Depois da análise de FIFA 09 semana passada, eu volto a falar de um game de futebol. Mas este aqui não é um jogo de futebol qualquer, é um futebol bastante incomum, mas que certamente conquistará os corações de vários torcedores. Trata-se de Mario Strikers Charged.

Quando as pessoas me perguntam do que se trata MSC – vamos chamá-lo assim, para simplificar as coisas -, a minha resposta é sempre a mesma: se Mario Kart é o jeito de Mario de jogar corrida, Mario Strikers é o jeito Mario de jogar futebol. E não pense que eu estou exagerando: o jogo é cheio de trapaças, reviravoltas repentinas, surpresas e tudo o mais, assim como o seu irmão das pistas.

Mario Strikers não é uma franquia antiga. Seu primeiro jogo foi lançado no final de 2005, sob o título “Super Mario Strikers” (ou Mario Smash Football, na Europa e Oceania), para o GameCube. MSC, portanto, é o segundo jogo da série. É importante dizer que a série é Third-Party, ou seja, não é produzida pela própria Nintendo, e sim pela conceituada empresa Next Level Games – com a licença da Big N para o uso dos seus personagens, claro.

Por falar em personagens, são vários com os quais você pode jogar. Eles são divididos em dois grupos, os capitães (que não podem ser iguais no dois times) e os secundários (que podem repetir-se tanto nos times quanto dentro deles). No grupo dos capitães estão Mario, Bowser, Yoshi, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Bowser Jr, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Wario, Waluigi e, acredite se quiser, Petey Piranha. Já entre os secundários estão Birdo, Hammer Bro, Boo, Toad, Monty Mole, Dry Bones, Koopa e Shy Guy. O único personagem que não pode ser alterado é o goleiro, que é sempre Kritter.

O jogo é jogado com o combo Wiimote + Nunchuk, e os controles são muito criativos e respondem instantâneamente, o que torna a experiência muito mais interessante. É simples: analógico para movimentar, ‘A’ para tocar para outro jogador (ou mudar o jogador quando não estiver com a posse de bola), ‘B’ para chutar, ‘Z’ para liberar item, direcional para baixo para driblar e uma chacoalhada no Wiimote para bater no oponente e tomar a posse da bola.

A bola, por sinal, é a grande estrela do jogo. Ela é metálica e brilhante, por um motivo: conforme o seu brilho, que é conquistado aos poucos quando há uma troca de passes intensa, as chances da bola entrar no gol são maiores. Mas o grande diferencial do jogo são os ataques dos jogadores, e tudo isso reside no botão ‘B’. Quanto mais você o segura, o seu jogador mais toma força e chuta a bola mais forte. Mas quando você consegue segurar por um tempo suficiente sem ser batido pelo adversário, você ativa o ataque do jogador.

É nisto que reside a principal diferença entre capitães e secundários. O ataque dos capitães é denominado Megastrike, e é igual em todos. Consiste num microgame para o time adversário, onde o pointer do Wiimote representa as mãos do goleiro, e ele tem que agarrar as bolas que caem do céu. A quantidade de bolas varia de 3 a 6, e pode ser escolhida no momento do ataque (mas atenção: quanto mais bolas, mais demorado e maiores as chances do adversário te bater). A rapidez das bolas também é escolhida, com três níveis.

Já nos secundários, o ataque chama-se Superstrike, e varia de jogador a jogador. No de Birdo, por exemplo, a bola transforma-se num ovo e, caso não haja nenhum jogador na frente, ele atravessa completamente o goleiro e vai parar no gol. No de Hammer Bro, a tartaruga joga marretas em quem estiver na sua frente, inclusive o goleiro, imobilizando todos, e mandando a bola sem impedimentos ao gol. Já Dry Bones chuta uma bola elétrica, que paralisa o goleiro por alguns segundos, o que aumenta em 95% as chances de fazer o gol – caso, claro, você consiga retomar a bola.

