New Releases

EA's NCAA Basketball series returns with both CBS and ESPN licenses in an attempt to create an authentic, television-style presentation that incorporates broadcasters Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery, Brad Nessler, Dick Vitale, and Erin Andrews. Revamped shot controls, more diverse animations, and improved positional AI are just a few of the changes to the gameplay over previous versions. Each school also features distinct motion offenses, from the dribble drive to the flex, and the home stadiums for 20 of the toughest teams to play against will make life difficult for visiting athletes. Playing in such venues as Clemson, Xavier, and North Carolina will cause the camera to shake during play, influence free throws, and more due to the raucous crowds. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Single-handedly take out well-guarded targets through a combination of stealth and acrobatic maneuvers in this anticipated sequel to 2007's Assassin's Creed. Featuring a new protagonist in a different era, you'll control a young nobleman named Ezio Auditore da Firenze in 15th century Italy, at the height of the Renaissance. After a tragic event befalls his family, Ezio trains to become a master assassin, looking to exact his revenge on those responsible. Ezio will explore three sprawling cities, countryside, and various small villages while completing objectives during the day or at night. Assassin's Creed II offers three times the mission types found in its predecessor, with more things to see and do within each setting.

Money is now an important part of the game, allowing Ezio to purchase weapons, clothing, armor, repairs, and decorative items for his Italian villa. Ezio can pickpocket people, search for hidden chests, and complete side missions to fill his coffers. Other key changes include Ezio's ability to swim and even soar through the sky thanks to friend Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine. The open-ended world also allows for more free-running, climbing, and leaping from great heights. Among the new weapons at Ezio's disposal are pikes, maces, war hammers, scimitars, axes, and twin wrist-mounted blades that can be used to kill two people at once. Updated combat techniques include the ability to grab, kick, head-butt, drown, disarm, or pounce on enemies. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Ubisoft's ever-expanding series of animal-themed life development sims spreads to the world of canine competitions in Petz: Dogz Talent Show. Players choose from a variety of dog breeds and then engage their pups in a number of different activities, including riding a skateboard, running through obstacle courses, and playing classic games of fetch, with each event helping puppies unlock new tricks. Gamers can share photos of their talented dogs with friends via wireless connection or on the Petz website, and Petz: Dogz Talent Show is compatible with Petz Nursery, meaning players can rear a newborn pup and, once it gets big enough, teach it new tricks and enter it in competitions. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Taking its story and setting from the concurrently released TriStar Pictures feature film, Planet 51: The Game is a mission-based driving adventure, set on an alien planet that is oddly familiar. In something of a role-reversal, players take control of Captain Chuck Baker, an astronaut explorer who lands on the strange planet, believing it to be uninhabited. Instead, he finds himself in the midst of picket-fenced suburbs, reminiscent of 1950s America -- except for the "little green men"-like inhabitants, who treat Chuck exactly like the alien invader that he is. The play of the game involves exploring the 3D suburban world from a behind-the-back, third-person perspective, sometimes on foot but usually in a vehicle, and accomplishing tasks such as reaching a distant location or escaping from pursuers. As in the computer-animated movie, the ultimate goal, ostensibly, is to recover Chuck's lost spaceship.

Chuck can commandeer essentially any vehicle he comes across in this travels, including family sedans and motorcycles, taxi cabs and cop cars, and even heavy-duty trucks or zippy riding lawn-mowers. Different cars and trucks have different power and handling, and although the vehicles on Planet 51 hover instead of roll on wheels, most rules of the road still apply. Rules are made to be broken, however, especially when you're a giant alien on the run from a frenzied mob. Chuck can also break from the main story, to interact with various characters from the film in side-quests and various mini-games. In some sequences, players can take control of Lem, the young alien boy who befriends Chuck, and his pet robot Rover, making use of their special skills and abilities to overcome game-world obstacles or beat special challenges. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Nintendo's signature series returns to its side-scrolling roots with new levels, new power-ups, and a host of multiplayer modes in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Players choose to guide Mario, Luigi, or two versions of Toad through a variety of colorful worlds on another quest to rescue Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser. As always, the game worlds are filled with pitfalls and enemies, but players can fight back thanks to the new ice flower, which allows them to hurl snowballs, the new propeller mushroom, which lets gamers float through the air, and the new penguin suit, which provides surer footing in icy environments. The game makes use of a classic Super Mario Bros. control scheme, though propeller-suit actions and the spin jump incorporate the Wii Remote's motion sensitivity. Multiplayer action comes in both competitive and cooperative forms, letting up to four gamers interact with the environment and one another in a variety of helpful or hurtful ways. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Billed by Sega as a true successor to the groundbreaking Phantasy Star Online, Phantasy Star Ø transports gamers to an alternate Earth approximately 200 years after a massive war decimated the planet. The survivors managed to pick up the tattered pieces of once great civilizations and build thriving, albeit isolated, cities. And while the apocalyptic nature of the "Great Blank" led to a more peaceful society, a select group of adventurous citizens choose to explore the expansive wilderness areas in order to hunt monsters that threaten the safety of city life. Gamers take on the role of one of these explorers, choosing from the blade-wielding Hunter race, the gun-toting Ranger race, or the spell-casting Forces, and then selecting from 14 different class variations.

