Genji: Dawn Of The Samurai

With a hack'n'slash motif that has feudal Japanese warriors running from fight to fight like Lindsay Lohan at a Teen People party, Genji sounds litigiously close to the Onimusha games. But don't bother calling Jacoby & Meyers: Genji is actually made by Onimusha mastermind Yoshiki Okamoto, who skips the soul sucking and puzzle boxes here in favor of more fighting. Played as both a sword-wielding samurai and a warrior monk who swings what looks like a table leg, Genji is mostly a button masher, but one that requires good timing to pull off its truly brutal (and life saving) moves. Tight but simple controls keep you engulfed in the action, though it's still easy to get distracted by the truly beautiful scenery, the engaging story, and the fact that, with Japanese dialogue and English subtitles, you'll do more reading in one level than Posh Spice has done her entire life.