inFamous

(PS3; $59.99; Rated T for Blood/Drug Reference/Language/Mild Suggestive Themes/Violence; www.infamousthegame.com)

Despite the lack of a "Sly Cooper" game for the PS3- a title that I absolutely can't wait to see make its way into High-Definition- Developer Sucker Punch, has given us the mechanics of their "Sly Cooper" titles wrapped in its stylish, edgy, and more Teen-oriented action-platformer, "Infamous," exclusively on the PS3.

"Grand Theft Auto" defined the go-anywhere/do-anything style of sandbox gameplay on which many have iterated.  The Xbox 360's "Crackdown" took the "GTA" sandbox and gave it verticality by allowing players to bound up buildings and across rooftops in its super-cop shoot-em-up.  "Infamous" continues to iterate by taking the width and breadth of city exploration, but adds moral choices and super-powers to give players the story of regular-Joe-turned-super-Joe and his evolution to become either the savior of the city, or its ultimate undoing.

Though moral choice is all the rage in gaming these days, "Infamous" experiences the same problem that other games have encountered when allowing the character to choose whether he will be good or evil: the narrative doesn't support a character that acts truly evil and inevitably rewards doing good.  The game's primary mission structure is the same regardless of what shade of character players choose; regardless of how dastardly you would like your character to be, he'll ultimately have to do "good" things that help the city from destroying itself because the narrative calls for it.

There isn't a separate story line for each branch of morality, but I can't totally fault Sucker Punch from not developing the game that way- doing so would have required creating at least two games, not one- an undertaking that isn't likely to be financially feasible.

Nevertheless, the differentiation between "good" and "evil" powers in "Infamous" is satisfying and adds to the characterization of Cole, the protagonist, even if the different powers don't have a direct effect on the narrative.  Doing good allows players to play with more precision and subtlety which cause less collateral damage, enabling players to take down enemies without causing harm to civilians- thereby earning their respect and assistance from the police.  "Evil" powers throw caution to the wind and create more wanton destruction than necessary- if some poor schlep gets in the way of arching red lightning from your hands... well.. he should have watched where he was going, shouldn't he?

The sandbox nature of the game is a blast to explore, while the mission that advance the story are fun and varied.  Sucker Punch never fails to deliver a striking and stylized game, and "Infamous" is no different- whether climbing up sky scrapers, gliding along power lines, or causing chain reactions that end up destroying a city block- the game and its cutscenes bring alive the comic-book nature of the story, making this a striking and edgy game appropriate for the high school crowd.

Red Faction: Guerilla

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbGm2GXpxAY[/youtube]

(Xbox 360, Ps3; $59.99; Rated M for Blood/Strong Language/Violence; www.redfaction.com)

For a game that stayed relatively low on the hype-radar, the newest edition of the "Red Faction" franchise hits with as much force as its main character's trusty sledgehammer.

"Red Faction: Guerilla" is the first time the series appears in a third-person perspective as opposed to the first-person perspective of its two predecessors.  This turns out to be a welcome change: 1. Because there are more than enough first-person shooters out there, and 2. It makes for some very fun Geo-Mod shennanigans.

What the heck is a "Geo-Mod" shennanigan?

The "Red Faction" series' calling card has been the ability to destroy parts buildings and assorted structures in order to make firefights more interesting.  See a need to get through a building, but the doorway is blocked by enemies? Blow a hole in the wall and flank them.  The previous games ability to destroy was limited- a basic skeleon structure would remain even if players blew the heck out of the stucture.  With "Guerilla," the new Geo-Mod 2.0 allows players to completely dismantle every structure in the game- brick by brick.

The benefit of having free control of the camera in a third-person perspective allows players to actually get to see the glorious explosions they make in the game, while running away to get clear of the blast zone.  The Geo-Mod technology allows for some very fun mechanics in the, now, open-world game.  For instance, players can set remote-detonation charges all over a building, attract enemies into the building, and lead them up to the second level; then the player can leap out of the 2nd-story window and detonate the charges, trapping all of the enemies inside and blowing them to kingdom-come.

Sadistic? Maybe.  Entertaining? Definitely.

