New: 'Mirror's Edge,' 'Tom Clancy's EndWar,' 'Tomb Raider Underworld'

"Mirror's Edge"
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Genre: Shooter
Publisher: EA Games
ESRB Rating: T, for Teen
Grade: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

I don't know what to think of "Mirror's Edge."
This is one of the most perplexing games I can remember. It goes from exhilarating to frustrating in often quick succession, and the highs and lows are so stark that I can neither love it outright nor fully hate it.
But this is not to say that "Mirror's Edge" is bland or middle of the road.
Playing as Faith, you are a futuristic "runner" who must bound across a futuristic city while avoiding cops and others. Speed is the name of the game, because as you run and string fantastic jumps and wall climbs together, the overall game experience is like nothing else you'll play this year.
Sadly, though, like any platformer, it's all about trial and error. With this being a first-person game, it's highlighted even more, and you can find it terribly infuriating to scope out a great run line and yet fail at it over and over.
"Mirror's Edge" is confounding but so unlike anything else you'll normally see in gaming that I'm constantly feeling pulled back in. The dramatic visual design and audio suck you right into this world.

"Tom Clancy's EndWar"
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Genre: Strategy
Publisher: Ubisoft
ESRB Rating: T, for Teen
Grade: 3.5 stars

You have to admire any game that takes a big risk with a franchise name and attempts innovative tactics to shake up the gameplay. "EndWar" is another title in the long-running Tom Clancy gaming franchise, which has definitely upped the ante for strategy games.
"EndWar" has the United States, Russia and Europe battling in World War III, and the real-time strategy is made all the more interesting and engaging because of the voice-directed action. As commander, you will strap on a headset and bark specific orders to your infantry, tank and aerial units, and they'll do as you command. Well, as long as you speak clearly and simply into the mike without jumbling things up.
The technology will fail you on occasion, but 90 percent of the time it works, and it's darn cool. But watching units obey your orders and secure locations while suppressing enemy movements is extremely satisfying.
The only major disappointment: lack of a cohesive story line. The "Ghost Recon" games and others in the Clancy franchise have traditionally been strong on character arcs, but here the narrative is weak and you feel just shuffled from one battle to the next.
Between the entertaining offline mode and the must-play "Theater of War" online mode, "EndWar" gets big props for taking the strategy genre to its next logical conclusion. It sometimes misses the mark, but it's well worth experiencing.

"Tomb Raider Underworld"
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, PSP, DS
Genre: Action/Adventure
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
ESRB Rating: T, for Teen
Grade: 2 stars

This is the third straight year with a Lara Croft game, and if you are not tired of antics that have not really kept up with the times, then good for you. I'm in a "been there, done that" mood with her. Longtime fans may adore seeing high-definition loveliness on a next-gen console, but that's not nearly enough to warrant buying a game with almost no innovation.
Lara is out to scurry along all sorts of environments, from snowcapped mountains to underwater tombs and typical jungle locales Yet, the game does not feel expansive because every mission's route is laid out for you, killing any hopes for exploration and discovery. Pretty graphics aren't enough to hide blatantly linear gameplay.
Lara also has some fancy new moves, which help tweak the gameplay some and make it more interesting, though again, it's nothing you haven't seen elsewhere. I guess we're supposed to be impressed that she can pull it off now. Awesome.

(E-mail Chris Campbell at game_on_games(at)mac.com)
Game On