Cool options such as friend/foe identification and threat readings, plus the best graphics ever on an N64 game.

It's lacking any social conscience but loaded with replay value, so it'd be very disrespectful to leave this one out of your collection.

This staggeringly polished first-person shooter (which also includes a Quake-style multiplayer option) will have even the most passive players sweating, er, bullets as they take control of an eight-foot-tall cyborg and greet intergalactic invaders with open arms-or open fire.

It looks so realistic that you’d swear that you’re watching a television broadcast—fake-breasted cheerleaders and all.

Be afraid. The intelligent, fast-moving fiends who stalk special agent Leon Kennedy will almost make you yearn for the embrace of old-fashioned brain-hungry cadavers.

Most of the story is conveyed through masterful animation and acute facial expressions.

You’ll be more impressed that you can make Snake stare lecherously at a centerfold poster one minute, only to have him pop out and choke someone to death the next.

So good that it even drew Axl Rose out of hiding (he’s the DJ on the classic rock station, one of 11 listening formats), San Andreas cranks out even more action than "Vice City" as you engage in those wacky gang-related adventures you've grown to love in disconcertingly authentic versions of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas.

You’ll be sold the second you get into a gang bang with the song “Beat It” playing in the background. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

Halo 2 completely lives up to the hype. An improvement in every way over the original, particularly in terms of playability and graphics.

You’ll finally answer some of life’s most burning questions, like how your Suburu Impreza station wagon would fare against a 2002 Dodge Viper on a racetrack.

They loaded this year’s ultrarealistic game up with a slew of new features that include online play, a huge arcade-style training camp, and a nifty play creator that’s so versatile that you can have receivers run pass routes that spell your name.

Freed from time constraints, you now accomplish level-specific goals—like outmaneuvering skater-busting cops—to advance while on the lookout for secret minigames.

You don’t just kill creatures, you make them into abstract art by slicing, dicing, or machine gunning ’em to bits.

No longer is there just one way to solve a treacherous night mission before the enemy picks up your audio signature: stealth will pay off just as well as good old-fashioned ultraviolence.

Easy controls help you play chicken with oncoming traffic at speeds so real, you can practically feel the G-forces pinning your jowls against your ears.

And when you tire of solving puzzles using human sacrifices and petrifying foes with Medusa’s severed head, button-mashing mini-games let you unwind by propping Hydra’s jaws open or massacring the Minotaur.

This real-time, 3-D role-player neatly fuses the usual stat-crunching with plenty of chaotic firefights, ensuring there's at least something in here for the nongeeks (or at least not too geeky) among us.

It's a game that combines gut-churning speed and beyond-recognition wreckage to make road kill out of all others in the driving genre.

This isn’t only one of the best looking and most intense PlayStation 2 games, it’s also hands down the loudest.

Sega added online play, a deeper Franchise Mode, and may have made the biggest acquisition of the off-season by reeling in ESPN to punch up their pigskin.

But don't take our word for it, because Prince won Best Action-Adventure Game at this year's E3 expo. So it's got that going for it…which is nice.

This up-and-coming franchise has been breathing down Madden’s hairy back for years, and now it might finally have the ammo to leapfrog him.

But don’t take our word for it, because Prince won Best Action-Adventure Game at this year’s E3 expo. So it’s got that going for it…which is nice.

Completely reinvented in glorious 3-D, WCIII spruces up the age-old premise—organize armies and send them into battle against opposing forces—with much-improved graphics and a new pyrotechnic spell-casting system.

Now if we ever come across a “deity wanted” ad in the Sunday classifieds, we’re ready.

Microsoft Game Studio's answer to Sony's automotive masterpiece is simple-add online play and program cars that take realistic damage.

No longer is there just one way to solve a treacherous night mission before the enemy picks up your audio signature: stealth will pay off just as well as good old-fashioned ultraviolence.

But the graphics and game play have been juiced up, too, with improved passing, a slightly tougher running game, and lots of combo-move action via manipulation of the right analog stick.

They loaded this year’s ultrarealistic game up with a slew of new features that include online play, a huge arcade-style training camp, and a nifty play creator that’s so versatile that you can have receivers run pass routes that spell your name.

The idea of battling enemies shaped like gelatin desserts and exploring environments resembling the paintings in your dentist’s office may sound like a bad acid flashback (or H.R. Pufnstuf rerun), yet it makes for an entertaining role-playing game.

