Wii

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 – 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 – What better way to begin the decade than with full albums from The Beatles now available for the best music-based title of the year? Fans of the great “The Beatles: Rock Band” can now download “Abbey Road,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” and “Rubber Soul,” and make this amazing game even more fulfilling.

CHICAGO – Reviewing games based on kids movies that are as clearly aimed at children as are the DS and Nintendo Wii tie-ins for “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” can be a tough assignment. What approach is appropriate? I generally think that I can only be honest about my personal experience with a game, but what if that game isn’t designed with my demographic in mind? Personally, I struggled with getting enjoyment out of either console version but I think some of my eight and nine-year-old relatives would love both.

CHICAGO – Fans of the “Resident Evil” franchise and rail shooters in general (two parties of which I would definitely claim membership) should not let the excellent “The Darkside Chronicles” pass them by and I believe even newcomers to either zombie games or Wii shooting titles will find something to like in this expertly conceived title with only one significant flaw.

CHICAGO – No one can accuse Activision and Neversoft of allowing their music game franchise to get stale. In fact, some might argue that they have flooded the market with too many similar products including “Guitar Hero: Metallica,” “Guitar Hero: Smash Hits,” “Guitar Hero 5,” “DJ Hero,” and, now, “Band Hero” in just this year alone (with “Guitar Hero: Van Halen” dropping before Christmas as well).

Video Game Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – For every “Iron Man” or “The Dark Knight,” there are a half dozen movies like “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” or “Elektra” littering the marketplace. Naturally, those of us well-versed in the world of superhero entertainment consider ourselves lucky if every other product featuring caped men (or women) actually works.

CHICAGO – When most of us first heard about “Dead Space Extraction,” we had a cautious reaction. There have been several successful franchises that attempt to release a semi-sequel on another console and the results usually do nothing more than tarnish the original title. Such is not the case with “Extraction,” a game that plays just as it should, an expansion of the “Dead Space” universe more than a precise continuation. It’s one of the best Wii games of the year.

CHICAGO – Even with the long history of awful video game adaptation of hit films, shouldn’t “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” be a slam dunk? The clever family comedy plays like a video game already with a very fun story that should be easy to turn into something playable with a controller. But the video game version of “Cloudy” has already his stores well past its expiration date.

CHICAGO – The Nintendo Wii has never really been a system designed for atmosphere. It’s a party console, a machine built around social experiences that usually involve making fun of how silly your relative looks waving a controller around the room like he’s actually holding a tennis racket.