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The puzzles in Tomb Raider: Legend can be a bit deceptive at first, but once you learn how the game works, the puzzles become very simple. Most of the game is spent solving basic switch puzzles as you work your way through each level in search of the next artifact. Aside from dragging around boxes to weigh down switches or jam traps, there are a lot of fun platforming sections that let you take full advantage of Lara’s affinity for high-flying acrobatics. You can hang on ledges, swing on ropes, swing between platforms (via a magnetic grapple), and vault off conveniently placed beams.

The PC version of the game uses the standard mouse-and-keyboard control scheme, which works fairly well until you find yourself in a combat situation, at which point it becomes difficult to move, adjust the camera, and use your weapons at the same time. You can use a USB game pad, though, which offers as good of control as the console versions of the game. No matter which version you play, the controls are a lot more fluid and responsive than they have been in previous Tomb Raider games, making Lara’s movements feel much more natural than before. And while the controls are precise, they aren’t punishingly so. You often only have to jump in the general direction of the next platform and the game will compensate by automatically connecting Lara to the intended surface. Once you get the hang of it you can effortlessly overcome even the most imposing obstacles without difficulty. It’s also always abundantly clear which ledges you can hang on or jump between, so the only challenge is positioning the camera so you can see where you’re trying to go, which can be frustrating. In tight spots it can be difficult to get a good view of the ledge you need to jump to, and sometimes it’s easy to misjudge a jump if you don’t have the camera aligned just right. The camera problems are intermittent though, and most of the time you have a fairly good view of the surroundings. And even though the platforming is fairly easy, it’s still satisfying thanks to some great-looking animations and level designs that convey an excellent sense of peril.

Popularity: 100% [?]

Not enough can be said about the living, breathing world that you’ll inhabit in Assassin’s Creed. As assassin extraordinaire Altaïr, you’ll explore three major cities of the Holy Land in the 12th century: Jerusalem, Damascus, and Acre. Each city is beautifully rendered from top to bottom and features meticulously crafted towers that reach for the sky, bustling market squares, and quiet corners where citizens converse and drunks lie in wait to accost you. As you wander the streets (and rooftops), you’ll push your way through crowds of women carrying jars on their heads, hear orators shout political and religious wisdom, and watch town guards harass innocent victims. Altaïr has a profound effect on this world, but the cities are entities all their own, with their own flows and personalities.

The visual design has a lot to do with how believably organic everything feels. The cities are absolutely huge, and though you don’t get full exploration privileges in the first few chapters, they eventually open up to let you travel seamlessly from one side to another. Everything is beautifully lit with just the right amount of bloom effect, and almost everything casts a shadow, from tall pillars to Altaïr’s cloak. In fact, sometimes the shadows get to be a bit much and may make you think for a moment that there is artifacting on your screen, when in fact it’s a character’s head casting a shadow on his or her own neck. Every object, from scaffolds to pottery, is textured so finely you feel as if you could reach out and touch it. Animations are almost as equally well done. Altaïr scales walls, leaps majestically from towers, and engages in swashbuckling swordfights that would make Errol Flynn proud. And he does it all with fluid ease, generally moving from one pose to another without a hitch. Minor characters move gracefully as well, though one of the game’s few visual drawbacks is the occasional jerky animation on the part of a citizen. However, it’s easy to forgive, considering that the cities are populated with thousands and thousands of individuals. In fact, these tiny blemishes are noticeable only because everything else looks so incredible.

Popularity: 77% [?]

The campaign picks up where its predecessor left off, and there’s a new violent ultranationalist terrorist on the scene. Once again, you play as a few different soldiers who are part of the effort to make the world a safer place. Your missions take you around the world to a number of exotic locations and engage you in a variety of different conflicts, ranging from stealthy and silenced to crowded and cacophonous. The action is smooth and exhilarating, thanks to sharp shooting and movement mechanics that allow you to be as quick and deadly as your skills permit. Environments are well-designed and detailed, though many textures don’t look particularly good upon close inspection. Modern Warfare 2 isn’t a beautiful game, but it looks great in action. The diverse levels not only provide varied sights, but they are cleverly designed to allow the action to flow at an exciting pace. Opportunities for cover and flanking present themselves naturally, allowing you to move through the battlefield in a variety of fluid ways. The aggressive enemy AI will keep you on your toes, and success is hard-earned and satisfying.

Modern Warfare 2′s campaign, like that of its predecessor, is quite short, and you’ll likely finish it in about five hours. Though it is disappointing that there isn’t more of it, what you do get is a relentless barrage of tight combat and thrilling set pieces. In one early level, you man the turret of a Humvee patrolling the claustrophobic streets of a Middle Eastern city. Enemies seem to be behind every corner, but you are ordered not to fire until fired upon. The tension builds, and once you are engaged by the enemy, all hell breaks loose. After a hectic (and unsuccessful) flight from danger, you end up fighting door-to-door in the streets and ruined buildings. This frantic combat ratchets up when you head to the slums of Rio de Janeiro, and reaches a whole new level when you find yourself engaged in similarly intense firefights on the grassy lawns and paved driveways of suburban America. The fight on the homefront has some very cool moments, but it doesn’t mean you’re done adventuring abroad. A dramatic prison rescue, a marine infiltration, and a snowmobile chase are just some of the other exhilarating moments that make this campaign so enjoyable.

Popularity: 72% [?]

This isn’t natively a PC game, so don’t expect PC-style amenities, such as being able to save your progress at any time. In fact, in the original version of the game, you needed to purchase yellow orbs to continue from a nearby checkpoint when you died. These orbs were prohibitively expensive in the beginning, and the system itself was fairly confusing anyway, so there was a very steep learning curve that revolved around forcing you to replay entire levels only to get beaten over and over again by tough boss monsters waiting for you at the end. The Special Edition’s optional new continue system is far more lenient, since it lets you continue from a nearby checkpoint as often as you wish, and if you have a gold orb in your inventory, you can bring yourself back to life right where you died. Having two (or more) lives with which to beat the game’s bosses makes all the difference in the world, and it goes a long way toward making the legendary difficulty level of Devil May Cry 3 a lot less remarkable, for better or for worse. You’ve still got the old continue system to use if you want it, but most players will naturally take the path of least resistance. Ironically, even this much more lenient continue system will still likely seem inconvenient to those accustomed to PC games letting you save anytime, anywhere.

You can’t play as Dante’s brother Vergil right off the bat, but you’ll learn to respect him as you play through the game for the first time. He has deadly fencing skills and lightning-fast moves, and you’ll find that all of his attacks are at your disposal when you play as him. His quick-draw attacks with his Japanese battle sword can devastate multiple enemies at once, and instead of guns, he can summon limitless mystical swords that fly out and pierce his foes. Later, he can upgrade these weapons to form defensive barriers and more. In fact, he’s considerably stronger than Dante, at least at first. He has access to three useful melee weapons right from the start, and he also starts out with the devil trigger ability, which grants him temporary invincibility and health regeneration–truly a lifesaving skill that Dante doesn’t learn until a good way into the story. But is stronger really better in this case? Vergil just isn’t as fleshed out as Dante from a gameplay standpoint. He starts with all his weapons and has only the one “dark slayer” fighting style, which is like Dante’s trickster style, only cooler sounding. You can still unlock some new fighting abilities as you go, but you don’t feel as though you’re growing stronger and stronger like you do with Dante. What’s more, there’s no story continuity when playing from Vergil’s perspective. His inclusion in the game makes for a good bonus, but Dante is still the star of the show.

Popularity: 69% [?]