NCAA Football 08 spends another season on the Xbox by adding a Campus Legend" mode where gamers must begin as a greenhorn high school player and work their way up in status and skill. After completing an all-star championship series against other regional high schools, players are presented with a list of colleges interested in having their abilities on the field. Gamers begin as the lowest rated team member, and must spend time earning practice points in order to advance up the roster. Players may spend their free time playing basketball, going to movies, or studying. On the field, gamers can influence other players and lead the action during plays with the Leadership Control. Improvements with the Hit Stick allow smaller players to low tackle larger opponents who sport shoulders of steel. Throughout the game there will be chances to spend some time on the field of 115 different stadiums, as well as study the playbooks of each collegiate football team. ~ Gracie Leach, All Game Guide

Major League Baseball 2K7 continues 2K Sports' annual series with an emphasis on a more lifelike presentation, from the player models and animations to the commentary and crowds. Individual faces and body types have been refined, with in-game stars sporting the same accessories, batting stances, and home run celebrations as their real-life counterparts. The prior season's "Inside Edge" scouting data is now linked to user control, resulting in a temporary stat boost for players who successfully follow an athlete's particular strengths at the plate or on the mound.

On the diamond, the defensive AI has been tweaked to allow for more accurate positioning, relays, and cutoff throws based on scoring situations and the batter's tendencies. A number of new animations have been incorporated into the defensive game, allowing for fluid throws, slick dives, and show-stopping grabs. The popular franchise mode from previous iterations returns with a team's success now tied to ticket prices, attendance numbers, news, and fan hype. Veteran broadcasters Jon Miller and Joe Morgan reprise their commentary duties, and online support is once again included for head-to-head competition in custom leagues and tournaments. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

After landing on the beaches of Normandy, soldiers spread out to liberate Europe from the Nazi regime. In Call of Duty 3, single players focus on the stories of four Allied soldiers that begin at Operation Cobra and lead to the eventual Liberation of Paris. Game room generals will lead the group through 14 missions filled with multiple attack routes as a member of either the American, British, Polish, and Canadian armies. Each path requires the use of special tactics in order to navigate the course effectively. Soldiers come equipped with special skills such as the British SAS soldier's knack for sabotage, and the Canadian mechanized infantry's expertise at inventive vehicles.

Internet action is available for up to 16 people in a single or split-screen game. Players choose from five different classes of character such as medic and anti-armor, and then customize gameplay options. Several game types include "Team Battle," "Capture the Flag," "War," "Headquarters," and a single flag "CTF" that can be played out on many different maps. Environments include deformable objects such as piles of wood that move and splinter when shot, and players may destroy soft cover to flush enemies out in the open. Additional "Battle Action" invites gamers to shoot less and get their hands dirty setting C-4 charges, and fighting Germans with their bare hands. ~ Gracie Leach, All Game Guide

Midway's streetball series continues with NBA Ballers: Phenom, which introduces two-on-two action and expands the story-driven career mode found in its predecessor. Once again the emphasis is on using an array of over-the-top moves to outperform rival athletes from the NBA. This time, however, players can explore a bustling Venice Beach, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills in an off-court exploration mode that involves talking with pedestrians and performing various quests. Players begin by creating a custom character and advance through a storyline that will pull them in one of two directions.