Cada jogador possui atributos diferentes, que são divididos em quatro vertentes: velocidade, passe, chute e defesa. Portanto, alguns são velozes, outros são fortes no chute, outros precisos no passe e assim por diante. O quociente destes quatro atributos é o rótulo do jogador, que pode ser ofensivo, defensivo, forte ou equilibrado. Ao montar o time, o ideal é valorizar todos. Pessoalmente, há alguns meses eu jogo com um time que possui Bowser Jr, como capitão, Birdo e Koopa na frente e Dry Bones na defesa, e nunca me decepcionei (muito).

Indo além dos jogadores, os estádios são um show à parte. Existem os convencionais, os vulcânicos, os ilhados, os gelados, os desérticos e até um numa sala de aula e num lixão. Todos os estádios da versão de GameCube estão lá também. Alguns possuem características mais fortes. No “The Thunder Island”, por exemplo, se você bater um jogador na borda do campo, ele cai e volta 10 segundos depois, trazido pelo vento. No “The Lava Pit”, fendas de lava gigantes aparecem no meio do campo esporadicamente, para atrapalhar tudo. Genial.

Acho que eu ainda não falei dos modos de jogo, certo? Existe o básico, chamado de Domination Mode, que pode ser jogado por 1 a 4 jogadores, que é uma partida com configurações definidas pelo jogador. Já no Road To Striker Cup, você vai com seu time escolhido no início jogando e vencendo copas, e destravando mais personagens e estádios, batendo recordes e ganhando troféus. Há também a opção de jogar no modo online, com pessoas de qualquer lugar do mundo. Além disso tem o modo Strikers 101, um tutorial interativo para iniciantes.

Os gráficos do jogo são bastante trabalhados e acima da média para os jogos de Wii, com efeitos de luz ótimos. A taxa de bits não cai nem quando vários jogadores se amontoam na tela, além do modo online ser bastante estável. A única ressalva, talvez, fique para a trilha sonora, que não possui muitas variações, apesar de se enquadrar no estilo do jogo.

Resumindo: Mario Strikers Charged é um jogo fantástico. Possui estilo próprio, diferenciando-se dos outros jogos da turma da Nintendo – se MSC fosse um estilo musical, certamente seria o Hard Rock. A sua jogabilidade é perfeita, o multiplayer é muito bem trabalhado, o modo carreira single-player te leva por semanas e o online é muito elaborado. Se você tem um Wii, é um jogo obrigatório. Se não tem, é um jogo que faz o videogame da Nintendo valer a pena.

Gráficos: 9,5

Jogabilidade: 10

Trilha sonora: 9,5

Enredo: Não possui

Multiplayer: 10

Diversão: 10

Online: 10

Média final: 9,8

Clique aqui para ler todos os posts do WiiView.

Rating: 8 Out of 10

Mario Strikers Charged brings the Mario crew to the soccer field in this Wii game. The game has great graphics, audio, and a fun multiplayer both offline and online. There is also a lot of different attacks, weapons, and sidekicks to use to make a lot of unique variety with a cool minigame as well. However, the gameplay can be chaotic, the AI tends to be either easy or extremely difficult, the presentation is somewhat bland, and the tackle function is a bit overpowered. Overall though, if you want to try a new soccer game out for the Wii and like Mario, you should try this out.

Pros:

+ Entertaining multiplayer, both offline and online

+ More sidekick characters to choose from, each with unique megastrike shots

+ Goaltending minigame during megastrike shots is pretty cool

+ Lots of different attacks and weapons to use

Cons:

- Gameplay can get overly chaotic

- Artificial intelligence tends to be either too easy, or overly cheap

- Tackle function can be a bit overpowered

- Somewhat bland presentation

Extras:

# Mario Strikers Charged Cheat Codes

Mais um excelente wallpaper de game de Wii!

Link: http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/603/mariostrikerscharged128yf1.jpg

In my history as a gamer, one of the biggest draws to consoles was the ability to grab a gamepad and play against friends. You couldn’t do that so easily on computers, making the PC a solitary place for me. Looking at yesterday’s number seven title, I think that’s just one more reason that game succeeds. It plays to the strength of the PC platform’s solo gaming experience.

