Death’s kid saves the day

ON a routine class field trip to a museum, a kid and his buddies accidentally open a box that makes an epic mess of the place. Worried that his dad will ship him off to some stinky military school, our hero does his best to right the wrong and save the day. But this isn’t any old kid, and this isn’t any old dad. He’s Death Jr., son of the grim reaper.

His new game is just what the amazing PlayStation Portable was lacking: a really fun “platform” title. (For the uninitiated, platformers are cute characters exploring linear worlds and completing a series of tasks that lead to a goal. Was that Webster’s enough for you?)

As if Super Mario came down from the afterlife to run around and cause mischief, Death Jr. is the perfect quirky and offbeat companion to the PSP. The graphics are especially bright and colorful on the PSP’s screen, and the controls more or less adapt well to the PSP’s limitations. (Some of the boss battles require a little too much button-mashing for our tastes, and we do miss a way to change the views that a second thumb-stick -- as on other systems -- would offer.)

Still, any kid with a dead guppy for a friend is cool with us.

*

Details: PlayStation Portable platform; $39.99; rated Teen (blood and gore, language and violence).

*

It’s good to be green

The big problem with the last Hulk game that came out (as a tie-in to the summer movie a couple of years back) was that there was too much game-play as puny Bruce Banner and not enough clobbering time as the giant green freak. Not a problem with The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. This one is all Hulk, all the time. If you can see it, you can smash it (yes, even that city bus driving by you). There may not be anything groundbreaking in the graphics or game-play (elective open-ended missions in an expansive city), but the bull-in-a-china-shop routine is simple to learn and incredibly easy to enjoy.

Details: All platforms; $49.99; rated Teen (language and violence).

*

Batter, up!

After playing Mario Superstar Baseball, we had one question: What took so long? Mixing the colorful characters from the popular Mario universe of games to something as familiar as the national pastime should have been a no-brainer years ago, but no matter. The action here is snappy, cute and with plenty of wrinkles that buck tradition -- such as giant rolling barrels that disrupt fielders in the outfield at Donkey Kong’s home stadium and the fact that the big ape stands at the plate using a boxing glove instead of a bat. Playing this title makes us even more eager for the Mario-themed soccer title coming this fall.

Details: GameCube platform; $49.99; rated Everyone.

*

Satisfying road rage

In Burnout Revenge, winning the race just isn’t enough. No, winning the race and driving your opponents’ cars into the heart of spectacular, metal-twisting pileups is the objective of this adrenaline-jacking racer. And what great escapism it is to plow through traffic at 165 mph, shedding slow-moving minivans all along the way, creating enough roadway carnage to satisfy a lifetime’s worth of road rage.

(Added local flavor: Look closely at any street sign on the Angel Valley track and see if you can spot an exit sign from the 101 south near downtown L.A.)

Details: PlayStation 2 and Xbox platform; $49.99; rated Everyone 10+ (violence).

*

Not up to speed

187 Ride or Die is a failed marriage between GTA and GT4. An attempt at merging the gangsterisms of the latest Grand Theft Auto and the race driving of Grand Turismo 4, the only thing about this “drive-by racer” that doesn’t get repetitive after a short while is listening to how bad rapper Guerilla Black delivers his character’s lines. Hey, learn to act. Ya heard?

Details: PlayStation 2 and Xbox platforms; $49.99; rated Mature (blood, strong language and violence).