But don't take our word for it, because Prince won Best Action-Adventure Game at this year's E3 expo. So it's got that going for it…which is nice.

Hilariously crude.

The single-player adventure is every bit as time-devouring as the first Metroid Prime... But the multiplayer split-screen mode, while fun, is straight out of 1997. Plus, there are no online and no 16-player matches.

The hail of artillery shells on the Omaha Beach assault level will make you crap your shorts, as they blow away your eardrums and half of your platoon’s limbs.

The most visually impressive football game ever.

Freed from time constraints, you now accomplish level-specific goals—like outmaneuvering skater-busting cops—to advance while on the lookout for secret minigames.

The gameplay is so addicting that you might just forget that there’s no chance of Venus Williams’ mini-skirt fluttering up in the wind.

With better effects (the lighting and environments are better than some movies-like, say, the Resident Evil movie) and slicker motion-capture animation, the new, improved Resident Evil regains the throne as horror-action video game king.

More immersion, more espionage, more metallic gear!

Its fast and realistic action should make any joystick jock forget how badly his team is doing in real life, and the endless Dynasty mode will make classes optional for months.

The sleaziness of recruiting players to build a powerhouse program is almost worth the price of admission alone, but it’s a damn shame that you can’t bribe them when push comes to shove.

An all-around crowd pleaser with great weapons, exotic locales, and enough mystery to keep you coming back for more.

Although it's dogged by Commodore 64–quality music and selective licensing agreements—Manchester United is simply Man Red—this new edition more than compensates with killer graphics, new tricks, and an improved dribbling system.

From the sadist to the social scientist, The Sims 2 gives you an infinite sandbox to play in.

Same invigorating missions, same tight controls, same relentless action, and same trigger-happy scientist in a one-man war against our alien overlords.

Its fast and realistic action should make any joystick jock forget how badly his team is doing in real life, and the endless Dynasty mode will make classes optional for months.

Odd adventure.

For immersing entertainment, this game is totally up our halfpipe.

Heck, even if you aren’t a hoops fan, there’s plenty of unintentional humor to appreciate: Seeing Yao Ming dunk on Bill Walton alone is worth the price of admission.

Though the plodding pace and cutesy atmosphere border on blasphemy, the game’s open-ended design lets you indulge your most megalomaniacal fantasies with ease.

But the graphics and game play have been juiced up, too, with improved passing, a slightly tougher running game, and lots of combo-move action via manipulation of the right analog stick.

More than a Jedi mind trick to make you buy Nintendo's new whiz-bang console, this is the closest a video game has come to recreating a Star Wars movie.

A thousand yards beyond any other college football game.

Tons of tracks, events, and online races give Revenge plenty of variety, but it's the blinding speed and the velvety smooth controls that make this the best racing game of the year.

Apart from some cramped environments, the immaculately reincarnated Unreal Tournament is a stone-cold killer.

Looks beautiful, and is one of the best shooters we've ever played.

Freed from time constraints, you now accomplish level-specific goals—like outmaneuvering skater-busting cops—to advance while on the lookout for secret minigames.

Although it's dogged by Commodore 64–quality music and selective licensing agreements-Manchester United is simply Man Red-this new edition more than compensates with killer graphics, new tricks, and an improved dribbling system.

Like the comic books that inspired it, Freedom Force features slick animation and plenty of boffo, whiz-bang special effects.

In addition to playing on boring, traditional courses like Pebble Beach with the good ol’ boys, you can take on a quartet of kilt-wearing Scotsmen in the middle of the Amazon.

The Force is strong with this polished first-person shooter.

Tons of tracks, events, and online races give Revenge plenty of variety, but it's the blinding speed and the velvety smooth controls that make this the best racing game of the year.

For immersing entertainment, this game is totally up our halfpipe.

Teams of up to four can then venture to visually stunning alien worlds, solving puzzles and wasting anything that moves.

Hot Pursuit not only gives you the keys to more than 20 exotic cars, it also gives you the unsurpassed joy of leaving traffic cops in the dust.

In addition to wedging the usual hundreds of teams, stadiums, and plays into the game, NCAA Football 2005 focuses on what makes college football special: the psychotic fans.

Konami's annual soccer franchise, which has scored in the past for its slick controls, wads of teams, and shin-splintin' graphics, returns to the field to affirm its ball-kicking dominance.

