Best of all, the sound mix supports DTS 5.1 output, allowing you to literally feel every hit when cranked up loud enough on the right system.

Even though the competition has weakened in recent years, the "Madden" series is at the top of its game, and this is close to perfection.

One of the most creative and enjoyable games to come around in a long time. Its mixture of creativity, solid gameplay, and sense of humor make it a game to die for.

All hype and scare-the-girlfriend jokes aside, Silent Hill 3 is a truly disturbing, frightening, and bloody experience (more or less in that order). This is the current high-mark of scary games, period, with production values that put most contemporary horror-flicks to shame.

There's a massive amount of technique to learn. When you're playing solo, there's no shortage of things to do, thanks to quest mode and the dozens of training challenges.

Sadly, true quality storytelling is extremely rare in this age of overblown and pretentious stories so commonly found in the "Final Fantasy" series and its imitators. Suikoden 3 is a welcome and finely-crafted exception.

Blows by the competition like it was sitting on jack stands, and is the new high-water mark by which all other driving games will be judged.

It has it all: harrowing missions, top-notch graphics and special effects, and convincing audio and voice acting. Few games in this genre approach the level of polish and design seen here.

It's like the fine wine of videogames, and anyone who sees it in motion will be mesmerized. And if they play it? They'll be straight-up intoxicated.

Hidden beneath that glossy surface is a game that takes almost everything that's annoying with real-time strategy titles and fixes it. It's deep, yet accessible. It's action-packed, yet manageable. In short, it's everything you could ask for in a real-time strategy game.

Knocks the chin strap up around the nose of the competition. It's simply the most realistic simulation of football available, and once again, the industry standard.

Accessible, slick, and most importantly, fun from beginning to end. It leaves the competition clearing powder from its goggles.

Great graphics and sound, top-notch AI, wonderfully entertaining dialog, and an impressive variety of gameplay all make this one of the best games of the year.

Even though there are minor pacing problems at times, RtCW delivers an amazing single-player and multiplayer game, and for first-person shooter fans, it's a must-own.

A great basketball engine with improved physics and new moves, finely detailed and rich graphics, and modes both diverse and immersive all combine to make NBA 2K3 the best true representation of basketball out there.

The balance between the powers, the factions, the troops, and the monsters lends the game tremendous depth and replay value.

A true gem. It's a breezy, easy-to-play game that will leave you wondering where the hours went. With such a beautifully refined title now under its belt, it's hard to see how Sunflower will top it.

An uncompromising game in its presentation, scope, and challenge level. It's well-made, intricate, functional, and deadly, much like the weaponry of that distant time.

Half-Life 2 hits the ground running and never stops, and playing it for long periods of time can actually be exhausting. Just when you think you've seen the coolest thing it has to throw at you, the next sequence tops it.

Seldom has sound, vision, and control worked in such perfect harmony. Most players will find themselves wanting to play SH2 right after they finish it the first time.

This is the one, folks. A more complete package you will not find.

The game is pick-up-and-play, it's beautiful to look at, and it raises the cultural precedent bar to backboard level. Even if you don't like sports games, you'll love this one.

An amazing experience, resulting in a classic crime drama on par with "Heat," "Goodfellas," or "Casino."

With a gentler learning curve, an extra level, tweaked controls, and completely reworked cinemas, the PS2 version is the equal of its Xbox predecessor.

A top-quality production on every level, and is arguably the best hack-and-slash game since the original "Golden Axe."

One of the largest and most richly detailed fantasy worlds ever to wear a set of polygons. There are literally hundreds of hours of gameplay.

An exemplary model for anyone who misses the constant, uninterrupted gameplay that made great 8-bit and 16-bit games the classics they have become.

A rare and beautiful thing, a nearly perfect game.