Players can also create unique robot "Mags" to provide stat boosts, heal injuries, or serve as an extra attacker, and feeding each Mag surplus items helps them level up in four key areas. There are more than 350 unique weapons available, and combat is handled in a three-beat system, whereby gamers can unleash as many as three normal or heavy attacks consecutively. Phantasy Star Ø includes three online modes: "Free" mode, in which players join a randomly assigned party; "Friend" mode, where two friends can set up a private adventure; and "Single" mode, in which solo gamers partake in online combat to increase their stats. A new "Visual Chat" option lets gamers use the stylus to create and store 20 different visual or written shortcuts in order to more quickly communicate with fellow players during online action. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Based on the trading card game and inspired by the animated television series, the first Chaotic video game is designed to bring the supernatural mugic spells, fantastic battle gear, and amazing heroes and creatures to life, in strategic turn-based battle. Set on the world of Perim, the game's plays through an ongoing struggle for survival and supremacy between the forces of the heroic OverWorlders and the dark UnderWorlders, along with the ant-like Danians, the reptilian Mipedians, and the spooky, mind-controlling M'arrillians. Gamers can take on the role of any of 40 playable characters, making use of tactical combinations of dozens devastating spells and empowered pieces of battle gear, in eight winner-take-all fighting arenas. Battles are fought in the Chaotic realm, following the rules of the card game, with onscreen creatures acting out each strike and counter-strike in colorful, 3D animations. Victory unlocks new cards, representing additional gear and mugic powers. Two players can match their card-battle skills in head-to-head play, or a single player can face an RPG-style "Story" mode campaign against computer-controlled opponents. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Based on the trading card game and inspired by the animated television series, the first Chaotic video game is designed to bring the supernatural mugic spells, fantastic battle gear, and amazing heroes and creatures to life, in strategic turn-based battle. Set on the world of Perim, the game's plays through an ongoing struggle for survival and supremacy between the forces of the heroic OverWorlders and the dark UnderWorlders, along with the ant-like Danians, the reptilian Mipedians, and the spooky, mind-controlling M'arrillians. Gamers can take on the role of any of 40 playable characters, making use of tactical combinations of dozens devastating spells and empowered pieces of battle gear, in eight winner-take-all fighting arenas. Battles are fought in the Chaotic realm, following the rules of the card game, with onscreen creatures acting out each strike and counter-strike in colorful, 3D animations. Victory unlocks new cards, representing additional gear and mugic powers. Two players can match their card-battle skills in head-to-head play, or a single player can face an RPG-style "Story" mode campaign against computer-controlled opponents. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Infinity Ward's critically acclaimed Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare comes to the Wii thanks to the efforts of Treyarch, known for its slightly less polished, if still highly competent, contributions to Activision's hugely popular franchise. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare -- Reflex Edition eschews the traditional WWII setting that had been the hallmark of the series, instead taking on the more nebulous world of modern warfare. Nazi storm troopers and kamikaze pilots have been replaced by a patchwork group of terrorists and insurgents, and traditional WWII weapons have been jettisoned in favor of more than 70 modern armaments. Though the story is a departure from the previous games, Modern Warfare -- Reflex still features intense mission-based first-person shooter gameplay that should be familiar to fans.

The plot centers on two megalomaniacal madmen who are fomenting unrest around the world in an attempt to cement their own power. Imran Zakhaev is a one-armed Russia nationalist who longs to return his country to a Soviet Union style of government by seizing a stockpile of nuclear weapons. Zakhaev has support from several divisions of the Russian army, but, knowing that the United States would quickly come to the aid of the Russian government, he funds a coup in the Middle East to divert attention. Led by Zakhaev ally Khaled Al-Asad, the Middle Eastern coup results in intense fighting which eventually leads to the launch of a Russian nuclear missile toward American soil. Players fight through this chaos as both Sergeant John MacTavish, a British SAS operative doing battle in Russia, and Sergeant Paul Jackson, a U.S. Marine fighting in the Middle East.

