• Unflinching representation of military occupation
• Some very memorable moments
• Well-crafted online multiplayer.

• Very short campaign that ends abruptly
• Action feels overly familiar
• Multiplayer makes no use of intriguing setting.

War on American soil isn't a foreign concept for first-person shooters, but few do it with the grim dedication of Homefront. Its chilling vision of life in occupied America is vividly illustrated through lengthy scenes that depict the brutality of military subjugation and the desperation of its victims. This thoroughly developed setting is one of the most engaging the genre has seen for a while, making the campaign worthwhile despite its run-of-the-mill action and unsatisfying length. There is some longevity, however, in Homefront's competitive online multiplayer. Though the paltry modes are little more than a pastiche of gameplay mechanics you've seen before, it tips the scales just enough to create a hectic and enjoyable combat arena. Much of what Homefront offers feels overly familiar, but the dramatic setting and good multiplayer recipe make it a worthy stop on any shooter fan's tour of duty.

The campaign kicks off with a montage chronicling the next 15 years. As gas shortages lead to civil unrest, the United States weakens while across the Pacific new expansionist leadership leads North Korea into a golden age. This video paints a satisfyingly plausible picture, and collectible clippings throughout the campaign flesh things out even more. With every image of a bread line and article about the consolidation of America's armed forces, it gets easier and easier to suspend your disbelief. As Homefront's vision of the future becomes more believable, the events of the campaign hit closer to home. An introductory travel sequence in the spirit of Half-Life brings you up-to-speed very quickly with how bad things are, and one particularly shocking execution scene will likely stay with you throughout the entire game. Homefront's most intense moments aren't action movie sequences - they are emotionally wrenching, human encounters with the horrors of war.

The setting is the standout in Homefront's campaign, though the story is more of a tour through this rich scenario than a compelling journey in its own right. The characters who accompany you the whole way have a few good bits of dialogue and create some dramatic moments, but they aren't developed well enough to make you really care about them. This detachment can help you overlook the occasional friendly AI blunders, but don't expect your companions to carry much weight. As in many modern shooters, you are the workhorse. The action itself is solid and proceeds at a pace that steadily intensifies as small shootouts give way to larger skirmishes. An explosive mid-campaign climax leads into a stealthy infiltration, and a much-foreshadowed vehicle sequence near the end delivers nicely. Despite the fact that you are a small resistance force, you scrounge a variety of powerful guns from the enemy, giving you a substantial (and satisfying) arsenal. Homefront gives lip service to things like having to be frugal with ammunition and getting creative to avoid patrols, but it mostly plays out like a standard, linear shooter campaign.

It's a shame that the action isn't really on the same wavelength as the setting, but the environments you traverse reinforce your grim situation well. Though Homefront isn't a beautiful game, there are a lot of thoughtful details that provide echoes of earlier conflict and show different stages of societal breakdown. There are some issues with screen-tearing and characters clipping through solid objects, but on the whole the visuals are equal to the task. Unfortunately, the campaign wraps up around the five-hour mark. That may not seem terribly short by modern-shooter campaign standards, but what makes it worse is not that you're left wanting more- it's that you are left expecting more. By spending a lot of time on quality exposition in the early going, Homefront's campaign sets itself up for a longer story arc, but it doesn't deliver. It's an unpleasant surprise when things wrap up so abruptly, but it's still a very memorable campaign.

Just because the house doesn't have a roof doesn't mean they aren't trying to kill you. (Credit: GameSpot)

Homefront's competitive multiplayer, on the other hand, seems primed to be just another also-ran right from the get-go. With only two core game modes ("Team Deathmatch" and "Capture and Hold") playable in two variations, the options are few. The loadout screen will be instantly familiar to anyone who has played a Call of Duty game in the past few years, and the online conflicts play out between the KPA and the US Army (rather than the ragtag freedom fighters from the campaign), so the intriguing setting is little more than window dressing. Though its inspirations are obvious, Homefront does a good job of appropriating tried-and-true mechanics. Earning experience, levelling-up, increasing your arsenal and unlocking new infantry abilities (read: perks) is satisfying, and the maps allow a decent range of viable battlefield strategies.

Things start getting livelier as soon as battle points come into play. Earned in the same way as experience, these points are currency meant to be spent during your current match. Each loadout has two slots for purchasable abilities that can give you and your team an edge in combat. Some benefit only you, like the flak jacket and personal radar sweep. Others are meant to score some quick kills, like the Hellfire missile and white phosphorous strikes. And then there are the drones. Once you've found an out-of-the-way place where you won't be as vulnerable, you can summon a variety of remote-controlled assets onto the battlefield. One relatively inexpensive airborne drone has no attack capabilities, but it can highlight your enemies with big red diamonds that all your teammates can see. Other flying drones come with explosive ordnance, while still other drones scoot around on tank treads armed with various weapons. Drones can be destroyed and will eventually run out of batteries, but their presence on the battlefield is welcome. Not only do they give you something cool and different to do, they are also powerful enough to affect the flow of the fight.

And if small vehicles aren't your thing, you can save up your battle points to spawn in an actual vehicle, like a Humvee, tank or helicopter. Spawning allies can choose to appear in your vehicle, so you don't have to drive around looking for someone to hop-in to make your ride more effective and deadly. Though they, too, are a borrowed idea, battle points invigorate combat by not only expanding your martial capabilities but also by rewarding you for skilful play in the middle of a match. Furthermore, if you play the Battle Commander variants of the standard modes, your skills can earn you instant battlefield notoriety. As you rack-up kills within a given life, you are assigned a star ranking and highlighted on your enemies' radar. Though you are now a marked target, you gain some automatic perks commensurate with your star ranking that can make you faster, deadlier and more battlefield-aware.

