TEH. BEST. GAMES. EVAR.
By Andr'e Swartley

Holiday Buyers' Guide to Video Games

Day 3: Xbox 360

Microsoft is the only manufacturer to have a single console on the market, but don't think for a second that they haven't made their games a priority. Below are three tremendously interesting and creative titles available on Xbox 360 for the holidays. First, though, let's recap the game genres (for more detailed explanations of each, please refer to Sunday's guide to Nintendo games).

Action Game
Adventure Game
Fighting Game
First-Person Shooter (FPS)
Platformer
Puzzle Game
Racer
Roleplaying Game (RPG)
Simulator (Sim)
Sports Game
Strategy Game
Survival Horror

Microsoft Xbox 360

Fable II-RPG, $29.99, rated M for Mature
Game director Peter Molyneux took a different tack with Fable II than he did with its predecessor. The story is less linear and darker, and your character can travel around with a faithful dog. This also isn't the type of RPG where you have to fight hundreds of battles to make your character strong enough to proceed. Rather, the focus is on character interaction. Like World of Warcraft, there are several different gestures you can make-you can dance to make a person in the town clap or laugh, for example-and cozying up to people in the game can really make things easier for you later on. It's an ambitious, if short, game that anyone with even passing interest in video games could pick up and enjoy.

Kameo: Elements of Power-Adventure Game, $16.99, rated T for Teen
Kameo was one of the very first games available for the Xbox 360, and while newer games may have higher polygon counts and better texture resolution, very few games have matched the creativity of this one. Kameo shares many commonalities with Zelda games in that you must explore a vast and colorful world to earn elemental powers to reach the end of the game. Or, you can just flutter around in grassy fields, blessing out and listening to Enya.

Viva Pi~nata-Sim, $19.99, rated E for Everyone
I'll put this as simply as I can: Viva Pi~nata is a farming Sim in which you raise pi~natas as livestock. You have several plots of land to terraform for your colorful beasties and a shovel to do it with. Every species of pi~nata-Mousemallow, Chewnicorn, Bunnycomb, etc.-requires a different habitat, so you'll have your hands full keeping them all happy. If this sounds ridiculous, that's because it is. But you won't be able to stop playing.

Happy shopping, Xbox owners! Best Thanksgiving wishes to all of the Icon's readers. I hope to see back in December for my review of Final Fantasy VIII.