Today’s number six title swings entirely in the other direction. It’s exactly what consoles do best, and it makes me wonder if the headlong rush into online gaming on consoles isn’t helping to alienate the larger audience from the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It’s no secret that the Wii is the hot console to own right now, and it’s built around putting the whole family into the game–at the same time. I don’t think anyone in the industry should take that last bit lightly. When gaming becomes a social event in the living room, it expands by word of mouth into other living rooms. You don’t need to be a part of the online club to enjoy it.

That’s entirely counter to what we’ve been told is the way videogames are supposed to go, with everyone online in some kind of cyberspace world that looks nothing like our own and where you have a different vocabulary and interaction from what you know in your meatspace. For the people who want only to escape from their real life, that’s appealing. But for the vast majority of folks, I don’t think that’s the case. It seems to me that the wider majority play videogames as a diversion, a competition or a way to just hang out with friends doing something instead of watching something.

With all that said, I’m definitely in both camps. I enjoy the online space as much as I do the face to face events. I play PC games with my buddies from Philly and around the globe while I also duke it out in the living room with my wife and kids. Best of all, I bring the online world together with the real one when I visit my Philly friends for some gaming time. And strangely enough, that leads right into today’s number six game, because that’s where I first played it, and it quickly became one of my favorite titles of 2007…

6. Mario Strikers Charged

Do you remember the halcyon days of arcades and 16-bit consoles and those sports games that went beyond? Names like Mutant League, Baseball Stars, Arch Rivals… these games had goals, but they also had action! Mario Strkers Charged is a an awesome throwback to those titles. It’s a soccer game, but just barely. Your team of Mario characters play through tournament-style cups in the single player game, or you can have your friends join in either co-operative or competitive play. You could say there are no rules except for one, put the ball in the opposing team’s net, but that would be overlooking the superb balance in the game’s design.

Each field you play on has different environmental challenges. Thwomps smash the sands from above, high winds blow players right off the field, crystals take out two of your players to start the game turning it into a 2v2 match before it even gets started–it’s always bedlam playing for the Mario Cups. The controls are easy to learn but take time to master, just like in any great arcade-style game. Using the nunchuk’s analog stick to move, you pass and shoot with the Wii Remote, the d-pad and the two buttons on the nunchuk execute slide tackles, chip passes and unleash powerups. Motion control isn’t to be denied–a quick back and forth motion of the Wii remote results in a crippling hip check. All these actions turn soccer into something more closely related to hockey–with mushrooms, chain chomps and turtle shells.

It’s excellent fun to play the game on your own, but becomes one of the best games of the year when you play with friends. It’s especially cool that you can play single matches or entire Cups cooperatively. It makes all skill levels happy when the best player in the room is helping your team win rather than trouncing yours repeatedly. We played this for hours when we first broke it open, passing the controllers around and becoming Luigi-worshippers in the process. There was so much awesome that no one wanted to stop! I had to wait until Christmas Day for Santa to stop by in order to get back to it again, and I’m still as enamored of the game now as I was when it first came out.

This game is all the proof you need that multiplayer in the same room with friends should never go away and in fact is still maybe the best focus for console games. The crazy action makes everyone laugh out loud and makes for riotous entertainment. The game is deep, though. There are all kinds of skills you can learn to make goals easier to come by and knowing the abilities of each of your team members is very important to success. It’s well-balanced, so there’s not really one perfect team. Each of the captains (one of the major Mario characters) has a different super shot and a different major powerup, making playing each important to figuring out both how to win with them but also defend them. When you get two competent players on either side of the ball, it’s like a chess match on speed. There’s all sorts of tactics playing out at a lightning pace and when that culminates in a goal, it’s an exhilarating feeling.

If you have a Wii, this game should be in your collection, sports fan or not. It’s a superb way to get the family playing together and even if they’re not around, you can get a match online via Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. Playing online though, really points out just how much better it is to play at home with your family or friends. As good as it is, nothing compares to the human interaction that comes out of a great goal or a last-second save.

