User Pick: Halo 3 Master Chief made his comeback in grand fashion, and we kind of figured this would be the reader's pick this year. Why? Because we spend our evenings throwing plasma grenades at you guys in Foundry. Read our review!

1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Real war is hell, but video game war has turned out to be a damn good time. The single-player is just challenging enough to be fun, and the multiplayer is deep enough that we've started having flashbacks on our lunch break. Read our review!

2. Guitar Hero III
Our wrists were almost healed from our marathon sessions of GHII when Activision dropped III on us. It has more songs, more consoles to choose from, and even more songs to keep your eyes all screwed up. It's a great way to get your girl into games, too, if she's not already pwning you at Halo 3. Read our review!

3. Half-Life 2: The Orange Box
Even in the extremely rare case that you aren't totally blown away by the campaign mode, it would take a cold, hard game hater not to appreciate the brain-ruining quirkiness of the Portal minigame included on this disc. Read our review!

4. BioShock
We would've liked a little multiplayer love for this underwater epic, but the thrill of harvesting little sisters and electrocuting the crap out of splicers provided hours of entertainment. Plus, it was probably the best looking game of the year. Read our review!

5. God of War II
Every time we think we can finally relegate our PS2 to the recycling bin, Sony goes and drops a gem like this on us. This sequel lived up to the hype the original generated and proved that button-mashing can still be a really satisfying gaming experience. Read our review!

6. Super Mario Galaxy
Even though collecting all of the stars made us want to turn our Wiimote into a projectile weapon, its really deep story and innovative game play made this the must-have Nintendo title of the year. It did, however, leave us with the insatiable urge to crush turtles. Read our review!

7. The Darkness
We've always wanted to command an army of Darklings, but our landlord doesn't allow pets. Luckily, this title granted us the power to wield the forces of the dark side with little to no risk of eviction. Read our review!

8. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Further proving that the Wii can handle first-person shooters like a champ, the continuation of the wildly successful Metroid series was one of the games to get for us Wii owners that aren't preteens or postmenopausal women. Read our review!

9. John Woo Presents: Stranglehold
John Woo's flicks get us pumped on the big screen, but actually getting to guide the guy behind the bullets is a whole new kind of satisfying. Thankfully, the story was just as epic as the body count. Read our review!

10. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
Many worried that people would forget about this first-class shooter because it came out so early in the year, but we remember. The weapons and enemies were awesome, and it gave people in warm climates a chance to see what a Chicago winter can be like. Read our review!