulator in which you raise, feed and play with puppies in the home, backyard and park. It retails for $40 for Wii. It's rated E.

-- "Star Trek: Conquest" is an action-adventure that lets you play as various commander types - Federation, Klingon, Romulan, etc. - in a turn-based game set in the final frontier. It retails for $30 for Wii, $15 for PS 2. It's rated E for fantasy violence.

New to you

-- "Crackdown" is one of the best games of the year, a sci-fi shooter that takes place in a mildly futuristic Earth setting. You portray a cop shooting down bad dudes constantly, while you jump from rooftops. The Xbox 360 game - selling in used-game stores for $20 and less - has one downside: The time of the adventure runs sort of short. But if you haven't gotten your hands on it yet, it's worth a spin. It's rated M for blood, gore, intense violence, sexual themes, strong language and use of drugs.

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