It's mid-October (already!), and that can only mean that the avalanche of big-budget video games has begun rumbling toward your console of choice. The unsuspecting, soon-to-be deluged victim: your social life.

The descent begins this week with the must-anticipated Naughty Dog sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Also, Jack Black kicks some serious axe in a heavy metal-inspired action adventure, Mario & Sonic hit the slopes for some Olympic competition, and RPG fans get some love with two very different titles.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
Price: $59.99
Why You Need It: We loved the first one, and this one has pretty much everything that was great about the original (great story, over-the-top action, a sexy sidekick) and kicks it up 17.6 notches, according to the totally random mathematical formula we used to measure. You're pretty much in the director's seat of a Michael Bay-inspired film with a better script, orchestrating explosions, pulling off sneak attacks, and taking down dastardly villains in the jungles of Borneo, the ruins in Nepal and the ice-capped mountains of Tibet. And then, you can kill your online friends with the new multiplayer component.
Why You Don't: With a 10-hour campaign and infinite moments of fun online, your girlfriend might hate you for not speaking to her until you've mastered this bad boy.


Brutal Legend (PS3, Xbox 360)
Price: $59.99
Why You Need It: Jack Black. He is this game. Many games attempt to inject some lighthearted banter into their dialogue, but JB brings the funny and then some in his romp through the demon-filled land of heavy metal. The soundtrack is nothing to sniff at, either—108 tracks from every subgenre of metal. Rock on!
Why You Don't: Because you're waiting for the Jonas Bros. game, Friendship Forever. (Plastic peripheral promise rings sold separately.)

Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games (Wii, DS)
Price: $34.99–$49.99
Why You Need It: Yes, we know you only care about the Olympics because of the hot cheerleaders, but there are actually sports competitions going on, too. Nintendo and Sega's go-to mascots team up once again to preview next year's Games in Vancouver, offering up sports like alpine skiing, speed skating and figure skating (woohoo?).
Why You Don't: Because Mario has been in 14,342,396 games since his creation and Sonic has been in a few less, but mostly shitty attempts at video games. We're waiting for the game when both are involved in a freak lab experiment and form Monic, the heavily Italian-accented would-be roadkill.

Magna Carta 2 (Xbox 360)
Price: $59.99
Why You Need It: Good role-playing games on Microsoft's system are hard to come by, but MC2 does a decent-enough job to warrant a recommendation. Thrust into a civil war in the continent of Lanzheim, you must make decisions in helping bring peace back to the land. More than 30 hours of gameplay will keep you busy long enough to forget that you have work on Monday. D'oh!
Why You Don't: Camera angles and general blandless plague this title. If you're looking for something that's going to make your hair stand on end, you'll have more luck sticking your finger into a wall socket.

Half-Minute Hero (PSP)
Price: $29.99
Why You Need It: The thing about enjoying RPGs is that you need to clear your calendar and submerge yourself into the game until the end. Unfortunately, that cuts into bar time with your buddies. That's why Half-Minute Hero is such a damn good game: You have to beat bosses in 30 seconds or less, which means a post-Taco Bell shitting session is good for at least five or six levels.
Why You Don't: Because "Half-Minute Hero" was also your girlfriend's pet name for you back in college.