Batman: Arkham Asylum

Batman: Arkham Asylum is an action-adventure stealth video game based onDC Comics' Batman developed for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. It was developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Eidos Interactivein conjunction with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Comics. The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game were released on August 25, 2009 in North America and August 28, 2009 in Europe, and the PC version was released on September 15, 2009 in North America and on September 18, 2009 in Europe

Crysis

Release Date: 2007

There are two reasons why Crysis is great. One: it’s smart. The suit powers are a clever way to give you wonderful choices about how to approach the game, letting you play as a cloaked killer, a speeding train, or a human wrecking ball. They’re all fun, and when used in combination make you a free-running tank. Two: it’s so, so dumb. Like a lot of games, Crysis has the subtlety of a Bruckheimer action movie, but it’s unique in having the scale to match. As you travel across the game’s tropical paradise, mountains crack open, space ships blot out the sun, and nuclear explosions astonish.

Mirror’s Edge

Release Date: 2009

I ended up playing Mirror’s Edge on its hardest setting for no real reason. There, Faith feels as fragile as she looks: her tiny frame falling to two bullets. My awareness of her mortality bled into jumping sessions, and I’d find myself wincing as she smacked her ribs into white concrete. It also made running away into an artform: my feet and heart racing as I dodged sniper fire. Even Mirror’s Edge’s sewer level was a playground of primary colours interesting level design. There’s a huge underground room full of huge green and white pillars and a tiny door at the very top. After ten minutes of breathless scrambling and death defying leaps the guards appear. Cue the frantic escape in a hail of gun fire. In it’s best moments Mirror’s Edge truly captures the thrill of the chase. Running away like a coward has never been so exciting.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Release Date: 2005

Splinter Cell: Convicton came pretty close to digitally heisting my heart in the action-spy genre I love, but while the action is sharper, more brutal, it misses Chaos Theory’s wonderful characterisation of Sam: he threatens a man with death if he says “monkey” and has funny little chats with his boss. And the wonderful, tactile co-op is still the best of its kind.

Max Payne

Release Date: 2001
Last year: New entry

Nothing like trying to gracefully launch Max into a room, guns blazing, only to have him dive headfirst into a doorjamb and very slowly rub his hair down the wood as he floated to the ground. Get up, try again, get it right, and you feel like king of the underworld.

Right when you start, you discover Max’s murdered wife and child in his own home at the hands of drug addicts. Has there ever been a beginning of a game more powerful or emotional? Exceptional noir writing and a gritty NYC underbelly setting made Max Payne one of the greats.

Assassin's Creed 2007-2011

Assassin's Creed is an award-winning historical science fiction third person action-adventure game series that as of 2011 consists of four main games and a number of supporting materials. The games have appeared on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Windows, Mac OS X,Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, iOS, HP webOS,^[1] Android, WiiU^[2] and Windows Phone 7 platforms. The main games in the franchise were developed by Ubisoft Montreal, with the handheld titles developed by Gameloft and Gryptonite Studios, with additional development by Ubisoft Montreal. All games in the franchise are published by Ubisoft.

The main story arc of the series revolves around a bartender named Desmond Miles as he is captured by secret megacorporation Abstergo Industries. Using a machine known as the Animus, Desmond is forced to relive the memories of his ancestors, who were all assassins, in order to recover artifacts, called the "Pieces of Eden", for Abstergo. While the original assassin ancestor of Desmond is Altaïr Ibn la-Ahad (Arabic for "Altaïr, Son of One"), the most recent games feature another assassin from Florence, Italy named Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Assassination targets are mostly actual historical figures, although the timelines for their lives and causes of death have been changed to suit the games' plot (in-game these inaccuracies are attributed to the Templars rewriting history to cover up their actions, as well as honest mistakes on the part of historians).

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is the title for the previously code-named "Episodes." The game was announced by Ubisoft and was released on November 16 (USA) and November 19 (UK), 2010.^[4] The game is a continuation of Ezio Auditore's story, the Assassin's Creed IIprotagonist, as he returns to the city of Monteriggioni.

The Godfather: The Game 2006

The Godfather: The Game is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second video game in the Godfather series and based upon the 1972 film of the same name. Originally released in March 2006 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox andMicrosoft Windows, The Godfather has since been released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360and Wii. A smaller variant of the game has also been published for the PlayStation Portable.

The game is notable in that it features the return of several original actors from the original film to lend their voice. The participating actors are James Caan as Sonny Corleone, Robert Duvallas Tom Hagen, John Martino as Paulie Gatto, and Abe Vigoda as Salvatore Tessio, with the most notable absences being Marlon Brando (because of his ill health and his late death, the audio producers found that the quality of the recordings were not good enough and hired an imitato.