Dementium: The Ward is a terrific experience. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

If you have Instincts for the Xbox and wouldn't mind playing an original Xbox game, save yourself $30 and get Evolution. Both games are great and are worth at least a rental. If you've yet to experience Far Cry, though, it's worth a purchase.

With a dearth of features and tweaks that make this experience the best out there, gamers will have plenty to do before and after the first pitch of the season.

The new levels for the adventure mode and multiplayer will add more visual variety to those modes, though the new challenges are designed much more for Peggle veterans.

The moodiness of the game's atmosphere, the intensity of the pacing, the original infection mechanic and the overall quality of the gameplay combine into what may be the best game of 2006 you haven't heard of.

Geometry Wars Galaxies is an excellent transition from old to new with a bevy of extras that will keep fans engaged for a long time.

The fantastic storytelling coupled with an equally impressive score though will make you forget your grievances with the finished product, and there are just enough extras in the campaign to make completionists return a couple times to get them all.

Gravity Crash does a great job of recapturing the old style of gravity-based shooters and giving it a nice visual upgrade that even bests Geometry Wars with more elaborate level design.

Whatever your experience with the genre, you’re likely to be hooked on the addictive gameplay and dazzled by all the shiny HD sweetness.

Conceptually, The Godfather II has the potential to be an amazing game. However, the somewhat dated visuals, coupled with the occasional mission-ending glitches, and the relatively ease of the strategy component mean that The Godfather II is a good game but one that doesn’t fully live up to its potential.

House of the Dead: Overkill offers an impressive package of content that most light-gun games on the Wii fail to provide, especially with two campaigns to play through by yourself or with a friend.

Unless you’re a hardcore fan of the Prince of Persia games, you can beat the game in about 14 hours or so in a rental to get all you need out of it during the holiday season.

The game is accessible to both veterans and newbies, and veterans should also find new combinations and strategies with the innovative bouncing mechanic.

Forged Alliance does a good job at being exactly what it is – a stand-alone expansion delivering an entirely new faction to the world of Supreme Commander, a decent single-player campaign playable from any of three human perspectives, and new experimental units for each faction, including four brand-new experimentals for the new faction.

Tales of Vesperia is a fine RPG, but its somewhat cliché story stands at the cliff of the compelling and doesn’t take a leap of faith.

But buyers beware, the best way to play this game is through the DS, so while both the DS and Wii versions go for about $39, the DS version is definitely the better buy.

Now that the next-gen is officially something in the present, it’s safe to say that Madden NFL 08 is the first great Madden game to come out since Madden NFL 2005.

Ring of Fates does what Crystal Chronicles couldn't do (make the game worth playing alone).

Comet Crash is a pleasant surprise with the slow stagnation of tower defense games by adding a new hook that is backed up by quality gameplay that hasn't been seen since PixelJunk Monsters.

Regardless of some of the stumbles in NBA Live 09, this year’s game is definitely worth a purchase for the first time in years.

The game looks great, can be really addictive, and offers a variety of ways to enjoy the experience that Warhawk offers.

Regardless of some of the stumbles in NBA Live 09, this year’s game is definitely worth a purchase for the first time in years.

Despite not much in the way of new, groundbreaking stuff in Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2, it certainly leans more towards the good side of the more of the same sequel fence.

The game is accessible to both veterans and newbies, and veterans should also find new combinations and strategies with the innovative bouncing mechanic.

Moon is a good start at something great, and while it’s not quite at the level of first-person console games, this game is worth your attention because it’s damn close.

If you’re a fan of games like Project Gotham Racing and Grid, you’d really be doing yourself a disservice in missing out on this game since it’s probably right up your alley.

Much like Flower, there’s not much of a game or a point to Noby Noby Boy, but the cool community aspect of working together to unlock new locales for you to explore is a really unique hook that makes this a game you can come back to more often to see the progress towards that next planet.

With NeoWave as a clear-cut highlight of the KOF franchise, SNK is practically giving it away at the $19.99 price point. Snap it up.

The Last Guy is certainly one of those quirky, simple games that don’t look fun at all until you get your hands on the game and see it for yourself.

Though it's probably not the best game in the series, Trials and Tribulations could not have ended up any better than it is and it's a fantastic final hurrah for everybody's favorite defense attorney.

A great game that just fails to exceed its predecessors.

Even though Second Evolution plays pretty much the same as First Departure, don’t let the similar conventions fool you—Second Evolution is a much better game.

While Star Successor suffers greatly from a few shortcomings, the utter challenge and tight gameplay should be enough to keep the most hardcore gamers pleased for a while.

