Ten Hot Games (That Won't Play on the Xbox 360)
Thursday, November 17, 2005
By Chris Bunting
NEW YORK — 1. The Warriors ($50; Xbox, PS2)
Rating: Mature
Release date: Out now
Rockstar, the Suge Knight of gaming, continues its long tradition of publishing excessively sexual, controversial and violent content (our fave!) with "The Warriors," a smart beat-'em-up based on the '79 gang movie of the same name. The soundtrack, featuring '90s hits from Method Man and DMX, is also a plus.
2. Mario Kart DS ($35; Nintendo DS)
Rating: Everyone
Release date: Out now
Leave it to the big N's classic racer to make roadkill out of Nintendogs' ill-deserved hype on the DS. Many in the biz are lauding this latest WiFi-playable installment as the "Best! Mario Kart! Ever!" With its classic power-up pleasers (turtle shells and banana peels) and insanely cool new game mechanics (blow on the DS mike to inflate balloons in one of the battle modes), it's hard for us to disagree.
3. Infected ($40; PSP)
Rating: Mature
Release date: Out now
Apropos this era of flu pandemics, here's an exclusive PSP title ripped from the headlines. Well, not exactly. The infection is actually a virus that turns people into brain-starved zombies that must be stopped before it spreads throughout the entire world. Think of your two guns — one with live ammo, the other loaded with your own curative blood — as Tamiflu. Apply both liberally to the armies of the undead. The multiplayer action upgrades this from a maybe-rent to a should-buy.
4. Aeon Flux ($50; PS2, Xbox)
Rating: Teen
Release date: Out now
Madame Flux was recurrently dying in her cartoon years before Kenny on "South Park." Now the enigmatic "Liquid Television" alum has a movie deal (she's played by the delectable Charlize Theron) and a just-released action game in which the oversexed assassin must flip, wall-jump, shoot and bomb her way out of danger. Bonus points if you can make any sense of the true-to-the-show paradoxical story line.
5. Half Life 2 ($50; Xbox)
Rating: Mature
Release date: Out now
The developers mated a first-person shooter with a role-playing game and, voila, "Half Life" was born. Last year, its highly anticipated sequel sold 1.7 million copies for the PC in its first two months, and now — finally — "HL2" has been ported to the Xbox. You play a scientist-cum-soldier armed with various alien- and zombie-killing weaponry that comes in quite handy while battling enemies with adaptable AI. Most of the bells and whistles of the PC version are here — including, of course, the beloved gravity gun that allows you to fling cars at enemies and other neat-o tricks.
6. "Shadow the Hedgehog" ($50; PS2, GameCube, Xbox)
Rating: Teen
Release date: Out now
Faster than one of those crack-addicted park squirrels in London comes Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic's villainous doppelganger. In his first starring role, an amnesiac Shadow must collect chaos emeralds in order to recover his past and identity. Is he good? Is he evil? Based on your decisions, he can go either way.
7. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney ($30; Nintendo DS)
Rating: Teen
Release date: Out now
The Nintendo DS has certainly cornered the market on weirdness — where else will you find games in which you raise puppies, learn how to pick up chicks or perform surgeries? Add to that list: trying cases. In this oddball courtroom simulator, you play a slick barrister who must get his client — falsely accused of murdering his girlfriend — off the hook by hunting down evidence and grilling witnesses, among other cases. The dialogue is witty, the cleavage is plentiful and the game play is a lot of fun. Somewhere, Johnnie Cochran is smiling.
8. Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones ($50; GameCube, PS2, Xbox)
Rating: Mature
Release date: Nov. 29
Back in the good old pre-Axis of Evil days, it took only the honed acrobatics and lethal swordplay of a mood-disordered prince to handle Middle Eastern baddies. This time around, you'll play as two sides of the prince's personalities to tackle Babylonian opponents. But it's the addition of the new speed and stealth kill systems and the chariot races that make Ubisoft's third installment of its reborn PoP franchise a must-own.
9. 50 Cent: Bulletproof ($50; Xbox, PS2, PSP)
Rating: Mature
Release date: Tuesday
Hate him or love him, 50 Cent's gone from beefing with The Game to starring in one. In this bloody third-person shooter, Mr. Shot-Nine-Times takes on N.Y.C.'s crime families with equal parts guns and martial arts.
10. The Matrix: Path of Neo ($50; PS2, Xbox)
Rating: Teen
Release date: Out now
There is no spoon — but there is, finally, a halfway decent Matrix game after two uninspired flops. The Path impresses in many ways, not the least of which is the ability to play as Mr. Anderson. If that weren't enough, the environments are very interactive, fight sequences (fists and guns, you choose) are taken straight from the all three movies. Plus, the brothers Wachowski, who penned and directed the game, tacked on an alternate ending from the trilogy. Anything different from what we saw in theaters has to be a good thing.
in idiot. Go put some diesel in your unleaded car. Moron.
