PS3

CHICAGO – Last year’s baseball game courtesy of 2K Sports, “MLB 2K9,” was so glitch-heavy and poorly constructed that I assumed all of the wrinkles would be ironed out in the newest edition, “MLB 2K10”. To the credit of 2K Games and Visual Concepts, a lot of the problems have been streamlined but the game is still unacceptably glitch-heavy, resulting in an experience that is only intermittently rewarding. It’s kind of like being a Cubs fan.

CHICAGO – As we wait for the imminent release of “God of War III,” it seems that a few developers are trying to beat Kratos to the punch with their own “GOW”-esque titles. January produced the very good “Darksiders” and now we have the buzzed arrival of EA’s “Dante’s Inferno,” a game with remarkable moments but significant flaws that dampen the flame just as it starts to heat up.

CHICAGO – When’s the last time you finished a game and didn’t merely feel like you had successfully gone through the animated motions as needed but had actually contributed to a story that felt uniquely your own? In other words, when was the last time you were emotionally invested and intellectually satisfied instead of just entertained?

CHICAGO – It’s time to dive back into the world of Rapture, the setting of one of the most anticipated releases of 2010, “Bioshock 2,” the sequel to 2007’s game of the year. Wildly entertaining without being particularly groundbreaking, “Bioshock 2” could be considered a slight disappointment when compared to the first game, but then again so could most titles.

CHICAGO – The critical phrase that kept surfacing during my playing time of the mini-RPG “Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment” was “good for a downloadable game”. The game is flawed but its low purchase price might make it worth a look for fans of old-fashioned role-playing games but most modern gamers will be disappointed.

CHICAGO – There really is a void in the center of the first disappointment of 2010, a game that sucks in too much of its incredible potential into classic traps of the gaming world like thin storytelling, mediocre graphics, and, most damagingly, sketchy controls. “Dark Void” isn’t horrible but that’s faint praise indeed when one considers the expectations for this title and the cleverness of its concept.

CHICAGO – Every good gamer has their guilty pleasures. They’re the titles that we know are flawed but that we still enjoy playing from opening cinematic through closing credits.

CHICAGO – A movie as gigantic as James Cameron’s “Avatar” is bound to have a video game tie-in to go with it and one would assume that such a detailed and complex fantasy world as that created in the film threatening to be the highest grossing of all time would make for a wonderful virtual playground. One would be mostly correct in that “James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game” is one of the most beautiful in recent months. The gameplay is another story.

CHICAGO – Being a film critic makes it hard to find people willing to play “Scene It?” with you. Consequently, I haven’t become familiar with the video game versions of the popular DVD/board game and hadn’t played any incarnation of the franchise in years. The Nintendo Wii version of the latest release doesn’t make me long for missed years of “Scene It?” gaming but should provide a pleasant diversion for movie nuts.

CHICAGO – Gamers have fought so many battles of World War II from so many different viewpoints that I have to admit that I approached the late-year release of EA and Pandemic’s “The Saboteur” with more than a little bit of trepidation.