Best New Games: Week Of 7/21/08

After the riotous news-fest of last week's industry shindig E3, game publishers could well be forgiven for taking a week off. Which, barring the release of the long-awaited (and delightful) Final Fantasy IV on DS, is exactly what they're doing. Take this excuse to look through our pick of the best moments of E3, or check out our picks of the week's decidedly sparse release list.

Top Three:

Final Fantasy IV

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Or Final Fantasy II, as it was called at its original U.S. release on the SNES in 1991. This episode in the legendary RPG series introduced many of the concepts that characterize the franchise, including the turn-based battle system that lasted all the way through to the twelfth game. This week, it's receiving a long-awaited release on the Nintendo DS, adding mini-games and voice acting to the game's timeless plot and classic gameplay. Don't miss it.

Order Up

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Are you glued to the Food Network? Is your kitchen crammed with gleaming, high-tech cooking gadgets you've used twice and then forgotten about? Do you go to bed at night dreaming of being called a "donkey" by Gordon Ramsay? Yeah, us too. Scratch your culinary itch with this waggle-tastic Wii kitchen sim, which will have you juggling multiple dishes and ingredients, all while managing your very own fleet of sous-chefs. No, you don't get to explode at them, Ramsay style, but you do get to slap them about a bit if they fall asleep. Nice.

Virtual Farm

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If your talents extend more to growing food than cooking it -- and you happen to harbor fantasies of pickin' banjos, smoking corncob pipes and wearing overalls -- Virtual Farm is going to be much more your speed. Can you turn a struggling farm into a modernized, successful business? Do you have what it takes to match public demand and make a profit at the market? Or will you just sit on the front porch sippin' moonshine?

Best of the Rest

• The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor:
  Take on the forces of the Dragon Emperor in this Tomb Raider-style action game.
• Tropicabana:
  Match-three gameplay in the sumptuous surroundings of the Tropicabana Hotel and Casino.
• City Life: 2008 Edition:
  Bring your city-building dreams up to date with this expansion.
• Fate: Undiscovered Realms
  Has all this Diablo III news got you hankering for an old-school action RPG? Give this one a go.
• AquaSphere
  Smash underwater bricks through 60 levels of danger and excitement.