Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

I'm not a fan of racing games, as they tend to be far too similar to each other. Only the Burnout series caught my attention, primally satisfying in its exhilarating action with a focus on wrecking other racers and events designed to cause as much destruction as possible. So when I saw that the developers of Burnout were making this year's Need for Speed title with a cops-versus-racers theme, I salivated like Pavlov's dog. While not as chaos-oriented as Burnout, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii) is still a wickedly fun experience.

Kirby's Epic Yarn

I sold myself on Kirby's Epic Yarn (released in October for Wii) almost immediately based just on the presentation. With almost every game I play trying to create realistic settings or characters, the pink puff ball's adventure in yarn form gave me a childlike sense of awe at first sight. What followed is a game with minimal challenge, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. It is undoubtedly a kiddie game, but you might find it surprising how delightful it can really be.

When faced with a zombie apocalypse, you can flee in terror, or you can fight back and have some fun with the flesh-munchers. Dead Rising 2, released in late September, offers the latter approach with flair in Fortune City, a faux Las Vegas. It's definitely the most delightful zombie romp in video games, but it'll eat your brains if you're not careful.

Players step into the shoes of Chuck Greene, a contestant on the zombie-killing game show Terror Is Reality. Competing for prize money to cure to his infected daughter, Chuck is in for a surprise when the confined zombies are released, and he is framed for the terrorist act. He's got 72 hours to clear his name before the military arrives, and countless zombies and psychopaths stand in his way.

The original Crackdown was released in 2007 and sold more than 1.5 million copies, but its success was debatable. The majority of those copies were sold early with the promise of access to the online-multiplayer beta test of Halo 3, a promotion that left many people calling Crackdown a road apple. But those critics misjudged the game, which was a solid experience with a large open city to explore. The recently released sequel adds four-person cooperative play and a tighter focus on over-the-top chaos, so this rickety sequel still offers plenty of fun.