Heck, even if you aren’t a hoops fan, there’s plenty of unintentional humor to appreciate: Seeing Yao Ming dunk on Bill Walton alone is worth the price of admission.

What truly sticks out about this real-time strategy game is that it never lets its engrossing depth create a dull moment.

The grimy and amazing graphics, plus gory, well-paced game play, wrapped in a worthwhile story add up to a surprise hit. If only Diesel's movies could be this good.

Improves upon already stunning graphics and amps game play with faster speed and such fresh gridiron moves as sidearm passing and—wahoo!—gang tackling.

You’re not going to get a more realistic driving experience without nicking the keys to dad’s Delorean. Is GT4 more fetish than game? Probably. But if this is a fetish, then put a leather hood on us and whip us till we bleed!

If the grainy, David Lynch ambiance doesn’t make your nads retract in terror, the four-legged headless guys in combat boots and leather thongs certainly will.

If the game were any more detailed, they would have to include a “Record Shitty Rap Album” mode.

But don’t take our word for it, because Prince won Best Action-Adventure Game at this year’s E3 expo. So it’s got that going for it…which is nice.

We suggest using the seven foot Wolfman, he’s great at blocking shots.

Heck, even if you aren’t a hoops fan, there’s plenty of unintentional humor to appreciate: Seeing Yao Ming dunk on Bill Walton alone is worth the price of admission.

Gamers with short attention spans will likely find all the squad management tedious, but we think it adds a much-needed dimension to a very stale genre. Plus it includes the best video game quote so far this year: "If you see something, shoot it; if it screams in German, shoot it again."

Kiss the rest of your summer (and your loved ones) goodbye and get ready to spend all your waking hours indoors, sitting next to a giant bag of Fritos, agonizing over 4–3 blitz packages.

Thankfully, you can slow time, Matrix-style, to get out of the more harrowing battles, while the game's controls are smoother than Moby's head.

In addition to playing on boring, traditional courses like Pebble Beach with the good ol’ boys, you can take on a quartet of kilt-wearing Scotsmen in the middle of the Amazon.

In addition to playing on boring, traditional courses like Pebble Beach with the good ol’ boys, you can take on a quartet of kilt-wearing Scotsmen in the middle of the Amazon.

We have to admit that most first-person games nauseate us, but Faction’s smooth graphics and easy gameplay make it hard to put down.

In addition to wedging the usual hundreds of teams, stadiums, and plays into the game, NCAA Football 2005 focuses on what makes college football special: the psychotic fans.

In the end, you'll be reminded why Hell is such a bad place to spend eternity-but such a good place for four friends to join in multiplayer bullet-tossing.

In addition to wedging the usual hundreds of teams, stadiums, and plays into the game, NCAA Football 2005 focuses on what makes college football special: the psychotic fans.

This intentionally kooky bounty hunter simulator-playing it is like watching an episode of Cops while huffing bleach fumes-is easily the most original game we've played this year.

Fanatics will tweak tire pressure, suspension, and build dynasties, alliances, and sponsorships; rookies can learn the nuances of drafting, passing, and holding position on dozens of real-world tracks.

It’s an endless cycle of killing creatures to get bigger weapons so that you can kill even more creatures. But who cares? “Are you not entertained?”

If you're expecting jittery "Unreal Tournament"–style multiplayer action here, you'll be sorely disappointed...The real fun is in a story that leads you so deep into hell, with rich graphics and engulfing sound, you can practically smell the sulfur.

Your hard-won mastery of the throttle and brake can mean the difference between surviving to the next stage or taking in the scenery from the bottom of a roadside ditch.

The most fun comes in the game's "Race for the Heisman," an all-new game mode separate from, but similar to, "Dynasty."

No longer is there just one way to solve a treacherous night mission before the enemy picks up your audio signature: stealth will pay off just as well as good old-fashioned ultraviolence.

Awesome.

Though it adds a new playable character, tougher skill levels, and the option to speed everything up 20%, it still has the same annoying and unavoidable music, occasionally stiff controls, and that frustratingly limiting “chose your style of fighting” system that made the original Cry 3 a lot less fun than the first two incarnations.

Though the one-player mode can get a bit stale, it's saner than picking fights at the local Teamsters hall.

The most fun comes in the game's "Race for the Heisman," an all-new game mode separate from, but similar to, "Dynasty."