VIDEO GAME REVIEWS

'THE ELDER SCROLLS IV: OBLIVION'
Platform: Xbox 360, PC.
Genre: Role-playing.
Publisher: 2K Games.
Rating: T for Teen.
Grade: B
It's nearly impossible to gush enough over a role-playing game in so brief space, but no one should shy away from "Oblivion" (pardon the pun). No matter how you feel about RPGs, if you are an Xbox 360 owner or have a PC, you'd be a fool not to get this latest installment from "The Elder Scrolls."
"Morrowind," the previous game in the series, was hailed as a breakthrough when it was released, but it now looks like a piddly game of "Pong" compared to the richness and complexity of "Oblivion." It adds depth and greatness in gameplay, yet never sacrifices a sense of ease and friendliness to pick up and play.
You could spend the next two months locked up in a room enjoying the vastness of "Oblivion," and improving upon your character's abilities, but "Oblivion" never makes you feel overwhelmed. That alone makes it the best RPG game ever created.
From the character creation to learning melee combat or even the simpler tasks of interacting with other characters in the game, the gameplay and menus are all at the touch of a button. You can tell the folks at Bethesda Softworks and 2K Games spent time getting it right.
There's hardly a criticism to make here. The side quests you can take and the photo-realistic graphics are astounding, even to the minutiae of varying the characters' looks and voices. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better RPG, or getter game for that matter, than this one.
-- Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard
'DRIVER: PARALLEL LINES'
Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox.
Genre: Driving.
Publisher: Atari ESRB.
Rating: M for Mature.
Grade: C
It took a few years for gaming companies to finally realize "Grand Theft Auto"-style games are quite popular with gamers. EA got it right with the recent "The Godfather" release, and now Atari has "Driver: Parallel Lines," which is decent, but not equal to its contemporaries.
You play as "TK," who in 1978 gets caught up in the wrong crowd and tossed in the slammer. Released in the present day, you are hell-bent on revenge. What better way to do it than to get behind the wheel of a ton of cars and tear up the streets?
What "Parallel Lines" does well is bring high-tension street racing and mix it with some realism of city driving. You won't get away with the free-wheeling style, of, say, "Midnight Club," since there are cops lurking, and they like to bring the heat.
"Parallel Lines" does a pretty good job of mixing up the missions, but other than that the game could use some help. The visuals are decent, but Atari has done better in the past. The audio tracks are sometimes out of place and the sound effects are not as thrilling as they could be.
"Parallel Lines" is worth a rental, and perhaps even a decent buy if you are searching for another GTA-style game.
-- Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard
'METROID PRIME: HUNTERS'
Platform: Nintendo DS.
Genre: Shooter.
Publisher: Nintendo.
Rating: T for Teen.
Grade: B-
Many DS owners might be scratching their heads, wondering why it took so long for this title to be released, considering a demo of it was packaged with the DS when they bought it.
Nintendo took its time perfecting the gameplay and waiting for its online capabilities to gel. The result is well worth the wait -- it is perhaps the best game released on the DS, and rivals any hand-held title.
You will play once again as Samus, and while the control scheme is cumbersome to learn, once you do it becomes intuitive and highlights the interactive nature of the DS. Besides the satisfying single-player mode, what makes the game stand out is its multiplayer modes, which for a hand-held shooter is a major plus.
The graphics are about as good as the DS can have, and the sound is terrific, with the score lifted pretty much from the previous "Metroid Prime" games. It might have been a long wait, but "Hunters" is top-class and should be an instant hit with DS owners.
-- Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard