7, 8, 9

#9 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

I thought about leaving MW2 off the Top 10 completely due to Infinity Ward's blatant disregard for the PC gaming community, but there's no denying that I still enjoyed the game quite a bit. Though disjointed and lacking in story depth, the single-player campaign is intense. Drawbacks include the inexplicable absence of an ability to lean around corners and the superhuman reaction time and accuracy present in the AI, but it's still chock-full of kickassery.

The multiplayer component is what really dragged this game down the list. IW.Net has to be the worst idea that ever actually made it into the final cut of a game. Matchmaking is hit or miss at best, and the forced P2P hosting has led to connection loss or disruption in at least 33% of all the games I've played due to other people being stupid or unreliable. Compare that to the maybe 2% of games played on a dedicated server that have been screwed up due to crashes or my own connection issues. The only thing that keeps me playing is the addictive nature of leveling up, unlocking, and completing challenges.

#8 - Need For Speed: Shift

The newest in the long-running series of racing games from EA, Shift is actually a surprising improvement over the likes of Carbon and Undercover. This is what Pro Street was supposed to be, a more realistic driving game focusing on professional tarmac circuits in the vein of Codemasters' GRID. Damage to your car can be a detriment to its performance and encourage "clean" racing, and no longer will you be taking 90-degree turns at 80MPH without careening into a wall.

The super-detailed first-person view is a delight for immersion buffs, and tune freaks will enjoy tweaking everything on the car from camber and caster to toe-in and 20 other things I have no clue about. It's not all about realism though, as evidenced by the retention of the "best line" guide on the road (it can be disabled) and a tiny figure-8 track that leads to some serious demolition derby-style pile-ups. On the whole, I'm pleased with the direction they've taken the series, and can only hope things keep going this way.

#7 - Prototype

Radical Entertainment's free-roam action game tells the story of Alex Mercer, an unwilling participant in an experiment by a genetic engineering conglomerate. With the ability to shapeshift disguises or bodily weapons and consume organic life-forms to replenish energy and absorb memories, he's on a quest to discover what happened to him and who did it. Meanwhile, the virus that empowered him is wreaking havoc all over New York. The sprawling metropolis slowly but surely deteriorates, becoming more chaotic and hazardous as you play.

Though the gameplay is almost identical to the last few Spider-man games that Activision has put out, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Meandering about NYC to look for enemies to subdue, time challenges to beat, tokens to collect, or other menial tasks to complete in between story missions can be fun when you can run up the side of a building and then glide from the top to the neighboring one. A wide variety of combat moves and weapon types are unlockable as you level up to be used for slaughtering bad guys by the dozen, and you just haven't lived until you've hijacked a helicopter using a tentacle grappling hook.