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. Xbox 360 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," Xbox 360 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 hit dancing sim returns with a variety of upgrades and enhancements, more than 40 new songs, and a new two-player battle mode in Just Dance 4. As always, Kinect gamers dance along to popular music tracks while attempting to mimic onscreen prompts and earn high scores. The new two-player battle mode pits dancers against each other for six 40-second rounds, with the competition over when one dancer's health bar is depleted, while the "Just Sweat" mode has been expanded to include personalized programs and a calorie counter.

Classic Just Dance options like the "Duet" and "Mash-Up" modes return, and players can unlock new routines and up to six challenges for each song. Music selections in Just Dance 4 include songs from Barry White, P!nk, Rihanna, Will Smith, Nelly Furtado, and Flo Rida, with additional tracks available for download. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Dogfight 1942 puts amateur aces in the cockpits of more than 25 American, British, and Russian fighter planes as they engage in intense aerial battles with the German Luftwaffe and Japanese fighter planes. Players can go on more than 20 combat sorties, including bombing runs, escort missions, and furious dogfights over Great Britain, Eastern Europe, and the Pacific Ocean. Gamers can join the action in both "Simulation" and "Arcade" modes, and deft piloting will earn players upgrades to their planes. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Ubisoft's hit dance series returns to let boogie-minded gamers practice their moves as they watch choreographed routines set to 35 hit songs culled from previous Just Dance games in Just Dance: Greatest Hits. Xbox 360 gamers can join up to three friends for controller-free action as they dance to songs by Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Outkast, among many other popular artists. Players can also create custom track lists, match onscreen moves in "Simon Says" mode, and burn calories in the "Just Sweat" mode. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

The Black Eyed Peas Experience is a dancing game for Kinect, featuring more than two dozen hits and fan-favorites from the demographically transcendent super-group. Following on-screen prompts, players go head-to-head against mo-capped re-creations of the four band members -- will.i.am, Fergie, apl.de.ap, and Taboo -- each in turn. As they play through the main mode, gamers learn individual steps and moves that are combined into full routines. Multiple difficulty settings open the challenge to dancers at a range of ability levels, and two-player co-op is available. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

With Dance Central 2, premier music-game developer Harmonix presents an encore of terpsichorean challenges, for solo players or a whole party, set to a soundtrack of original club hits. Exclusive to Kinect, like the original, the follow-up game adds multiplayer support for two dancers simultaneously, with anytime drop-in, drop-out play. Players can master natural, controller-free dance moves, with optional feedback from the computer on their performances. The practice mode can be directed through voice commands.

Soundtrack highlights include "Massive Attack" by Nicki Minaj, Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It," Usher's "DJ's Got Us Falling in Love," and "Rude Boy" from Rihanna. In addition to more than 40 tunes that come with the game disc, players have access to an online store, where they can purchase dozens of additional tracks, with more becoming available following the game's retail launch. Veteran Dance Central players can also import the songs from the original game's soundtrack into the sequel, for a fee. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

The sequel to Just Dance Kids includes more than 40 new songs with which to shake, sway, and sashay. Featured tracks include "Love Me," "Shake Your Groove Thing," "Something That I Want," "Just the Way You Are," "Whip My Hair," "Despicable Me," and "Hold Still," each recorded by children. Up to four players can work together to set high scores or compete against one another. As in the previous game, the "Dance Party Mode" lets children continuously dance without having to stop to switch songs or navigate menu screens. Parents can also monitor their child's activity level by viewing a screen that shows burned calories, time played, and favorite songs. Note: the Xbox 360 version requires the Kinect motion-tracking camera in order to play. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Return to a life as an island dictator in Tropico 4, a city-building game that has you exerting your influence over a 20-mission campaign. Added features include ten new maps, 20 different buildings, six disasters, and various objectives to complete as part of a national agenda. The new buildings range from a stock exchange and shopping mall to an aqua park and mausoleum, while the potential disasters include volcanoes, droughts, and tornadoes. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, 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 return to Xbox 360. 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