The premise: brilliant. Mutants surround the nuked-out husk of the defunct Chernobyl power plant, where you must travel to do stuff that saves people, and… OK, we weren’t paying attention to the story, but we loved the setting.

Unfortunately, no combination of quality settings could get this game to run at launch, especially if you were cursed with Vista. Luckily, six months later, the game has finally been patched to the point where it will run on most rigs, making it worthy of reconsideration.

Get S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl Now

With Haze delayed into 2008, this multi-player frag fest deserves the attention of every first person shooter fan. Technically, UT3 has a single-player campaign, but pretty cinematic aside, it’s little more than a training ground for the game true calling: online multi-player.

With smooth-running, gorgeous visuals, the ability to download user-generated content, and a pick-up-and-play style that ensures even novice players will get a few kills, UT3 doesn’t screw around.

Unreal Tournament 3

Capcom’s excellent Devil May Cry franchise has finally made the transition to the current generation of consoles, and aside from some lengthier-than-usual load times and an initial 20-minute-plus installation of sorts on the PS3, the results are stellar.

In a nutshell, DMC4 serves up everything you’ve enjoyed in the first three games, including blisteringly fast third-person action that unfolds with operatic grace, scads of cool enemies and ginormous bosses, and a healthy dose of attitude. You are still graded on how well you complete each level, and you still collect monster drops and spend them like currency in upgrading your weapons and skills.

One design/story item that may leave some players scratching their heads a bit is the respective amounts of time you’ll spend playing as Dante and the new character, Nero. Of course, having payables other than Dante is nothing new, nor is having characters that look very similar to Dante, but Dante’s role in DMC4 is something more of a cameo than a lead, evoking shades of Metal Gear Solid 2.

Nero’s new weapons and abilities are a nice change of pace, however, and the game looks and sounds brilliant. One of Capcom’s biggest franchises is back with a vengeance.