Each character has specific attacks, such as Zack's Devil Elbow or Bass Armstrong's Stun Gun Chop, and once you get the moves down, the entire affair can unfold like a carefully choreographed ballet as combatants block blows, counterattack, and land devastating punch and kick combos. Adding to the game's appeal are the massive and detailed multilevel arenas (introduced in DOA2), in which a precise kick or punch can send a combatant plummeting through the air down to the arena's next level. It's obvious that DOA3 was designed as a showcase for the Xbox's graphical prowess, and it shows-the game's graphics are awesome. The character models look amazing and feature highly detailed clothing and accessories, and the animations are extremely smooth. The environments are also outstanding, and feature tons of little touches such as fluttering leaves, snow-covered ground that can be torn up during the course of a fight, and great-looking water. Even the background structures are highly detailed. DOA3 doesn't rewrite the rules of the fighting genre, but its great graphics and intense fighting-especially in multiplayer mode-make for an enjoyable gaming experience. -William Harms Pros: Brilliant graphics Lots of gameplay modes Multileveled arenas keep the fighting exciting Cons: Story mode makes no sense Few unlockable extras Developed for the Xbox, Dead or Alive 3 boasts a host of new characters, lighting effects, interactive environments, muscle and clothing movement, and more. Choose from a lineup of new and returning characters and engage in frenzied fighting. Enhanced movie sequences deliver John Woo-style slow-motion effects. Multitiered settings also let you explore multiple areas within a level. Up to four players can battle it out, while the single-player mode offers a variety of challenging levels. Returning favorites include Kasumi and Lei Fang, or you can play as newcomers Hitomi, Christie, and Brad and test your skills in 16 unique fighting environments. Choose from more than 13 different fighting styles, including karate and Zui Ba Xian Quan (Eight Spirits Drunken Fist). Environments feature destructible scenery and varied terrains, such as mountains and sand. The redesigned costume system, updated tactical reversals, and all-new air throws take this title's fighting engine to the next level. Dead or Alive 3 also takes full advantage of the powerful Xbox platform to offer character models and a physics engine that delivers a stunning degree of realism. Dramatic lighting, shadows, and reflections heighten the realism, while subtle water effects animate puddles, ponds, and oceans with incredible detail.

A Mortal Kombat favorite. They're back with gruesome and bloody detail first time seen on next-generation systems. * Character-specific Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance brings the MK series a new 3-D fighting engine, adds tons of features and extras, and still offers classic gameplay. This installment introduces a 3-D battle system that still manages to maintain a 2-D feel. For example, pushing up on your controller makes you sidestep your opponent's attacks, yet it also allows you to jump by tapping up plus a direction. A revamped fighting system offers up to three different fighting styles for each fighter (one includes a weapon technique). The multiple styles provide countless variations of attacks for any given fighter. Different combinations of punches and kicks allow for lengthy and powerful chain attacks similar to the Mortal Kombat of old. Fatalities are also back and are rich in graphic representation. New fighters join the cast of old favorites such as Sonya, Kano, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Scorpion, Johnny Cage, Jax, Cyrax, Kung Lao, Kitana, Quan Chi, Reptile, and Shang Tsung. The lavish environments surround your fighters with animated backgrounds and rich skylines. On some levels there are even breakable objects and hazards that you can interact with, such as pools of acid-the perfect landing place for a thrown opponent. In addition to regular modes of gameplay (arcade, versus, etc. ) there is an option called Konquest mode. This mode allows you to learn more about fighting styles, read up on each character's personal history, and gain Koins which can then be spent in the Krypt to unlock a host of new characters, costumes, and early concept drawings. The additional content offered with this title is plentiful, including "The Making of Deadly Alliance" and "The History of Mortal Kombat" featurettes. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance successfully reinvents the series by dishing up a unique mix of improved graphics and stylized gameplay without compromising those features that made the MK series popular in the first place. -Carlos Rodela Pros: Complex gameplay Realistic 3-D graphics Hundreds of unlockable features Cons: Weak story line Unbalanced combo system.

