Opening salvos in a major battle

IT happens every year: When the holidays approach, video game companies spring to life and start releasing title after title. It seems as if the companies think people buy games only during November and December.

This means that the mailbox here at Got Game? HQ gets inundated. So this year, we’re trying something new, called First Impressions. We’ll grab 10 of the biggest titles this month (and again in December), play them for just one hour and offer up our assessment.

*

Final Fantasy XII

Epic and complex, this game is worth the price of admission for the “Star Wars: Episode One”-quality cut-screen movie at the beginning alone. From there, the game delves into a complicated tale of an occupied land in search of its freedom. If role-playing games are your forte -- and they are an acquired taste -- look no further. (PlayStation 2 platform; $49.99. Rated: Teen.)

---

Destroy All Humans 2

Recapturing the magic and fun of the first version of this “alien invades Americana of yesteryear” tale proved too hard. The arena is now San Francisco in the ‘60s, and there is a co-op mode, but gone are all the charms and laughs of the original. How often does playing a game make you want to go back and pick up the old one? (Xbox, PlayStation 2 platforms; $39.99. Rated: Teen.)

F.E.A.R.

What starts off as a bone-chilling cinematic experience quickly disintegrates into a standard first-person shooter, albeit a beautifully drawn one. Shooting super soldiers in a deserted warehouse where all the rooms look the same gets redundant. At least the visuals and sounds are amazing and creepy. (Xbox 360 platform; $59.99. Rated: Mature.)

---

Family Guy

Big fans of the show presumably will be able to look past the lousy controls and repetitively frustrating puzzles. The rest of us might get an occasional belly laugh -- the same writers and actors make the hit TV show, after all -- but the overall experience is another in a long line of failed TV show tie-ins. (Xbox, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable platforms; $29.99. Rated: Mature.)

---

Splinter Cell: Double Agent

Hard to control, at times hard to see, but also hard to put down, Sam Fisher’s foray onto the dark side is beautiful, savage fun that can be played either as a shoot-’em-up or as a stealthy sneak-around game. Another classic in the visually stunning and addictive series. (Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2 platforms; $59.99-$39.99. Rated: Mature.)

---

Justice League Heroes

More serious in tone than the amazing Cartoon Network series, this is a good old smash-and-grab with familiar heroes like Batman and Wonder Woman. The action and gameplay are exciting, but not too complicated, making it a good bet for the tween set. Besides, being able to fly around as Superman never gets old. (Xbox, PlayStation 2 platforms; $39.99. Rated: Teen.)

---

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

Vice City Stories is the kind of game that goes into your PSP and doesn’t come out for a long time, because it’s just so fun to play. The same great adventure set in the drug wars of a pseudo 1980s Miami from the smash hit GTA Vice City is fully portable, and now it comes with a wireless multiplayer mode? We’ve just suffered a relapse. (PlayStation Portable platform; $49.99. Rated: Mature.)

---

Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Ultimate is right. Like a newfangled take on the classic four-people-at-once arcade hit Gauntlet, Alliance stars 20 of the Marvel Comics universe’s greatest heroes, whether popular (X-Men, Spider-Man) or semi-obscure (Silver Surfer, Moon Knight). Action-packed, upgradeable characters, jaw-dropping cut-screens; it’s a must-have. (All platforms; $59.99-$29.99. Rated: Teen.)

---

Scarface: The World Is Yours

This game imagines a different ending to the classic 1983 film; here, gangster Tony Montana survives the ambush and must rebuild his empire. A lot like GTA Vice City (drug wars in 1980s Miami), the complex story gives this a lot of extra spunk. Groundbreaking? No. A great time? Oh, yeah. “Say hello to my little friend.” (Xbox, PlayStation 2 platforms; $49.99. Rated: Mature.)

---

Bully

Hey, look! It’s Grand Theft Auto Prep School! From the same makers of the uber-popular GTA series comes this not-so-entertaining trip to a gritty prep school populated by no-goodniks. Going to class and completing the mini-games within prove to be the best parts of this grade-school dropout. (PlayStation 2 platforms; $39.99. Rated: Teen.)