I was meaning to write this post earlier in the week, but I was waiting on pictures from Gnavicks and then I’ve been busy with other things.  Anyway, last weekend Garrett (Gershwin), Dalton (Gnavicks), and Mike (Hingalou) came to visit me at my new apartment in the suburbs of Washington D.C.  Dalton brought his Nintendo Wii and we set out to meet our weekend goal of qualifying for the Firestar Cup on the Extreme difficulty! 

Now, if you’ve ever played Mario Strikers Charged, you know that there are only two difficulty settings: Normal and Extreme.  Just to give you a bit of comparison, Garrett, Dalton, and Mike were able to beat all three cup tournaments on Normal in roughly one week at the beach.  When they tried to do the same on Extreme, however, they didn’t even qualify for the first cup once!  You have to win a certain number of games out of your 6 qualifying matches to even compete in the cup tournament.   I think their best record was something like 1-4-1, that’s 1 win, 4 loses, and 1 sudden death loss.

Each of these guys are experienced gamers, too, so I didn’t believe them when they told me how hard the game was on Extreme… that is, until I played it a few weeks ago at Dalton’s house.  Seriously, when you play with 4 players on Extreme, you might you’ll be amazed at how hard it is! Another interesting thing that Garrett noticed is that when only 1 player plays the game on Extreme, it is much easier to win.

Where was I? Oh, yeah, our goal for the weekend.  We spent a good amount of time Friday and Saturday attempting to qualify for the first cup!  We would lose matches by at least 2 to 5 goals and that, my friend, is no exaggeration.  So the whole time we’re playing, I’m sitting there thinking, “How in the hell do 4 veteran gamers, after putting in so many hours, still get beaten so badly in a Mario game?!” Well, the answer never came to me by Saturday night.

Saturday night we decided to go to Olive Garden and get never-ending pasta bowls.  A large bottle of wine was ordered and quickly delivered by our plump and jolly waitress.  I still don’t know what, but something happened between our last, embarrassing match of Mario Strikers and our first one on Sunday morning, because we freakin’ owned!  That’s right; suddenly the game that was making us doubt our integrity as gamers was cowering before our Wii remote skills. 

We found a technique, which resembled American football more than it did real football.  Once one of us got the ball, instead of attempting to pass it around, the other players would just tackle the CPU players around the ball carrier.  Just think of it as offensive line blocking.  We were able to keep our opponents on their asses long enough for one of us to charge the ball all the way and score.

Our strategy doesn’t end there, because the CPU is known for rigging the game by retaliating with three times the number of goals.  What did we do?  Well, we would steal the ball, take it to the corner, and camp the hell out of it.  That’s right, good old-fashioned camping.  I mean we freakin’ started an RV park, we were camping so hardcore.  One of us kept the ball, and the other three formed a nice protective perimeter.  Every time a CPU player would approach to steal the ball, he’d be tackled by us immediately.Needless to say, it worked.  Not only did we qualify for the first cup, we beat it and then went on to beat the other 2 as well!  Good game.

Special thanks go out to Waluigi, the best captain ever; Bones, one of the best rebound shooters ever; Hammer Brother, one of the best one-shot scorers of all-time; and Mole Guy, one of the fattest, but best defense players ever.

Release Date: July 31, 2007
Developer: Next Level Games
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-4

+ Solid online play, no lag witnessed so far
+ Best use of waggle: tackling/head butting/maiming
- No voice chat
- Character intros and celebrations are quite repetitive

After battling the pricks over at Gamestop I escaped with a copy of Mario Strikers Charged, the sequel to the fun-yet-somewhat-shallow Gamecube title Super Mario Strikers. Many have written this game off, claiming it to be a mere clone of its predecessor with added waggle (because we all LOVE waggle!). After spending a hefty amount of time with the game I can safely say that Charged goes above and beyond what its prequel offered.

