Why is it so hard to make a decent video game? Let’s face it, a lot of the software released these days in the name of electronic amusement isn’t worth the effort it takes to lie on your couch and mash a button. But there’s that rare sweet spot where graphics, game play and storytelling come together to make a game work. These games hit it.
GOD OF WAR
Nothing musty about this classic. You play Kratos, a warrior roaming the world of Greek mythology and beating up on whoever gets in his way, using a fast, fancy, two-bladed fighting style amid huge, crashing, looming Clash of the Titans backdrops that give the action a dark, weighty, epic atmosphere. Keep an eye out for cameos by actual mythological celebs like Medusa, Poseidon and Ares, the titular war god. See? It’s even educational. (For PlayStation 2; $49.99)
DONKEY KONG JUNGLE BEAT
Give Nintendo credit: it will try anything to help you get your game on, and if that means hooking up a pair of bongo drums to a game console, so be it. Pound the skins to control a feisty ape that jumps, runs, flips and fights his way through a fantasy landscape. For primo side-scroller action, fast, fluid and nonstop, Jungle Beat is unbeatable. (For Nintendo GameCube; $54.99 with bongos, $39.99 without)
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K5
With baseball games, greatness lives in the details and the intangibles: the little cheering guys in the stands, the tautness of the pitcher-batter duels, the wonkish rotisserie-style team-management features, the disgust in the face of virtual Randy Johnson when you make him hang a high fastball. They’re all here. Take me out to the ball game? Why not stay in? (For PlayStation 2 and Xbox; $19.99)
STAR WARS REPUBLIC COMMANDO
There is nothing fluffy about this Star Wars game: no Jar Jar, no Ewoks and absolutely no smooching, just a bunch of grizzled space commandos kicking Geonosian butt (and several other species of butt) for the greater glory of the Republic. (It all takes place between Episodes II and III.) Game play combines hard-core first-person combat with some brainier tactical-squad-based action. If the past few movies didn’t have enough military edge for you, don’t worry, it’s all right here. (For PlayStation 2 and Xbox; $49.95)
THE MATRIX ONLINE
You may not be the One, but now you can play one of the countless other Zionistas who periodically slip into the Matrix to make life difficult for the nattily dressed software agents who infest it. This is a “massively multiplayer” game: you play it online, interacting with thousands of other players at the same time. The look and feel of the game are straight from the movies: eerie, surreal, strangely deserted cityscapes, ideally suited for rooftop chase scenes and wire-fu combat. Red pill sold separately. (For PC; $49.99, plus $14.99 a month)
–By Lev Grossman