Modern Warfare -- Reflex Edition aims to capture the challenges of modern war by pitting the superior technology of the U.S Marines and British SAS against the cunning guerilla tactics of a terrorist group. In addition to close quarters combat, players will be called upon to perform fast-rope helicopter drops, provide air support from an AH-1 Super Cobra helicopter, call in precision air strikes, and man the turret of an AC-130 Spectre Gunship to engage enemy fighters from the sky. Gamers also join a two man sniper team on a flashback mission in which players head to the Chernobyl Zone of Alienation on a mission to assassinate a younger Zakhaev.

The Wii version of the game lets two players join forces to take on the main campaign, but it otherwise features the same expansive set of online multiplayer modes as its console cousins. Players will be able to choose from Assault, Special Ops, Light Machine Gunner, Demolitions, and Sniper classes, or create up to five special classes with customizable weapons and perks. Gamers can then take their fighters through a dozen different multiplayer modes like Free-for-All, Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy, Headquarters, Domination, and Sabotage. Players who frequently battle online will be able to accrue experience points, unlock special weapons and gear, and eventually unlock Prestige Mode in which gamers can trade in their rank for special insignias. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Players wave their Wii Remote and Nunchuk to the beat of a variety of licensed and original songs as Konami's popular and kid-friendly music game makes its way to North America after more than a decade of Japanese exclusivity. Pop'n Music lets Gamers play with custom avatars, uploaded Miis, or 14 different pre-made characters, and the action takes place in six different stages. Adjustable difficulty levels are designed to make the game enjoyable to newcomers as well as veterans familiar with the series' sometimes brutal difficulty, and players with a Wi-Fi connection can download additional post-release song content. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Dragon Ball: Raging Blast is a 3D fighting game for high-def generation consoles, featuring more than 40 heroes, villains, and supporting characters from the Dragon Ball Z franchise. The roster swells above 70 playable characters when including the Super Saiyan variations and form transformations available for many key personalities such as Goku, Gohan, Frieza, Vegeta, Cell, and Broly. Alternate costumes are available for many of the characters as well. In the tradition of the previous console generation's Dragon Ball Z: Budokai series, the focus of play in Raging Blast is fast-paced, supernaturally powered martial arts combat, on solid ground and high in the skies above, as featured throughout the influential anime series. Battles are fought in large, interactive and destructible arenas, taken from key moments throughout the manga and anime. Characters display real-time damage, such as scrapes, bruises, and torn clothing from a tough fight. Single-player modes include the "Dragon Battle Collection" main story campaign, which runs from the Saiyan Saga up to the Kid Buu Saga, and "Super Battle Trial," which allows players to duke it out and test new tactics with their favorite fighters in quick pick-up matches. Players can customize the Super Attack moves of their favorite characters, using points earned by playing through the campaign. Online, players have access to multiplayer modes including team tournaments, spectator-ranked matches, and straight up "Versus" battles. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Jambo! Safari Animal Rescue puts gamers in the shoes of a park ranger who journeys through the jungles and savannahs of Africa to rescue injured or endangered wild animals. Missions find players speeding through the wilderness in a variety of Land Rover vehicles, using a lasso to capture wild animals, taking tourists on sightseeing tours, and snapping photographs to earn high scores. Captured animals are taken to an enclosure where gamers can perform a variety of healing mini-games, from brushing teeth to removing fleas. Once the rehabilitated creatures are tagged and returned to the wild, players can monitor the position and health statistics of each animal in real time. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Designed for social gaming, Hasbro Family Game Night offers players digitized versions of classic Hasbro board games. Up to four players can participate in local or online games of "Yahtzee," "Boggle," "Scrabble," and "Sorry!" while two players can go head-to-head in games of "Battleship" and "Connect Four." Hasbro Family Game Night also puts a new twist on the old standards, letting players try out "Sorry! Sliders." The games is hosted by Mr. Potato Head and takes place in a digital living room that can be decorated, filled with furniture, and adorned with trophies. Players who seek more creativity or control can use the "Party" mode to make a custom party game by choosing which games to play, how many players are involved, and what the time limit will be. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide