The Triangle

Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: www.siliconera.com After many years of anticipation and begging, fans of Final Fantasy Tactics find a follow up in the PSP release "Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions."

Media Credit: www.salon-p-nintendo.com Though the original "Resident Evil: Survivor" was lacking in gameplay and content, the new "Umbrella Chronicles" manages to work well as a traditional rail arcade shooter.

Media Credit: www.globalnerdy.com After the awesome success of Guitar Hero 1 and 2, the creators moved on to work on the bigger, badder, harder rocking "Rock Band."

Media Credit: Bungie It's been six years since Masterchief first saw combat and he's still kicking ass.

Media Credit: www.ign.com "Assassin's Creed" grants players an eye back into the time of the crusades as an assassin who must unveil a conspiracy transpiring in Jerusalem, Acre, Damascus, and Masyaf.

10 Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions

The newest in the long running Tactics series, the war of the Lions, is proof that even the oldest formulas can be reworked for the better. Tactics follows the same presentation as before, with isometric 2-D sprites walking about nicely rendered 3D environments. New to this title is multiplayer which enables two players to either hold combat with or against one another via an ad-hoc connection, though beware - the multiplayer, being a new feature, is not incredibly balanced.



9 Castlevania the Dracula X Chronicles

The PSP hasn't had much luck with games in the past. Despite a few exception titles in its library, there really are not many games that are all too memorable. This new Castlevania title is actually one great step in the right direction for Sony and the PSP. This game, while following the traditional platforming formula of past entries in the series, is also incredibly hard; casual gamers might want to stay away from the title to prevent any extensive migraines this game might bring on.



8 Army of Two

Though the game has yet to go gold, it has already been classified as a fully optimized co-op version of Gears of War. The game will feature no multiplayer outside of its campaign's two player cooperative mode. While it does share the similar mechanics of ducking under cover and popping out to return fire that Gears of War featured, Army of Two will rely more heavily on the fundamentals of teamwork to achieve objectives, rather than only using the second player as an extra means of firepower.



7 Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

Resident Evil games either come as survival horror titles or horribly put together first person shooters. As this game is a follow up to Capcom's previous Gun Survivor series, it would be easy to neglect this title with less than a short glance, though you would truly be missing a great zombie slaughtering good time if you had done so. The game abandons manual player control from previous games in favor of a more traditional on rails arcade shooter. The new gameplay style and graphical overhaul courtesy of the Wii really help this game surpass its predecessors.



6 Unreal Tournament 3

The software developer, Epic, has come back to their beloved shooter series with yet another solid entry. This time around there will be an entirely new arsenal of maps, vehicles, and weapons - all the oldies from previous games return just the same. Naturally, this game is being rendered on the Unreal Engine 3 and does it show -this game is beautiful.



5 Rock Band

For the players that simply thought strumming a plastic guitar just was not enough. Rock Band is Harmonix newest entry into the rhythm based game genre. The song list consists of 45 works from various; some of the songs worked, while others tended to fall a bit flat, but the sound quality is most definitely crystal clear, which is a plus from previous Harmonix titles. It should be noted that the guitar sections in the game are a bit more casual that anything you would find in a Guitar Hero title, so if you are simply looking for a fret jamming rock-a-thon, you are better off going with Guitar Hero 3. But Rock Band does offer you a great chance to grace your friends with your unique singing voice.



4 Super Mario Galaxy

Mario had defined what it was to be a 3-D platformer back in 1996. Ever since then, however, Mario just hasn't been up to par in the domain of home consoles; all has changed with the release of Super Mario Galaxy, though. Mario has brought himself back to his senses with brilliant artistic design, responsive controls, and continually inventive gameplay.



3 Halo 3

It was backed by product placement on Doritos and Mountain Dew; it sold 2.4 million copies, but did the general public buy a good game or just fall for clever advertising and hype? The game was met with stellar reviews and has since received much praise from fans of the series. Halo 3 marks the end of the original Halo story arch with a memorable campaign that could have been played solo of with three friends. The game's online multiplayer is actually what will be bringing gamers back over and over; if you enjoy competitive shooters, then go ahead and spoil yourself this holiday season.



2 Half-Life 2: Orange Box

Quite possibly the most entertainment you will ever get out of 60 dollars. The Orange Box comes with four complete games: Half Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, Portal, and the original Half Life 2 (single player only). This serves as a perfect way to get caught up with the Half Life storyline, while enjoying some nice team based combat in Team Fortress 2, and experimenting with the new game mechanics of the awe-inspiring title, Portal.



1 Assassin's Creed

This long awaited title has you playing as Altair, a member of the Hashshashin, where your duties mainly come to stalking victim A and dispatching victim B. The game's visual presentation is by far the best aspect this experience and while your adventures may be hampered by poorly responsive enemy AI, this title is definitely worth atleast one run-through.

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