EA Canada

Racing games, more so than any other genre, have the power to physiologically transform me. My hands sweat. My heart rate doubles. My body temperature rises. I can actually feel adrenaline bubbling like soda water in my veins. Indeed, a well-crafted racing game can make me feel, even as I sit idly in front of my TV set, wholly alive.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Violence

As a boxing videogame expert-I've played to death just about every pugilistic title out there-I'm proclaiming Fight Night 2004 the premiere title in the genre. I confess, it took me a week or two to fully appreciate the magnificence of this game.

Fight Night follows the recent trend of Electronic Arts titles having equal substance in its gameplay to match its glitzy style. Building on the analog sensitive controls of Victorious Boxers, Fight Night makes its own bold contribution to the genre by using the right analog thumb sticks on controllers to launch a majority of its punches.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Blood, Mild Lyrics, Violence

Game Description: Get ready for the fight of your life as EA Sports returns to the world of boxing with Fight Night 2004. Built from the ground up to deliver all the drama and pageantry of a heavyweight title bout, Fight Night 2004 is the most authentic boxing experience to date, sporting a dramatic new-school attitude, a dynamic new cinematic approach, and revolutionary boxing gameplay.

Game Description: It's you against the mountain. SSX 3 challenges gamers to drop in and conquer a massive, living mountain rife with ego-crushing challenges and gravity-bending thrills. Sporting an all-new open-ended gameplay structure, gamers are free to ride anywhere gravity takes them, seamlessly boarding from one event to the next as they begin their assault on the mountain's three larger-than-life peaks. Gamers will need to overcome everything the mountain throws at them-from fierce lightening storms and breathtaking vertical drops to serpentine slope style courses and earth-swallowing avalanches-on their quest for the ultimate adrenaline rush. The mountain presents gamers with a world of open vistas and fresh powder for out of bounds exploration, filled with trick venues, rail parks, racecourses, and half-pipes with new tricks to master and new competitors to leave in the dust.

SSX 3 is fantastic, despite a few small issues. It can be oddly frustrating at times, yet it has enough merit to make it one of my favorite games this year. It doesn't necessarily refresh the nostalgia I had when it was SSX two releases ago, but it definitely re-introduces the fun lacking in the gaming slump I've experienced lately. With a solid array of courses and the addition of online rivalry, SSX 3 is very rewarding and, more importantly, ultimately fun.

According to the ESRB, this game contains: Comic Mischief, Mild Violence

I agree with Mike that NHL 2002 is the closest you can get to the actual game of hockey on a console to date. But Im not sure that the game entirely succeeds in bringing the game of hockey to a videogame. Its close, but no cigar.