The Sims 3 faced an daunting task to live up to the franchise's legacy and yet still deliver a new kind of experience to satiate the desires of any Sims fan.

This is the best puzzle game of the year thus far, a perfectly blended mix of Tetris Attack-ish strategy and poker.

Electronic Arts applies the control scheme from its previous PC to console real time strategy game, "The Lord of the Rings: The Battle of Middle-earth II" with excellent results, offering gamers a user-friendly scheme that makes controlling units and building structures simple.

Gorgeous and feature packed, it's the new benchmark of open world adventures and a must play for gamers with itchy trigger fingers.

While it lacks large amount of modes and options, the ones provided will keep you punching for hours. In addition, online play is excellent, with very little lag.

It's damn near impossible, but you'll feel a great sense of accomplishment if you manage to beat the final boss. The replay value is high, thanks to additional challenge and time attack stages, along with promising downloadable content.

Despite a few corny audio samples, Virtua Fighter 5 offers hard-hitting fighting perfection that no one should miss.

The combination of a loaded single player campaign with an entertaining multiplayer mode makes Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters an excellent addition to the PSP library.

The tilting gameplay is both surprisingly simple yet elegant, letting you achieve goals at your own pace without frustration.

The best part about Muramasa, though, is the presentation. This Wii effort sports vivid hand-drawn animation, breathtaking locales and a memorable soundtrack. It's without question one of the better games you'll find on the Wii.

An immensely entertaining shooter that demands your attention. Single player doesn't measure up to multiplayer (a potential deal breaker for the loners of the world), but taken as a whole, this is a gun firing, tank crushing good time.

While not a true sequel (Sony pulled its eight tracks, modes and vehicles from its WipEout Pure and Pulse PSP games), it feels fresh and exciting because of the gorgeous high-definition graphics, which run in 1080p and at a blazing 60 frames per second.

With slick graphics, beautiful level design and of course, the puzzles and action that first captivated us completely, Anniversary lives up to the name of Lara Croft.

Gorgeous and horrifying visuals, combined with spine-tingling audio, immerse you in an interstellar nightmare of blood and bone. While it leaves a lot of unanswered questions, an obvious ploy to get you to read the enjoyable comics and watch the animated film, Dead Space is still a terrifying game, whether you're bathed in darkness or playing in sunlight.

Its visuals, gameplay and intricacy make it the best downloadable shooter available since "Geometry Wars: Evolved" – end of story.

Occasionally sloppy visuals and dialogue can't derail a fantastic, involving role-playing experience. Baldur's Gate veterans should definitely apply.

The whole thing comes off like something Pixar would produce if it chose to add game development to their filmaking. The lack of an online multiplayer/co-op option keeps it from being perfect, but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying this undeniable thrill ride.

Hilarious and addictive.

It's a monumental space adventure you shouldn't miss, whether you're a longtime fan or a newcomer. Insomniac wraps up the duo's space saga in style. We just hope to see more of them in the future. We can't get enough of these guys.

Dated technology aside, Bully's a fresh breath of air in a stagnating game market -- complete with cool art direction, a great soundtrack, a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and a gameplay mechanic that's new, yet familiar to anyone who's played any of the 'Grand Theft Auto' games.

Much of it looks and feels familiar, but 2K Games proved that there is a whole other side of Rapture worth exploring, as well as new and interesting stories to tell. Gripping, wondrous and at times horrifying, it's a superb effort that opens the door for perhaps another game, but don't worry about that. For now, put on that Big Daddy helmet and pay this phenomenal city a visit.

Geometry Wars: Galaxies takes everything good about Bizarre Creations' download hit and expands upon it.

Instead of blazing through the galaxy using a more traditional game controller, tackle enormous bosses and solve head-scratching puzzles using the Wii's remote and nunchuk. The experience is nothing short of extraordinary.

The game's presentation couldn't be better and the story provides some extra weight along with doses of humor.

The game that was already exceptional on the Xbox 360 is even better on the PC, so it's really a no brainer.

Seasoned pros will love the new performance challenges and multiplayer-oriented party games for local and online play. As for the remarkable set list, Activision delivers a mix of old and new, from artists like Iron Maiden, 3 Doors Down and Elton John.

Last year's race between 2K Sports and EA Sports' hockey franchises was almost a dead heat. This year, EA's NHL 09 takes Lord Stanley's Cup, thanks to a combination of what worked well last year and some sweet new features.

Dark Avatar still suffers from a few minor issues present in the original game, like non-allied aliens setting up colonies inside a rival faction's solar system without fear of repercussions. However, the positives far outweigh the negatives.