PC Games

BALDUR'S GATE II: SHADOWS OF AMN
Like a vast, sleeping dragon guarding its hoard, this splendid sequel to BioWare's 1998 role-playing classic stretches into distant darkness. You can smell the sulfur. (Interplay; $44.99; for teenagers.) (Peter Olafson)

COMBAT MISSION: BEYOND OVERLORD
The war game rethought, with a masterful mingling of turn-based planning and 3-D real- time action. The sense of being among your troops as they battle across France and Germany in 1944 and 1945 is entirely real. (Battlefront.com; $45; not rated, but seems appropriate for those 17 and older.)(P.O.)

CRIMSON SKIES
With its movie serial feel and its get-the-treasure story, Crimson Skies has far more of a sense of fun than the usual flight simulation game. (Microsoft; 44.95; age 13 and older.) (Charles Herold)

DEUS EX
This is a fascinating blend of action and role-playing that offers the player a wide range of disparate tasks in a plague- ravaged world where not everything is as it seems. (Eidos; $39.95; published by Aspyr for Macintosh 8.1 and later, $49.95; for 17 and older.) (P.O.)

GROUND CONTROL
I don't care if I'm winning or losing in this 3-D real-time strategy game so long as I get to see the long, elegant arc of my missiles heading for their targets and watch my units move to distant destinations with unrivaled assurance. (Sierra; $49.95; teenagers.) (P.O.)

LEGO ALPHA TEAM
A real rarity; a puzzle game that has figured out how to use 3-D technology effectively. Using a built-in hint system, you carve a tortuous path for your little LEGO men and women to reach their goals. (Lego Media International; $29.95; ages 8 and up.) (C.H.)

THE LONGEST JOURNEY
The best adventure game to come out in years, not because of its puzzles, which are intelligent but fairly ordinary, but because of the depth of its characters and breadth of its story. (Funcom; $39.99; for 17 and older.) (C.H.)

MDK2
Though produced by a different developer, MDK2 manages to repeat with uncanny precision the feat of 1996's MDK: It is a shoot-'em-up that is also funny. This absurdist action game will not produce not sidesplitting laughter, but the slightest touch of parody is bound to provoke the odd giggle. In the virtual combat of the PC, that has got to be worth something. (Interplay; $34; for teenagers and adults.) (P.O.)

MESSIAH
Possession is nine-tenths of the fun in this inspired shoot-'em-up, which casts you as a cherub named Bob who can take refuge within the bodies of enemies and passers-by. (Interplay; $45; 17 and older.) (P.O.)

PAJAMA SAM 3: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT FROM YOUR HEAD TO YOUR FEET
A funny, utterly charming adventure game for children that is just flat-out fun, even for those who passed their eighth birthday many years ago. (Humongous Entertainment; $24.99; for all ages) (C.H.)

PLANESCAPE TORMENT
With quite possibly the best story of any role-playing game ever made, Planescape Torment grabs you from the moment its nameless hero awakes in a mortuary full of dissected corpses and never lets go. (Interplay; $47; 13 and older) (C.H.)

SHOGUN: TOTAL WAR
This epic war game, set in medieval Japan, is a glorious paean to the late film director Akira Kurosawa. The vast samurai battles, unfolding among foggy hills, have made me hold my breath again and again. The game is a sight to behold. (Electronic Arts; $39.99; for teenagers.) (P.O.)

THE SIMS
Will Wright's ingenious and affecting people simulator takes Maxis' simulations down to street level and into a world of creature comforts, lives and loves. I watch my characters struggle through rather dismal, lonely existences consumed with minutiae and wonder, "What does this say about me?" (Maxis; $49.95; for all ages.) (P.O.)

STRAT-O-MATIC COMPUTER BASEBALL 5.0
Mainstream baseball games have never been glossier, but Strat-O-Matic etches your players in numbers instead of polygons. It is a veritable storehouse of statistics — if you want it, Strat has it — and the numbers personalize the game in a way that its more visually oriented cousins rarely manage. (Strat-O-Matic Game Company; $31.95, for an upgrade without card images, to $71.95, for a new purchase with card images; ages 12 and up.) (P.O.)

THIEF 2: THE METAL AGE
When Thief first came out, it was like nothing else you could play, a game in which the purpose was not to kill your enemies but to keep out of their way. While sneaking around is increasingly a component of action games, none of them do it with the finesse of Thief 2. (Eidos; $29.99; ages 17 and older.) (C.H.)

