Conviction is the best installment in the series. The developers took some major risks in design and presentation that paid off, resulting in a game that's at once approachable and complex, and arguably the current last word in stealth adventure.

The Western genre has been won. Fans of the Western genre will feel as if they've died and gone to heaven and open-world gamers will be treated to an experience unlike any they've had before.

It's Street Fighter IV, but better. With the additional characters new and old alike, it's a glorious celebration of the classic fighting franchise - and even if it hasn't changed much, it's changed enough to be clearly head and shoulders above its predecessor.

On a purely technical level, it's one of the most impressive games the PS3 has to offer: It shifts perspectives effortlessly across a number of highly detailed environments without so much as a hiccup and with almost nonexistent load times to interrupt the experience. But in a broader sense, God of War III serves as an example of how to deliver astonishingly varied gameplay in a cohesive package.

It admirably accomplishes what an expansion is supposed to do, and doesn't in any way diminish what made the great one of the best RPGs ever made.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 doesn't tinker with the established formula very much, but we didn't really want it to. It's huge, brilliant, and gorgeous. It's why you started playing videogames in the first place.

Limbo is genius. Freaky, weird genius. Disturbing, uncomfortable genius.

StarCraft II is a wonderful game, both as a story-telling experience and a strategically deep and tactically challenging game. The single-player campaign is deeply satisfying to complete.

I went into this game as a skeptic. Madden NFL 11 made me a believer.

Aside from some minor technical hurdles like occasional slowdown, it looks great, and plays like the best parts of all four Halo games up until now. If you were worrying that Bungie would phone it in for their swan song, worry no more. And that's not even getting into the multiplayer

My favorite Civilization to date. Hex tiles and no stacking makes combat fun and more tactical. The new systems work incredibly well without altering what makes the game Civilization. Civ V is an excellent game.

If you've never played Plants vs. Zombies before, then this is - wait for it - a no-brainer. The game is an amazing gigglefest of unbridled fun, overflowing with game modes and replayability.

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future is a brain-twisting delight. Show up for the clever puzzles, stick around for the gorgeous visuals and quirky minigames.

NBA fans will appreciate the accurate nuances and historical details of 2K11 while those less hardcore might be put off by the difficulty. Those people should play it with the Move.

One of those games that you'll play simply because it makes you feel so good. It's also challenging and clever, with well done co-operative play and even a great soundtrack. There's no downside to this game.

This is a fantastic game, but only if you desperately crave the second half of the Assassin's Creed 2 experience. If you hated the original game, there's nothing here to sway you and the story certainly doesn't welcome newcomers. The multiplayer adds a nice diversion.

Blizzard tears WoW to the ground and builds it up more skillfully than ever before. The new content is creative, has a tangible sense of story and progression that you wouldn't expect from an MMO, and is implemented so skillfully and smoothly that the bumps in the road are actually a bit jarring.

It's a platform-lover's dream and the kind of game you buy a Wii for. Do whatever you've got to do to play it.

More than just a remake, GoldenEye 007 lives up to its predecessor and then some by not only modernizing the story but the multiplayer as well.

With slick and fast-paced battles, a more adult take on the traditional Pokémon concepts and an entirely new roster of characters, Pokémon Black & White is as close to a "reboot" as the franchise has ever seen, but it doesn't reinvent what doesn't need reinventing.

With slick and fast-paced battles, a more adult take on the traditional Pokémon concepts and an entirely new roster of characters, Pokémon Black & White is as close to a "reboot" as the franchise has ever seen, but it doesn't reinvent what doesn't need reinventing.

The advancements in RPG mechanics would be enough to set it apart, but the real achievement of Dragon Age II is in the story-telling. I could point out the improved combat and graphics till there's blood covering my face, but BioWare is one of the few companies that uses the advanced computing power available to modern game designers to let you actually play a role.

The series has scaled down from Empire but lost none of the drama or excitement. The smaller scale makes it easier to appreciate all the things the game does right.

Frozen Synapse is an amazing refinement of the tactical strategy genre. It's both approachable for those new to the genre and deep enough to keep you coming back.

With a regular controller, Child of Eden is a finely-tuned, lovely shooter. With Kinect, it transforms from being something you play to something you become. It's impossible to see someone playing Child of Eden with Kinect and not want to try it yourself. And once you start, you'll keep coming back for more.

An absolutely first-rate roleplaying game that combines an abundance of content with an abundance of quality. The outdated design elements are unfortunate but not so distracting that it ruins the depth of the story, the openness of the setting, or the visceral joys of combat.

Skyward Sword manages to honor 25 years' of gaming history while simultaneously feeling relevant for anyone new to the ways of Zelda - or those who'd perhaps grown a bit tired of hanging out with Link.

Journey is incredibly short - you'll finish in about two hours - and it's not really all that challenging in the traditional gameplay sense. But it will be meaningful to you in a way that a bigger, louder, flashier game won't.