All in all, Far Cry Instincts and Evolution are two games worth playing. If you haven’t played the Xbox version, you should definitely think about getting it for the 360.

Overall, Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution is a great fighter for the Wii that isn’t as full-featured as it could be, but it’s probably good enough to take the crown of the best fighter on the Wii this year.

LittleBigPlanet has certainly made a pretty good translation to the PSP as more of a single-player-focused experience, but that also brings with it more of a reliance upon great community levels and/or developer support with DLC to help give it replay value to be worth $40.

A great game that has some hampering issues in its gameplay; things that shouldn’t be a problem, like the save system, cheap bosses, and dumber than a stump partner A.I. All that aside, though, Dead Rising is a fantastic game that strays far enough away from the moody style Resident Evil has stapled in the zombie genre.

The fantastic storytelling coupled with an equally impressive score though will make you forget your grievances with the finished product, and there are just enough extras in the campaign to make completionists return a couple times to get them all.

While Sonic Rush Adventure has some tedious rough edges to it, it's definitely a true blue Sonic experience to be had on the Nintendo DS.

Death design aside, Fable 2 has managed to improve on the original in every conceivable way.

With the online multiplayer mode, a fun single player campaign, and a full copy of Quake 2 for a second helping of FPS goodness, Quake 4 has a tremendous amount of value and replayability.

NCAA Football 10 isn’t really going to bring much that’s significantly new to any part of the game over its predecessor, but it does feature a well-polished game for those that are fine with that that makes it worth a purchase.

Soldner-X is definitely a very hard game, but it offers enough features and gameplay mechanics that help make it more manageable to keep the game feeling more challenging than frustrating and cheap to be worth the $10 price tag.

Combines rock-solid and dynamic gameplay with an actually funny sense of humor. Returning gamers will find a bag full of changes, while those new to the series will have an easy time picking this up and running with it.

While the game really does not do a whole lot to innovate, it is a very solid FPS with an interesting story and an immense online aspect.

The game is fun, the battles are executed well, the characters are interesting, and the overall package is interesting enough to warrant a purchase for fans of the series or genre.

Overall, echochrome is one of the most unique puzzle games to come out in a while.

Eternal Sonata is a wonderful ensemble of fascinating characters and a remarkable story about the life (and death) of Frederic Chopin.

Lego Indiana Jones’s success comes from keeping the fun gameplay of the Lego Star Wars games, but injecting the classic Indy moments, music, and characters

The visuals have a sort of cell-shaded look to them, but they’re also fully textured. The look of the game resembles that of a modern graphic novel—fitting with the game’s sci-fi setting.

The fantastic storytelling coupled with an equally impressive score though will make you forget your grievances with the finished product, and there are just enough extras in the campaign to make completionists return a couple times to get them all.

Unless you’re a hardcore fan of the Prince of Persia games, you can beat the game in about 14 hours or so in a rental to get all you need out of it during the holiday season.

Lego Indiana Jones’s success comes from keeping the fun gameplay of the Lego Star Wars games, but injecting the classic Indy moments, music, and characters

The entertaining story, great, varied, gameplay, and the impressive package that surrounds the single-player makes the negatives, like long load times, boring multiplayer, and the sometimes awkward camera controls, a necessary evil to have a great game like Size Matters.

ÜberSoldier looks great and is filled to the brim with excitement. It’s not a game you play for the story: it’s one you play because it’s fun.

The Xbox 360 version stands tall among other collegiate sports games on the console.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is certainly worth picking up. With an adequate campaign and more playable comic book characters than you can shake a stick at, plus bonus side missions for all of them, you’re definitely getting more than what you paid for.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is certainly worth picking up. With an adequate campaign and more playable comic book characters than you can shake a stick at, plus bonus side missions for all of them, you're definitely getting more than what you paid for.

If you have friends who enjoy having a little bit of fun, it's the DS version you want.

A great game. Sure, the AI can be annoying, the online may be a little lacking in modes, but overall, Most Wanted is still a very solid game.

Most Wanted brings the police back in force, and the game benefits greatly from it.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is certainly worth picking up. With an adequate campaign and more playable comic book characters than you can shake a stick at, plus bonus side missions for all of them, you’re definitely getting more than what you paid for.

While some hardcore fans of the genre may find the schoolboy setting a minor lack of interest, others will see Bully as simply a GTA for kids, and there is really nothing wrong with that.

If you're looking for a fun, deep, and relaxing game that also lends itself very well to short play sessions and the PSP's sleep function, you really can't go wrong with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07.

Sony Bend has done another great job in bringing good, solid shooter action to the PSP once again with Resistance: Retribution.

