Tomb Raider: Legend

The dusty opening of this level struck us as a throwback to the wild west. The parched ghost town that serves as Lara's introduction to the finer points of armed combat, Paraiso is choked with tumbleweeds. As we progressed through wave after wave of mercenary thugs, the mechanics of Legend's gunplay really shine. Leaping through the air, backflipping off of dudes' foreheads and unloading tons of ammo in a slo-mo torrent of bullets - Lara demonstrates her excellent ballet form through it all.

You get your first chance to operate a turret, but that's totally overshadowed once Lara hops onto a Ducati and jams off into the canyons. Laying on the accelerator, you tool through a sandy wasteland blasting creeps on the fly ... literally causing them to take flight as they flip over the handlebars of their own bikes. Kicking up a huge rooster tail of dust, you send Lara sailing off of jumps as she tears out of the busted town on her way back to the ancient ruins of her past, and the friend she left behind long ago.