Strategy & Sim Video Games

Gamers can join one of America's most famous WWII generals and re-create the march of the Third Army in History: Legends of War Patton. Players lead their troops on historically accurate missions across the Western European Theater, engaging in turn-based battles and taking on Attack, Defense, Infiltration, and Sabotage modes. PS3 gamers can earn Prestige Points to improve and enhance their soldiers and era-authentic bombers, tanks, and weapons, while multiplayer fans can join a friend for local hot-seat competitions. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

A re-imagining of the popular and influential 1994 PC title X-COM: UFO Defense, XCOM: Enemy Unknown takes place in the near future when hostile and technologically superior aliens have invaded Earth. To fight back, the world's governments have formed an elite paramilitary organization, and as commander of this "Extraterrestrial Combat Unit," PS3 players must coordinate a worldwide effort that includes planning combat missions, controlling the soldiers in battle, researching and reverse-engineering alien technology, and creating and upgrading the XCOM base.

Instead of constructing bases all around the world, gamers conduct business from a massive underground bunker that is sliced in half to offer something of an ant-farm view, and they launch satellites to keep watch over specific countries. When a country is under assault players send in a group of unique soldiers to fend off the invaders in turn-based skirmishes. In battle each character can freely move once per turn, and perform one action per turn as they maneuver around highly destructible environments. Gamers can then excavate and install facilities at their base for things like resource collection, alien interrogation, and soldier upgrades, though each successive room costs more to install.

Every decision players make in XCOM: Enemy Unknown has lasting consequences. When soldiers die, they stay dead forever, turning their upgrades and advancements into sunk costs. And with assaults taking place around the globe, gamers must make strategic decisions about where and when they send their limited resources. The only way to truly lose the game is to have eight member countries leave XCOM's council, and abandoning one country in order to save another can result in severe political consequences.

The sole multiplayer option in XCOM: Enemy Unknown resembles a classic "Team Deathmatch" mode, but the action stays varied because gamers are given the option of filling out their roster with units from both sides of the conflict. Ranked matches offer players 10,000 points to spend on six units, their weapons, their gear, and their special powers, while private matches can be customized in any way the participants see fit. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Ubisoft's Just Dance series shakes things up on all three contemporary motion-control gaming platforms in its third edition. The PlayStation Move system follows players as they step to the music in whole-body rhythm challenges. Alone or with a couple friends, players dance along to familiar songs, following the moves of neon-y onscreen characters. Just Dance 3 offers "Dance Crew," "Smart Shuffle," "Flash Mob," and "Dance Mashup" modes.

As in earlier games in the series, a "Just Sweat" exercise mode is also included, in this edition featuring an advanced workout program that can help track progress toward fitness goals. Players' dance moves can cause game world scenery to shake to the beat, for additional layer of interactivity. Musical selections include more than 40 Billboard hits and popular dance anthems from artists including a-ha, the Black Eyed Peas, Taio Cruz, Kiss, Gwen Stefani, and others. Additional songs are available online for downloadable purchase. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Players fly into the future of a brave new world, as the richly detailed (but wholly unfriendly) skies of Namco's Ace Combat make their PlayStation 3 debut. Following the series' proven formula, Assault Horizon combines fast, forgiving, arcade-style flight combat with authentically modeled aircraft and realistic background landscapes. Refinements include a "close range" combat system, which tests the virtual pilot's agility at supersonic speeds in 3D space. Helicopters are prominently featured in the game, with players taking the roles of both pilot and gunner.

Improvements to damage modeling viscerally intensify the widespread destruction of ground targets, and cutting-edge aircraft explode into countless constituent parts with a well-placed missile hit. Multiplayer sorties are supported with competitive and cooperative online modes. The game's story is not within the established narrative of the series' number-titled sequels. As in Joint Assault for PlayStation Portable, Assault Horizon takes place in a near-future imagining of the real world, instead of in fictional nations of the alternate-reality Earth where earlier games in the series are set.

