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Sgt. Michael Becket fights Replica forces in the ruined streets of “F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin.”

“First Encounter Assault Recon” was a solid shooter bolstered by cunning enemy artificial intelligence.

Opposing forces knew to use cover, flank and work together to take on the player’s nameless Point Man character, who had “enhanced reflexes” that allowed him to slow down his perception of time while fighting squads of private security forces and cloned Replica soldiers.

The action was only half of the appeal. All the shooting was set to a genuinely creepy story clearly influenced by Japanese horror movies such as “The Ring.” “Project Origin” really doesn’t bring anything new to the table. But it’s still a solid shooter with a good helping of creepiness and shock scares.

The game pulls most of the same jump-out-of-your-seat tricks as the first one, and they’re still pretty effective. Play the game long enough, and the tricks become a bit predictable, especially for veterans of the first game. Nonetheless, there are some pretty unsettling scenes, and the game definitely earns its age rating.

The player’s pursuit of the rogue cannibal commander of the Replicas in the first game led to revelations of experiments by Armacham Technology Corp., creators of the Replicas. The company used a psychic girl named Alma to create the Replica commander – and the Point Man himself. Then they locked her in a vault to contain her unstable power and left her there.

In “F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin,” the action is nearly identical, and the game continues the story of Alma, but from a new perspective. The game begins shortly before the end of the first, with the player in charge of Sgt. Michael Becket, a Delta Force operative sent as part of a team to detain Armacham president Genevieve Aristide.

But someone else has sent in a team to get Aristide, too, and they don’t seem to want her alive – or want any witnesses. And that’s before the explosion from the end of the first game goes off a few miles away, signaling Alma’s escape and a new struggle with her angry apparition.

There’s a lot of shooting, obviously, as the player encounters these Replicas, along with Armacham’s own hired goons and failed, feral experiments running free. Nearly every situation can be helped by slowing time down, but the power only works for a short time before it has to recharge. Careful management of this ability is a must.

So is effective use of the game’s weapons and hand-to-hand moves, many of which are repeats but some of which are new. Aside from the solo campaign, there’s also a decent selection of online play modes.

Picks and Pans

Deadly Creatures

3 stars

Starring a classic pair of creepy-crawlies, “Deadly Creatures” is a fun action game for the Wii that looks to appeal to anyone still fascinated by bugs.

Players control a tarantula and a scorpion in alternating stages as they go about the business of survival in a harsh desert environment – and encounter two humans, voiced by Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Hopper, on a search for treasure.

The spider is an agile fighter that can leap around; the scorpion is more like a tank. Both bugs kill and eat smaller ones for food and tussle with larger creatures, including members of their own species. As the tarantula and scorpion kill other creatures, they earn points that unlock new moves and combos.

The controls include frequent waving of the Wii Remote, which can get tiresome but usually works all right.

Nintendo Wii; $49.99

Age rating: Teen

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

3 1/2 stars

A remake of the original “Fire Emblem,” previously unreleased in the United States, “Shadow Dragon” plays pretty much like any other game in the series.

The game is broken up into numerous chapters, each presenting a region filled with enemies to fight. The player and computer alternate turns moving and attacking on a square-based grid, and there are often special conditions and new foes that arise as the game goes on.

The fighting is tough, and made more so by the permanent death of any character who falls. The visuals are a bit different, eschewing the classic sprite style of the older games for a more textured and fluidly animated, but less charming, look. It’s also the first game in the series to allow online play.

Nintendo DS; $29.99

Age rating: 10-plus

Life Force

3 stars

A spinoff of the “Gradius” series of sci-fi space shooters, “Life Force” plays much the same as those games. Unlike in “Gradius,” two players can play at once, and some of the levels switch from a side view to an overhead view.

There’s a revised set of weapons compared with “Gradius,” and in this game, two players can team up to fly through the innards of the space monster Zelos, a creature that devours worlds and uses their life forms and technology to form its own internal defenses.

As in “Gradius,” players power up their small ship by collecting capsules and progressing along an upgrade track. Activating a spot on the track provides the power-up, such as more powerful guns, increased speed or a glowing companion that multiplies weapons fire.

Nintendo Wii (Virtual Console download); $5 (500 Nintendo Points)

Age rating: Everyone

– Justin Hoeger

Human and Covenant forces face off in the frozen wastes of Harvest in “Halo Wars.”

“Halo” was originally planned as a real-time strategy game, but series creator Bungie didn’t make “Halo Wars,” the first non-shooter in the series. Instead, it was developed by strategy veterans Ensemble Studios, the company behind Microsoft’s “Age of Empires” and “Age of Mythologies” games.

