Skate 2 is, well, not 2 different

When the original Skate game was released in late 2007, it succeeded in doing one thing that the very successful Tony Hawk skateboarding franchise didn’t do: It made a skating simulator accessible to all. Gone were the maddeningly complex button combos that had to be pushed in exactly the right order to pull off amazing tricks. In Skate, they were replaced with a simple two-control-stick system: one to push the board, one to do the tricks.

And though Skate had some drawbacks, it was still a great game.

So what does the new version -- the just released Skate 2 -- offer? Well, for one, females can be created as playable characters, a glaring oversight from the last title that is corrected here. And bad skaters can concentrate on going splat in the new “Hall of Meat” feature that rewards the gnarliest-looking spills. Oh, and the environment can be altered (by moving things like ramps around) to pull off bigger, more spectacular stunts. And . . . that’s about it.

It still has the same great controls, and the same great wide-open city that is basically one big skate park, but for some reason, Skate 2 feels so remarkably similar to the last title, it’s hard to find a reason to justify purchasing the sequel (unless being a girl skater is that big a deal for you, I guess).

Grade: C (Not much of an update.)

Details: Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms; $59.99; rated Teen (alcohol reference, language, mild violence, suggestive themes).

The Argonauts’ adventure stalls

“This isn’t Sparta!”

Despite having the same musical composer as the film “300,” Rise of the Argonauts is less like the blockbuster Greek warrior movie from a couple of years back and more like the awful PSP game of the same film.

Stiff and awkward, with terribly created cut-screens, Argonauts is lacking in almost every way. Players assume the role of Jason, as he and other legendary yet poorly designed characters such as Hercules explore the world of ancient Greece, a world that is remarkably non-interactive. (See that mysterious vase over there? Look with your eyes, not with your sword. It can’t be touched.)

Jason can do so little -- except talk to any number of dumbfounded gawkers in long and boring cut-screens -- that when he actually finds some action, one can almost look past how bad that is to play. (Almost.) Hit, hit, block. Hit, hit, block. And so on.

Argonauts is so repetitive, clunky and full of technological glitches such as miserable sound editing and sputtering animations, a better title would be “ArgoNOT!”

Grade: D- (Go watch “300” on Blu-ray instead.)

Details: Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms; $49.99; rated Mature (blood and gore, mild sexual themes, violence).

It’s a rather mild day at the Beach

Sure, one of the newest titles available to download to your Wii from WiiWare, Sandy Beach, only does three things -- but, as they say, you get what you pay for. Available for only 500 Wii points, the equivalent of five bucks, Sandy Beach offers an intense “protect the castle from crabs” game to go with its “free-style sandcastle building” and “building to a blueprint” modes.

The graphics aren’t great, and the controls aren’t very smooth. Worse still, during the rather arduous task of building a sandcastle, there isn’t even any music to go in the background.

But for what it’s worth, there are worse ways to spend your money (see the reviews above). The crab battles are just like those in the old-school arcade classic Rampart; they’re intense fun, albeit a little more difficult than they should be. And it is nice being near the virtual shore and hearing the waves without turning into a sun-baked lobster.

Grade: C (Cheap fun that isn’t going to compete with a real game.)

Details: Nintendo Wii platform; $5; rated Everyone.

Bark a command to EndWar

There are certain things to be expected when playing a game branded with the Tom Clancy moniker. Tom Clancy’s EndWar is no exception. Chess-like strategy? Check. Futuristic weapons and armies? Got ‘em. An imagined yet realistic world of the future full of political alliances and factions? Sure thing. Most important: a global conflict? Definitely.

But the main difference that sets EndWar apart from the other great games named after the author is the type of controls. Instead of the squad-based combat of Rainbow Six or the stealth-based adventure of Splinter Cell (two other hit series in the mega-successful franchise), here armies are controlled by voice commands and require a lot more strategic thinking.

By speaking into a microphone, players order their squads around the battlefield and decide how and when to attack. But once the steep learning curve is mastered, the game still lacks the accessibility of similar strategy games (like Civilization Revolution).

Still, the voice control function is surprisingly accurate and makes an average game that much better.

Grade: B- (Is this thing on? Check one two.)

Details: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS platforms; $59.99 to $29.99; rated Teen (alcohol references, tobacco references, blood, language, suggestive themes, violence).

Seen it, but can you hear it?

Video game quiz shows Scene It? Box Office Smash for the Xbox 360 and Buzz! Quiz TV for the PlayStation 3 are both eerily similar, yet hardly equal. Both feature trivia played by up to four players, on-screen avatars and nifty wireless controllers.

So why is Scene It so horribly inferior?

For one thing, the volume of its movie clips is a lot lower than the asinine commentary supplied between rounds, which requires a ton of audio adjustment during gameplay. For another, the characters are just about as generic as can be; if the creators tried to make them more vanilla, it’s doubtful they could have succeeded. The wireless controllers have to be pointed directly at the receiver to register, causing a lot of missed answers. Add to that a lot of clunky load times, and you’ve got a total lack of fun.

For a good TV party time, stick with Buzz instead.

Grade: D- (Desperate movie buffs only need apply.)

Details: Xbox 360 Platform; $59.99 (with controllers); rated Teen (blood, crude humor, mild language, sexual themes, use of alcohol and tobacco, violence).

petemetzger@msn.com