If a “History of the World According to Video Games” textbook ever existed, the biggest chapter would be for World War II, the source of countless first-person and third-person shooters. Why there aren’t more games based on other time periods or wars is a bit of a mystery, but in the meantime, Call of Duty: World at War is the best of a crowded genre. It helps that World at War doesn’t serve up a Normandy and D-Day rehash for the billionth time; instead the game covers the island-hopping campaign in the Pacific as well as Russia’s reversal of the tide at Stalingrad all the way to the Fall of Berlin. It also helps that the game features quality voice acting from Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman, an extremely fun four-player cooperative campaign, addicting multiplayer similar to Call of Duty 4‘s, and a bonus Nazi zombie mode that unlocks when you finish the campaign.

AMAZON

—Ryan Smith

You honestly can’t go wrong with Telltale games’ offerings this holiday season. Spanning a tremendous range of prices and formats, Telltale’s throwback adventure games are always welcome respite from the shooters, sports, and music games that sell so many copies throughout the year. What makes these games appealing is that they are highly passive gaming experiences; you play these as much to watch a story (one that’ll make you laugh, of course) as you do to play a game. If you want a surreal, chaotic experience, you go for Sam & Max. If you want a highly meta, sarcastic experience, you go for Strong Bad. Both have their merits, both stand up well as episodic adventures, and both will make you laugh. You really can’t go wrong with either of Telltale’s adventures, and even if you don’t want to commit to a whole game, you can buy each series one episode at a time, under $10 for a solid 5 hours of play.  Even if you weren’t gaming back when LucasArts was synonymous for quality point ‘n’ click adventuring, you owe it to yourself as a gamer to give at least one of these two a look.

Sam & Max: Season One

—Mike Schiller

With a few notable exceptions, the cooperative mode tends to be neglected in creating a gaming experience. It’s often tacked on, misguided or ignored completely in favor of single-player campaigns or multiplayer deathmatches. Left 4 Dead, however, may have singlehandedly changed all that. While the single player mode is pretty standard Zombie-Apocalpyse-Shooter, joining with three of your friends to play online via Xbox Live turns Left 4 Dead into the most fun you can have on a console this year. Left 4 Dead‘s story device also feels fresh. Instead of one long story, there are several hour and a half-ish episodes, each ending in a dramatic escape. You and your survivor comrades must wander dark sewers, abandoned hospital halls, and a destroyed airport, fending off zombies the whole time. If you don’t have Xbox Live, you could easily pass on Valve’s latest, but it’s a must buy for those with zombie-hating friends and internet connections.

AMAZON

—Ryan Smith

Fans of the original Fallout games, among the greatest RPGs ever made, gripped their mice tightly when word came of Bethesda’s plans to design a new Fallout game. They needn’t have fretted. Fallout 3 is one of the most creatively ambitious games ever made, and its depiction of a post-apocalyptic rubble-strewn Washington D.C. may be the most unsettling (and thrilling) environment ever presented by a video game. A potent combination of open-world exploration and story-driven quests, Fallout 3 grabs hold and won’t let go.

AMAZON

—Michael Abbott

Fable 2‘s Albion is a lush snow-globe world that seduces and envelops the player as few video games have done. Ultimately, designer Peter Molyneux’s real achievement is to reorient our moral compass in unexpected and often unsettling ways. Many games have attempted to offer us choices, but few have successfully transcended a limited binary good/evil formula. Fable 2 accomplishes this and does so with wit, sharp writing, and memorable characters. This is a richly enjoyable role-playing game that even non-RPG players can fully embrace.

AMAZON

—Michael Abbott

Platform games aren’t quite as popular as they used to be. So Media Molecule and Sony have come up with LittleBigPlanet, a game that allows you to make your own. Charming throughout, the toolbox that LittleBigPlanet gives players allows them not only to be creative with their own original levels, but also to easily hop online and play other people’s creations as well. It’s almost like having a box of digital Legos to play with, and you can collaborate on your masterpieces with friends in real time. LittleBigPlanet is recommended for anyone interested in a on online experience that encourages creativity and sharing over running and gunning.

LittleBigPlanet

—Arun Subramanian