Flying for the United States Air Force, players engage in high-altitude battle and tactical support assignments, in airborne assaults against the nation's most dangerous enemies around the world. Along with a hanger of helicopters and bombers, missions make ample use of workhorse fighters such as the F-16, F-22, and F-35. The geopolitically tumultuous plot line was written by Jim DeFelice, author of The Golden Flask, Leopards Kill, and other military thrillers. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

After enjoying chart-topping success on Wii, Ubisoft's Michael Jackson: The Experience moonwalks over to the motion-sensing Kinect and PlayStation Move peripherals. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions offer ability to sing as well as dance, allowing users to create the complete concert experience. Other key features are specific to each platform. PlayStation Move owners, for example, can automatically post their performance progress and even pictures of themselves to Facebook. Features will scale based on the type of equipment detected, so players with microphones and not the PlayStation Move can still sing along to the music. Like the Kinect version, the PlayStation Move lets players view themselves on the screen along with the dancers. In addition to the soundtrack from the Wii version, the PlayStation 3 game includes a number of exclusive tracks, from "Blood on the Dance Floor" to "I Just Can't Stop Loving You." ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

PlayStation 3 owners who happen to be fans of dancing and musicals can take their off-Broadway dreams to the next level as they dance and sing to the songs from hit musicals in Dance on Broadway. Up to four players can use their PlayStation Move Motion Controller to perform original choreography to songs from such long-running Broadway shows as Fame, Hairspray, Hair, and Little Shop of Horrors, and the tracklist includes such hits as "Aquarius," "We're in the Money," and "Luck Be a Lady." ~ All Game Guide

Fit in Six has you using your system's motion controls to work your body, improve your balance, and enhance your flexibility. Workouts developed by fitness experts are grouped into six categories, from core body and cardio to lower body and balance. While each system offers slightly different features, the gameplay is otherwise the same. On Wii, you can use a USB camera (available as a bundle along with the game) for a picture-in-picture display that lets you follow your movements with those of the in-game coach. The PlayStation 3 version supports the PlayStation Move and adds the option to use custom music on the console's hard drive. The game will then adjust the workouts based on the rhythm and tempo of the selected songs. Add-on content will also be available for PS3 owners, introducing new workouts and fitness programs on top of those already included in the base game. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Rock Band: Country Track Pack Vol. 2 is another standalone collection of 21 country hits, as players sing, strum, or drum to the original master recordings from such artists as Johnny Cash, Keith Urban, and George Strait. Play all of the songs by yourself in the Solo Tour, or grab one or more friends to enlist in a Band Tour, Tug of War, or Score Duel. Other featured artists include Sugarland, Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum, Shania Twain, Justin Moore, Jason Aldean, Laura Bell Bundy, Gary Allan, Luke Byran, and Darrel Worley. As with other Rock Band track packs, you have the option to export the songs directly to the hard drive for use in Rock Band 2 or Rock Band 3. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Pilot multiple attack choppers armed with the latest in military technology in Apache: Air Assault from Activision. Your goal is to fly to various international hotspots to neutralize a series of terrorist threats. Over the course of 16 multi-stage missions, you'll engage enemies in the air and on the ground along the African coast, across Middle Eastern mountains, and through Central American jungles. The terrain has been re-created from high resolution map photos taken by satellite. Two play settings include an "arcade" option for fast-paced action and a "realistic" option for more simulation-style elements. The game's campaign mode can be played alone or cooperatively with a friend on the same television screen, while online options allow for competitive action in a choice of formats, from Team Deathmatch and Ground Attack to Capture the LZ and Ground Strike. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Thanks to the inclusion of PlayStation Move functionality, SCE London's karaoke series adds physical movement for the first time in SingStar Dance. As always, the original music videos play on screen as players try to match the pitch and lyrics to a variety of popular songs, but now gamers can also re-create the dance moves performed in such hit songs as "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang, "Hey Ya!" by Outkast, and "With You" by Chris Brown. SingStar Dance offers a number of multiplayer modes, including head-to-head competitions using two PlayStation Move motion controllers and two USB microphones, and online challenges in which players can watch one another perform in live streaming video. Creative gamers can also add visual effects to their performances and then upload and share the videos for friends to watch. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide