Hot Play

The sixties weren’t all about love, sex and drugs. There was greed, too

Hei$t (pictured above)

PC, PS3, Xbox 360

San Francisco, 1969 — Johnny Sutton’s hair and sideburns may be a little shaggy, but he’s not chasing peace and free love. Instead he’s using his piece to get free money. Johnny, fresh out of prison, is a bank robber.
 

Sadly, life inside didn’t reform him — it inspired our boy to become the greatest hold-up man of all. Now he’s assembled a crew — afroed tough guy Crumb, 50-something driver Kid and explosives man Cracker — to go after the greatest prize of all: San Fran’s United States Mint.
 

But before hitting the big time you, as Johnny, need to knock over increasingly secure banks, fine tuning your planning and execution. You can always rush in with guns blazing, but this is risky and after a few of these jobs the other banks will beef up security. Instead, career-minded thieves will — shades of Grand Theft Auto — explore the city’s seedy clubs for inside dope on targets, courtesy of underworld characters and disgruntled employees.
 

Once it’s showtime, you arm and position your team, but even the best laid plans can go awry. That’s when you start barking orders to your crew using a microphone and the game’s nifty voice-control feature, as in: “Blow the safe, Cracker” or “Crumb! Stop hitting the guard.” Next it’s into the getaway car, where Hei$t shifts from third-person action to Bullitt-style high-intensity driving. As you’d expect, the game’s presentation is cinematic and jammed with period flourishes, including psychedelic tunes and addled hippies who, take it from us, make terrible lookouts.

Wii Fit

Wii

Already a million-seller in Japan, Wii Fit uses a wireless balance board (similar to a bathroom scale) to — shudder — calculate your body mass index, then lead you through real-world exercises like stretching, yoga and push-ups. Need something lighter? There are also 40 balance-driven mini-games like heading soccer balls, powering a hula hoop and ski jumping.
Release date: May 19   

SingStar

PS3

This popular (not to mention competitive) karaoke game finally arrives on PS3 with HD-quality music videos, hundreds of downloadable songs and videos, and a ready-made online community. Using a USB camera, wannabe stars can record and share their performances of tunes from hitmakers as varied as U2, OutKast, Twisted Sister and, meow, the Pussycat Dolls.
Release date: May 20