Alan Wake finally arrives—five years after the game was announced at the 2005 E3. That’s a long time to wait for a title, but is it worth it, considering that gaming has changed so much in that time? The answer is yes. Alan Wake is about the titular author who gets caught up in a living nightmare that is possibly of his own making.

I tested Rhythm Heaven for the DSi on the brand-spanking-new DSi XL (that’s the version with the 93% larger screens). Probably a good thing, too: to my way of thinking, the larger screens certainly helped minimize eyestrain. Not sure if they helped with preventing repetitive stress syndrome, as the game only uses a few motions (tap, flick).

The original BioShock did two things right. It told a brilliantly atmospheric story that borrowed heavily from Ayn Rand’s dystopian novel Atlas Shrugged. And it married that story to a first person shooter, a genre that was hitting its peak in 2007. There was really no way that BioShock 2 could match the originality and surprise that the original possessed, but it comes close.

Bayonetta is the most talked about game of the season. It’s not hard to see why, after being slapped back and forth by the titular sexy female demon (with dark hair that covers her body and sexy librarian glasses), who sucks on lollipops and spreads her legs every which way while kicking angelic ass.

If James Bond were a gamer, you’d have to imagine that high on the list of his choice games would be the slick and sophisticated Forza Motorsport series.

Initially created as downloadable content for Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST grew into what would become its own game.

And then entered DJ Hero. After a lackluster showing at E3-where the game was only demoed and was not actually playable to attendees-DJ Hero shatters skeptical expectations and (finally) adds some variety into the music video game genre.

Although it received the lion’s share of music game hype, The Beatles: Rock Band is not the only big-name rhythm title around. Guitar Hero started this trend and has debuted its latest.

You can almost hear the graphics designers sighing as you begin Madden 10. They really seem to have put next to no effort into the look of the Wii version. The players look vaguely like bubbles, or the variations on hockey players seen in Nintendo’s Ice Hockey: tall and skinny, fat, and regular. Without the thrill of awesome graphics, a lot of pressure falls on the game play.