By far the biggest innovation is the massive, explorable cityscape, complete with secret garages and locals hankering for a drag race. The only truly unforgivable flaw is the cornball dialogue.

Making a name for youself by climbing the game's Black List, aka series of bad-ass mo-fos you must beat, is good fun.

Buy with the knowledge that even the multiplayer mode can’t save some environments from growing stale.

Painkiller sports some of the best graphics to come down the PC pipe all year. The bosses (the hammer-wielding Saphathoraél in particular) all look incredible.

Deadlocked makes it easy to see why the series' third-person gameplay is the best in the business. Buy.

This game features the best hecklers of all time. When Boston's hirsute Johnny Damon steps to the plate, someone in the crowd shouts, "Cut your hair, you hippie!" Amen to that, brother!

These are some of the best graphics you'll ever see. Your first confrontation with the V-Rex (yes, that's what Peter J. is calling it) will be very, very memorable.

This year's Tiger feels more complex and sophisticated than ever. Putting is more challenging (e.g., total bitch)... Yet, the game is still accessible to armchair golfers, thanks to those welcome arcade-y touches.

With six courses, 19-plus characters, and a hefty "Career" mode, this disc will knock "Lumines" out of your PSP (for a week or two at least).

This year's Tiger feels more complex and sophisticated than ever. Putting is more challenging (e.g., total bitch)... Yet, the game is still accessible to armchair golfers, thanks to those welcome arcade-y touches.

We love it for the über-violent finishing moves and optional online action and hate it for the "instant death traps" we get stuck in on nearly every level. If only we were less clumsy!

We love it for the über-violent finishing moves and optional online action and hate it for the "instant death traps" we get stuck in on nearly every level. If only we were less clumsy!

The best game set in the X-Men universe yet.

This port of a PC game (it originally appeared on Xbox) is stiff, formal and corny in the way that PC games usually are. And it requires the patience of a Buddhist monk to get into. But persevere, matey, and you'll discover plenty of treasure worth plundering.

Even though the cartoony graphics are like classic arcade games, the controls remain remarkably sharp.

Between the massive boss encounters and hours of swinging around Manhattan, you’re in for at least a week of play.

And while the computer AI plays like an in-bred Appalachian boy, the wrestling mechanics are on-point.

Unfortunately, the soundtrack is flatter than a bottle of Mountain Dew past its "Best By" date, but the polished gameplay makes the racing action a total gas.

Buy with the knowledge that even the multiplayer mode can’t save some environments from growing stale.

This PC war-tastic juggernaut comes to a console near you sporting a surprisingly meaty single-player experience, as well as its trademark clusterf..k multiplayer.

Between the massive boss encounters and hours of swinging around Manhattan, you're in for at least a week of play.

Elaborate levels and the multiple paths you can take to solve them go a long way in making you forget about the lack of narrative element.

This PC war-tastic juggernaut comes to a console near you sporting a surprisingly meaty single-player experience, as well as its trademark clusterf..k multiplayer.

We're especially fond of the Homecourt Advantage meter, which fills up during games; the closer the score, the louder the fans get and the harder your controller shakes, making it tougher for the visiting team to hit jumpers and free throws.

Making a name for youself by climbing the game's Black List, aka series of bad-ass mo-fos you must beat, is good fun.

The only problem is that unlocking each of the available spacecrafts is sort of like ripping off your big toenails with a pair of pliers. Well within the realm of possibility, but in the end, it just doesn’t make much sense.

The plot doesn't make a lick of sense, but once you start knocking demons around the way Barry Bonds hits fastballs, trust us, you won't mind one bit.

The best game set in the X-Men universe yet.