With so many titles to chose from, I feel it is my obligation to give you, the reading audience, the 411 on three of the more hyped Xbox 360 launch games. Get ready for a review smorgasbord:

Kameo: Elements of Power
Published by Microsoft

One of the games Microsoft personally published for its console, Kameo is a game that has been a long time coming. Developed by the legendary Rare team, Kameo had been slated to be released on the original Xbox--and boy am I glad they waited.

As far as showcasing the 360's graphics, this is the best looking of the games I've played. The colors are vivid, bright, and truly stunning while the vast 3D environments are a testament to what the 360 is capable of.

In Kameo: Elements of Power, you play as a young elf (Kameo), whose sister goes berserk after you are given the ability to turn into crazy animals. Now you must fight through hordes of trolls to rescue your captured family and stop your sister from destroying the world.

Basically, Kameo plays like a standard adventure/platformer, with the big twist being the main character's ability to transform into a variety of creatures. There's everything from a melee plant-man, to a rolling rock thing, to a big gelatinous water shooter...thing. It's a very clean, inviting, and enjoyable experience, with just enough challenge to keep you interested.

Key Moment: Riding horseback through a veritable army of rendered troll warriors--hundreds in all, each one being controlled independently by the AI. And with no lag or slow-downs, I might add. This is next generation.

Rating: 4/5

Condemned: Criminal Origins
Published by Sega

The team of Sega and Monolith is back (see my review for 'F.E.A.R.') with another gritty horror title. In Condemned, you navigate poorly lit and decayed urban locations in search of a serial killer called the 'Matchmaker.' As FBI Agent Ethan Thomas you wield a variety of weapons including pipes, crowbars, and sledgehammers, bashing the skulls of random drug-crazies that attack you for really no reason.

Just as 'F.E.A.R.' borrowed heavily from other sources, Condemned is pretty much what would happen if you mixed 'CSI' with 'Saw.'

Condemned is kind of hit and miss as a launch game. Some things, notably the brutal and violent hand to hand combat, are done very well and are quite entertaining; on the other hand, there are a few things that just don't work as well as they should.

First of these is the voice acting. The game is fairly dependent on cutscenes to reveal the story, but many of them feature some rather hokey and/or poorly delivered lines--which really brings you out of the game's dark atmosphere.

Secondly, the 'evidence collection' portion of the game is pretty underdeveloped. Apparently this game takes place in the future, because your tools include odor analyzers, molecular compound detectors, and all kinds of other made-up devices. And most disappointingly about them is the game just tells you what to do. For instance, when you need to take a picture, you're given a series of arrows that tell you where to focus, then you just need to hit one button and the game does the rest.

I would have liked to have seen the evidence collecting harder and more realistic, but as a thrilling (and occasionally frightening) experience, Condemned: Criminal Origins fits the bill.

Key Moment: A crazed druggy charges you screaming obscenities and swinging a rusty pipe, you then proceed to smack him across the face with a hammer, sending him to the ground. Finish things off by kicking his lifeless corpse, just to make sure.

Rating: 3/5

Call of Duty 2
Published by Activision

As far as World War II games go, the original Call of Duty was pretty much at the top of its genre. Just as intense as the original, Call of Duty 2 goes for the most realistic of shooter experiences.

Ranging from battles in the snowy ruins of Stalingrad to dusty trenches in Africa, this game beautiful. Explosions all around you, bullets zipping back and forth--the presentation of Call of Duty 2 is top notch.

By all means, the first player campaign is worthy of my coveted 5/5 rating, however, that's the only part of this game that works.

First of my gripes: online multiplayer. Talk about lame. Featuring a barebones Live interface (no creating game rooms or inviting friends), matches are limited to 8 players. Frankly, this is inexcusable. This is a next-generation console, so where's the 64 player games quite common in PC games? And the very limited fun of a 4 vs 4 deathmatch is only hindered further by excessive lag and frequent cheating.

But most of all what angers me about Call of Duty 2 is a known bug that causes your single player game saves to be deleted. The debate rages on as to whether or not this is due to an error in the 360's hard drive or a problem in the code of the game, but it is so incredibly annoying that I'm having doubts that I will even complete this game (or will even be able to). Seriously, I paid $60 for this game, it had damn better work.

Twice now my game save has been deleted after getting roughly 50% through the game. Granted, it's a fun game to play, but it's not that great when you're forced to repeat the same tedious sequences for no reason.

Key Moment: After securing a courtyard in a hard-fought battle with German Afrika Korps, you must defend you position from incoming Luftwaffe with an AA gun.

Rating: 2/5 (4/5 had it not been for the saving problems)

Well, there you have it. Despite a technical problem that will eventually (hopefully) be worked out via downloadable content, the release games for the 360 are strong if not damn fine in some places. Stay tuned for the coming weeks in which I will undoubtedly be reviewing more 360 titles.

Khyron.net, your home for unbiased reviews of video games from the average gamer.

Thanks for reading.