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Best of the rest

Brian D. Crecente, Special to the Rocky

Published September 7, 2007 at midnight

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Don’t put away your credit card just yet. Twenty other games coming out before Christmas:

• Enemy Territories Quake Wars (PC, PS3, Xbox 360): This multiplayer online game blends the best of a first-person shooter with real-time strategy, allowing you to build radar, anti-aircraft guns, base jump or just run around and shoot people.

• Beowulf ( PC, PS3, Xbox 360): Based on the upcoming CGI movie, this game uses the same graphics engine used to create ultra-realistic shooter Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and the developers had full access to the movie assets.

• Guitar Hero 3 (PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360): Rock Band might give you four times as many instruments, but don’t count out the original guitar-peripheral rhythm game. Tighter controls and an enormous fan-base make for an interesting rock-off.

• Army of Two (PS3, Xbox 360): This shooter forces you to play cooperatively either with an AI partner or a friend as a modern mercenary.

• Crysis (PC): Unbelievable lush jungle settings and surprisingly detailed graphics set this first-person shooter apart from the rest.

• Assassin’s Creed (PC, PS3, Xbox 360): Set in 1191 during the Third Crusade, this third-person action game has you play as an assassin in a world that allows you to practice the art of parkour, pull off cinematic kills and try not to stand out too much. The robust artificial intelligence is one of the game’s chief selling points.

• Kane and Lynch: Dead Men (PC, PS3, Xbox 360): A third-person shooter with heavy cooperative play and an emphasis on tactics. But what really sets it apart are the leading men: an ex-mercenary and a heavily medicated psychopath.

• Haze (PS3): This asymmetric first-person shooter uses a clever plot and even more interesting gameplay mechanics to teach us about the dangers of a utopian society.

• SOCOM Confrontation (PS3): An online-only shooter based on the PlayStation’s incredibly popular SOCOM franchise that supports up to 32-player matches and destructible environments.

• Unreal Tournament 3 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360): The latest in one of the top first-person shooter franchises brings better graphics and the ability to create not only your own maps, but your own guns, characters and rules to the PlayStation 3. A first for consoles.

• God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP): Kratos’ first adventure on the handheld. This PSP adventure game wraps a riveting story line in brain-twisting puzzles, flashy combat and interesting plot twists.

• Universe at War: Earth Assault (PC, Xbox 360): A real-time strategy game that creates three distinct races that are so different from one another you might as well be playing three different games.

• World in Conflict (PC): A real-time strategy game that gives you control of a single element on the battlefield such as armor, infantry or artillery, forcing you to team up with other players to win the war.

• Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa (PC): A massively multiplayer online game from the father of the genre, this sci-fi adventure game promises to fix many of the things wrong with the bloated genre.

• Half Life 2: The Orange Box (PC, PS3, Xbox 360): This combo pack includes first-person shooter Half Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2 and Portal, making it the ultimate gift-pack for fans of any shooters.

• Zak and Wikki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure (Wii): A slick puzzle adventure game for the Wii that introduces a sense of whimsy to the console.

• Conan (PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360): Essentially God of War with Conan the Barbarian. It takes one of the best action games ever made and gives it a brutish character and interesting art style.

• Eye of Judgment (PS3): Takes traditional online trading-card games and adds an interesting virtual reality twist: The game comes with a high-def camera that captures the playing field and your real cards and then transmits it, through your PS3, to the television, giving life to the cards in amazing real-time 3-D animation.

• Sing Star (PS3): The best karaoke game on the planet, only North America doesn’t know it yet. Huge in Europe, the debut of this game on the PS3 adds the ability to download nearly any song with which you can sing along. You can also upload your best performances to the PS3’s leader boards.

• Folklore (PS3): Use the SIXAXIS motion controls to wrestle ghostly fairies in this game that feels like Pokemon for adults.