The diverse mechanics that combine to make Homefront's multiplayer what it is may be familiar to genre veterans, but they are well integrated and achieve a nice balance. Matches in Homefront don't feel quite like matches in other games, and there's enough depth here to fuel plenty of hours of combat. Yet the best part of Homefront is the thoughtful and thorough vision of the future laid out by the campaign. It's rare to have a shooter pay this much attention to its setting, and the results are some remarkably memorable moments that are often nicely emphasized by the soundtrack. It squanders a lot of potential for greatness, but Homefront's campaign still fuels much of the game's appeal, helping to distinguish it among a crowded field of competitors.

Via GameSpot.

• Accessible mix of physical and mental challenges
• Makes you feel like you're getting sharper
• Mini-games cover a nice variety of skills.

• Some mini-games have control issues
• Not enough content to justify the price
• Occasional sign-in snafus.

While all video games engage our brains, some make cerebral stimulation their raison d'etre. Body and Brain Exercises attempts to sharpen your wits with an assortment of mini-games that test your mental faculties with light physical challenges. Using the Kinect's motion-tracking capabilities, you solve fill-in-the-blank math problems by kicking numbered soccer balls or represent a digital time on an analog clock by positioning your arms appropriately. Body and Brain Exercises is a successor to the Brain Age series in all but name, down to the daily tests of your brain's age and the familiar host, Dr. Kawashima. It captures the self-improving appeal of the genre nicely, though it is also burdened by a few shortcomings. Some minigames are hampered by tracking issues, resulting in inadvertent answers, and swapping profiles mid-session can also be problematic. It is ultimately a fairly shallow game, but Body and Brain Exercises' exercises offer a fun way for puzzle fans to get a few kicks out of their Kinects.

When you fire up Body and Brain Exercises, the friendly doctor administers an initial test of your brain age to establish a point of reference for your further training. After playing three minigames, you are rated on a scale of 20 to 80. The faster and more accurate you are, the younger your brain age. Though you can take the test as many times as you want, only your first score of the day will be recorded on your calendar. As you become more familiar with the exercises, your brain age will almost certainly improve, and seeing your brain age get better over days and weeks of tests creates a feeling of satisfaction.

In addition to taking your daily test, you can choose to play any of the 20 mini-games whenever you like. One menu option serves up three mini-games that Body and Brain Exercises recommends based on your test progress. Another lets you scroll through all 20 mini-games and select the beginner, intermediate, or advanced difficulty level, depending on your previous performance in that activity. The mini-games are sorted into five categories: maths, logic, reflex, memory and physical. While these categories do have general themes, don't expect the logic challenges to be maths-free, and because you're using your limbs to select answers, every exercise has a physical component. You aren't likely to get a workout with any of these games, but many of them have a timer and reward quick answers. Selecting an answer is usually a matter of darting your arms or legs in a specific direction or positioning them carefully to select on-screen icons. None of the movements are difficult or strenuous, but they are certainly more involved than pressing a button.

Given the simplicity of the motions involved in the mini-games, Body and Brain Exercises feels more mentally challenging than physically taxing. Leaning your torso left, right, or standing straight up in a maths mini-game isn't very tough; the challenge is to track a scrolling line of digits and determine whether the sum of the bracketed numbers is less than, greater than or equal to 10. Popping virtual balloons is easy and kind of fun, but things get tricky when they are numbered and you must pop them in ascending order, or when you have to pop the right colour from a visually misleading cue (for example, the word "blue" in red text on a yellow background). Players who enjoy maths-based challenges may like the mini-game in which a timer counts up from one and you must punch the numbered bags when the timer reaches a multiple of those numbers (like punching 4 and 3 when the timer reaches 12). Those who prefer visual challenges may gravitate toward finding the two identical shapes amid an array of icons, and those who aspire to ambidexterity should find evading ghosts by guiding Pac-Man and Pooka (from Dig Dug) with their right and left hands simultaneously an enjoyable test.

Please note that bubbles and stars do not come out of actual rats when you kick them. (Credit: GameSpot)

In some of these exercises, it seems that success is a two-step process. First, you must figure out the answer; then, you must select it. Initially, you are likely to notice a gap between these two components, as if you are conscious of your brain sending the commands to your limbs and then your limbs receiving them and responding. The more you practice, the narrower this gap gets and the closer you get to feeling like you are delivering one fluid solution. This sensation is one of the most satisfying parts of Body and Brain Exercises, and seeing the results reflected in your brain age is another.

Unfortunately, there are a few motion-related speed bumps that regularly hamper some mini-games. Body and Brain Exercises sometimes has trouble keeping up when you move your arms across your body (for example, when making a "greater than" sign). By marshalling your movements correctly, you can usually mitigate this issue, but it's frustrating when your initial reflex doesn't register and you have to reposition. One exercise in particular involves selecting numbers that add up to 10, but it the recognition criteria is a bit overeager, so you may find yourself registering incorrect answers with your elbows while you attempt to reach the correct position. These isolated problems don't spoil the experience, but the lack of precision in these particular mini-games clashes with the spirit of a game that is meant to test your reflexes and accuracy.

In addition to testing yourself, you can have some friends join in and see how they stack up. Two to four players can play a series of group exercises, sometimes alternating and sometimes competing simultaneously. At the end of the session, the players are ranked on their performance and an MVP is named. Alternatively, you can take a group mock test, which assigns each player a brain age after just one round of competition. These modes can be fun with the right group of folks, but Body and Brain Exercises doesn't always handle switching between profiles well. If you take your brain fitness test and then someone else wants to jump in, the game may recognise him or her or it may "fail to register" that player, even if he or she has played before. It's a needless hassle, though it can usually be solved by exiting to the dashboard and restarting the game.