Nab a cop car and you can go on vigilante missions. Grab a cab and you can play a deadly version of Crazy Taxi. Take a fire truck and you can earn money putting out fires. The minigames are a good way to unwind after a particularly difficult mission. With so much to do, the game just never gets boring. As you'd expect, there are consequences for criminality. As your random acts of mayhem mount up the police start hounding you, eventually calling in SWAT trucks, the FBI, and even the army if you continue down the path of destruction. Shaking these pursuers is easily the most fun part of the game, especially when a bunch of friends are packed in the room to witness your narrow escapes. Grand Theft Auto III is fine-tuned to near perfection in every category. All the vehicles, from slick sports cars to lumbering dump trucks, handle exactly as you'd expect and smash apart realistically when abused. The three islands in the game are rendered in terrific detail considering their size, and are packed with traffic, pedestrians, and hidden jumps. The audio is equally amazing. Pedestrians talk, cops scream at you, and you can tune in nine different radio stations whenever you are in a car. It all adds up to a monumental achievement: the rare console game for adults that manages to get everything right. -T. Byrl Baker Grand Theft Auto III: Vice City How big is this game? Even publicists for other games end up talking about Vice City when they call our office, babbling in the same helplessly intoxicated way that afflicts everyone who plays it. The achievement of Vice City (which, as everyone knows by now, is set in the 1980s and offers an all-new, Miami Vice-inspired story) is not only that it manages to live up to an absurd level of expectation, but that it takes the game places that fans of its predecessor Grand Theft Auto III never dreamed of, and that it achieves this astonishing level of innovation without losing anything that made GTA3 the bestselling PS2 game of all time. After a brilliant homage to the era of the Commodore 64 in the opening credits, the first thing you'll notice is the improved graphics, which are smoother and more detailed, and-with effects like neon lights reflected on rain-slick streets, and intense Florida sunlight-have a lush, tropical look that immediately gives you a strong sense of place. The architecture is more fabulous by tenfold, with art deco buildings, high-rise hotels, and believably seedy back alleys. The control scheme is essentially the same as in GTA3, but the cars handle much better, and in pedestrian mode there is a new crouch move. You will have access to fast, great-handling cars right away, as opposed to GTA3 which made you unlock the second island before you could get your hands on any respectable wheels. This game has such riches to offer that there is no need to be chintzy with the vehicles. Cops are more vigilant this time-minor offenses like whacking innocent bystanders will more often than not get you a two-star wanted level-and are harder to elude (though they still can't seem to climb stairs or negotiate sharp turns). So while free-roaming exploration is as fun as ever, there is more incentive to perform the missions instead of randomly raising hell. Not that that's a bad thing: even lazy criminals like myself (in GTA3, I would rather toss hand grenades into traffic than follow orders from some rude Mafia boss) will be quickly caught up in the vivid characters and hilarious, fascinating story, in which you play an acid-washed-jeans-wearing thug named Tommy Vercetti. Where in GTA3 missions were blocky, schematic affairs only nominally connected to the story, this time tasks move the story briskly along and deftly blend cinematics and game action. For example, there is a scene of a character throwing Tommy a gun, at which point you are suddenly thrown back into the action and must make an instant decision about whom to trust and what to do. There are more, and more detailed, indoor environments, including a hotel, police station, and mall (a slight downside to this is that some of the more elaborate indoor environments require load times). The layout of the city, with tons of backyards, narrow alleys, and fire escapes, encourages creativity when eluding pursuit, as does greater access to rooftops. Get your motorcycle up the fire escape and a whole new world of action is possible, including. well, use your imagination. This overview barely scratches the surface of the Vice City experience, its colorful explosion of music, clothes, combat, and brilliant voice acting, not to mention the plot twist midway through the game that changes the very nature of the game itself. Though it was the outrageous, amoral violence that got all the press, the essential genius of GTA3 was its intoxicating blend of script and open-ended action. In Vice City this is-to use a cliché that is for once apropos-taken to a whole new level. -David Stoesz Pros: Open-ended gameplay; player can chose to be relatively law-abiding or engage in wanton virtual destruction Varied missions Brilliant scripts with Hollywood voice acting Rocking sound track (also available in our Music store) Xbox-enhanced graphics Cons: As the The Sopranos of games, GTA 3 draws unwanted attention from overzealous legislators No multiplayer The infamous GTA series doubles up and delivers twice the car-stealing, hood-capping, trash-talking larcenous adventures. Includes Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.