By Matthew Scott Hunter
‘Medal of Honor’ (M)
Off target
***
Electronic Arts
Xbox 360
It’s surprising, and somewhat disappointing, that a game that’s generated as much controversy as “Medal of Honor” fails to stand out from the myriad other first-person shooters set in present day battlefields. The controversy stems from the game’s multiplayer, which allows players to fight as U.S. troops or as members of the Taliban (renamed “opposing forces” in reaction to the objections). Of course, the option to play as the enemy is nothing new to the usually WWII-set “Medal of Honor” series. If first-person shooters existed in 1944, there would’ve been similar griping about the option to play as Axis forces against Allied troops. But “Medal of Honor” offers plenty of other things to gripe about beyond sensitivity issues.
The Afghanistan-set single-player campaign occasionally feels too linear, placing you on a rigid path from one scripted event to the next, with a shooting gallery of adversaries in between. The combat itself feels fairly authentic, forcing you to stick to cover and pick enemies off one by one. Out in the open, you won’t last long. The multiplayer is a bit more frantic and offers a satisfying array of different weapons and landscapes. But “Medal of Honor’s” biggest problem is the same thing that plagued the last several entries in the series. When there were too many games about WWII, “Medal of Honor” was a WWII shooter, and now that the market is inundated with modern shooters, “Medal of Honor” has chosen to be that. And if it can’t be a significantly better version of that than “Modern Warfare” or “Bad Company,” then why bother?
‘Castlevania: Lord of Shadow’ (M)
****
Konami
Xbox 360
It appears the newest member of the whip-wielding Belmont family has been hanging out with “God of War’s” Kratos and “Shadow of the Colossus’” Wander, picking up some cool moves in the process. “Castlevania” games have had an uneven track record in the realm of 3D, so “Lords of Shadow” borrows (to put it charitably) elements from some of the best 3D action games ever made. The result has Gabriel Belmont dispatching smaller foes with slick combos before tackling — and scaling — mountain-sized bosses. It’s almost as fun as the games it rips off.
‘Wii Party’ (E)
*1/2
Nintendo
Wii
It’s pretty bad when Mario doesn’t bother showing up to his own party, and that’s essentially the situation in “Wii Party” — a “Mario Party” clone bereft of the colorful, Mushroom Kingdom characters. Stepping in for Mario and the gang are your bobble-headed Miis, who participate in the same asinine mini-games (like Wheel of Fortune and Bingo), which tend to reward luck rather than skill. Single-player is excruciating, forcing you to wait through the turns of multiple A.I. characters, but luring friends to suffer through the marginally better multiplayer would just be cruel.
‘Sid Meier’s Pirates!’ (E10+)
***
Atari
Wii
Once a brilliant sampling of life on the high seas, a console generation later, “Pirates!” is beginning to feel a bit soggy. Sailing and plundering other ships is still a blast, but many of the mini-games — particularly swashbuckling and ballroom dancing — quickly become repetitive. It doesn’t help that newly implemented and wildly unresponsive motion controls make these activities clumsier than playing “Dance Dance Revolution” with a peg leg. CV