Ensemble was shut down by Microsoft after “Halo Wars” was completed. The studio’s end is disappointing, especially given the quality on display here.

“Halo Wars” – to be released March 3 – takes place 20 years before the discovery of a Halo installation in the first game. The war with the alien Covenant is a few years old and still far from the near-total destruction of the human race that has occurred by “Halo 3.” The game opens with a series of missions on the devastated, icy human colony of Harvest, which the United Nations Space Command has just retaken from the Covenant after five years of fighting that has left the surface a frozen wasteland.

There’s still a detachment of Covenant troops searching for an artifact of the Forerunners, an ancient race whose technology the Covenant finds and repurposes. Led by the powerful Arbiter, these fighters are determined to destroy the facility once they’ve discovered its secrets. From there, the campaign moves on to warmer places. Two players can take on the campaign as a team, online or off.

The other online options include a skirmish mode for up to six players and a faster-paced death-match mode that removes the need for research and economic balance. Players can also set up skirmishes against the computer.

The control scheme is straightforward and accessible. One button is used to activate structures and select individual units or small groups of them, another to issue standard orders, and a third to issue special ability orders. The analog sticks control the camera, the bumpers select units en masse, and the right trigger cycles through selected units.

Most units are familiar from previous “Halo” games, but there are new ones, such as the Vampire, an anti-fighter Covenant aircraft; and the UNSC Cobra, an anti-vehicle unit that digs into the ground to fire. The vehicle-stealing Spartan super-soldiers – Master Chief’s comrades – are also in the game, limited to three at a time. Super units such as the Covenant Scarab walker do appalling damage.

Nearly all units start with a special ability, such as throwing grenades or running over infantry, or can gain one with the proper research. Each side also has leaders who are chosen before a match starts and can dramatically affect a player’s options.

PICKS AND PANS

Tenchu: Shadow Assassins

3 stars

Unlike the one-man army Ryu Hayabusa of the “Ninja Gaiden” games, the silent killers of “Tenchu: Shadow Assassins” must avoid detection to carry out their missions. It’s more a puzzle game than an action game, with each level a conundrum of guards and hidden routes to solve.

The ninjas of “Shadow Assassins” skulk through the game’s missions and strike from concealment. Various tools, such as bamboo tubes, allow them to make conditions more favorable by knocking unaware enemies into wells or extinguishing candles and lanterns. Areas of shadow appear as inky clouds, showing the player the best place to hide.

Unlike the modern “Metal Gear Solid” hero, they don’t have the benefit of firearms. They have to get close enough to dispatch an enemy in a single blow, often without being armed.

Nintendo Wii; $49.99

Age rating: Mature

Guitar Hero on Tour: Decades

3 stars

Aside from its track listing, “Guitar Hero on Tour: Decades” differs little from the first “On Tour.”

There are almost 30 songs by groups ranging from 1970s-era Blondie to the newest incarnation of the Smashing Pumpkins. Two players with mismatched copies of the first “On Tour” game can share many of the songs wirelessly. A player can go through a new career mode as a guitarist or bassist, and partake in guitar duels as well.

The game play is again facilitated by a packed-in Guitar Grip attachment that plugs into the bottom of the DS and provides four fret buttons to press while “strumming” the DS screen with a pick-shaped stylus. The gadget works well, though it’s pretty hard on the player’s hand.

Nintendo DS; $49.99 (bundled with Guitar Grip)

Age rating: 10-plus

R-Type Dimensions

3 stars

“R-Type Dimensions” collects the first two arcade games in the series and gives them a sweeping, but optional, visual overhaul.

“Dimensions” has re-created the 2-D graphics of the original games with 3-D models. Players can switch between the new and old looks at will – triggering a nearly seamless transition in the process – and choose from several camera angles and filter effects to overlay the updated visuals.

The game play is unchanged from the originals. It’s an archetypal late 1980s side-scrolling shooter with one or two players piloting small fighters on a mission to defeat the invading Bydo Empire – all of it. The fighters generally die in a single hit, but they can upgrade their weapons to take out the hordes of enemy craft and obstacles in the way.

Microsoft Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade download); $15 (1200 Microsoft Points)

Age rating: Everyone

– Justin Hoeger

Tenchu: Shadow Assassins

“Afro Samurai,” based on the anime series of the same name, has a few things going for it.

The first is the series’ cast, including Samuel L. Jackson and Ron Perlman. The second is a great cel-shaded visual style, not unlike that of last year’s “Valkyria Chronicles.” The third is a really good soundtrack.

