Though it all adds up to, essentially, a tuned-up version of the last game, there's enough variation to keep your rebel skater spirit from getting too (sorry)…board.

Sure, most of the game is from left field, but there’s actually enough realistic action to satisfy golf cart owners.

Stealing the best gadgets and characters from the movies, NightFire lets you decide how to topple the requisite megalomanical villain: Use stealth and gizmos (like Eurobabe-revealing x-ray specs—thanks, Q!) or go in guns blazing.

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."

You can practically hear the warbly ocarina, feel the saddle sores and smell Clint Eastwood’s foul, hand-rolled cigar in this video game homage to spaghetti westerns.

New costumes, new environments, new villains—and it’s all just as addictive as you remember.

This third incarnation sticks to the violent battle plan by adding even more twisted tweaks.

War is hell…unless you’re in the cockpit of the F-15 that’s dropping bombs on cavemen.

The game's unique flick-targeting system-"flick" the right control stick towards an enemy and you're automatically locked on-takes some getting used to, but actually frees up the triggers and face buttons, meaning you've got plenty of options when it's time to dole out ass-bootings.

You begin by selecting the background for your on-screen tyrant—anything from leftist journalist to drunken gambler to flatulent womanizer.

Even if a pirate tale doesn’t shiver your timbers, the Lara Croft–like design of Kat will surely raise your mast.

While most of Revenge’s game play involves turning bad guys into kebab, the game’s strict homage to the comic gives it more depth.

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."

If you can keep yourself from blinking, you might be able to help the little furry freak collect his golden rings, like some sort of crank-addicted Hobbit.

Drivables—from hearses to school buses to muscle cars—all handle differently, but their arcade-style ease nicely compliments an overall dumb-ass experience that’s as fun as getting a bellyful of corn liquor and chasing a greased piglet.

Once you get past all the gamesmanship, you can concentrate on bitch-slapping Mother Nature by creating twisted beasts that would make Jack Hanna brown his khakis.

Electronic Arts is keying on the sport's blocking, defensive strategy, and teamwork with NASCAR 06-the closest to "Madden" car racing can get.

True, storming enemy positions is an option, but with environments this wide-open, you’ll just get your ass handed to you by a heavily armed battalion of baddies (or asshole buddies) if you do.

Thrones also gets points for cribbing Sam Fisher's stealth skills and using a whip-like weapon that will send "God of War" fans scurrying to gaming chat rooms to voice their displeasure with the similarities. Thankfully, the controversy is worth it for this energetic adventure.

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.

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.

It may not appease the history buffs, but it will delight the trigger-happy.

Splintered wooden furniture doubles as vampire vaporizing shivs to expand on your already wide variety of exterminating capabilities.

If you think the best parts of movies involve explosions, car chases, and death-defying leaps (is there anything else?), then this homage to Hollywood’s unsung lunatics is just the thing for you.

Ingest evidence rather than confiscate it and you’ll develop embarrassing addictions you can kick only via meter-driven mini-games, or you’ll get busted in a random drug test.

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.

As hero Sieg Wahrheit, enjoy third-person action with strategizing and upgrading, RPG-style, plus plenty of splattery hack ’n’ slash fun.

After a thorough training mode on the finer points on scrums, tries, and lineouts, one (or two players cooperatively) can take the controls and realistically injure opponents on soggy, mud-rutted pitches. Think "Madden NFL Football" minus the pads, steroids, and senile announcer, mate.