Related articles:

This week's video game reviews

Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Health Care
Dependable Health Services
Physical Therapists Health Care
CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE
DIRECTOR OF HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (360, PS3, $59.99, Mature) — A World War II shooter with middling gameplay but strong between-mission story scenes and voice acting, "Hell's Highway" seems stuck in the past when compared with the likes of "Call of Duty 4" and "Gears of War." Nevertheless, it hooks you on a shrapnel-laden path.

As the leader of a squad of American troops, you try to work your way through the Dutch countryside to set up Operation Market Garden, an ultimately failed effort to capture bridges and allow Allied troops to cross the Rhine into Germany.

The game tries to get you to scout out maps and devise strategies to send troops to distract enemy encampments as you flank them from the side, but because your men are so ineffective, you'll end up doing most of the dirty work yourself.

At least there's a lot of beautiful scenery to take in as you're hunkered down behind a tractor, dodging shots from snipers on the second floor of a farmhouse. The lavishly detailed graphics make you feel like you're there, and the cover convincingly blows apart, inspiring tinges of despair as, say, an enemy destroys a wood fence you were hiding behind.

Teamwork-based online multiplayer offers the most replayability.

Fracture (360, PS3, $59.99, Teen) — A gimmicky third-person shooter, "Fracture" gives your futuristic warrior the power to raise and lower land. The ability comes in helpful to generating cover from enemy fire, as well as solving puzzles of how to get from one area to another.

Sometimes you'll need to lift parcels of land to reach a high point; other times you'll need to burrow underneath seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

The plot involves a divided United States in the year 2161, when floods and earthquakes have separated the east from the west. Rival armies have sided with world powers, and you play as a soldier who fights through the American West to take down a rogue general. Twelve-player online multiplayer helps keep things fresh, but the ground-moving mechanic isn't enough to distinguish the game in a crowded crop of shooters.

NBA 09: The Inside (PS3, PS2, PSP, $30-$60, Everyone) — Sony's annual entry into the hoops fray continues to evolve, with an enriched, story-driven mode that lets you create a player and guide him through the Development League, land a big-time contract and win championship rings.

"NBA 09" is the most ambitious of the three NBA games on the market, but still suffers from gameplay hiccups. Dunks tend to look choppy and unrealistic in their aftermath, and players sometimes seem to skate like hockey players rather than run with distinct weight shifts. The announcing is also bland.

Still, "NBA 09" is a rock solid hoops game that lets you live out your hardcourt fantasies.

NBA 2K9 (360, PS3, PS2, $30-$60, Everyone) — The king of the court still holds off all challengers, although the new version does little to push up the bar from years' past as competitors have made more significant improvements to close the gap.

This is still the most realistic and smooth-playing NBA game out there, and the game truly handles online play right, cramming it with options, tournaments and leagues galore. New modes allow you to edit highlights into reels which you can upload. You can also download the work of others and rate them.

Still, the best action is found on court. The emphasis is on strategy and defense rather than the blind run-and-gun that often works in the other titles.

NBA Live 09 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP, $30-$60, Everyone) — After struggling badly the past couple seasons, EA's "NBA Live" franchise laces up the high tops to take some significant steps forward. It's still the most problem-plagued of the three NBA games out there but you have to spend significant time with all three to notice any of the shortcomings.

Past "NBA Live" games were scattershot, almost button-mashing affairs, but this year there's more emphasis on nuance. A basketball academy helps you work on fast-break tactics, post moves and one-on-one skills. The academy works as an engaging side mode but the skills rarely translate to success in the game.

Daily, automatically-downloaded updates to rosters and players skills are a nice touch. "NBA Live 09" is a solid base on which to build.

Pure (360, PS3, $59.99, Everyone) — Disney tosses its hat into the off-road-racing ring with an impressive, arcadelike ATV title.

You motor through gorgeously detailed tracks, ridden with dust and mud, aiming for hills that will launch you into the air, where you can perform neck-risking tricks that fill up a meter at the bottom of the screen. As you pump more energy into the meter, flashier tricks become available. Or you can spend the energy on speed boosts to help you catch up after goofing off. Your trick tactics, rather than steering skills, determine your success.

"Pure" has a well-populated, skilled online following that makes it tough for newcomers, but getting humiliated by strangers only gives you more motivation to hone your skills against the computer.

Wipeout HD (PS3, $20, Everyone 10+) — Sony's trailblazing hovercraft-racing series slams on the throttle and pushes the needle to its farthest point yet.

The downloadable PlayStation 3 game takes everything that makes the series strong — its sense of speed, tight controls and intense multiplayer — and melds them into one definitive package. You blaze through cleverly designed tracks and need to tune your reflexes to steer through serpentine turns, picking up weapons and speed boosts along the way.

As you compete in time trials, tournaments and career modes, you rack up experience points that unlock new tracks and crafts. The action picks up online, where you can take on up to seven other racers in 12-race tournaments.