These things help “Afro Samurai” stand out a bit from the common brawler games it resembles most, because taken purely as a game, it’s not all that notable.

The general plot of the anime’s first season forms the framework of the game, with the title character (voiced by Jackson) pursuing the villain Justice (Perlman) to avenge his father’s death and take the Number One headband, a mystical object said to make its wearer into a god. Justice has it now; Afro’s Number Two headband is the only thing that gives him the power to challenge Justice.

The game jumps around in time a bit, and this combined with the way characters are often introduced with no preamble gives the narrative a herky-jerky feeling. The story doesn’t make much sense.

Narrative shortcomings aside, “Afro Samurai” is a decent action game. Afro is armed with a katana that he uses to take down hordes of cookie-cutter enemies and occasional bosses – it’s nothing the gaming world hasn’t seen before.

Afro can swing fast or hard, block, kick and jump; in his time-limited focus mode, he can employ acrobatic jumps and dodges, as well as powerful focus attacks that can be aimed at specific foes in the heat of battle, often lopping off limbs or heads, or splitting an opponent down the middle.

Focus power is gained by using normal attack combos. Pull off a few and he can activate a one-shot focus strike; do some more and he can enter over-focus mode, in which he can dash from foe to foe, dispatching or damaging each in turn.

Over time, Afro gains new abilities and combos by defeating enemies and leveling up, and by finding groups of crows in each level. Find a certain amount and Afro gains a new technique from his father’s legacy.

The bulk of the game is combat, with occasional light puzzles and minigames. The graphics and music are quite good. The sound effects, however, are a bit thin for a no-holds-barred action game.

The over-the-top blood and gore recall the carnage in the Wii game “No More Heroes” but with the painterly feel of “Okami.” It’s a strange combination that makes for a hyperstylized look when combined with the character models, which are shaded such that they sometimes look nearly hand-drawn.

Picks and Pans

Coraline

1 star

As an adaptation of the Neil Gaiman novel and current stop-motion film, “Coraline” might appeal to younger gamers enamored of the story’s dual worlds, but likely not to anyone else.

The game follows the events of the movie (and employs much of the cast for spoken lines). Players control the plucky young heroine Coraline as she explores her new home and meets her neighbors, and later enters the mysterious alternate world where her button-eyed Other Mother dwells.

The graphics aren’t especially good, but they faithfully re-create scenes and areas from the film. If only the game play were at all compelling. Coraline spends most of her time gathering items in tedious fetch quests or participating in uninteresting mini-games, such as shooting apples off a tree with a slingshot or playing Go Fish. The controls are stiff and clunky, and the game is dull when it isn’t frustrating.

Nintendo Wii, also for Sony PlayStation 2; $29.99

Age rating: 10-plus

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift

3 stars

The chief difference between the original “MotorStorm” and “Pacific Rift” is setting – instead of the purely desert locations of the first, this game takes place on a tropical island, and its races are broken into four categories based on the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

The environments range from lush jungles to high, arid mountains to active lava fields, and every track looks fantastically dangerous. Huge monster trucks join the original roster of vehicle, which range from motorcycles to rally cars to big rigs.

The racing still revolves around finding the best path for one’s vehicle – larger trucks can plow through mud, water and vegetation while lighter ones are better off sticking to high and dry ground.

“Pacific Rift” also features a split-screen multiplayer mode, which the original lacked.

Sony PlayStation 3; $59.99

Age rating: Teen

Savage Moon

3 stars

In “Savage Moon,” players have a small amount of time to buy and place defensive towers between ever-strengthening waves of insect monsters bent on destroying mining operations.

The game play is pretty standard for this kind of game – in each level, players spend resources to build defenses, and to upgrade them and research more powerful or more specialized weapons to deal with specific threats as they come.

The game isn’t as tough as the similar “PixelJunk Monsters,” but its graphics are much fancier; at times, the bug-blasting carnage looks like a scene out of “Starship Troopers.”

Sony PlayStation 3 (PlayStation Store download); $9.99

Age rating: Teen

– Justin Hoeger

“Rise of the Argonauts” retells the story of Jason’s search for the Golden Fleece. He is accompanied on his adventure by a group of legendary heroes.

“Rise of the Argonauts” is ambitious in its retelling of Jason’s hunt for the Golden Fleece, but it’s a title whose reach exceeds its grasp.

The game opens as Jason is about to be wed to Alceme. Alas, she’s killed by an assassin’s arrow, and though Jason manages to hunt down the killer, a member of a cult called the Blacktongues, that won’t help his beloved.

