Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is the final chapter in the Metroid Prime trilogy for the Wii and let me say I was not a firm believer and thought it would end up as a rehash of the Metroid Prime version for the Gamecube, man was I wrong! The game pays it’s respects to the GC version both graphically and stylistically but takes it to the next level on the Wii.

Presentation and Graphics: Environments and enemies look sharp and detailed. Samus different visors look great and effects of the environment on the visor are great. Metroid Prime 3 sets the bar very high for anything looking to be developed on the Wii from here on out. MP3 and the Retro Studios crew deserve some kind of award and in my opinion have a legitimate shot at game of the year. 5 out of 5
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Big Brain Academy is a pretty well known franchise now with a lot of success on the Nintendo DS systems. With great success came a new successor for the big brother console, the Wii. Big Brain Academy: Wii degree is an interesting game to work out your mind with pint sized mini games in the same vain the DS did.

Presentation and Graphics: The visual style of the game is pretty basic, nothing awe inspiring to be seen here, but hen again the focus for this game is not 60 FPS blistering 3D graphics but the mind tantalizing mini games. 2.5 out of 5

Sound and Music: Sound and music are pretty basic, with most sound acting as a reward for doing something well or poorly. Think Pavlov’s effect using the Wiimote speaker. 2 out of 5
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Presentation and Graphics: Hockey games have the ability to look very good because the ice surface can really shine. NHL 08 may be the finest looking hockey game to date. At a very nice 1080i, the player models look outstanding. The faces are a little hard to see on account of the helmets, but they do make a very strong resemblance, especially the big names. EA games have always had easy to control menus and this game is no different. The goalie animation has been upped this year. The new uniforms really look superb with the new Reebok designs. The crowds also look really good. 4.25 of 5 Hit the jump for more…

Heavenly Sword is probably the biggest hyped game on the PS3 thus far. The game has an epic story and beautiful graphics, but does it live up the hype? After a few play throughs, I’m happy to say it does. Here is a breakdown of some of the facets of Heavenly Sword for the PS3:

Presentation and Graphics: Heavenly Sword is flat out beautiful. Period. The game runs at 720p natively and has hands down the best character modeling, especially facial details, or any game I’ve ever played. The motion capture for the game was headed up by Andy Serkis, who is most famous for playing Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies. Andy also served as the dramatic director on the game, and it definitely shows. The facial expressions and emotions shown by the characters really come through. When Nariko furrows her brow, you can tell she’s angry. The little details that Ninja Theory put in the characters really does an amazing job of drawing you into the game. The environments are equally as beautiful, with terrific draw distance in all areas. If you’re standing atop a cliff, you can see everything happening for miles. There are a few framerate issues which cause some screen tearing, but they are minimal. Otherwise, this is the most beautiful game on the PS3 to date. 4.5 of 5

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NBA 08 is the follow up to the PS3 first party launch title, NBA 07. The game looks to build upon what was started last year to take the game to the next level. But too many features were left out to bring it there. The game is pretty, but needs some depth to really compete in the basketball game market. Here is a breakdown of some of the facets of NBA 08 for the PS3:

Presentation and Graphics: NBA 08 runs at a blistering 60fps at full 1080p. Not many games can claim that honor, but Sony has made sure their NBA line looks top notch. There are, however, some clipping issues which prevent the graphics from being the best they can be. The details in the arenas and crowd this year are a huge step up, as are the player and uniform details. The game presents some really cool replays, but these seem vary sparse and only after a big dunk. I would have liked to have seem these occur more often, say with a big crossover to nice steal. The camera seems to stay too far away from the action, not giving you enough opportunity to find that tight passing line into the low post. 4 of 5

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Stranglehold could not have picked a worse time to be released. Between BioShock and Halo 3 is almost certainly suicide. Nevertheless, this is one of Gamefly’s most rented games. Does it deserve to be considered a top title of 2007?

Presentation and Graphics: Stranglehold has some incredible detail when it comes to the faces of the characters. This is almost and exact replica of Chow Yun Fat. Shooting a man in the face from afar never seemed so real. The level design varies a little. Sometimes there is incredible detail as in the Mega restaurant and other times as in the outdoor sea town, they seem generic. The destructible environments are a blast and enemies cover their face when shrapnel is near. There is not much to the menus; the design is creative but there is not much to do besides play the game. There is some DVD content stuff if you are really into John Woo. The animations are a little bland though. Enemies fall the same way everytime it seems. The enemies are also cookie cutter which takes away some style points. 4 of 5

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I honestly didn’t think it would happen, but Halo 3 is getting better reviews than BioShock. I didn’t think the single player campaign would have the chops to take down the underwater beast. But I was wrong.

According to Metacritic, Halo 3 has an average score of 97, with BioShock nipping at it’s heals with a 96. We haven’t thrown our review in the ring yet, but expect to hear some high scores from fierce Scuba on it.

With the Xbox 360 pulling in two games this Holiday with average scores over 95, could it put a lock on the winner of this console generation? Or is it too early in the life cycle to call? Could Halo 4 get even higher scores?

Mario Strikers Charged is another game in the sports franchise that Nintendo has built up, but now they take on Soccer or better known throughout the rest of the world, football. The usual suspects from the Mushroom Kingdom are all on hand, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, etc. to get a 5 on 5 soccer match going. Mario Strikers is also one of the first titles on the Wii that includes online play, which many gamers are foaming at the mouth for.

Presentation and Graphics: Visually this game is on par with everything else on this system, no overpowering displays of graphics here but the Mario characters all look good and capture their trademark sounds well. The cutscenes during the Mega Strike shots are cool to watch for the first few times and then you just wish you could skip through them. 3.5 of 5 Hit the jump for more…

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (a.k.a. GRAW 2) is the second in the series of Advanced Warfighter titles from Tom Clancy, this for the PS3 system. The battle yet again takes place in Mexico as Captain Scott Mitchell handles the task of battling insurgents and attempting to stop complete mayhem. Here is a breakdown of some of the facets of GRAW 2 for the PS3:

Presentation and Graphics: Like the previous titles, GRAW 2 continues with its trend of providing exceptional picture quality for all ranges and characters in the game. The HD 1080p 50″ TVs give an obvious edge over smaller ones, but you still won’t miss out on the action here. 4.8 of 5

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Warhawk is the first title for the PS3 to bridge the networking gap. You can buy the game either on Blu-Ray at retail stores or download the title from the PlayStation Network. That, in and of itself, makes this game revolutionary. But what about the game itself? Warhawk definitely stands up the challenge and could be the first real killer app for the PS3. Here is a breakdown of some of the facets of Warhawk for the PS3:

Presentation and Graphics: Warhawk is a very crisp looking game. Not the best graphics ever, but very good none the less. The game runs at 720p natively, and scales to 1080i for users with older HDTV sets. One of the biggest graphic features of Warhawk is the draw distance. You can clearly make out buildings and other landscaping details, opponents, and even moving turrets from the complete opposite side of the map. The clouds and water effects in the game are stunning as well. The water isn’t near the level of BioShock, but what else is? Framerate issues rarely (if ever) crop up during Warhawk, no matter the amount of people playing on a map at any given time. 4.5 of 5

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