Third person action can mean many things, but here are the five that are most impressive. Rez HD is simply the old Rez with an HD mix, but with so few people played the original that it deserve props now still. Prince of Persia takes a more deliberately focus on platforming, while adding a competent combat scheme and a beautiful art style. God of War: Chains of Olympus fits the GOW game series you know and love and throws it on the PSP, with a surprisingly competent control scheme. Aces of the Galaxy is the closest XBox gamers are going to get with the classic StarFox, but that's not a complaint at all. Aces has a great look, intense firefights and a surprisingly fun campaign mode. Finally, there's No More Heroes, featuring unique Wii combat controls and a hilarious sense of humor.

2008 was a great year for Arcade Style games, starting with two sequels of popular franchises in the genre. First, there's Assault Heroes 2, the sequel to the 2006 XBLA hit. Adding more weapons and better enemies, the sequel adds more to the co-op Ikari Warriors style gameplay. Then there's Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, sequel to the X360 game of launch. Retro Evolved 2 adds 4 new modes to the franchise, while keeping the ultra-tight, ultra alick gameplay intact. The last of the XBLA games is the beat-em-up Castle Crashers, from the makers of the Behemoth. A lively art style, on top of some of the funniest moments and tightest co-op this year, Castle Crashers is the nezt-gen side scrolling beat-em-up everyone has been waiting for. On the portable front, there's Arkanoid DS. This game is exactly as it states: It's Arkanoid and it's on the DS, with either touch screen support, d-pad support or th e use of an import attachment. Lastly, there's Space Invaders Xtreme, Taito's retro revival of the classic arcade game. This game adds new power-ups, modes and increasingly frantic gameplay while keeping the original feel of Space Invaders intact.

RPG's had a very strong year this year: the first time this generation that RPG's stood out. Let's start with Bethesda Softworks' Fallout 3 for 360, PS3 and PC. Fallout 3's incredible world and art design helps spice the immersive story with a sense of dread and discovery that only Bethesda could do. Then, there's the penultimate rogue-like dungeon crawler Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer. Rogue-likes are usually convoluted and arbitrary at best, but Shiren's flexible and strategic battle system, coupled with its odd sense of humor and punshing difficulty, gives even RPG fans a run for its money on this addictive game. Next is Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4. Japanese RPG fans, you have your best game of the year. 360 and PS3 RPG's couldn't match the charm, excellent writing and deep combat system that the PS2 Persona series has. It's great score and excellent characters and writing couple what is one of the best p roducts on any system to date. Next, is the unique and mesmerizing DS RPG The World Ends With You. A good story and a very well implemented art style can only do so much. However, it's the loot collecting and addicting battle system that makes The World Ends With You one of the must have RPG's of this season. Finally, there's Fable 2. Lionhead Studios had the nearly impossible task of not only trying to surpass the disappointment that was the original Fable, but also making a sequel that can make people feel the series is progressing in a big way. Well, not only did they pull through, they made one of the best RPG's to date.

Strategy games usually aren't as fun unless there is a twist involved, but these 5 strategy games take the core concepts of each of their strategy roots and builds solid games out of each. Sure, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King isn't what you expect from a Final Fantasy game. And, yes, in order to play the game it was fully intended to be, you need to spend 3000 Wii Points on the full product. However, this game features some of the best city planning gameplay on any console this year. Next is Valkyria Chronicles. Unlike most strategy/RPG's, Valkyria Chronicles adds an incredible art style with its tactical gameplay, giving the game a distinctly different feel in a genre filled with "me too" clones. Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution is the next game. What makes this game so special is the fact that they were able to fit a complicated, highly detailed PC game series into a console that is easy to play an d understand in 10 minutes. Civ junkies will fall in love with this streamlined version of their favorite series. On the tower defense front, there's the PSN exclusive Pixeljunk Monsters. The game plays like a standard TD game, but adds a nice, soothing soundtrack and a charm that few TD games have. Finally, there's Ninjatown for the Nintendo DS. Take the charm of Pixeljunk, throw in a hilarious sense of humor and addicting gameplay and you've got Ninjatown.

This year, studios tried more and more to add more content into their games to make them even more playable throughout the year. Pixeljunk Monsters added new levels and a trophy challenge system throughout the year so players can replay the game's touch challenges. NBA Live 09 implemented NBA Live 365, offering detailed daily updates on anything and everything that went on in the league, including tendencies of specific players. Gears of War 2 offered its first DLC in the Combustible map pack, which offers three new maps that change the face of the multiplayer aspect of the game. LittleBigPlanet is one of the most customizable games out there on any system, so adding stuff to make it even more customizable is just a big plus all around. Sackboy skins and customes are a big boon, as well as more items for the level editor. Finally, there's Burnout Paradise. Paradise not only added new modes, but it also added bikes to the game, as well as a day/night cycle.

The Playstation Network may just be a "me-too" of XBLA to some, but PSN sells games that actually give you the most game for your dollar, someitmes allowing you to download full games on PSN you could buy at the store. The Pixeljunk series, Pixeljunk Monsters and Pixeljunk Eden, offers both traditional (tower defense) and non-traditional (platforming, but swinging on plants) gameplay with a fantastic and different art style. Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty turns the game into a mini-adventure but with the same outstanding graphics and gameplay you come to expect. Wipeout HD takes the tracks from the PSP Wipeouts (Pulse and Pure) and gives the game a beautiful high-definition gloss. Finally, Bionic Commando: Rearmed takes the classic game into hi-def with all of its painstaking difficulty intact.