PlayStation 2

DYNASTY WARRIORS 2
The first great original PlayStation 2 game, this sophisticated fighter puts the player on the battlefields of second-century China among dozens of other combatants, both allied and enemy. Dynasty Warriors 2 has the "awe" factor, the sense of seeing something you have never seen before. (Koei; $49.99; for teenagers and adults.) (P.O.)

MADDEN 2001
This football game is almost frighteningly close to the real thing. There have been times, watching my quarterback scramble, a receiver take a bone-crunching hit or my players walk back to the huddle, when I briefly forgot that this was PlayStation 2 and not television. (Electronic Arts; $49.95; ages 10 and up.) (P.O.)

SUMMONER
A classical, PC-style role-playing game that is hard to resist. It is well written and easy to control. The terrain is varied. zzAnd it unfolds in a leisurely fashion that suggests I will be at it for some good time. (THQ; $49.99; for teenagers.) (P.O.)

Nintendo 64

PERFECT DARK
This is the true spiritual successor to the game GoldenEye, which in its day (1997) was the best first-person shooter for any platform. Perfect Dark has the same supple control, the same bright eye for detail and the same rich, deep design. (Nintendo; $69.95; 17 and older) (P.O.)

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA'S MASK
The newest Zelda adventure is as sweetly accessible as the earlier Ocarina of Time. But what consistently bowls me over here is the profoundly artistic eye with which the game has been assembled. At almost every step, we are treated to some beguiling new effect. (Nintendo; $69.95; recommended for ages 10 and up.) (P.O.)

KIRBY 64: THE CRYSTAL SHARDS
You control an amiable pink blob as he progresses through landscapes reminiscent of Candy Land, inhaling enemies and copying and combining their abilities. Too cute for words but so addictive. (Nintendo; $59.95; recommended for 6- to 10-year olds.) (P.O.)

PlayStation

DINO CRISIS 2
The game is an education in what the games industry has taken to calling "survival horror." Imagine the mechanics of a gory Resident Evil game matched with the nastier reptiles from "Jurassic Park." (Capcom; $39.95; ages 17 and older.) (P.O.)

SPIDER-MAN
This first great superhero game offers fascinating 3-D environments, some insanely aggressive enemies, a full repertory of Spidey skills and the comic book's trademark wit. I played this for 30 hours and did not shoot anybody. (Activision; developed by Neversoft for Sony PlayStation, $39.99. Developed by Edge of Reality for Nintendo 64, available during the holidays for $49.99. All ages.) (P.O.)

TOMB RAIDER: THE LAST REVELATION
With the most beautifully textured graphics, the most difficult puzzles and the most preposterous anatomy of the series, The Last Revelation proves that it is still not time to put its heroine, Lara Croft, out to pasture. (Eidos; $39.99; for teenagers.) (C.H.)

Sega Dreamcast

ECCO THE DOLPHIN: DEFENDER OF THE FUTURE
Technically, this is an undersea adventure, but it's also a dolphin simulator. You can save the world from invaders, or you can practice your back flips and explore the sumptuous environments at your leisure. (Sega; $39.95; all ages.) (P.O.)

SEAMAN
A smaller tank, with rather nastier fish. The Gillmen, which inhabit this strange simulation, have squinty human faces, erudite voices and ever such bad manners, especially if you do not feed them for a while. But this is not just another virtual pet. The Gillmen eventually start talking. You start answering, using the included microphone. And then, engagingly, they incorporate your responses into their questions. (Sega; $49.95; for teenagers.) (P.O.)

SPACE CHANNEL 5
Silly and addictive, Space Channel 5 is a psychedelic confection in which Space Reporter Ulala must outdance aliens to make the world safe for go-go music. (Sega; $39.95; for teenagers.)(C.H.) SUPER

RUNABOUT
A reckless, wreck-filled romp of a driving game. Everything is available for breaking. (Interplay; $39.99; for teenagers.)(P.O.)

VIRTUA TENNIS
No story, no explosions, no funny dialogue — Virtua Tennis is all game. But as you win the match to the roar of the crowd, you know that the real story is that of you, the tennis champ, climbing to victory over your all-star opponents. (Sega; $39.99; all ages.) (C.H.)

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