Video game review by ERIK LEIJON

The fine folks at Sony sent me down to Hogtown last week to demo their current-gen holiday line-up, and although it’s obvious this Christmas will be the Playstation 2’s final hurrah, there’s enough to satisfy those who won’t be emptying their bank account for a PS3. As you might expect, the line-up is sequel-heavy, but anyone who says they couldn’t use another Guitar Hero and God of War is lying.

Taking the winning formula of Konami’s Guitar Freaks and adding a licensed soundtrack, Red Octane’s Guitar Hero was an unexpected hit in 2005, though obvious in hindsight.

The game’s success lay in its kick-ass guitar peripheral, with five fret buttons and a strumming trigger. The sequel to the Dance Dance Revolution for rockers will hit the PS2 this Christmas and Xbox 360 next year. I unleashed my inner-Yngwie to Sabbath’s “War Pigs” and STP’s “Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart,” the latter of which was, embarrassingly enough, captured on video by the crew from the Electric Playground TV show.

God of War was another surprise hit for Sony in ’05, so it’s no shocker they’re bringing Kratos and his hos back. On display, they had this year’s E3 demo; following the formula of the original, God of War 2 should appease anyone who liked the game’s huge bosses and bloody action. It’s slated for an early 2007 release.

One of the major revelations of the show was the current European karaoke hit Singstar. On the surface, it didn’t seem much more than your standard karaoke box, but in a futile attempt to impress Electric Playground’s effervescent Julie Stoffer, I clutched the microphone and showed off my non-existent pipes. Singing to the Bloc Party’s “Banquet,” I narrowly defeated some chump from her entourage, but amid the celebration I was intrigued by how the game recognizes if the player is keeping the beat and hitting the right notes. Karaoke machines are limited in what they can do, but Singstar could include customizable videos, a steady stream of new songs and even give vocal lessons to the tone deaf. It has a chance to become one of Sony’s premier first-party licences.

Ubisoft Montreal’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent expands on the co-op elements of Chaos Theory, but brings them into single-player mode. Actually, the non-linear story is really neat, since Sam will have the opportunity to work with both the good guys and bad guys, and there are multiple endings. The first level took place on a snowy mountain, and another had me attempting to derail a money train.

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XII’s gambit system likely elicited the most “WTFs?” from journalists. Instead of actually playing the battles, you merely order your squad around beforehand by telling them what to do in specific situations. I didn’t get to try the game, but the demo guy was touting how the game could be played on our own terms and we could set the AI as we please. I guess Square always did consider the playing part of games to be overrated anyway.

Sadly, it appears the PSP might be neglected this holiday season yet again. Last year’s sports titles were on display, and outside of Ubisoft’s offerings, Namco’s Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception and my personal favourite, Capcom Puzzle World, it was slim pickings, especially from Sony themselves. Thankfully, Rainbow Six: Vegas, developed at Ubisoft Quebec City, played very well. Likely realizing how hard it is to control with the PSP, Ubi Quebec included an optional auto-aim that didn’t make the game feel too easy. The storyline is also different from its next-gen counterpart.