It's been a while since my last round of bullet reviews, so here are some brief thoughts on the games I've been wasting my time on playing lately:

God of War (PS2). Devil May Cry meets Prince of Persia. On acid. The kind of acid that makes you really surly. There's violence, there's sex - interactive sex, even - there's some annoying platforming bits, and there are Dragon's Lair type boss encounters. It's gotten some amazing reviews, and while it is a ton of fun (in small portions), I feel the hype isn't completely justified. I don't know, maybe I'm just too old to get a kick out of bare breasts, buckets of blood, and a surly anti-hero. Why-oh-why must Kratos be so angry all the time? Where's the love?

Brothers in Arms (Xbox). I was really looking forward to this one, and while it's certainly not a bad game, it's not one I've been itching to dig back into. I don't quite know why. Maybe it's because, despite the setting - fields, roads, forests - it feels very restrictive. Low hedges and rickety fences work like solid walls, and you are, in effect, still running down corridors. There's no more freedom in this game than there is in DOOM 3. I will return to it one of these days, and hopefully I'll be able to get into it more, but for the time being: eh.

Lumines (PSP). More addictive than crack. Great back-to-the-basics gameplay, great visuals, great music. Worth getting a PSP for, especially if you travel a lot.

Ridge Racer (PSP). The best portable racer ever - although that's not saying much. It looks, sounds, and feels like a proper console game, and wouldn't look amiss on the PS2. It's the best installment in the series since the original PlayStation version...but I'm not totally convinced that a game like this works well on a small screen and with the PSP's somewhat twitchy analog 'joystick'. As a tech demo, it's fantastic. As a game? I would've preferred to play this one on my TV. But it's still an amazing thing to behold.

Wipeout Pure (PSP). This is a tough one, because it's a very unforgiving game, and it's not casual friendly. It's hard. You bounce into things. You lose. A lot. You need to invest time in this one before it gets good, which seems sort of counterproductive to that whole portable idea. Traditionally, handheld games were supposed to be quick to pick up, get into, and enjoy. Wipeout isn't. But it looks and sounds stunning, and the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, so I guess I need to put a bit more time and effort into it. And the PSP ain't a GameBoy. The rules have changed.

Tiger Woods (PSP). I loves my golf games - hell, I even enjoyed the DS version - and this one's pretty good. Little has been lost in the translation, and, again, it does look very nice. It's not the game I curl up on the couch with, but it's perfect for those looong plane rides, transfers, and rainy days in hotel rooms. Recommended.

All in all, it's been a good couple of months for gaming, and the PSP's launch lineup has been nothing short of stunning. Few consoles have ever launched with so many must-own titles, and Sony's done a bang-up job with their little prodigy.

Next time: Gran Turismo 4, Jade Empire, and the Xbox version of DOOM 3.  ¶ 20:42