'TIMESHIFT'

Publisher: Sierra

Systems: Microsoft Xbox 360, also for Sony PlayStation 3, PC

Age rating: Mature

Reversing, slowing and freezing time are the special powers du jour in this first-person shooter.

The story of "TimeShift" is cursory: An evil scientist has stolen an experimental time travel suit and escaped into the temporal ether. He's followed by a colleague in a newer version of the suit, but our hero arrives in the past in 1939, too late to stop his nemesis from taking over the world. Looks like it's time to rewrite history, again.

The weapons in the game feel good; there's real "oomph" in their firepower and the sound effects that go with each shot. The guns range from pistols and rifles to shotguns and more exotic fare.

But our hero's real power is his time suit, which allows him to manipulate recent time to solve puzzles, more easily defeat groups of tough enemies and open up passages that would otherwise be closed.

The game looks solid, controls well and sounds good. There's also an online mode with a good selection of game types to choose from and some other neat aspects, such as chrono grenades that alter time for any player in their blast radius.

'SOUL CALIBUR LEGENDS'

Publisher: Namco Bandai

System: Nintendo Wii

Age rating: Teen

Turning a fighting game into another kind of game almost never works out well. Even the best-plotted fighting games have pretty thin stories, and adapting recognizable fighting moves meant for one-on-one battles is iffy.

The "Soul Calibur" games tell a better tale than most fighters, but it's not enough to prop up the game play, which avoids being totally standard brawler fare only by employing the Wii's motion sensitivity. As Siegfried Schtauffen or one of several other characters from the "Soul Calibur" series, players make their way through various stages, taking on hordes of demonic enemies on the way. (Two players can also team up for the quest.)

Each character's signature fighting style is left intact here. Moves are executed by flicking the Wii Remote up and down and side to side, or thrusting it forward. Doing so rapidly can deliver combos, but pulling off a particular combo can be tricky, especially because vertical and horizontal swings seem to get mixed up easily.

The game looks good, though, and series fans may want to pick it up because the upcoming "Soul Calibur IV" isn't scheduled for release on the Wii.