Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Outer space: a distress call. Alien planet. Space chick Samus loses all her equipment. It starts just like every other Metroid game, as Echoes takes a page from George W.'s personality playbook: If the old routine still works, why switch it? The story this time requires traveling between the Light and Darkness dimensions, all the while solving clever puzzles in both worlds. Graphically impressive caves and mechanical corridors are chock-full of strange critters for Nintendo’s resident mercenary to eviscerate. The single-player adventure is every bit as time-devouring as the first Metroid Prime, with some cool new additions to get excited about, like the return of the famous “screw attack” or the trippy Echo Visor, which lets you see sounds without dropping acid. But the multiplayer split-screen mode, while fun, is straight out of 1997. Plus, there are no online and no 16-player matches. Still, it’s definitely the most GameCube fun you’ll have with yourself this, or possibly any, holiday season.