The avatar is sad because he just let a toy school bus plummet to its doom. (Credit: GameSpot)

The problems with Body and Brain Exercises aren't major, but they are a thorn in the side of what should be an easily accessible and fully responsive game. The assorted mini-games cover a decent variety of activities, and there are some that evolve in interesting ways as you move up to the intermediate and advanced difficulty levels. Yet given the limited scope and merely decent number of mini-games, Body and Brain Exercises feels overpriced at $49.99. Still, there is some satisfaction to be had here, and this is the first game in the brain-training genre to make it to the Kinect. Though the controls aren't perfect, Body and Brain Exercises uses the hardware in some novel ways, and there's no denying the pride that comes from sharpening your response times and feeling your brain get "younger" by the day.

Via GameSpot

• Kinect Adventures!
• Kinect (Xbox 360)
• Your Shape: Fitness Evolved
• Kinectimals

• Classic formula is as excellent as ever
• Variants offer intriguing and challenging new ways to play
• Great multiplayer support, both locally and online
• Online leaderboards foster competition.

• Doesn't always make best use of wide screen
• No way for local guests to track progress or set high scores.

Since its debut on the PC in the mid-'80s, Tetris has appeared on countless digital devices, from handhelds and cell phones to consoles and calculators. Yet in the four years since the launch of the PlayStation 3, the system has never played host to the most famous puzzle game in video game history. Well, weep no more PS3 owners, because this crisp new version of Tetris delivers the classic block-manoeuvring action to the PlayStation Network in fine form. There are many variants that challenge your skills in creative ways and force you to adapt your time-tested line-clearing tactics, and every variant can be played with up to four players locally. Online modes both competitive and cooperative offer further variety and challenge, bolstered by a ranking system and online leaderboards. This isn't the definitive version of Tetris that it could have been, due to some minor flaws and notable omissions, but it's still a high-quality package that earns its place among the best Tetris incarnations.

The presentation puts the emphasis right where it should be: on the pieces. All the pieces are brightly coloured and stand out starkly against the dark background. The controls respond with alacrity, letting you be as quick and nimble as your fingers allow. Surrounding the matrix are small boxes that display pertinent information, including your current score and the top score from your friends list (which may be yours!), as well as the piece you have held in reserve and the next piece to enter the matrix. These last two windows are present in every variant, and with no option to turn them off, those who prefer to take the next piece as it comes just have to studiously ignore the preview. You can determine whether or not you want to see a silhouette that shows where your current piece will fall, but that's about it in terms of gameplay customisation. Thankfully, there are sliders for the audio elements. The array of clicks that sound off when you move, rotate and land pieces can be highly annoying at the default level, but a simple visit to the options screen can lower them to an unobstrusive, if not quite pleasing, volume.

All of this allows you to experience the thrills of Tetris unimpeded. Stacking pieces and clearing lines as the pieces fall faster and faster is still an addictive challenge, and the agony of a missed placement and the ecstasy of a clutch maneuver are as bitter and sweet as they ever were. Striving to earn a high score and go the distance in Marathon mode is an engaging pursuit, but Tetris has more in store for you than the classic experience you have probably had before. Twelve variants challenge you to clear 40 lines under a range of different conditions, some more exotic than others. You may not have much trouble with Gravity, a variant that lets loose blocks fall down into gaps below them rather than hover vexingly in place, but the sideways-shifting matrix in Treadmill is likely to mess with your perception. In addition to changing the way you view the matrix, some variants target specific facets of gameplay. You can keep the descending ceiling in Laser at bay by using hard drops, while Chill is much easier if you keep the matrix as empty as possible so as to prevent your blocks from freezing and becoming tougher to clear. Adapting your Tetris intuition is an engaging challenge, and, though some modes lose their novelty appeal more quickly than others, the variant-specific leaderboards and overall game completion percentage provide extra motivation to master each mode.

Once dropped, these pieces will magnetically slide towards the correspondingly coloured wall. (Credit: GameSpot)

Each variant can also be played with up to four players locally, and, as you might expect, it's a lot of fun to compete with your friends. Unfortunately, Tetris doesn't make the best use of widescreen displays, so when three or four matrices are displayed onscreen, they look smaller than they should. There's a bunch of dead space around the margins of the screen, and, though the action certainly isn't too small to enjoy, you can't help but feel that the layout could have made better use of the space. Also, any local players are merely numbered guests, as far as the game is concerned. This means that any great scores you register while playing as a guest won't be recorded in any way, and there's no way to track your progress over an afternoon of competitive local play. This is a disappointing shortcoming, but you can still have leaderboard battles against players who share your console. You can post scores to the online leaderboards from multiple users on the same console using the same copy of the game, providing each user is linked to a free EA online account.

While the indirect competition of leaderboards is all well and good, the satisfaction of clearing lines and sending them directly into your opponent's matrix makes Battle mode a blast. You can compete against up to three other players locally or online (no mixing the two) in these electrifying matches in which your actions have a direct effect on your opponents, and vice versa. Optional power-ups add another strategic element to the mix, making for some of the most dynamic Tetris action available. You can also compete in Timed Battle mode, both locally against friends or online against up to five saved replays. The latter option may seem strange, but you'll never lack for replays to compete against, and they make for some surprisingly good competition once you reach a rank commensurate with your skill level.

Two other multiplayer modes offer yet more twists on familiar formulas. Team Battle is a two-vs.-two affair that works much like Battle mode with one significant twist. At any time, the players can designate whether they are attacking or defending. Lines cleared while attacking go into the opponents' matrices, and lines cleared while defending lessen any accumulated lines your opponents have sent your way. You have to be ready to nimbly switch roles to balance staying alive against pressing the attack, and staying on top of the action is tricky. You can coordinate with your teammate via voice chat to better strategise, and, as an added incentive for teamwork, you receive a bonus for lines cleared while you are both in the same battle stance. And for those who prefer to embrace the cooperative side of Tetris, there is now a cooperative side of Tetris. Shared mode lets two players attempt to clear lines in the same matrix. You receive your own pieces and have your own territory, with two overlapping columns in the middle that you share with your teammate. Coordination is key, lest you both endanger yourselves by stacking high and waiting for an I-piece, and judicious use of the piece-swapping ability can help get you out of tight spots.

