Afro Samurai (Namco Bandai; PS3, Xbox 360; rated mature)

Based on the anime series of the same name, this game is a blend of ancient Japanese martial arts and modern hip hop beats. Players become Afro, a young man out to avenge the murder of his father. While the fighting part of the game, sword swinging and kicking the minions of the enemies, is fun and visceral, the game suffers because it is so difficult to keep the camera oriented so you can see what’s in front of you. That makes the poorly designed platforming elements of the game an exercise in frustration, because having to leap across gaps and proceed by jumping from rock to rock is so difficult. The best features of Afro Samurai are the music by Wu-Tang founder RZA, the voice acting, by Samuel Jackson and Ron Perlman, and the artwork, all of which are featured in the televised series. In adapting Afro Samurai for video games, the developers weren’t able to inject enough interactivity that worked.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (Warner Bros. Interactive; PC, PS3, Xbox 360; rated mature)

When playing F.E.A.R. 2, there are sequences when the screen is so dark that you literally cannot see anything. These tend to occur while you’re trying to escape an abandoned hospital or winding your way through broken streets and collapsed buildings. The darkness is required, of course, because this game is a blend of first-person shooter and survival horror; flickering lights and shadows create the mood here. Ghost-like creatures and psychically controlled soldiers aren’t nearly as scary in bright light. This sequel picks up immediately where the first game left off, but I’m a bit disappointed that the weird, paranormal story wasn’t developed more fully. Still, this is a bristling shooter experience, quick and furious, and the atmosphere is suitably tense and creepy.

Flower (Sony Computer Entertainment; PS3; rated everyone)

Flower, available only by download through the Playstation Network, isn’t a game as much as it is a poem. The objective is simple: by tilting the controller, guide a petal through a variety of environments ranging from the pastoral to the suburban. As you pass by other flowers you cause them to bloom, and in so doing, they cast off another petal to add to your ever-increasing flurry. There is a lyrical joy in floating the stream of petals to soaring heights, surveying the surroundings and looking for patches of earth to rejuvenate with blooming flora. Flower is a work of art that evokes beauty and melancholy, and the simple joy of being a petal in the wind.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned (Rockstar; Xbox 360; rated mature)

In The Lost and Damned, an extra chapter for 2008 bestseller GTA IV, you play as Johnny Klebitz, “vice-president” of The Lost biker gang. Club president Billy Grey is being welcomed back from a stint in rehab, and while you and Billy go way back, you don’t see the world quite the same way anymore. Things are tense between you and Billy, and in the 10 hours you’ll play as Johnny, that tension ratchets up. The writing and voice acting is, as with GTA IV, movie-quality professional, but there are graphical problems in The Lost and Damned that will have you launching from the seat of your motorcycle because you’ve collided with an unseen obstacle that was slow to render. This is the same Liberty City in which we experienced the story of Eastern European Niko Bellic, and Niko appears in The Lost and Damned as a supporting character. What I became aware of, though, as Johnny resisted the inevitable tragedy of his life, was that after spending 35 hours playing Niko’s story, I didn’t really want to be back in the dystopic Liberty City.

Killzone 2 (Sony Computer Entertainment; PS3; rated mature)

The beginning sequences of Killzone 2, during which you are dropped into a furious firefight, are so fierce that you won’t have a chance to catch a breath for at least 15 minutes. When you do get a brief pause in the action, you barely have time to appreciate the environment — even though it’s a war zone, it’s beautifully rendered — before you’re plunging headlong into combat again. The Killzone 2 animations are so fluid, the depictions of a futuristic front line on an offworld war zone so realistic, that I’ve never felt so in the midst of it all. It’s unnerving. Be prepared to take a beating while playing this, too, because the artificial intelligence that works behind the scenes to direct the movements is the best I’ve faced. The Helghast enemy troops are constantly switching tactics, moving from cover to cover looking for the best way to defend against your assault. Killzone 2 is required for shooter fans, and for the curious is as polished a place to start as you’ll get this year.

Noby Noby Boy (Namco Bandai; PS3; rated everyone)

I’d been anticipating the release of this game, because it came from the brain of Keita Takahashi, the creator of Katamari Damacy. That weird and wonderful game had a distinct style and sensibility, and had players making accretion balls bigger by rolling them around and collecting items. Noby Noby Boy is similarly weird, with a style and sensibility that echoes Katamari. While playing, you’ll discover that the left joystick moves Boy’s head and the right joystick moves Boy’s back end, and you can stretch him by pulling the two ends apart. There doesn’t seem to be any more to it than stretching Boy as much as you can. While Noby Noby Boy is a cute, quirky curiousity, it’s not much of a game, because it has no point. It’s not really worth the time.