Resistance Two for PS3

Laundry's piling up, new mail goes on the stack, my running shoes gather dust ... everything must take a back seat to fighting aliens in Resistance 2. Foremost, because it's pretty -- the graphics are stunning. Part of the fight takes place in the redwoods of north california and you just keep getting ambushed because you're looking at the lush scenery.

It's also a technical masterpiece. There are parts where you're leading a dozen guys in running street battles. They manage to keep formation around you, they fall back when you fall back, and they subtly lead the way to the next checkpoint. (The bad guys are similarly smart.) The AI is really sophisticated; it's kinda eerie.

I'm not very good at shooters, but this one comes with a "casaul" difficulty setting that a slow-twitch guy like me can handle. And the save points are close enough together that I rarely have much of a walk when I repeatedly die at the hands of an angry squid.

I just sit back and enjoy the cheesy (but fun) story line, blast aliens, and run around the smooth, detailed scenery. I can't put it down! (Which is lucky for humanity, 'cause we’re *whey* outnumbered.) Pew-pew!

Rampage Total Destruction for Wii

You're a genetically altered monster, smashing your way through cities. You stomp around, you grab pedestrians and eat them, you pick up cars and toss them, you climb buildings to smash windows and pull out people and power-ups, you get on top of buildings and smash helicopters ... basically just a workaday routine in monster land.

I put a lot of quarters into this machine, when I should've been in school. It holds up to those halcyon days.

With the wiimote and nunchuck is not just brilliant ... it's therapy!

Civilization Revolution for PS3

Conquer the world! You get a choice of cultures, each with its own strengths, and a starting city or group of settlers. Then you you build up your civilization. To win the game, you can either conquer everyone militarily, or you can store up tons of gold and build the World Bank, or you can build culture and wonders that culminate in the UN, or you can work on technology until you're able to launch a mission to Alpha Centauri.

All sorts of cultures. Four ways to win (which means three ways to lose). Plenty of fiddling details like roads, the overlap in the tech trees, opponents with differing strategies ... it makes for a thousand permutations.

I've played a dozen different ways and I'm still not repeating. I love it!

Resistance Fall of Man for PS3

Save humanity in this first person shooter. It's the usual rules, you run around shooting crap, pick up ammo and the occasional new weapon on the battlefield ... kill anything that moves. Stewart has the best advice, duck behind rocks while they're shooting at you, then step out and shoot when it's quiet. So far so good!

What's better than the usual FPS is the graphics ... the world is lush and detailed. The lighting effects are part of the game, for instance your vision gets a increasingly darker when you've sustained more damage. The story pieces actually tell a story, enough so that I didn't fast forward through the dialog to get to the action.

I can see why everyone's abuzz about Resistance 2 getting here ... if this one looks this pretty, the next one is going to be beautiful.

Mobzombies

Mobzombies: run from the undead ... using your body as the controller.