Quick Holiday Hits

From Russia With Love (Xbox, PS2, Gamecube; $49.99; Rated T for Suggestive Themes/Violence; 007.ea.com)

(three stars)

Though the likeness of everybody’s favorite Bond is dead-on and the fact that Sean Connery reprises his role, the remake of the favorite 60’s film falls flat. It’s all glitz and glamour, with relatively flat and uninspired gameplay.

Battlefield 2 Modern Combat (Xbox, PS2; $49.99; Rated T for Language/Violence; battlefield.ea.com)

(four stars)

The PC hit comes console-side with an incredibly arcade-like and addictive single-player mode. “Hot-swapping” places long distances to a fellow comrade in your line of site is almost as much fun as the addictive online multiplayer that keeps fans coming back for more in one of the most solid shooters for either system.

Call of Duty 2 (X360; $59.99; Rated T for Blood/Mild Language/Violence; callofduty.com)

(four and a half stars)

Fantastically frantic action and an incredibly visceral experience make this WWII shooter stand tall above the thousands of others out there. If this is what a 1^st generation Xbox 360 game looks like, I can’t wait until the developers have a better understanding of what to do with the hardware.

GUN (PS2, Xbox, X360; $49.99, $59.99 on X360; Rated M for Blood/Core/Violence/Sexual Themes/Language/Use of Alcohol; gunthegame.com)

(three and a half stars)

It’s “Grand Theft Auto” meets “Tombstone” as players set out to uncover the murky history of protagonist Colton White while experiencing the brutality of the Old West in a free-roaming environment. Save the extra $10 and pick up a copy for an older system- the Xbox 360 version is, unforgivably, graphically on-par with its PS2 cousin.