Aesthetic complaints aside, Puzzle Fighter is still one of the greatest puzzle games ever developed, and the addition of X` mode and online play makes this the definitive version of Capcom's cult classic.

This is one of the best Mario Party games to come out in a while--but if Nintendo just took the liberty of making it online, this really could have been the best one yet.

Geometry Wars: Galaxies is the definition of portable fun.

If you're going to be playing it alone all the time, the PSP version is the way to go because of its wide screen and superior sound quality.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is certainly worth picking up. With an adequate campaign and more playable comic book characters than you can shake a stick at, plus bonus side missions for all of them, you’re definitely getting more than what you paid for.

If you're looking for a fun demonstration of what the Wii controller can do, a strong party game, or just a game to have a good laugh over, Rayman Raving Rabbids is a great choice.

Siren: Blood Curse is a great game. Not just a great PlayStation Network game, but a solid game overall.

An incredibly solid platformer that'll probably go unnoticed and can quite possibly be a favorite when it comes to mentioning the year's most underrated titles.

Since the game is actually a dungeon crawler, Children of Mana may disappoint those looking for their traditional RPG fix. But if it really counts toward opinion, the game just might be the best and most beautiful dungeon crawler ever created.

For the $6 that PixelJunk Monsters Encore will cost to buy, you get a bunch of new levels, some gameplay improvements, some new music, and the satisfaction that your PixelJunk Monsters fun can stay alive for a while longer.

Saint's Row 2 is as every bit as good as the first game despite its glaring technical faults.

Defense Grid: The Awakening offers what is easily the best tower defense game on the Xbox 360 and is a game that anyone interested in that genre should check out.

If you loved the first, you’ll love the second, and if you hated the first, you’ll hate this one even more. This isn’t over-the-top arcade skating, but it is the closest alternative to the real thing.

Overall, F.E.A.R. might start to be a little dated without an engine overhaul. Additionally, Perseus Mandate doesn't introduce anything very new to the series.

When it comes down to it, Patapon is a great game that is quirky, charming, and addictive at the same time.

Elebits is original, addicting, easy to pick-up and play, and comes highly recommended. However, because of its relatively short length, a rental might be in order to decide if the extra features are worth the money.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is certainly worth picking up. With an adequate campaign and more playable comic book characters than you can shake a stick at, plus bonus side missions for all of them, you’re definitely getting more than what you paid for.

Saint's Row 2 is as every bit as good as the first game despite its glaring technical faults.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is certainly worth picking up. With an adequate campaign and more playable comic book characters than you can shake a stick at, plus bonus side missions for all of them, you're definitely getting more than what you paid for.

What separates this game from the games before it is the freedom you have with your players.

With the plethora of options waiting to be uncovered after every passing day, it's hard to not enjoy playing Flash Focus. The game offers the player a lot, and at the same time, limits what can be done day by day.

If you loved the first, you’ll love the second, and if you hated the first, you’ll hate this one even more. This isn’t over-the-top arcade skating, but it is the closest alternative to the real thing.

Most Wanted brings the police back in force, and the game benefits greatly from it.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is certainly worth picking up. With an adequate campaign and more playable comic book characters than you can shake a stick at, plus bonus side missions for all of them, you’re definitely getting more than what you paid for.

Luckily for gamers, this year's version of the NBA 2K series delivers.

Most Wanted brings the police back in force, and the game benefits greatly from it.

Rock Band Unplugged does a great job of bringing the Rock Band experience to the PSP in a format that fits the portable experience very well compared to other portable ports of console music games.

Most Wanted brings the police back in force, and the game benefits greatly from it.

While not too many people will be in tune with the original Dragon Ball series, it’s worth noting that Dragon Ball: Origins is the best Dragon Ball game available on the DS.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is certainly worth picking up. With an adequate campaign and more playable comic book characters than you can shake a stick at, plus bonus side missions for all of them, you’re definitely getting more than what you paid for.

A game as succintly brilliant as Trace Memory guarantees that anyone looking for a graphic adventure game, or an emotional, engaging experience, will be more than content.

It’s a hard, fun, and fulfilling finale to one of the better RPG epics out there. It may not have the workings of a classic like Xenogears on the PlayStation, but it legitimately tries to offer that same blend of religion, psychology, and mythological stories that make the gamer ask questions instead of just sit there like a vegetable taking it in.

Secret Agent Clank is going to get a bad rap because the changes in gameplay, especially with the lack of it really being stealthy, simply will not be enough to satisfy hardcore Ratchet fans, even if it is supposed to be just a Clank standalone.