Vowing to bring Alceme back to life by whatever means necessary, Jason gathers a crew for the Argo, including Hercules, the sorceress Medea and the designer of the ship, Argos. He’s later joined by several others, including the satyr Pan and the legendary warrior Achilles.

These heroes accompany him on his journey and offer aid in battle, but the bulk of the fighting is up to Jason. He carries three weapon types – sword, spear and mace, with a rock-paper-scissors relationship to each other – and a shield, which he can use to block strikes and push back foes.

Ares, Hermes, Apollo and Athena watch over his quest, and he can gain battle upgrades and new powers from them by dedicating his achievements to a particular one – dedicate enough deeds to one god and Jason will gain a point to spend on boons.

With so many options in combat, it’s disappointing that the fights are lacking. Battles are often repetitive, especially when enemies have shields, and offer little of the fluidity that makes games like “God of War” or “Fable II” so satisfying.

Jason will often be called upon to complete quests, such as when he delivers bad news to some of his subjects after the attack that begins the game. These tend to offer interesting choices, at least, as in most conversations Jason has several choices that are aligned with particular gods, and how an encounter plays out is tied to what he says.

For example, an angry relative who wants yearly tribute for his brother’s death in the attack can be challenged to a duel, or one may try to bargain down his demands instead. This is one of the better aspects of the game.

In some areas, the game has pulled out all the stops: The score is by “300″ and “Watchmen” composer Tyler Bates; the vocal cast includes names familiar from games such as “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic,” “Final Fantasy XII” and “Legacy of Kain,” all of which feature fine voices.

“Rise of the Argonauts” often looks and plays like a game from the last generation of systems. Many of the character models are decently detailed, but the animation is often stiff and unnatural – and some, like the steroidal Hercules, are poorly designed.

And some of the backgrounds would hardly look out of place in a PlayStation 2 game.

Picks and Pans

Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero

3 stars

The original “Elebits” was an early Wii showcase for point-and-click physics, as players knocked over, shook and opened objects in search of the tiny, power-producing creatures that gave the game its name.

This sequel changes the formula. Starring series hero Kai and his Omega Elebit friend Zero, this game is closer to the 2-D “Zelda” or “Pokémon” games than to its predecessor.

The game focuses on exploration and puzzle-solving much more than combat, though there are occasional harmful Elebits and bosses. Kai can use his Capture Gun to immobilize Elebits for collection by Zero or one of the other Omega Elebits he finds. These Omegas have special powers, such as fire breath, ice projectiles and so on, to help Kai on his way.

Kai also searches for standard Elebits under rocks and in trees, collecting them for powering objects like doors and switches. But the goal of the game isn’t simply to find them – it’s to solve the puzzles in each area and move on to the next as Kai and Zero hop from dimension to dimension.

Nintendo DS; $29.99; age rating: Everyone

Sonic Unleashed

2 1/2 stars

As the “Sonic” series has progressed, many iterations have slowed to add platforming adventures or other things that don’t involve running really fast. “Sonic Unleashed” does the same but keeps its play styles separate, although it’d be nice if the series would return its focus to the speedy parts alone.

The separation is made possible by Sonic’s latest encounter with Dr. Eggman, a battle he loses when the scientist breaks open the crust of a planet and turns the speedy, spiny hero into a Werehog. Sonic’s quest is to break his curse, save the world and help a fuzzy new friend regain his memories.

As the game progresses Sonic can select daytime or nighttime stages via various hub areas. Daytime levels let Sonic dash around at will, blazing through long, complicated tracks.

In nighttime levels, he becomes the slower but more powerful Werehog. These segments are built around what feels like a lighter version of “God of War’s” combat.

Microsoft Xbox 360, also for Sony PlayStation 3, PS2, Nintendo Wii; $59.99 ($29.99 to $59.99 for other versions); age rating: 10-plus

The Maw

3 stars

A blue alien named Frank escapes his cell on a bounty hunter ship when it crashes, and he teams up with a hungry purple everything-eater called the Maw in this game. “The Maw” is imaginative and fun, with a great look and solid play.

Frank has an energy leash that he can attach to the Maw and lead it around, and use to drag objects or snag wildlife as food for the ever-hungry purple blob.

The Maw grows larger when he eats enough, and the game revolves around getting him big enough to eat whatever special creature – fiery salamander, airborne beelike insect and so on – will transfer its power to the Maw and allow the duo to move on through the stage.

Microsoft Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade download); $10 (800 Microsoft Points); age rating: 10-plus

– Justin Hoeger