My views on some of this holiday's biggest titles

This holiday season is packed with huge titles for the PS3 and 360. Most of them are out, or will be out in the next couple days, in preparation for the Christmas shopping season. I've happened to play a few; I rented some, bought others, and here are some of my rulings:

LittleBigPlanet: A very fun, creative, cute game. I feel like I could let my little nephew play and feel comfortable that he'd enjoy it, if not only for the little SackBoys. A huge level of creative input from the player goes a long way. I've really enjoyed playing online, it's loads better than playing along.

EndWar: I was actually pretty disappointed on this one. I was looking forward to it probably more than any other, too. RTSs simply are a stagnant type of game these days. There needs to be a genuine breakthrough either in graphics or in handling of units. Simplicity will not do.

Call of Duty World at War: Waiting for this one in the mail today. Reviews are mild, but I'm itching for another CoD online experience, I've drained out of Modern Warfare every last drop of ingenuity.

Mirrors Edge: I played the demo for this one. Definitely innovative, but I would never buy it. Wasn't expecting too much from it in the first place, reviewers seem to justify that.

Gears of War 2: Pretty good, but not really my style. I knew that going in though, so I'm overly biased on this one.

All in all, I'm rather disappointed with the lineup I was so very excited for just 2 months ago. There may be a saving grace in next years picks though:

Half Life Episode 3
HAWX
Portal 2
Sims 3
Halo 3 Recon