The important thing is that after many years of frustrating missions, driving back home to save repeatedly, struggling with wonky physics, and dealing with farcical storylines, GTA IV has delivered a polished and almost fully renovated experience with a darker and more mature treatment of the subject matter.

Episode One offers a unique solution. Smaller, more frequent doses of high-quality gaming for less money. Ultimately, every player will have to decide if 20 bucks is too much for content in the vein of Half-Life 2: Episode One. For us, the quality here is well worth the price of admission.

In one stage, Imperial walkers are deployed into shallow water. You see the walkers' reflections in the water, and the sand beneath the water can be seen as well, with the walkers' feet crushing it as it lumbers up to the shore.

A technological tour de force that will have you screaming "Dear lord!" more times than midnight mass. The performances are top notch, the action plays out with unrivaled fluidity, and the multiplayer is deep and rewarding. Silly distractions aside, Max Payne 3 is an action lover's wet dream that also happens to employ some of the slickest direction and transitional trickery this side of a David Fincher box set.

Just as "The Sims" tapped into the human need to interact, Spore taps into a very deep and similar experience that few games dare to touch - to create and share.

Knocks the chin strap up around the nose of the competition. It's simply the most realistic simulation of football available, and once again, the industry standard.

Epic in scale, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker oozes quality craftsmanship from start to finish. Most importantly, it's incredibly addictive and almost impossible to put down until the end credits roll.

This is a genuine classic, and portability just makes it that much better.

Final Fantasy VI Advance not only set the bar for RPG's in the 16-bit era, it sets a standard that few games reach in the modern era of gaming. This game won't win any beauty pageants, but easily makes up with any shortcomings with story and customizations.

Nearly every game area we encountered was more realistically lit, which often meant fewer places to hide. New motion-captured moves supplement Fisher's already impressive range of actions, and watching him clamber over a railing is simply one of the best animations in gaming.

The ironically devastated world of Fallout has never been better realized than in Fallout 3, offering a vast landscape that is almost relentlessly bleak in its hopelessness. It's absorbing, immersive, paradoxically beautiful, and kind of depressing to play over long periods of time.

Fast zombies? Check. Non-stop tension and intensity? Check. The quality of gameplay we expect from Valve? Check. When it comes to co-op multiplayer, Valve is consistently ahead of the curve and excellent at making games that force players to work together.

Round 2 has the substance to back it up its sense of style. The analog control has been refined to the point where it's more responsive and more satisfying than mashing buttons and the new facial and body animations bring a level of authenticity to the ring that's simply never been accomplished before.

It's all about the gameplay, and Gears of War delivers in that department so completely that it wouldn't matter if you were playing the game in 16 bit graphics. But you're not. And Gears of War's glorious presentation - everything from the sound effects to the art direction to the awesomely dark storyline - only enhances what lies at the heart of Gears' destroyed beauty: the gameplay.

There's a ton of content in "Rebel Strike," and the multiplayer gives it replayability far beyond that of the previous "Rogue Squadron" games.

If you loved the first "God of War" more than your first born child, get ready to throw out your second child for this sequel.

One of the largest and most richly detailed fantasy worlds ever to wear a set of polygons. There are literally hundreds of hours of gameplay.

In addition to standard team-based first-person shooter action, Battlefield 1942 incorporates the brilliant gameplay concept of vehicles and other machinery.

Even though the competition has weakened in recent years, the "Madden" series is at the top of its game, and this is close to perfection.

Racing doesn't get much grittier than this. Here's mud in your eye!

Rarely does a game shine in every area and accomplish everything it sets out to do. Call of Duty 4 is unquestionably one of those rare titles...It may not revolutionize the shooter genre, but it comes damn close to perfecting it.

Each class changes the game so drastically that when you grow tired of slinging lead in the alleys, you can always go spec ops or engineer for a completely new experience. The depth and quality here is just staggering, and you won't find a better multiplayer shooter on the PC.

There's not a single thing wrong with this game. The diligence and creativity that have gone into it should be carefully scrutinized by anyone thinking of working on a similar project. Do yourself a favor and play it.

The single-player mode is robust and challenging, and the multiplayer mode is nigh groundbreaking. Once the multiplayer servers are populated, a whole lot of social lives are going to be ruined.

Great graphics and sound, top-notch AI, wonderfully entertaining dialog, and an impressive variety of gameplay all make this one of the best games of the year.

It has it all: harrowing missions, top-notch graphics and special effects, and convincing audio and voice acting. Few games in this genre approach the level of polish and design seen here.

The most complete and all-encompassing "Star Wars" gaming experience yet. Thanks to the nonlinear gameplay and extensive dialog, you experience everything firsthand, and the RPG battles let you direct "Star Wars"-like cinema in a way that's impossible with other genres.

Probably the tastiest part of the Killzone Cocktail is the Multiplayer. Imagine if Call Of Duty 4 and Team Fortress 2 had a baby, which they then abandoned and as a result had to learn a few new tricks to survive. That’s what Killzone Multiplayer is like.