Gears of War 2

Rating:


Price: $69.99 (limited edition), $59.99 (game only)

The Skinny: Marcus Fenix and Co. return to Jacinto, humanity's last remaining center of refuge, with the hope of beating back a ressurected and now thriving Locust Horde.

The Good: In an election year loaded with the usual stretched truths and exaggerated credentials, everyone's had their fill of hyperbolic ramblings. So, excuse us when we say Gears 2 is our new Halo 3. If you're migrating from the first game, Marcus Fenix strings along all of his usual attitude adjusters, including a gold-plated chainsaw lancer for limited edition buyers. But, you'll also find a plethora of new guns—like the mulcher (a 500-bullet minigun) and the rain-down-hell-on-you mortar. The single-player will give you a healthy 10 to 12 hours of gameplay and features some of the largest boss battles we've ever seen. The meat and potatoes can be found in the new multiplayer modes—our favorite at the moment is Horde, which pits you and four other players (offline or online) against increasingly harder waves of Locusts. The enemies get more accurate, more health, and inflict more damage the longer you hang in there.

The Bad: This game ruined Halloween. Instead of being outside, breathing in air, and ogling girls in sexy costumes, we were making heads explode with a sniper rifle. Thanks, Microsoft.

Maxim Tip: Horde is, by far, one of the hardest modes to conquer in the game. Our group of four had some success (level 36, bitches!) by finding an area of the map with narrow entrances and blocking them off by planting shields. The rest, my friends, is pure luck.

Buy, Rent, or Disembowel? Buy it. Then buy this and scare the neighbors.

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Guitar Hero: World Tour

Rating:


Price: $49.99–$189.99

The Skinny: The invasion of plastic instruments continues with Activision's latest installment—now with drums (sort of) and a microphone!

The Good: The new guitar features a snazzy touch pad that helps you to nail solos but it lacks a bit on the tactile end and you can't use it every song, so you likely won't end up using it much at all. Nevertheless, the controller looks and feels great and is probably the best plastic guitar under 100 dollars you can get right now. The game's 86 master tracks are a bit more varied than Rock Band 2's, especially with quirky additions like "La Bamba" and "Beat It." Although Joe Satriani's "Satch Boogie" takes home the Holy-Mother-Mary-My-Fingers-Are-Going-To-Die Award.

The Bad: While the drums feel quite authentic to play, they, to put it bluntly, don't work. Or at least, the ones we reviewed didn't. Neither did the replacement ones Activision sent. With a record of 0-2 and consumers up in arms on GH's message boards, we give the drums two broken sticks down. We recommend grabbing the $99 guitar bundle until things settle down.

You're In For a Fix: For those stuck with drum issues, Activision has put out a tuning kit that may alleviate some of the issues with the drums.

Buy, Rent, or Disembowel? Wait on taking the drum plunge, especially if you have Rock Band's laying around somewhere. As one of our co-workers put it, "I don't want to have to choose between having refrigerator space and plastic drum space."

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LittleBigPlanet

Rating:


Price: $59.99

The Skinny: Take control of a beanie bag and embark on a very weird, but satisfying adventure. (Or, make your own.)

The Good: User-generated content, which powers websites like Fark, Wikipedia, and Digg (hey guys, still love us?), but it's rare to find a game that really allows players to express their own creativity. Going full throttle on the UGC train, Sony has built a platform game and a tool that is both uniquely intriguing and entertaining. While the single-player is mostly a training exercise to get you accustomed to the different editing mechanisms, you'll quickly unlock the Create-a-Level mode and you'll be able to access all of the weird levels everyone else in the world have made. Our favorites at the moment are recreations of the first and second levels of Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis and the Rick-roll level where someone painstakingly created the Rick Astley song in MIDI form.

The Bad: While the tools given to you aren't really that hard to master, it'll take you a good hour or two to make anything worthwhile. Some of the more popular levels available seem to have taken valuable time away from someone's social life.

Osama Bin Gotcha! The game's original October 21 release date was pushed back in order to remove potentially inflammatory lyrics taken from the Quran found in the third level's background music: "All that is on earth will perish." Yeah, whatever.

Buy, Rent, or Disembowel? Buy it. Just avoid the requisite penis levels.