The open-world adventure game on "Xbox 360" is tremendous fun when played in a group of three or four players over Xbox Live. As a solo experience, however, a lack of variety among mission types means it can start to feel tedious quickly.
Based on what I saw at Microsoft's X10 media event, Ruffian Games' "Crackdown 2" could be this year's "Borderlands." With four-player online co-op, offliine split-screen co-op an the ability to create mayhem on foot or in vehicles, the open-world supercop game is coming along nicely.
"BioShock 2" (rated M, $60 on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, $50 on PC): You'll return to the underwater, Art Deco-influenced city of Rapture in the sequel to my favorite game of 2007. I've deliberately been avoiding reading too much about it, so I'll keep this preview nice and short. [...]