Mario Strikers is Nintendo’s take on the sport the rest of the world knows as football, and the US knows as ’soccer’. Take FIFA, then lose all the clubs, big names, franchises, detailed control scheme and realistic pitch. Then replace it all with the familiar Mushroom Kingdom cast, Mario Kart-type weapons, a metallic ball and absolute mayhem. And there you have it, Mario Strikers Charged.

VISUALS (Hmm…a’ight. Nothing spectacular.)
I’m a bit undecided on the art style in Charged. I’m glad they lost some of the “kiddie” attitude and tried to make it a bit more mature, although they might have tried too hard. It’s as if they all had a healthy dose of ‘roids since the Gamecube Strikers. You’ll see them do crazy sh*t, like sky diving to break dancing, as they make their entrances to the pitch. All while suited-up in metal armor form head to toe. The only thing missing is a can of Mountain Dew. A bit too much ‘tude for my liking, but some might really like it. The graphics are nothing the Gamecube couldn’t handle with an experienced group of developers behind the game. But you do own a Wii, so you obviously value gameplay over graphics.

GAMEPLAY (top notch!)
The controls are spot-on in my opinion. The A button in for passing, B is for shooting, Z is for lobbing, C is for items and the +Control pad is for tricks. In order to tackle you simply shake the Wiimote, which is works well and is quite satisfying.

You choose a team captain (the main guys, you know, Mario, DK, Peach, etc) and fill the rest of the team with subordinates (Hammer Bros, Dry Bones, Toad). They feel slightly unbalanced but I’m not too certain about that just yet. It’s kinda amazing how there is much going on at once yet the game doesn’t seem to slow down. I guarantee they will be a point in every match where you will have no idea what the hell is going on. It’s okay, just keep waggin’.
FEATURES (Wi-Fi Connetion is go! About time!)
The main feature of this game is its legitimate online mode, a first for the Wii (Pokemon Battle Revolution does not count. It’s just a Pokemon D&P visualizer. Nothing more). It takes a minute or so to connect to the Wi-Fi Connection but after that it’s smooth sailing. In order to avoid lag you are given the quality of your opponent’s connection before you accept a match. I’ve played a few matches with 4-star connections and I haven’t experienced lag so far, which is awesome. This gives me a lot of hope for a great online mode in Smash Bros Brawl. Both you and a friend can play simultaneously while facing off against another opponent somewhere in North America (online mode is region locked, so no beating British people at their own game for you!). Friend codes (argh!) rear their ugly head once more as you will need to enter a 12-digit codes to add friends. Leaderboards are a great addition as well.

LASTING APPEAL
The previous Strikers wore a little thin after about a week of constant play, but Charged will definitely be in my Wii for some time to come (until Prime 3 hits). The new game modes will have you and your buddies taking the waggle-fest till the sun comes up. And when you’re friends aren’t around the online mode will have new opponents knocking at your doorstep. This is enough to keep a gamer satisfied.

Charged is a must buy for the starved Nintendo faithful. Go get it. Fun for everyone.

Dust off those Wii’s people!

8.5 / 10

Pokemon Battle Revolution (Wii) – June 25 – What can anyone say, it’s more Pokemon! (Pokemen, Pokepeople?) Whatever you want to call it, expect it to deliver tons of trainable creatures, not to mention cross-functionality with Pokemon Pearl and Diamond. Battle Revolution is also the first online multiplayer game enabled for the Wii, so you can finally display your Pokeprowess to players all over the globe.

Guitar Hero Encore (PS2) – July 17 – Summer is the perfect time for a makeover, so frost those tips, squeeze into skintight leather, and bring headbanging back into style with the latest entry in the acclaimed Guitar Hero franchise. A 30-song set list covers a wide assortment of 80s jams, from the obvious (Flock of Seagulls’ “I Ran (So Far Away)”), to the obnoxious (Poison’s “Nothin’ But A Good Time”), to the obscure (Eddie Money’s “Shakin’”). Whether you’re a scrappy punk, a New Wave artiste, or a Sunset Strip glam rocker, you’re bound to hit the right notes.

