The Tribble of party-play games

Frantic. Maddening. Furious. Stupid. Strange. And a whole lot of fun.

“Wario Ware Inc. Mega Party Game$” is a collection of more than 200 “minigames” jammed onto one little disc. The play is simple: Solve one fast-paced little puzzle to move on to the next one. And the next one. And the next. They keep coming, and get faster and faster and more and more bizarre and ...

Whew.

Let’s review in slow motion. At the start of each randomly selected puzzle, gamers get a word or two of instructions, like “Bounce!” or “Grab!” or “Shoot!” Then a crude little game appears. It might be an early Atari-esque stick-figure basketball player that requires perfect timing to sink a jump shot. Or it might be shooting an arrow at a target on a spinning disk. Or maybe you get the one where you have to grab a rod dropped from one hand to the other.

Whatever the little task, players get about four seconds to figure out what to do and how to do it. But the more puzzles they solve, the faster the clock ticks and the more furious the music gets. That initial four-second deadline feels leisurely compared to the two-second pressure at the end.

A little odd? Sure. Dangerously enjoyable? You bet.

Some of the games, like “Apple Shrapnel,” are downright strange. Players have to repeatedly tap the A button to get the giant hand to smash the Granny Smith apple into little bits. Or there’s “Alien Laser Hero,” where players control a giant metal robot head that uses eye rays to zap rocks before they fall to the planet below. The object of “Crash Test Dummy” is to deploy the air bag before the dummy’s head bounces off the steering wheel. Strange and replayable.

We found a few we liked and played them over and over and over.

And because this is a “party” game, the multi-player modes mean you and your buddies can be confused and bewildered simultaneously. Up to 16 players can toss around a single controller in an elimination round. Or connect up to four controllers and spice up game-play with variations like “Outta My Way.” In this one, a gamer solves the puzzles with an opponent’s character dancing around on the screen to block his view -- which is particularly difficult when your opponent is the character “Jimmy,” the tall guy with an opaque blue afro.

In a nice touch uncommon these days, all 213 of the little games are unlocked at the outset so players can practice their grabbing or jumping or whatever is called for.

With catlike tread

“Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow” is an action game without the usual heavy dose of action. As your boss in the game tells you, “This mission is based on stealth.” He’s not kidding. For most of the missions, the object is to sneak up behind your enemies and subdue them, not blow them away with your silenced pistol.

And man, is such covert behavior addictive.

The second installment in the very popular “Splinter Cell” series, “Pandora” remains the standard by which all other games in the rapidly growing “stealth adventure” genre should be measured. The details in the graphics are amazing -- including the almost-never-seen realistic smoke and fire -- and the controls are easy to use. Each level is just the right length.

To top it all off, the game now features a multi-player mode that is available through Xbox Live. Online gamers can play as a spy in third person or as a mercenary in first person, and sneak around and attack people from all over the world.

The emphasis on stealth tactics is a welcome change from most online action games, which lean heavily on button-mashing gun battles.

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Games

‘Wario Ware Inc. Mega Party Game$’

Good: Strangely addicting

Bad: Frustrating at first, when you discover too late how to solve the puzzle

Details: GameCube; $29.99.

Ratings: E (cartoon violence, comic mischief)

‘Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow’

Good: Incredible from top to bottom

Bad: Plot is hard to follow at first, but on a game this good, who cares?

Details: Xbox platform out now, available for GameCube in June and PlayStation 2 in July; $49.99

Rating: T (blood, drug reference, violence)