Wii

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.

CHICAGO – Perhaps you’ve seen the clever commercials for “Guitar Hero 5,” in which a dozen or so hot women dance around with plastic guitars and Hugh Hefner extols the virtues of “variety”? There has arguably never been more truth in advertising. Like a roomful of Playboy Playmates, “Guitar Hero 5” gives fans all the variety they could ask for, but truly falling in love with any individual part of the title is a little more difficult.

CHICAGO – “The Beatles: Rock Band” is easily the most fulfilling music gaming experience to date. As someone who has played all of the “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” releases so far, I can tell you from experience that most of these titles are easy to pick up and put down without a concrete narrative to drive a player from beginning to end.

CHICAGO – A number of videos have been released for one of the most anticipated games of the year, the addictive-looking “The Beatles: Rock Band” and we just had to share.

CHICAGO – What more can possibly be written about EA’s unbelievably successful line of football games that bear the name of one of the best announcers in the history of the sport? If you haven’t played a “Madden” release by now (the latest “Madden NFL 10” is now available for PS3, XBox 360, PSP, and Wii), then you haven’t really played video games.

CHICAGO – Would you rather watch the fine detail of a pitcher’s duel (or a gem-for-the-ages like Mark Buerhle’s recent perfect game for the Chicago White Sox) or the fireworks of an event like home run derby? “The Bigs 2” is far more akin to the latter - a display of the “fun” of baseball that plays much more like an arcade experience than a sports simulation and should appeal more to fans of the long ball than the slider.

CHICAGO – “The Conduit” is something old and something new. It is a very old-fashioned shooter that will remind an entire generation of college years spent wasted on titles like “Doom 2” and “Wolfenstein,” but it is a unique title for the typically family-driven Nintendo Wii.