NCAA Football ‘08 (PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, Xbox) – July 17 – Fans of college football might disagree with the archaic science behind the BCS rankings, quibble about conference strength, and argue over the best tasting Lite beer (Coors, clearly), but they can all agree on one thing –NCAA Football is THE gridiron game for them, bar none. Never content to keep the updates meager, the ‘08 edition introduces a wealth of new plays, a reworked Campus Legend mode, and the ability to boost your team’s motivation by taking control of big plays. Best of all is an innovative real-time weather system piped in courtesy of the Weather Channel. Forecast calls for chance of awesome.

Mario Strikers: Charged (Wii) - July 30 – Okay, so it’s not Super Mario Galaxy, but at least it’s not another collection of mini-games, and that makes this sequel to the Gamecube game Super Mario Strikers an easy choice for fans of the fat mascot. Uncluttered by strict rules and overzealous refs, the game keeps its eye on the ball with a roaring pace and intuitive controls. Waggle the Wiimote to shake defenders, or take on the world with ranked and unranked online play. The Italian national team might be plagued with scandals, but Mario and the usual suspects offer good, clean summertime fun. Capisce?

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (PC) – August 1 – The bad news: Unlike the original Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, this follow-up is not available as a free download. The good news: Everything else. We’ve had our eye on Enemy Territory for a long time, but it looks like we’ll finally get our quivering hands on it this August. Set in the Quake universe, the game pits humans against the alien Stroggs in team-based multiplayer matches. With five distinct classes per side, the strategy well runs deep: construct giant weapons, gather recon, commandeer vehicles, or just blow stuff up. A new user-friendly objective system helps newbies find their footing, while the smooth, adaptable engine lets you focus on the combat instead of the system requirements. For hardcore fraggers, the near-future is bright.

Stranglehold (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) – August 6 – Based on director John Woo’s cult action film Hard Boiled, Stranglehold puts you in the scuffed loafers of Chow-Yun Fat’s flawed detective. Then, it makes you angry, gives you lots of guns and sets you loose in fully-destructible next-gen environments. The result? Riveting action gameplay. Case-sensitive controls let you flip around like a ballet dancer, pulling off classic moves like sliding down a banister while unloading a few rounds from your dual pistols, shattering glass, chipping wood, and hopefully making the bad guys lie down for a while. Sweet.

Madden ‘08 (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, DS, PS2, Xbox, GC) – August 14 – After two relatively disappointing next-gen outings, things haven’t been entirely rosy for the pigskin juggernaut. But if the blazing framerate and cool new animations of Madden 08 are any indication, we’ll chalk that up to first-half jitters. One-handed catches, mid-air collisions, gang tackling, 24 special player abilities, and an updated Hit Stick help distance Madden 08 from its competition (namely, last year’s game). Vets will be thrilled at the long-awaited returns of Owner mode, fantasy drafting and customizable rosters. Opponents of the Tennessee Titans will also revel as they watch cover boy Vince Young succumb to the Madden Curse by twisting something important, but not before helping this year’s game go long. Touchdown, of course.

Lair (PS3) – August 14 – What’s this? An exclusive PS3 game? With dragons? Indeed, PS3 owners starving for software will find a reason to live again when Lair hits this summer. Two opposing factions vie for control of a dying planet, relying on fearsome dragons to wage war over land, sea and air. That’s seamless, by the way — you can fly around, swoop down to feast on some bad guys, hop off the dragon to get some exercise, and take off again without catching the slightest whiff of a loading screen. With gorgeous visuals, unique SIXAXIS control and a bevy of combat scenarios, Lair could be the spark that sets the PS3 fan base on fire.

