The Bigs 2

(Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360)

Blue Castle Games, 2k Sports

$19.99-$59.99

While they've been a bit better of late, for a few weeks it looked like the Phillies could have used some turbo boost with home run shots in flames as they shoot out of the park.

Thankfully, the sequel to last year's arcade-ish baseball game allows you to have all of that - plus added animations and a new pitching mechanism.

In this new game, developers have added a batter's zone called the wheelhouse. It's a little sweet spot inside the strike zone and as you can imagine, if you connect on a pitch there, the chances of getting extra base hits and even home runs dramatically increases. In a pure sim-game, pitchers would do well to stay away from the area of the strike zone . . . but this is the Bigs!

If you throw at the wheelhouse and the batter doesn't connect: 1) that zone decreases in size and 2) the pitcher will earn a set amount of turbo juice for future pitches.

Timing the pitch meter just right will also enable you to throw a perfect pitch (basically unhittable), and that will also earn the pitcher some turbo.

There are many methods, such as these, that Take 2 have employed to push both fielding and hitting players to be more aggressive.

Hit direction is on tap as well for batters and it should be used often as there will be legendary players (Ozzie Smith, for example) in the field and it would be wise to try your best to hit the ball away from them. These legendary fielders can make some pretty amazing plays (although you may have to engage in a mini-game first in order to make the play) as you will see.

Legendary batters will also step up to the plate and do some pretty incredible things (Reggie Jackson, Babe Ruth, and Jackie Robinson are all beasts in this game). Don't worry, in the career mode, gamers will have ample chances to create their own legendary player.

The zaniest thing about this game is the Big Slam. Simply put, if you save up your accumulated turbo points, you will have the ability to call up four batters in a row. If each of the first three batters makes contact, it is an automatic base hit. The fourth batter makes contact and blamo, an automatic "outta heeeeere!"

The Bigs 2 is a goofy game, with goofy rules, but full of goofy fun.

ARMA II

(PC)

Bohemia Interactive Studio, 505 Games

$49.99

There is a cult-ish following of Bohemian Interactive Studio's games. The developer's Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, way back in 2001, was one of the first forays into the military combat sim genre and only the hardest of the hardcore need apply ever since.

Since BIS' headquarters is located in the Czech Republic, it isn't surprising to find the game's location (a fictional Chernarus) looking very Eastern bloc-ish with wide rolling hills, mountains and small villages. This combat sandbox is said to be approximately 225 square kilometers.

Unlike previous BIS games, this one doesn't start you out as a little punk private looking to get into the action. This time you are part of a Special Forces unit of Marines traipsing around the countryside providing escort, sabotage, basically turning the place upside down.

The big pull of BIS games are the sheer number of weapons and vehicles in the game. About 70 weapons and more than 100 vehicles can be used to make sure you get to where you are going fairly quickly, as well as ending any mission threats once you get there. The ARMA games also are heavily modified by users, therefore, one can expect the vehicle count to increase substantially as people start adding their own creations to the game.

With all of this coolness, there is a reason this game isn't widely popular. Unlike other games, you can almost never run and shoot effectively, targets are usually hard to find, and long-range sharpshooting can take a long time to master.

In other words, this is a true simulation of modern combat. For most folks, it might require a bit too much patience.

The plus side of this is that when you play the multiplayer modes, most people know what they are doing and are serious about teamwork.

The new mode called Warfare has a leader of each team managing resources and giving orders that resemble a real-time-strategy game, and I can't imagine many online ARMA players trying anything else for awhile.