Flashlight mode severely restricts your view of the matrix. (Credit: GameSpot)

Though the game is full of great variants and multiplayer options, any new version of Tetris must contend with the weight of history. Over the years features have come and gone, and there are two elements that bear mentioning in addition to the ones already discussed. First, there is no play-until-the-matrix-fills-up mode in this version; every mode has a goal number of lines that you must complete in order to clear the level. Clear the highest level and you win the game. Second, the "infinite spin" has been replaced by the "five-second spin." When a piece lands on a surface, you can still rotate it and slide it around the surface as obstacles permit. In other incarnations of Tetris, you could keep rotating as long as you like, but in this one, your piece locks into place after about five seconds. Some of these changes may be welcomed, while some omissions will be mourned, and it's a shame that this version does not strive for the comprehensiveness that Tetris deserves. Giving players options like hiding the preview window or playing until their fingers fail could have made this the definitive version instead of just another entry.

Yet this entry is packed with plenty of Tetris content to enjoy, so even if you've played the puzzle classic to death on some other platform, there's something to entice you back in this version. From smart variations that play off the core mechanics of the game to a bevy of competitive and cooperative options, there's a lot to enjoy, and the core action is still wonderfully addictive. Though the presentation doesn't take full advantage of the wide screens many people will be playing the game on, and there are some structural oversights, $US9.99 is a good price for the countless hours you can spend in the mesmerizing rhythm of Tetris. Unless you're utterly burned out on line-clearing and piece-dropping, it's time to set a high score, brag about it to your dad, then go to sleep and dream of L-pieces while he loses sleep trying to beat you.

Via GameSpot US.

• Tetris Party Deluxe
• Halo: Reach
• Call of Duty: Black Ops
• Topfield TRF7160

• Great visuals are both invigorating and informative
• Wide breadth of dance complexity
• Helpful training mode
• Hard to resist dancing along with your friends.

• Weird photo functionality.

Dance video games are not a new phenomenon, but the full-body tracking capabilities of the Kinect have created a new controller-and-mat-free opportunity for the genre to strut its stuff. Enter Dance Central, a game that invites experienced move busters and reluctant rug cutters alike to stand up in front of their televisions and dance to a wide variety of popular songs. Dancing along to these songs is inherently fun, but it's also very satisfying to nail a tough routine or master a tricky move because you know the game is actually tracking your whole body. The large, expressive dancers and clue-laden flash cards give you all the visual information you need to learn and then master the routine. The broad spectrum of dance complexity also caters to players of all skill levels. As long as you are willing to shake what your momma gave ya and aren't worried about a little perspiration, Dance Central can light your living room up like Saturday night at the dance hall.

One thing that makes Dance Central so appealing is how easy it is to play. You start up the game, pick a song, and then mirror the vibrantly animated performer onscreen as you dance through the song-specific routine. Helpful flash cards scroll up the side of the screen and tell you what move is coming next, and there's even a small window where you can watch your silhouette in action. The whole display is so lively and communicative that it's easy to get drawn into the action and forget that - to any onlookers - you might look kind of silly. In fact, the music and visuals create such an infectious dance vibe that any onlookers will likely be tempted to join in the routine themselves. Even though the game only tracks one player at a time, anyone can dance along, providing they don't obstruct the primary player. Dance Central is one of the rare games that encourages and enables multiplayer action without requiring any extra profile sign-in or peripherals. This makes it a very welcoming and social experience, but it's not without a few barriers.

Firstly, you need space to stand up and move around without bumping into things. Many moves require side-to-side or front-to-back movement, and though you can tone your own movements down to take up less room, you still need more than a few square feet. Secondly, you need to be willing to sweat. Dance Central is an aerobic game that engages your whole body and will likely elevate your heart rate. Some may consider this (and the optional calorie counter) a benefit, while others may not be up for it. Performing more than a few songs in a row is definitely an athletic activity, which makes social Dance Central gatherings somewhat less casual than those featuring other rhythm games.

Fortunately, the game does not track your hair colour. (Credit: GameSpot)

Anyone who has played other rhythm games will be familiar with the scoring system in Dance Central. You earn points for busting moves correctly, and your overall performance is graded on a five-star scale. The Kinect tracks your whole body very well, covering a diverse range of motion, and the game even gives you partial credit for moves you don't completely nail. You also get some helpful feedback from the dancer you are mirroring: if one or more of the dancer's body parts flash red, you know that part of your body is out of sync. Dance Central strikes a nice balance by tracking you closely enough to make it rewarding to nail a move, but not so closely that one errant hip sway is going to ruin your routine.

You can't fail out of a dance or do so poorly that the music suffers, so it's easy to just keep bopping along even if you flub a given section (or every section). Dance Central wants you to have fun dancing, so there is no punishment for having two left feet. The 32-song setlist features a good variety of dance styles from multiple decades, though the focus is clearly on songs that could play in a dance club. The routines range from simple and straightforward to complex and vigorous, and each song's routine comes in three different versions: easy, medium, and hard. The first time you play any song, the medium and hard routines are locked, which keeps you from getting overwhelmed with complex and varied moves. This three-tiered difficulty system not only adds further layers of challenge and accessibility, but it also creates a sense of progress within each song. Moving up the difficulty levels as you become more and more comfortable with a song makes you feel like you are mastering the routine, which makes it all the more satisfying when you deliver a five-star performance.