Brain Age 2: More Training In Minutes A Day (DS) – August 20 – Q: What’s dumber than a bag of hammers? Answer: You! Unless, that is, you spent minutes a day getting schooled by the original Brain Age (and with over 8 million copies sold worldwide, you probably did.) But since you also stopped playing that months ago, your perky, youthful gray matter has likely reverted back to being mushy and stupid. Thanks to improved handwriting and voice recognition as well as a bunch of new games, Brain Age 2 will get those neurons back on track. You’d have to be an idiot to pass it up.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) – August 20 – Despite the Wii’s overwhelming success, many fans claim that Nintendo has neglected its hardcore following by focusing too much on family-friendly, casual fare, failing to do justice to the company’s beloved mascot roster. After spending the spring season reviewing 20 mini-game compilations, we wouldn’t argue with those fans either. So to call Metroid Prime 3 an anticipated Wii game is to blurt out an embarrassing understatement: This is THE Wii game of the season, if not the entire year. In addition to the interesting new control scheme, fans will delight in rediscovering the stackable beam system made popular in the old 2D Metroid games. With a batch of new visors and a heap of new abilities, Wii owners looking for their next purchase should stop, drop, and roll like a morph ball to their local retailer the moment Corruption hits shelves.

BioShock (PC, Xbox 360) – August 21 – One way to beat the summer heat is by diving into the cold, icy waters of this spiritual successor to cult PC hit System Shock 2. Set in Rapture, a mysterious city lost beneath miles of ocean, BioShock’s bold Art Deco style and macabre atmosphere only scratch its horrific surface. A customizable ability system lets you solve puzzles and defeat enemies in a multitude of ways, allowing you to simultaneously wield weapons like Rambo and hack security like Neo. And you’ll need that kind of power when dealing with the creepy denizens of Rapture. Think you’ve seen it all? Then you haven’t witnessed the gruesome sight of a genetically modified child nibbling away at a corpse under the ever-watchful eye of the lumbering Big Daddy, a mute giant wearing a rusty old diving suit. If that doesn’t make you wet your pants, maybe the omnipresent threat of being crushed by a billion pounds of water will.

Medal of Honor: Airborne (PC, Xbox 360) – August 27 – Yep, but we swear this time it will be different. Forget forging down narrow streets as you crawl from one bombed-out locale to the next — Medal of Honor: Airborne reworks the formula from the ground up by letting you parachute down to any location on the map. That means a totally open-ended approach to each of the game’s enormous levels. Drop into a safe spot behind friendly lines, or be sneaky and land on the roof of an enemy bunker. Either way, you’ll relish the newfound freedom of fighting those pesky Nazis at your own pace.

Tiger Woods ‘08 (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, DS, PS2, Xbox) – August 28 – Summer weather and golf go together like peanuts and M&Ms, but let’s face it — those green fees are pricey. For a fraction of that cost you can shoot nigh infinite rounds with the latest Tiger Woods game. In addition to the typical upgrades like new players and courses, Tiger Woods 08 introduces GamerNet, a broadband network that opens the door to player-driven content. Any shot you hit in the single-player game can be uploaded as a challenge for others to download. You can even tweak success criteria, much like calling a shot in a game of H-O-R-S-E: Hit the tree, bounce off the cart path, over the sand trap and on to the green… and into your game library.

Stuntman: Ignition (PS3, Xbox 360, PS2) – August 28 – You have to hand it to the minds behind Stuntman. While the rest of the industry is constantly worried about sending the wrong message to concerned watchdog groups, here’s a game that lets you plow into incoming traffic, barge across intersections, sideswipe innocent cars and smash government property simply to earn a perfectly legal living. It won’t be easy, though. The last Stuntman game was ruthlessly difficult, and unless those time constraints have been relaxed a lot, this one could prove to be similarly stressful.

Blue Dragon (Xbox 360) – August 28 – Developed by an All-Star team of Japanese designers that includes legendary Final Fantasy mastermind Hironobu Sakaguchi, Blue Dragon is a shoo-in for 360 owners yearning for a spiky-haired savior. The hook here is found in the gigantic shadow creatures over which you have total power, leading to plenty of meat-and-potatoes turn-based combat in a massive fantasy world. And by massive, we mean it spans a whopping three DVDs. It’s also currently the best-selling 360 game in Japan, and those folks know their role-playing games. Soon, so will you.