"Guerilla" is chock-full of game.  After arriving on Mars, the oppressive Martian government ends up killing your brother which pulls you into the middle of a band of freedom fighters.  In order to avenge your sibling's demise, the Red Faction uses you and your demoltion skills to wreak total havok.  Progressing through a variety of mission types will recruit more guerilla fighters to the Faction's side- but it's all really a thin narrative as an excuse to blow more stuff up.

When not playing the single-player campaign, "Guerilla" has an offline multiplayer mode that challenges players to see who can cause more destruction in a short period of time, as well as a healthy and enjoyable online multiplayer that gives players power-ups like the "Rhino Pack," which allows players to runs straight through a building in order cause its collapse on unsuspecting opponents.

Perhaps it's appropriate that "Guerilla" was released in the summer- it is definitely on-par with blockbuster movie releases: no one really cares what the plot is, stuff blows up real pretty-like, and everyone goes home feeling like they got their money's worth...

Unless you saw "Transformers 2;" but then again- you knew what you were getting into.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game

(Xbox 360, PS3, Wii; $49.99-59/99; Rated E10+ (Wii) for Comic Mischief/Fantasy Violence, Rated T (Xbox, PS3) for Comic Mischief/Fantasty Violence/Mild Language; www.ghostbustersgame.com)

To this day, the original "Ghostbusters" remains one of my top ten favorite movies of all time.

Heck, I even think that "Ghostbusters II" wasn't half bad.

So it is without hyperbole when I say that "Ghostbusters: The Video Game" was my most anticipated title this year.  After getting tossed aside as one of the titles that Activision decided to not publish when it bought out Vivendi Games, I thought it might never see the light of day.  Surprisingly, Atari- a company up against the ropes financially- bought the publishing rights to it and released it in conjunction with the movie's 25th anniversary.  The move was a win for Atari, and a win for Ghostheads all over.

Much ballyhoo and credit has gone to "Ghostbusters" writers, Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis for penning the script to this "Ghostbusters."  How much of the actual scribing Akroyd and Ramis actually will likely be debated in the same vein as the "writing" of "Good Will Hunting" by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.  Nevertheless, it's clear that Akroyd and Ramis had at least some collaberation on the project and they have both stated that they intended "Ghostbusters: The Video Game" to be cannonical- for all intents and purposes, this is "Ghostbusters III."

Nothing solidifies this more than having the entire cast of the original "Ghostbusters" back to voice their characters in the game- save for Rick Moranis and Sigourney Weaver, who's characters do not appear in the game.

That's right folks, they even got Bill Murray to come back and reprise his role as Dr. Pete Venkman- that's huge.

Of all the characters though Akroyd really brings Ray Stantz back to life- he sounds just as he did back in '84; honorable mentions should be given for Ramis' Egon Spengler and Ernie Hudson's Winston Zeddemore, but as big of a "get" it was for Murray to reprise his Venkman, he phones it in a little too much.

Developers, Terminal Reality, obviously have as much of a love affair for the material as the fans do- "Ghosbusters" is littered with nods to the previous movies, opportunities to explore the firehouse, and chasing after Slimer in the Sedgewick Hotel.  Everything that a Ghosthead would want from a "Ghostbusters" game is here- wrestling a ghost with a proton stream and ultimately capturing it in a trap feels right, the characters look exactly as they should on the High Definition systems- and even on the limited hardware of the Wii, the stylized/cartoonish look of the Ghostbusters begs for an updated cartoon series.

It is with this care and downright enjoyable story that will ultimately propel the player, fan or not, through what is, otherwise, a mediocre gameplay.  Were there not all of the trappings and fan-service, and if there wasn't such a rich property about which to create a game, the gameplay mechanics and level design would only be ho-hum and ultimately boring after a few hours of play- bustin' makes me feel good, but a little more variety would make me feel great.

Still, it's the nostalgia factor and the Hollywood talent that wins me over.  "Ghostbusters" puts me as a new Ghostbuster among the original four, the feeling and humor of being a Ghostbuster is right-on, and this is probably a better experience than any third movie could have been.

It's cliche, I know, but for my money- "who ya gonna call?"