If just dancing your way through the routine isn't enough to propel you on the road to mastery, the exceedingly helpful Break It Down mode is the place to go. In this mode, you are accompanied by a disembodied trainer voice that guides you through the moves in a given routine section by section. If you nail a move on the first try, you progress to the next move. If you don't quite get it, you are prompted to try it a few more times before moving on, and you can even slow down the music to really help you master the movements. This repetition is a helpful learning tool, though it may sometimes make you wish you could just get on with it already, and it's definitely better suited for solo play. Yet, even if you aren't mastering every move as you go, Break It Down mode never grinds to a halt by forcing you to achieve perfection. Practicing not only helps you perform better physically, but it also hones your ability to take cues from the flash cards so you can better anticipate what is coming next.

Dance Central doesn't have a career mode to speak of, though there are unlockable characters, outfits, venues and challenges. There are also leaderboards and a persistent ranking to track your progress, as well as a Dance Battle mode for those interested in some living room competition. You can battle on any song, alternating sections and striving to outscore your opponent. It's also worth noting that there are freestyle sections in each song that encourage you to cut loose and show off your own moves. During these sections, the screen turns into a psychedelic rainbow and the Kinect rapidly takes pictures of you, which it then displays in a quasi-animated slideshow before the normal routine resumes. Because the photos seem irregularly timed and the slideshow plays random snippets in forward and reverse, these sections feel more suited to just doing weird stuff in front of the camera than actually trying to record some legit moves. The game also seems to grab photos during your routine that you don't end up seeing, which is a little weird, but you can always disable photos in the menu if you so choose.

Practise makes perfect, but the red glow around his arms means you aren't quite there yet. (Credit: GameSpot)

Though Dance Central isn't the first dance video game on the block, it boasts moves that no other can manage. From a tech standpoint, the full-body tracking system is not only novel, but it also provides great feedback to help you hone your skills. The slick dancer animations draw you into the game, and the flashy effects that kick in when you're doing well are a nice touch. Perhaps most importantly, the broad difficulty spectrum and the intuitive visual prompts mean the only barrier to entry is your own willingness to break a sweat and risk looking less than dignified. Dance Central may not offer much beyond the opportunity to stand up and dance in front of your television, but this is one invitation you shouldn't turn down.

Via GameSpot.

• Live action camera puts you on the screen
• Dancers are very well animated
• Some impressive routines.

• No teaching tools for novice dancers
• Character models sometimes blend into the background
• Routines can be very challenging
• Obscure track list.

Though video games have encouraged players to get up in front of their televisions and dance for many years now, the arrival of the Kinect heralds a new controller-free era of movement. And while DanceEvolution doesn't quite take full advantage of the Kinect's full-body tracking capabilities, it does offer plenty of opportunities to dance up a storm in your living room. The game challenges you to match poses, movements and hand positions while dancing to a variety of club, hip-hop, and pop songs. Unfortunately, it doesn't do much to help you learn the brisk routines, and this can leave you feeling like you're just flailing instead of actually dancing. The live video feature that projects your image onscreen among the back-up dancers is a novel source of amusement, but DanceEvolution is better suited to dedicated move busters than casual two steppers.

Somehow, the idea of disco in hell seems oddly fitting. (Credit: GameSpot)

DanceEvolution may be all about dancing, but the way it tracks your movements is more video game than dance class. As the main dancer performs onscreen, you are meant to mimic his or her motions. However, the game only scores you in relation to the large visual cues onscreen. These include target circles for your hands, green splashes for your footsteps, sweeping arcs that you must trace, and silhouette poses that you must match. These cues appear shortly before you have to match them, which gives you just enough time to get into place. There is a thorough tutorial that familiarises you with all the possible visual cues, but this is the only teaching tool you will find in DanceEvolution. The first time you perform a routine, you're usually shuffling along and flinging your body into place to match the cues as they appear. Repeat performances make it easier to keep up, and soon enough, you may find yourself dancing confidently and having a good time.

Though repeating songs will likely improve your skills, it would have been nice to have some help along the way. Many of the routines are full of quick turns and brisk movements, so less agile players may have a tough time keeping up. More skilled dancers can bump the difficulty level up, but this only increases the speed and frequency of the visual cues; the dance routines remain the same. Though the dancers are very well animated and some of the moves look really cool, the character models aren't very large relative to the backgrounds, and they sometimes struggle to stand out from the scenery. It also doesn't help that the DanceEvolution's tracklist is full of songs that most folks have probably never heard of or danced to before (including artists such as D-crew and Naoki Maeda, a producer on the Dance Dance Revolution series). Some songs provide catchy dance beats, while other tend to grate on the ears, but overall, the setlist does a fair job of providing a variety of dance experiences within its self-designated pop, club, para para, old-school, and R&B/hip-hop genres.

The challenging routines and lack of instructive tools make DanceEvolution better suited to skilled dancers than novices, but there is one novel feature that everyone can enjoy (or turn off). Using the Kinect's camera, DanceEvolution can capture and project your image on the screen so you see yourself dancing among the back-up dancers. It's not a very high-resolution image, but watching your moves appear on the TV has a lot of goofy appeal. You can choose from a number of silly masks to stick on your face and can even save videos of yourself so that the next time you perform that song, your saved video will show you as yet another back-up dancer. You can save two recordings per song, combining with your live video to put three versions of you on screen at one time. Layering your performances is very cool, and though the opportunities for humour are fun to explore, seeing your previous performances can also help you get better at performing a given routine.

Who let that pumpkin-headed goon into our dance crew? (Credit: GameSpot)

DanceEvolution also has online multiplayer that ostensibly lets you share the dance floor with up to three other players online, but we weren't able to find a match after days of trying. You can get a friend to dance alongside you, providing you have ample living room space, and this kind of performance game is always more fun with other players. DanceEvolution isn't the most welcoming dance game out there, and it certainly doesn't have the best soundtrack, but many of the complex dance routines are pretty impressive. If you have the patience and skill to learn them, you'll be rewarded with a sweaty sense of satisfaction. If you aren't so dedicated, then you'll probably tire of the game shortly after the novelty of the live action camera wears off. Though there are better video game dance opportunities available, heading out onto the floor with DanceEvolution is still good for a few kicks.