Through their interactions with hip-hop artist Ludacris or pro basketball star Chauncey Billups, players can build a life as a business entrepreneur or try to become a number-one draft pick in the NBA. Over the course of one week, which coincides with the NBA Finals in Los Angeles, players will participate in tournaments against real-life NBA stars, explore parts of the city to locate hidden diamonds or mascot heads, and complete shooting challenges, spelling bees, and even rhythm-based dance contests. Money earned from both quests and tournaments can be used to purchase clothing items, mansions, and other worldly possessions. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Electronic Arts makes an offer it hopes fans of Mafioso mythology cannot refuse, in this video game translation of the award-winning 1972 Francis Ford Coppola film. Players take the role of a small-time thug, newly inducted into the Corleone family and looking to make it big. By running missions for the family in the game's rendition of 1940s New York City, players can earn the respect of the family and be promoted to positions of power and influence in the organization. The game is designed to track the player's decisions and interactions throughout the criminal career, such that NPCs will remember how they were treated in the past and react appropriately in future dealings. In order to encourage players to truly take on the role of their own Corleone henchman, Electronic Arts' The Godfather offers a "MobFace" custom character creator which allows for adjustment of physique, facial features, and attire. All other major characters featured in the game are voiced by the actors who played them in the movie, including Marlon Brando (posthumously) as Don Vito Corleone, James Caan as Sonny Corleone, and Robert Duvall as consigliore Tom Hagen. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Luxoflux invites grown-up players back for another game of "good cop (or) bad cop" in this follow-up to 2003's L.A.-based action-adventure. As in the original True Crime, players take the role of an unorthodox law enforcement officer, and by their actions and in-game choices, determine the character's morality as they play through the story. In True Crime: New York City, the hero is a former gang member named Marcus Reed, who uses his hard-knocks schooling to powerful effect in the gritty underworld of the Big Apple. As in Streets of L.A., New York City missions play out in freely roamed, GTA3-style environments, stocked with plenty to see and do even when Marcus isn't working towards a specific mission goal. Key characters are voiced by accomplished screen actors, including Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne, and Mickey Rourke, with Marcus Reed portrayed by Avery Waddell. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Set in a distant, dystopian future, this third-person action game puts players in the title role of the silent, svelte, scantily clothed super-spy. Released concurrently with the 2005 live-action feature film, and inspired by Peter Chung's action-packed animated shorts, the game takes place in a time where disease has killed all but a city's worth of the world's population. This city is called Bregna, and its totalitarian government is rife with corruption and conspiracy. The mysterious Aeon Flux embarks on covert operations to expose and eliminate such injustice, as a top agent in the underground "Monican Rebellion." Although by following the narrative of the movie, the game offers a more coherent plot than the series of shorts first featured in MTV's early '90s Liquid Television, its storyline may still keep players guessing to the end. The game was developed by Terminal Reality, known for its own dark and deadly video game heroine, Blood Rayne. The main character is voiced by Charlize Theron, who portrays Aeon Flux in the film. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Imperial soldiers and Rebel insurgents are called back to duty in Star Wars: Battlefront II, a multiplayer-oriented sequel shooter based on the famous movie series. Like the original Battlefront, scenes are set in environments familiar from the films. For example, mission maps in the sequel have players fighting on the swamp planet of Dagobah, as seen in Empire Strikes Back, or defending Princess Leia's diplomatic blockade runner, as in the opening scene of the original A New Hope.

While designed to retain the features that helped make the original Battlefront the best-selling Star Wars game to date (at the time of Battlefront II's release), the sequel's technological refinements allow for new gameplay elements as well. With seamless transitions across an entire mission map, players could now begin a confrontation on their own capital ship, board a fighter to engage the enemy in a dogfight, then land on the enemy's capital ship and disembark for an assault raid, all in a single battle.

In response to fan requests, playable Jedi characters are introduced by the sequel, allowing gamers to take control of heroes such as Yoda, Grievous, or even the Emperor himself. To keep the battles balanced, players can only play as these hero characters for a limited time, and may temporarily lose access to them if they are not used to their potential in battle. Once again, the single-player game centers on a "Galactic Conquest" mode, but map-specific objectives add new tactical elements. Online multiplayer modes support as many as 32 in the Xbox version of the game. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Large-scale multiplayer warfare comes to consoles as Digital Illusions' Battlefield series brings Modern Combat to Xbox. The series is known for its fast-paced competitive warfare, and as many as 100 Xbox Live-connected players can fight together online, across battle maps that scale to the number of human participants. Battlefield 2 also features a single-player mode, which fills the levels with artificially intelligent 'bots, both enemy and friendly. As in the PC sequel on which the console versions are based, the game's fictional war is set in the modern era, so players have access to cutting-edge military equipment, including more than 70 types of weapons and 30 different vehicles to move them across land, air, and sea. Players can choose to fight for the United States, the Chinese, or the "Middle East Coalition," and through repeated victories and outstanding achievement in the field, they'll work their way up the ranks, all the way from Private to General. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Based on the intense, 2003 PC version of the first-person shooter, the Xbox edition of Delta Force: Black Hawk Down offers real-world warfare and extensive support for online multiplayer gaming. The game represents Novalogic's thoroughly researched interpretation of Operation Restore Hope, casting players as fictional characters in the center of the real-world event that took place in Somalia in 1993. Players can choose from the roles of Sniper, Gunner, CQB (Close Quarter Battle) specialist, or Medic.

As in previous Delta Force games, players must use intelligent tactics as they lead their squads through battles in large, outdoor environments. As many as 50 players can fight together over the Xbox Live service -- the highest number of single-session players supported by any Xbox game at the time of release. Eight modes of play are available online, including Deathmatch, Search & Destroy, Capture the Flag, and Team King of the Hill. A split-screen co-op mode is also available, for up to four players, and 16 single-player missions are included as well.

Publisher Novalogic has pledged a portion of the proceeds from the Xbox version of Delta Force: Black Hawk Down to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, a charitable organization that provides financial aid, educational counseling, and scholarship grants to the children of Special Operations personnel who were killed in the line of duty. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide