"I usually just use NCAA to warm up for Madden, since it comes out a couple weeks earlier," said Kyle "The Remedy" Cooper, one of the finalists of last year's Madden Challenge. A lot of gamers tend to be just as quick to dismiss NCAA. But this time, it might not be so easy.
Gone are the balance issues and passing problems of last year's installment. Even Madden 2005's best new feature—the intuitive "hit stick" which allows for hard-hitting, context-sensitive tackles—has made its way into the campus stadium. But the most important addition is the new Race for the Heisman mode, which lets you build a player from scratch and make him into a college legend. This adds a whole new role-playing and character-leveling dynamic to the franchise. Madden's got a tough act to follow this year: the best NCAA Football yet.
HALO 2 MULTIPLAYER MAP PACK (M) (5 stars)
Microsoft Game Studios
Xbox
OK, Halo 2 players, when was the last time you saw a green master chief? Probably not since you beat the single-player campaign back in November. Since then, Halo 2 has been all about red and blue master chiefs shooting it out in multiplayer. That's what Halo 2's really about, which is why this map pack is practically Halo 3. Whether you like close-quarters killing sprees or vehicle-assisted flag captures, these nine maps make the best fragfest in video games even better.
KIRBY: CANVAS CURSE (E) (4 stars)
Nintendo
Nintendo DS
With more and more DS releases looking like gimmicky demos, leave it to Nintendo to show game developers how to make the most of their offbeat hardware. Canvas Curse is essentially a 2D platformer that's played entirely with the touchscreen and stylus. It takes some time to get used to it, but the difficulty ramps up perfectly, so you'll be guiding that cute, pink ball of Kirby through some awesome boss battles in no time.
YOSHI TOPSY-TURVY (E) (3 stars)
Nintendo
GameBoy Advance
Have you ever made fun of those dorky kids who whip the controller around in a vain attempt to move the character on screen? Wanna be one of those dorky kids? The Topsy-Turvy cartridge actually has a motion sensor and requires you to tilt the whole GameBoy in order to manipulate the events on screen. The game's only a few hours long, but the initially entertaining gimmick still manages to grow tiresome before it's over.
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].