NBA Live 09
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
If you're a basketball fan and a gamer, you probably feel compelled to buy a new NBA game every year for updated rosters if nothing else. This year, the one to buy is not NBA Live 09.
Saints Row 2
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Another entry into the go-anywhere, do-anything, simulated criminal behavior in a sandbox genre, THQ's Saints Row 2 is so flagrant in its courtship with controversy that it all comes off as quaint.
NHL 09
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
It would seem you only need to hit EA over the head with a 2 x 4 five or six times before it realizes a better hockey game. Then, like a bonus, it realizes the best.
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
As yet another WWII shooter, you might be inclined to dismiss Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway as derivative. But you shouldn't.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09
PlayStation 3
Some people play golf, some people watch golf on TV, some people play golf on their TV, and some people do all of the above. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 for PlayStation3 lets you and others across the interweb do all that at the same, together.
Mercenaries 2: World In Flames
PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
EA's new go-anywhere, over-the-top sandbox combat game, brimming with Hollywood-grade, oft-comedic violence, is very aptly named. "World in Flames" indeed. It's all good.
Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice
PlayStation 3
Like electronics-as-fetishism, artfully-overpackaged snacks, the practice of Cute-bordering-on-Creepy and Little-Ghost-Girls that Freak-You-Right-The-Hell-Out, the Japanese invented -- and have continued to perfect -- the art/science of "fan service."
Madden NFL 09
PlayStation 3
Meet the new Madden. Same as the old Madden. Except with some new stuff to make it seem new. Just like the old Madden.