Of the surprises this year, Wiiware is quite possibly the most surprising, since everyone was shoving it off as a poor man's XBLA. But, with games like Art Style: ORBIENT, a puzzle game that's played with just two buttons and involves pull and pushing a planet into orbit, Wii-ware will have it's special twist on downloadable games. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King gives Final Fantasy a Simcity approach by creating buildings in towns and sending soldiers into distant lands to fight enemies. Mega Man 9 was the most surprising this year, utilizing a NES engine and look, while maintaining the core concept of Mega Man in his retro hay-day. World of Goo brings a pleasant art style and a unique twist to tower building games, but allowing you to toy with different properties of goo in order to clear a level. Finally, there's Tetris Party. Obviously, it's Tetris, but with more modes and multiplayer capabilities than any previous Tetris game.

Another year, another strong XBLA lineup. Obviously, the sequel to the mega popular downloadable game Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 was going to be on this list, providing more of the same old-school thrills that the original had. And, yes, the artful critical darling Braid is also on the list, with its time manipulating puzzle elements in two. And, of course, Castle Crashers is on the list, which provides some of the best beat-em-up gameplay since Final Fight, Streets of Rage and Double Dragon. So that's it, right? Wrong! There's A Kingdom For Keflings, the very first game custom made to use avatars, fills in XBLA's city planning sims. And there's Aces of the Galaxy, the incredibly fun StarFox clone for the XBLA.

The XBOX 360 had a plethora of exclusive games come out this year. The biggest one this year was, of course, Gears of War 2. Featuring some of the best co-op gameplay with its campaign and brand new Horde mode, Gears of War 2 improves everything in its single player campaign from the last game. Then, there's the full blown co-op gorefest Left 4 Dead. A heavy emphasis on teamwork and tactics is necessary to go through this game, but the incredibly complex "Director" helps make this game fresh each time you play. For the family friendly type, there's Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. Taking platforming and including vehicles was a bold step for Rare, but they succeed with a diverse set of areas and a hilariously witty sense of humor. On the RPG front, there's Fable II, Lionhead Studios' anticipated sequel. Making an RPG deep is par for the course this generation, but to make it accessable enough for a number of people to play the game is a feat few, if any, can accomplish. Fable II succeeds more than admirably in this situation. Finally, there's the hardcore JRPG Tales of Vesperia. Tales fans will know exactly what this game entails, while the art design and animation show just how diverse the power of the 360 can be.

If there was any system that had the best amount of exclusive games, the Playstation 3 was that system. Take, for instance, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Using the power of Blu-Ray to create some of the most breathtaking and incredible graphics yet seen in any game, Metal Gear Solid 4 more than justifies a purchase of a PS3 with one glance. However, the excellent gunplay, story and characters give the game much more substance. Speaking of substance, LittleBigPlanet is a game all about substance. You have the substance to play, create and share all sorts of levels created by the development team or by people around the world. The game also has its sense of unique style, which you could always create all your own. Another style and substance game is Valkyria Chronicles, a strategy RPG with some of the best art and animation you could see on any system. The water color look of the game contrasts heavily with the grim story and intense firefights in the game. Resistance 2 is a shooter that aims to give a fulfilling experience, no matter how you play it. Whether you're playing the long single-player, the intense cooperative game or the highly competitive multiplayer, Resistance 2 has enough shooting to keep players on theri toes for months to come. Lastly, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift greatly improves on the old game with excellent graphics, more strategy and an excellent track design.

Let's be honest....Wii doesn't have that many quality games. And calling Wario Land: Shake It! and Animal Crossing: City Folk the pinnacle of quality in Wii games just feels kinda wrong. Thankfully, there are games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which gives the same fighting play with even more craziness. And Boom Blox, which is one of the most addicting and fun multiplayer games on any system. And, of course, No More Heroes, one of the most bloody, violent and uproarious Wii games on the market.

Hey, did you hear what came out for the PSP this year? You don't care? ...can't say I blame you...

Another year goes by and the DS had another solid year of gaming. That's starting with the unique action/RPG The World Ends With You, featuring a battle system with unique uses for the stylus and the d-pad. Then, there's the rogue-like Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer, which marries old-school sensibilities with an odd sense of humor and maddeningly difficult gameplay. Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword attempted to marry the frantic yet strategic fighting of Ninja Gaiden by using the stylus on the DS, and it succeeds in doing so. Professor Layton and the Curious Village takes perplexing puzzles and riddles, puts a unique adventure game feel to it and gives the game a charm of its own. Finally, there's the cute, cuddly and hilarious antics of Ninjatown, one of the few (but best) tower defense titles released this year.

Multiplatform development is hard enough as it is, but to make a great, quality game on all different types of hardware is a feat deserving of recognition. N+ is a game that is so simplistic looking, it can be played on the Atari 2600. However, no matter where you play it (DS, PSP, XBLA) you have a quality platforming/puzzle game to master. Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution took a highly complex game and put it itno three different systems (PS3, 360, DS) while sacrificing next to nothing and make it accessable for both consoles and handhelds. GRID looks beautiful and plays with the same tight control on both PS3 and 360. The Club's unique gameplay controls great on both systems. And the fact that both systems get all the downloadable content for Burnout Paradise (you can download the entire game off PSN if you want as well) is a plus as well.