'Super Smash Bros. Brawl' will wow gamers

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"Super Smash Bros. Brawl"Platform: WiiGenre: FightingPublisher: NintendoESRB Rating: T, for TeenGrade: 5 stars out of 5Wow. Just wow.Rarely has a Wii game come with such expectations from hard-core Nintendo fans -- luckily, they will not be disappointed at all. Nearly perfect in all its glory, "Smash Bros." exemplifies everything that is right with the Wii and its desire to be an all-inclusive gaming experience.For those who have missed the brilliance of this franchise, in this fighting game you can pick characters from all over the Nintendo universe and duke it out.Link ("Legend of Zelda"), Donkey Kong, Seamus ("Metroid"), Kirby, Kid Icarus, Fox McCloud ("Star Fox"), even Solid Snake from "Metal Gear Solid" are available. It's amazing to see this many characters and different styles thrown together -- and we haven't even gotten to the fight levels.Battling the environments is probably even cooler. They are representations of the levels from the characters' own games, so you'll be in an eight-bit "Donkey Kong" level one moment and in a "Pictochat" setting the next. And, the levels are interactive, which means fresh, exciting game-play experiences every time.There's a single-player mode, but this game's true greatness is its ability to bring gamers of all ages and skill levels together in a beautifully visualized venture that never gets boring or repetitive."MLB 08: The Show"Platforms: PlayStation 3, PS2, PSPGenre: SportsPublisher: SonyESRB Rating: E, for EveryoneGrade: 3.5 starsSometimes what you really need in a baseball game is to just play baseball and have a good time. Sony sticks to the basics and focuses on improving the little things that make all the difference in a long season around the diamond.The main thrust of this franchise has been its Road to the Show mode, in which you guide a minor-leaguer to (hopefully) a Hall of Fame career in the majors. This mode has never produced much in the way of fun, but it's getting better.But in terms of game play, everything you want is here. More precision in pitching, clean fielding and the ease of swinging away when the moment is ripe to crush a game-changing homer. The graphics, sound and great commentary lift this game above the competition. If you just want to play some baseball and be entertained, then "MLB 08" is the title for you."MLB 2K8"Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PS2, PSPGenre: SportsPublisher: 2K SportsESRB Rating: E, for EveryoneGrade: 2.5 starsThe biggest upgrade in this year's edition is the new pitching system. In theory, it is a great addition -- but it doesn't take long to see bugs and glitches that hinder it, and keep it from being effective.The game uses the right analog stick to map your pitch motion, but rarely recognizes what you are trying to do properly. You make the motions for a curve, but the game thinks you want a fastball, and so it ends up being a meatball that gets crushed over the wall. Before long, you will probably abandon the system altogether and go back to pressing buttons to pitch.Hitting is a different matter; it saves the new right stick system. Making contact is much easier than it was on last year's version, and being able to shape hits to different parts of the field allows strategy to come into play. Fielding the ball is awful tricky, and it's funny to the point of silly to watch so many guys run into each other or fail to get up from a dive.At times it seems that "MLB 2K8" is driven by an overwhelming desire for realism, and sacrifices plain old fun in return. It should be lauded for the attempts at game-play innovation, but the results are so mixed that it makes the game middle-of-the-road at best.(Contact Chris Campbell at game_on_games(at)mac.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)