Via GameSpot.

• Diverse, exciting song list
• New mechanics let you exert some creative control
• Party Play mode sets a relaxed, social tone

• Turntables are still a bit pricey

Last year, DJ Hero charted a new course in the rhythm genre by letting you tap, scratch and crossfade along with uniquely energetic songs, creating what proved to be a very entertaining experience. DJ Hero 2 improves on its predecessor across the board, offering an even better collection of songs, creative new gameplay mechanics, a slick new interface and expanded online competition. There are even some new ways to play the game, though the ability to be scored on vocal tracks takes a backseat to the excellent Party Play mode that lets you enjoy the music and the game in a relaxed, social environment. Cutting it up with the turntable peripheral is not only more enjoyable but also more affordable with DJ Hero 2, thanks to more-reasonable-than-last-year pricing that lowers the barrier of entry. Though it is still a bit pricey for newcomers, DJ Hero 2 justifies its price tag, not only because the music is so good, but also because the game is so relentlessly fun to play.

Plug in a USB microphone and you can sing while you spin. (Credit: GameSpot)

The core gameplay of DJ Hero 2 remains largely the same. Using a plastic turntable peripheral, you play along to a song that is a mix of two different tracks. You tap buttons, crossfade between tracks and hold buttons while moving the platter (the circular platform) to scratch. As you move up the gentle difficulty curve, your actions get more and more closely attuned to the flow of the song. An isolated tap at the beginning of a phrase becomes a series of taps that follow the beat throughout the section and your crossfading evolves from intermittent slides to bouncing rhythmic bumps that more actively correspond with the mix. DJ Hero 2's set list is so good that practically every song will have you dancing in your seat. But when your movements are synchronised with the music, you feel like you're helping craft the mix yourself and you enjoy the experience that much more.

DJ Hero 2 takes this feeling of participation and builds on it, giving you some concrete creative control in certain sections of each mix. Freestyle scratch sections function much like normal scratch sections, only instead of merely moving the platter and triggering pre-recorded scratch audio, the music conforms to your actions. You can use short, darting movements to scratch along to the beat or use longer, slower scratches to get a little funkier. These sections are much more engaging than normal scratches because you gain the satisfaction of putting your mark on the mix. Freestyle crossfade sections allow you to be even more creative, giving you control of the balance between the two mixed tracks. Jabbing into one track to create a pulsating beat, bouncing between tracks to highlight certain lyrics, or sticking with one track for all but a few key moments are just some of the ways you can alter these sections to your liking. Of course, your results may not always sound cool, especially if you are trying to keep up with a challenging mix. Fortunately, there are segmented bars in the display that show you good places to cut in and out of a given track. These creative sections heighten the excitement of playing along with a great mix and the satisfaction you get from scratching out a sweet rhythmic pattern or deftly crossfading at just the right moment is novel and invigorating.

There are a few other gameplay tweaks that enrich the DJ Hero 2 experience, like held notes that are an interesting inversion of the scratch sections and sound samples that are uniquely tailored to each mix. You can also be scored for singing along with the mixes if you have a USB microphone (the guitar mixes from DJ Hero have been cut), but until you know the mix well, it isn't all that fun. Though the singing evaluation doesn't feel as slick as in other games, it works just fine and it can actually be fun to sing along to mixed-up versions of songs you like once you are familiar with the mix. You can play through all the mixes in Empire mode (read: career mode), which lets you unlock new music and customisation options for your in-game DJ. Most sets in Empire mode feature two to four songs, some of which are strung together in a cohesive mega-mix that keeps you playing longer and feels more like a proper DJ set. There are also battles against other DJs, both fictional and real, which test your ability to outperform them in certain sections of a given mix. Deadmau5, Tiesto and others lend their likenesses and mixes to DJ Hero 2, infusing the game with a more modern club feeling, as opposed to the more hip-hop-oriented DJ Hero.

Online multiplayer is a great addition. (Credit: GameSpot)

Playing through Empire mode's themed sets is a fun way to explore the great musical catalogue and unlock more songs, thanks in part to the slick and appealing new menu system. You can also play mixes and tailor set lists to your liking in Quickplay or take a more casual approach in Party Play. In this mode, the game simply plays mixes and accompanying videos without stopping. You can jump in with the press of the button, play for as long as you like and drop out easily. You can enjoy the lively music without imposing the pressure of performance on anyone in particular, making it a great way to introduce the game to a social situation. If you do like a bit of pressure with your performance, then the new online competitive modes are a good outlet. These modes include simple score battles, section-by-section competition and an intriguing one in which you must tally the longest streak you can. The trick here is that you have to press a button to bank your streak or it won't count. Banking resets your streak counter back to zero, so you have to weigh the risk of striving for a higher streak against the value of banking what you already have. There is also a persistent ranking system that tallies your progress, which is a nice touch that makes you feel like you're earning something for your troubles, even if you don't win the match.

DJ Hero 2 is offered as a stand-alone game this year (AU$89.99) for those who already have a turntable, though there are a few bundles available, including a game and turntable bundle (AU$299.99) that is a more reasonably priced point of entry to the series than last year's bundle. The cost to newcomers may seem high, but DJ Hero 2 justifies its price tag. Most of the 83 mixes are a blast to listen to, let alone play and DJ Hero 2 really brings them to life with gameplay mechanics that create an invigorating connection between you and the music. It lets you enjoy the infectious soundtrack in a wide variety of ways, from casual to challenging, building on the electrifying fun of its predecessor to create one of the most exhilarating experiences available in the world of rhythm games.

