It took a few extra months, but Nintendo finally managed to cram a full-blown Metroid game into a tiny DS cartridge. The result is more impressive than the contortionist skills Samus Aran must put to work each time she goes into morph-ball mode. This is easily the best first-person shooter on a handheld.
In fact, it's a better first-person shooter than its home console incarnations. Ditching the target lock-on feature from GameCube, Hunters lets you take hold of Samus' arm cannon and aim with the stylus. This provides the sort of seamless, hyper-accurate control you can usually only attain with a PC shooter and a mouse.
The only drawback is that Metroid's style of epic sci-fi action is built more for camping out in front of the TV than gaming on the go. Save points are limited, so you can't quit in a hurry and the non-ergonomic nature of the DS has never been more evident than it is right after a frantic, finger-gnarling boss battle. Fortunately, the addictive multiplayer is just cool enough to be worth the arthritis it'll inevitably cause you.
RUMBLE ROSES XX by KONAMI (3.5 stars)
Platform: Xbox 360.
Rated: M.
It's been 10 years since Lara Croft ushered sexuality into video games with her blocky knockers, and now there are plenty of games designed specifically for gamers who like to ogle women's polygons. It doesn't get much more shameless than the girl-on-girl action of this graphically superior follow-up to the PS2's Rumble Roses. The wrestling controls are virtually identical to the original, but let's face it—this game isn't about wrestling anyway.
BLAZING ANGELS: SQUADRONS OF WWII by UBISOFT (3.5 stars)
Platform: Xbox360.
Rated: M.
This title will have you dogfighting over Midway, Africa and even Pearl Harbor. Most pilots' tours of duty probably failed to cover so much ground, but then, they never had Joe. Joe the mechanic is so skilled, he can actually repair your plane while it's still battling in midair. It guarantees you'll be around until VJ Day, but it also effectively robs the game of any challenge.
TETRIS DS by NINTENDO (4 stars)
Platform: Nintendo DS.
Rated: E.
Since Tetris is a game that dooms you the instant you look away from its falling blocks, the second screen of the DS can be a liability. It tries to lure your eyes away with nostalgic images from the 8-bit NES era, but you dare not look. Fortunately, a few of the new versions of Tetris make more constructive use of the dual screens and will put your geometry skills to the test.
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] .