Monster Madness: Grave Danger

(PlayStation 3)

South Peak Interactive

$39.99

Let's face it, besides the real-time-strategy genre, top-down games haven't been in high favor for years.

Last year's Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia on the Xbox 360 definitely didn't help. While the object of the toon-ish game was cool - up to four players, using all kinds of weapons, pummel, blast and sever the limbs of the undead - numerous camera and control problems prevented it from being the heir to the popular top-down arcade blaster, Smash TV.

The second attempt to get this title right for the Playstation 3 looks to be a successful one. The control scheme will be more familiar and comfortable to gamers, and all four playable characters will be able to play through the story mode (which is the same as the Xbox 360 version), provided you have three friends who dig this type of game.

The bizarre weapons continue in this version. Everything from cell phone Tasers and the CD launcher still provide maximum carnage. Numerous character power-ups, (South Peak says there are about 100) are in the game too. Things like "Daddy's Credit Card" should enable more success when your screen is flooded with zombies, though I have no idea what special items like the "pocket protector" or the "special nail polish" do.

Can one defeat the savage beasts with a mani-pedi? That would be different.

B-Boy

(PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable)

FreeStyleGames, South Peak Interactive

$18.99

I know, it's the same publisher, but what can I say? Break-dancing, pop-locking icons including Crazy Legs and Crumbs are in this rhythm game. I just can't front on that.

Here is the deal: After assembling your unique hip-hop character, you will start on the road to being the break-dancing king (or queen) with more than 21 different places to battle.

I didn't see any place to check for pieces of cardboard. (Editor: Break dancers always carried their own cardboard for breaking on any surface.)

The actual mechanics of perfecting your footwork, freezes, floats, windmills, and suicides are more similar to fighting games than music games like Guitar Hero. Moves are assigned to the face buttons/D-pad, and the object is to rhythmically string together these combos to build up your "flow."

Body-rock properly and the crowd goes wild.

Eventually you will come across the real legendary B-Boys I mentioned earlier. This is the only arena in which any of us has a chance of beating them.

B-Boy is kind of a hokey game, but it is a good one for $20. The drawback is $20 won't get you a lot of classic hip-hop tracks or a lot of hip-hop culture. Imagine multiplayer modes where teams could battle online. Or maybe a DJ mode where one player could call up the tracks and scratch while the other break dances in rhythm.

Maybe I am just showing my B-boy age, but some gamers, including myself, would have probably paid a bit extra for more slices of hip-hop history as, sad to say, there are few games that chronicle how it all began.