Via GameSpot

• DJ Hero
• Guitar Hero 5
• Band Hero
• Beaterator (PSP)

It may take some Pro mode practice to be able to rock out like you used to, but at least you don't have to do it on your own.(Credit: GameSpot)

One of the best ways to enjoy Rock Band 3 is the same way you've been enjoying Rock Band for years - get a bunch of friends together and rock out using two guitars, a drum set and up to three microphones (thanks to the inclusion of vocal harmonies). Though only four profiles can be signed in at once, up to seven people can play at the same time using the aforementioned instruments and the new keyboard peripheral. Playing songs in Quickplay is an easy way to get things rocking and it's now even easier thanks to new song sorting options, built-in set-lists from developer Harmonix and the ability to download user-created setlists. You can also take on one of the many Road Challenges, which are like segmented versions of the World Tour that appeared in previous Rock Band games. These short tours string together a few set lists and feature bonus goals that give you extra credit for feats like deploying overdrive or accumulating long note streaks. Road Challenges nicely harness the progression-oriented appeal of a career mode and neatly avoid the rigidity of previous World Tours, creating a great blend of structure and flexibility.

Regardless of which mode you are playing, your performance earns you progress toward a bevy of overarching goals that reward you for a wide variety of accomplishments. Some are simple, like visiting the downloadable music store and others are more challenging, like playing a 500-note streak. Some can be accomplished in the span of one song (hit 100 percent of the notes in a solo), while others take much longer (earn a career score of 5 million points). Completing goals can earn you fans for your band and gear for your character, as well as bragging rights on the online leaderboards. Almost every performance can earn you some sort of progress and it's pleasantly satisfying to finish a set-list and watch the fans roll in.

Aside from refining and improving the familiar Rock Band experience, Rock Band 3 supports a new instrument peripheral to bolster your band. The sold-separately keyboard (AU$138, but there are currently very few on stock in Australia) gives you a chance to tickle the ivories along with some excellent songs and offers two distinct ways to play. In straightforward Keys mode, you use only five white keys and the note highway looks just like that of a guitar or bass. This mode is a great way to cut loose on the keyboard, especially if you've attached a strap in order to rock out keytar-style. The one-button-per-finger ratio also makes it arguably the easiest instrumental entry point into the series for those who haven't cut their teeth on a guitar or drum set.

Customising your rocker is still an entertaining pastime. (Credit: GameSpot)

If you want to take on a more serious challenge, you can also play the keyboard in Pro mode. Here, you use both white and black keys across the 25-key peripheral to play parts that more closely mimic what it is like to actually play a given song. Just like when you play another instrument, Pro Keys has a difficulty scale that allows you to ease into it. There are also extensive lessons that cater to all levels of players, teaching things ranging from simple scales all the way up through chords and arpeggios. The lessons are clearly and logically delivered, offering novice keyboardists plenty of room to work on their skills. Those with experience playing actual keyboards or pianos are also advised to check out some of the lessons in order to familiarise themselves with the way Rock Band 3 handles the instrument. Though the vertically scrolling note highway does a good job of visually representing the notes, it is unlike any other music reading experience you are likely to have had. Furthermore, you may have to resist your hand positioning instincts in order to get comfortable with the keyboard. Yet though Pro Keys probably won't earn you a spot in a real band, it cultivates dexterity and musical sensibility in a concrete, transferable way that was previously accessible only for Rock Band drummers. And once you get the hang of it, it makes rocking out feel a whole lot cooler.

There is also a Pro Drums mode that incorporates cymbals that you can attach to your drum set. These offer the opportunity to play the already-legit drums in a more engaging, challenging and legitimate way, but you have to buy the cymbals (US$39.99 - not sold via retail in Oz) if you want to indulge your inner Neil Peart. The peripheral required for Pro Guitar also involves a hefty additional investment, but the excellent training lessons will help teach you dexterity and core concepts that apply to real-world guitar playing. Actual guitarists face a similar learning curve to actual keyboardists because they must get accustomed to reading musical notation the Rock Band 3 way and, at least until the compatible stringed guitar is released, contend with a not-quite-the-real-thing peripheral. The expensive guitar peripheral (US$150, not on sale locally yet) replaces strings with more than 100 tiny plastic buttons, and it can be tricky to find your place in the sea of little nubs. Still, it allows you to play Rock Band using actual guitar fingerings and the note highway does an impressive job of communicating a lot of information in an intelligible way.

Everyone's gotta start somewhere. (Credit: GameSpot)

Though these Pro modes come with an extra cover charge, they offer something truly unique in the realm of rhythm games: a way to turn time spent with Rock Band into skills that can help you learn to play an actual instrument. Practising chords over and over again may not be as unabashedly fun as ripping into an intense solo with only five fret buttons to worry about, but the thrill of building some musical skills definitely provides some strong satisfaction. Yet even if you don't invest in the brave new world of Pro mode, Rock Band 3 is still an excellent game that provides the best platform yet for plastic living-room rock. A slick menu system ties it all together, making it easy to swap around difficulty levels, instruments and even profiles without having to back out to the main menu. It seamlessly incorporates all your downloaded or imported tracks and pipes in leaderboard info to fuel the competitive fire within. Rock Band 3 not only introduces new and exciting things to the world of rhythm games, but it does almost everything better than those that have come before it. When it comes to accessible, inventive and immensely entertaining music video games, nobody does it better than Rock Band 3.

Via GameSpot

• Guitar Hero 5
• Green Day: Rock Band
• Rock Band 3
• The Beatles: Rock Band

The single-player campaign is set largely during the 1960s and takes you to Cold War hot spots like Cuba, Russia and Vietnam. You are an elite covert operative and your globe-trotting adventures form pieces of a puzzle - a puzzle that your mysterious captors are trying to put together by interrogating you. Each excursion into the field is a memory and these missions slowly come together to build momentum as each interrogation cutscene puts another piece of the puzzle in place. It's not a very original mechanic, but it gives a coherent context to the action and a few strong characters and dramatic moments give the story some genuine intrigue. The blurry edges of your consciousness conceal information that must come to light and the erratic visual effects and eerie audio echoes that accompany your interrogations sometimes bleed into your mission memories, which creates a great tone of uncertainty that plays out in surprising and satisfying ways.

