Best Video Games By SETH SCHIESEL

The New York Times
Printer Friendly Format Sponsored By

November 25, 2008
Best Video Games By SETH SCHIESEL

In these challenging economic times, it may come as a surprise that a well-chosen video game can be one of the most cost-effective gifts possible. Sure, the $60 price tag on some top games can be daunting, but when you realize that the right one can wrangle dozens or even hundreds of hours out of the right player, games can start to look like the smart entertainment investments they are.

Here are some of the best games of the year, each of which could be the perfect gift for the right person. The shrewd will notice no sports or music games on this list. That is because those are easier to shop for: pick the desired sport or tunes and go.
Amazon
GRAND THEFT AUTO IV

DVD
Ideal audience: well-adjusted adults who want to explore a rich, intelligent, politically incorrect digital rendition of New York City. As long as you can accept that a great work of modern entertainment can revolve around criminals — something long assumed in television and films — then it is almost impossible to deny that G.T.A. IV is one of the most compelling games in recent years. The driving and shooting is fun, but the real star of the game is the city itself, rendered with a loving sense of decay and populated with perhaps the best cast of dysfunctional characters to grace a pixel. For Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 (PC version coming in December). Rating: M for Mature.
Amazon
SID MEIER’S CIVILIZATION REVOLUTION

Ideal audience: families interested in fostering an appreciation of both global history and strategic thinking; also, commuters looking to upgrade from Tetris. Civilization is the top strategy franchise in the history of video games. With Revolution the series moves beyond PCs and arrives on consoles and the hand-held Nintendo DS. The premise remains the same: guide a historical culture from the dawn of history to the space age. Nothing feels better than dominating Genghis Khan and Napoleon at the same time. For Xbox 360, PS3 and DS. Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10 and older.
Amazon
WARHAMMER ONLINE

Video Game
Ideal audience: massively multiplayer online gamers who cannot satisfy their bloodlust in World of Warcraft. Don’t get me wrong; like more than 10 million other people, I love World of Warcraft. But great games can stand some competition, and Warhammer Online, the new online version of the decades-old British fantasy universe, provides it. Warhammer employs many conventions from Warcraft but gives them a new twist in a game that focuses largely on player-versus-player combat, rather than on battling computer-controlled foes. For PC. Rating: T for Teen.
Amazon
WII FIT

Ideal audience: couch produce of all ages. Nintendo’s best game of the year is not really a game. It’s a light exercise system meant to take just a few calories off. The most surprising thing: it works. For Wii. Rating: E for Everyone.
Amazon
LITTLEBIGPLANET

Video Game
Ideal audience: aspiring game designers and anyone else with excellent eye-hand coordination. Th breakout title this year for Sony’s PlayStation 3, LittleBigPlanet is in some ways as close to YouTube as games have come. In its essence it is merely a “platformer”: you navigate your little beanbag character mostly by running and jumping. The secret sauce is that the game allows users to create their own levels and share them easily with other players online. Rating: E.
Amazon
DEAD SPACE

Ideal audience: people who like being scared. Dead Space is a straight-ahead science fiction survival-horror experience. You, the player, are trapped on a spooky spaceship with a horde of space zombies who want to eat you, or turn you into one of them, or something. You wade through them while engaging in what is charmingly referred to as “strategic dismemberment.” For what it is, though, Dead Space is both conceived and executed at a high level. For Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Rating: M.
Amazon
FALLOUT 3

Video Game
Ideal audience: old-school role-playing gamers and anyone who wants to see Washington in ashes. The return of the classic Fallout series is a sprawling re-creation of the Capitol area after a nuclear war. The tone is darker and less slyly humorous than previous Fallout games, but the sheer size and ambition of the game impress. For Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Rating: M.
Amazon
PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE CURIOUS VILLAGE

Ideal audience: puzzle fans. One of the sleepers of 2008, Professor Layton ties together more than 100 beautifully designed brainteasers with an endearing anime-style story. The puzzles themselves are perfectly intelligible to nongamers. For Nintendo DS. Rating: E.
Amazon
GEARS OF WAR 2

Ideal audience: testosterone-fueled core gamers who like chain saws. When you think about the stereotypical video game, this is what you’re thinking about: big guns, voracious alien bad guys, great graphics, huge explosions, cardboard-cutout characters, silly dialogue and cheap thrills all around. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. For Xbox 360. Rating: M.
Amazon
FABLE II

Video Game
Ideal audience: emotionally mature children and most fans of delicate entertainment design. This game is rated M not because it is especially violent or profane. It is rated M because in between casting spells and swinging swords you can have children, you can get married (and have affairs if you choose), and you can buy condoms. Shocking, I know. For children who are comfortable with the basic facts of life, there is no reason not to share Fable II. It’s a wonderful game on its own, and it beats handing a child a virtual machine gun. For Xbox 360.