Overall, the game looks like it has been rebuilt from the ground up. The removal of the guitar portions, a slick new interface, a more evenly distributed soundtrack, and a few new tricks to keep you on your toes make this a far more polished product.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is not only one of the best Wii games of the year, it's one of the best games to hit the system ever.

PvZ succeeds masterfully at simplifying the tower defense genre into a game that nearly everyone can enjoy.

THQ and Rainbow Studios have really hit their stride with the MX vs. ATV franchise. Not only have they managed to address every minor issue that plagued previous incarnations of the series, the addition of persistent terrain deformation and Reflex rider control absolutely take this game to the next level.

With sharp execution, uncounted hours of gameplay, and gorgeous sound and video, you'll be hard pressed to beat this game.

Ultimately though, RIFT has had one of the smoothest launches in MMO history, and Trion Worlds has shown publicly that they're willing to own up to their mistakes as soon as they're made, and are quick to enact change to prevent things from recurring, as shown by their near-instant creation of the coin-lock system and their authenticators, as well as their reaction to the end of the River of Souls event.

So much fun and so well made that it completely obliterates the insultingly awful "Call of Duty: Finest Hour." This is the game that war gamers have wanted on a console, and it delivers the thrills and entertainment in ways I did not think possible.

The game is realistic and fun, albeit an on-rails shooter at the core. Some parts of the game just beg to be replayed while others have you scratching your head why they aren't longer to begin with.

The game makes a lot of headway in terms of story quality, and the customization is beyond what we’ve seen in any sandbox title to date. While Saints Row 2 doesn’t reinvent the genre by any means, it brings more than enough big pimpin’ gameplay to keep me busy for a while.

As with every music game, it's all about the replay value, and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock has plenty of that. I can't say enough good things about the quest mode, Party Play is shaping up to be more user-friendly than ever, and the amount of competitive and co-op gameplay options are all great fun.

Bowser's Inside Story takes a lot of the great things about the series, ratchets them up to 11, and leaves them there the whole time.

Yuke's and THQ set the bar quite high with last year's rendition of this franchise, and they could have easily taken the year off and rested on their accomplishments. It is quite impressive to see that the development team has stayed hungry and added some key elements to this franchise that fans are going to go absolutely wild over.

Yuke's and THQ set the bar quite high with last year's rendition of this franchise, and they could have easily taken the year off and rested on their accomplishments. It is quite impressive to see that the development team has stayed hungry and added some key elements to this franchise that fans are going to go absolutely wild over.

I loved every minute of it.

It fits squarely between "Need for Speed: Underground 2" (a game I didn't like) and "Burnout 3: Takedown" (a game I loved), but tends to lean very close to Burnout 3 on the scale.

Replay doesn’t get any better than this… 5 Pro bikers and Create-a-character with this type of game make replay value as high as can be.

While Operation Fallen Star is the third booster pack, it is definitely the most feature rich and game changing booster pack yet.

I'd say there are about 15-20 hours of play here, but I'd probably double that just for me as I kept replaying so many of the boards due to the fights I got in (and that next to last mission that I so vehemently despise).

So if you loved Demon's Souls, or like games that sadistically punish you for your mistakes, go out and pick up Dark Souls right now. If you like those types of games, and haven't played Demon's Souls on the PS3, then go get both (if you have a PS3). While it's not perfect, it can be a hell of a lot of fun and is definitely worth the purchase price.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a completely crazy tour-de-force that carries you through trenches all around the world, as well as giving a great refresh to the multiplayer mode that has all but defined Activision in the console market.

A phenomenally awesome RTS, and stays true to all the games before it.

This game has a metric ton of playtime in it and it is a heck of a lot of fun to play.

The story of the Half-Life universe is propulsive in its own right and the sheer zeal Valve has for this world and the characters in it is a joy to experience. Partnering with a truly responsive AI also has to be seen to be believed.

It is a great deal of fun with only a few instances where you feel like you are in over your head.

Citadel is fan service at its worst, but Mass Effect at its best. Clever dialogue, heart-warming callbacks, and enough content to make it worth the $15 price tag make Mass Effect: Citadel a worthy goodbye to a cast of characters that forever shaped gaming history.

The Story Mode will make you laugh out loud.

While it does share many of the same themes and gameplay styles, Darksiders is truly its own game, with its own set off high points and low points. Whether it’s the engaging combat or the surprisingly complex puzzle solving involved in many of the levels, Darksiders manages to consistently impress. This is absolutely a title that you do not want to miss.

The graphics, sounds, and controls are almost spot-on perfect replicas of their console counterpart. This is the best portable version of any Tony Hawk game to date.