The Racquette

Issue date: 2/26/10 Section: A&E

A high quality image from "Assassin's Creed 2" gives players an idea of what to expect in terms of graphics.

Video-gaming is a great replacement for legitimate college work. As someone who half-heartedly endorses that statement, I've chosen a few games for all of you to unhealthily occupy yourselves with this semester. There is a game here for whatever system fancies you. Hopefully, each of them is good enough to justify the $9,000 SUNY Potsdam electric bill.



Xbox 360: Alan Wake - May 18

This game instantly caught my attention in how unique it is. You play as Alan Wake, a writer who goes to the rural town of Bright Falls to relax. Everything goes to hell and Alan finds himself immersed in the horror novel he could never finish writing. Novelists aren't generally the able bad-asses we let fight the forces of evil, so it'll be interesting to see how a mild-mannered author fights his own creation.



PS3: God of War III - March 16

God of War and Gran Turismo are the two biggest reasons I am jealous of Playstation owners. Everyone knows Kratos and his Greek god-stomping exploits. There is hardly any need to convince PS3 owners to purchase the last game in one of the greatest action franchises of all time. If you aren't convinced by the prospect of slicing up a Minotaur, Cyclops or Zeus himself as the God of War then cool things just aren't for you.



Wii: Red Steel 2 - March 23

The original Red Steel was promising but the fun of flinging your Wii-mote like a Samurai sword got old fast with the clunky controls. The next edition of Red Steel promises smoother controls with the Wii Motion Plus accessory. I particularly like the cel-shaded graphics that make full use of the Wii's visuals and swinging a Samurai sword is never a bad thing.



Nintendo DS: Dementium II- February 16

You have to admire a horror game that you play on a device you can easily throw across the room when you're frightened. Glaring conceptual problems aside, Dementium II looks cool. It is a first person-shooter horror game on a DS and the basic concept is intriguing. There is no way any legitimately scary moment is going to happen when you play Dementium, but campy gunplay and quirky enemies are more than enough to enjoy this "horror" game.



PC: Assassin's Creed 2 - March 16

I enjoyed the sequel to Assassin's Creed on 360 this past break. I was happy to find that every flaw and irritating chore in the previous game had been fixed. The story and characters are better fleshed-out and each assassination is thrilling in the beautifully-rendered Renaissance Italy. Ubisoft has tortured PC owners by delaying the PC version of this game but they claim it will all be worth it.



PSP: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands - May 11

Details are scarce at the moment on the PSP's version of the new Prince of Persia. Usually I don't dignify games that are cross-platform because the portable versions are usually poor cash-ins. I am hoping that since Prince of Persia has old-school platforming and combat in its genes it won't fall into that category. The plot is set between the events of Sands of Time and Warrior Within so it should be fun seeing the Prince's transition from humble-storyteller-boy to angsty-emo-lad.

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