Fall video games sure to bring the fun

Action, adventures
After making many ports of games created by other developers, Quebec City’s Beenox is entirely responsible for the slick Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (September 7; Activision; PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii). This game features four different web slingers. Each from a different dimension, natch.

The magic in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (November 16; Ubisoft; PC, PS3, Xbox 360) is the multiplayer. It’s a cat-and-mouse game of assassination in which you start by identifying your target, who looks like all the other characters in the environment.

Screenshot from the kid favourite, Club Penguin.

Puzzles and platformers
Kid favourite Club Penguin—created and still headquartered in Kelowna—debuts on the Wii with Club Penguin Game Day! (September 7; Disney), a collection of mini games designed for families to play together. Penguins created on the Wii can be synchronized with on-line accounts at ClubPenguin.com.

Improved movement controls are one enhancement in Super Scribblenauts (October 12; Warner Bros.; DS). The other? The addition of an adjective system with 100,000 words to modify those nouns, so you can solve the 120 levels in even more wacky and varied ways.

The first LittleBigPlanet empowered players to create levels for the platforming game. In LittleBigPlanet 2 (November 16; Sony; PS3), gamers can create their own levels in various genres. So your friends can play your racing, puzzle, and even role-playing games.

Rhythm and music
DJ Hero 2 (October 19; Activision; PS3, Xbox 360, Wii) allows skilled mix masters to have more control over the freestyling aspects of the game. And you can plug in a second deck controller, pitting two DJs head-to-head.

One word about Rock Band 3 (October 26; MTV; PS3, Xbox 360, Wii): keytar.

A must-have Kinect title coinciding with the launch of the new Xbox 360 user interface on November 4 is Dance Central (MTV), which does for dancing what the developer, Harmonix, did for music games. The “Break It Down” mode will actually teach those with two left feet to boogie with the best.

Medal of Honor gets ultra-realistic.

Shooters
Halo: Reach (September 14; Microsoft; Xbox 360) is the final game in the storied franchise to be made by original developer Bungie. This game blends Halo 3’s epic scope with Halo 3: ODST’s refined character development.

Those wanting a more realistic military campaign can look to Medal of Honor (October 12; Electronic Arts; PC, PS3, Xbox 360), which is set in Afghanistan, and Call of Duty: Black Ops (November 9; Activision; PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii), which expands on 2008’s Call of Duty: World at War story line.

Fallout: New Vegas (October 19; Bethesda; PC, PS3, Xbox 360) takes place three years after 2008’s Fallout 3, but this isn’t a sequel. Set in a Las Vegas that is largely intact despite the nuclear devastation elsewhere, you play a courier who is shot in the head and left for dead.

Six years in production, Gran Turismo 5 is playable on a 3-D television.

Sports
EA Sports is where it’s at, with new versions of NHL 11 (September 7; PS3, Xbox 360) and NBA Elite 11 (October 5; PS3, Xbox 360). But the real excitement from EA Canada in Burnaby comes in the form of two Wii exclusives. NHL Slapshot (September 7) and NBA Jam (October 5) offer arcade-style sports action, and the hockey-stick controller is more fun than you’d expect.

The long-awaited Gran Turismo 5 (November 2; Sony; PS3), in development since about 2004, is finally set to be released. The racing sim’s delay means you’ll be able to play it on your 3-D television if you want.

Strategy and tactical
Sid Meier’s Civilization V (September 21; 2K; PC) improves on the classic strategy game by transforming the grid the game is played on from squares to hexagons. It’s a simple but significant change, one of many that makes this the best version of Civ yet.