The gods have smiled upon gamers everywhere and gifted them the ambrosian delight, God of War. It's been ages since a game has packed in as much bold, visceral action as Kratos' epic quest to murder Ares, the war god.
The myths of ancient Greece work so well in the video-game format, it's astonishing they've never been used to this extent before. Kratos wields the Blades of Chaos, thunderbolts, and even Medusa's head through some of best, sweaty-palms platforming sequences and most frantic hack 'n' slash massacres ever to grace interactive entertainment. The story of complex anti-hero Kratos perfectly captures all the wicked irony, excessive violence and moral ambiguity of mythology. Homer would approve.
DONKEY KONG JUNGLE BEAT (E) (4 stars)
Nintendo
GameCube
A standard controller may be sufficient for Mario's delicate platforming hops, but banging on a pair of bongos is more suitable for guiding his simian colleague's frenetic acrobatics. With level design on par with Donkey Kong Country's attractive settings and a gimmicky, but effective, control scheme, Jungle Beat is hours of whacky fun.
SUPER MONKEY BALL DELUXE (E) (3.5 stars)
Sega
PlayStation 2, Xbox
For those who have yet to experience Super Monkey Ball, this title has more than 300 puzzles and mini-games to drive you bananas. The puzzles are as addictive as ever, even if the frustrating lack of decent camera controls frequently makes you want to rip those monkeys out of their balls and sell them for scientific experiments.
SPIDER-MAN 2 (T) (3.5 stars)
Activision
PlayStation Portable
The PSP would never be a true game console without a title featuring everyone's favorite wall-crawler. The impressive graphics and gameplay are nearly identical to the console version, but the open-ended environments have been replaced by disappointingly linear, spider-bite-sized missions.
GRETZKY NHL (E) (2 stars)
Sony Computer Entertainment
PlayStation Portable
The PS2 version of Gretzky NHL had some irritating AI and control issues, so did these issues skate over into the handheld game, too? Frankly, the frame-rate is so horrendously bad, it's difficult to tell. Gretzky NHL can be used for a fun game of hockey, but only if you use the game disc as a puck.
Matthew Scott Hunter has been known to mumble, "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start" in his sleep. E-mail him at
[email protected].