Your interrogation-fuelled flashbacks are not beholden to the linear flow of time, allowing your missions cover a wide variety of geography and gameplay. A dramatic breakout from a brutal Soviet prison is one early highlight and later missions feature frontline conflicts, urban firefights and mountainous incursions. The environments are richly detailed and though the campaign is not without a few technical hiccups (like occasionally problematic checkpoint markers and the odd teleporting ally), these moments aren't likely to hinder your enjoyment. In addition to the on-foot action, you use a number of vehicles to achieve your objectives. Some put you in the gunner's seat while others put you behind the wheel, and though the vehicle handling is unremarkable, the thrill of blowing stuff up and speeding through hostile terrain is undeniable. The core running-and-gunning mechanics remain as exciting as ever and the gameplay variety throughout the campaign keeps the action moving at a great clip.

You're gonna need a bigger knife. (Credit: GameSpot)

Though the campaign is a rip-roaring good time, it clocks in at a mere six hours long. The mode that will likely keep you coming back to Black Ops for months to come is, unsurprisingly, the competitive multiplayer. At its core, this is the familiar top-notch Call of Duty action that players have been enjoying for years. You earn experience for doing well in battle and as you level up, you gain access to new and powerful ways to customise your loadouts. New weapons and maps freshen things up and one of the new killstreak rewards - an explosive-laden remote-control car &mdash is a delightfully deadly device that embodies the frantic, slightly goofy side of virtual online combat. The key new element, however, is currency. In addition to earning experience for your battlefield performance, you earn Call of Duty points, which you can then spend in a variety of ways. Most perks, weapon attachments, killstreaks and equipment items are available early on, providing you shell out the points to equip them. Guns are still unlocked as you level up, but again, you have to pony up the points to put one in your loadout. Customisation options like face paint, player card backgrounds and the new create-your-own-icon tool are all accessed by spending points. Having to pay your way gives you more loadout options at lower required levels than in previous Call of Duty games and the fact that points are so crucial to improving your arsenal makes them just as sublimely satisfying to earn as experience points.

Call of Duty points also enable two cool new mechanics, the first of which is contracts. These are like the many multiplayer challenges that reward you with experience points for completing combat goals, only you have to pay to complete them. If you do so within the allotted time period, you receive a tidy payout. For example, if you pay 50 points for the stab-a-guy-in-the-back contract and make good, you'll earn 100 points for your troubles. If time expires before you get stabby, you're out 50 points. Tougher contracts cost more, but they also have bigger payouts (get five headshots without dying, cost: 250 points; payout: 3500 points and 3500 experience). You can have up to three contracts active at a time across three different categories and the available contracts change regularly, potentially ensuring a good amount of variety as the weeks pass. Contracts offer a nice incentive version of challenges and can give you something fun to strive for if you get in a rut, but don't expect these small gambles to make you rich.

If contracts are gambling against the house, then wager matches are gambling against other players. In these matches, you pay an entrance fee of 10, 1000 or 10,000 points, depending on how deep your pockets are and then you get to play the most unique game modes that Black Ops has to offer. One mode gives you progressively better weapons for each kill you tally, while another gives you a pistol with one bullet and only three lives to live. At the end of the match, the pot is split proportionally among the top three finishers and everyone else comes away empty handed. Wager matches are as exotic as Call of Duty multiplayer gets and they offer a great change of pace to the familiar frantic firefights.

And for those who hanker for something completely different, the popular four-player cooperative zombie-killing mode that debuted in Call of Duty: World at War has returned. The fight to stay alive against wave after wave of shambling undead is still a tense and bizarre endeavour and new maps and playable characters take the oddball humour of the situation to a whole new level. Nevertheless, at its core, this is the same frenzied action as found in its predecessor and each play-through quickly begins to feel much like the last. This is the only proper cooperative mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops, supporting four players online.

There are two new modes that help make Black Ops the most fully featured Call of Duty game yet. Combat Training simulates a competitive multiplayer environment with AI opponents and allows you to set the enemy difficulty to match your skill level. You gain experience and unlock gear in the same way and though this progress only applies within Combat Training, it's a great way to get the excitement and challenge of competitive multiplayer without submitting to the vicious predations of actual humans. The other new mode is the Theater, which lets you view replays of your games, take screenshots and edit clips to share with the community. You can string together a number of different segments from a given game and even render a video lasting up to 30 seconds for upload to the web, though the rendering feature is not fully functional at launch. Reliving moments - both glorious and shameful - is a lot of fun, and the community has already started cranking out content for your viewing pleasure. And though it may only apply to a small percentage of the population at this point, you can also play Call of Duty: Black Ops in stereoscopic 3D, providing you have the proper cables, required glasses and a compatible monitor. The effect is novel and fairly intriguing, though it takes a significant mental adjustment and may not be comfortable for many players.

Causing mayhem with a mini-gun is marvellous. (Credit: GameSpot)

While it may not take the signature Call of Duty action to dizzying new heights, Black Ops is a thoroughly excellent game. New modes and mechanics give a jolt of energy to the lively competitive multiplayer and the engrossing new campaign develops into one of the best in the series. Combat training allows anyone to enjoy the thrills of arena combat and the satisfaction of levelling up and the opportunities for cooperative play, local competition and community video creation provide even more outlets for entertainment. Call of Duty: Black Ops lives up to the top-notch pedigree that the series has earned, giving players an awesome new shooter to enjoy just in time for the holidays.

Via GameSpot

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Call of Duty: World at War
• Medal of Honor
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II