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(Contributors: Gus Mastrapa, Billy Berghammer, Steve Steinberg, Evan Narcisse, James Fudge and John Keefer)

[Missed the previous two days? Get a quickie recap of Part One and Part Two.]

We went all the way to L.A. last week to sleep in crappy hotel rooms, eat crappy meals, and sit in tiny little demo rooms next to sweaty fat guys to get a closer look -- and in many cases actual hands-on time -- with all the games due to arrive in your local game emporium in the coming months. But deciding which games were the best? Separating the crap from the cream? Some choices were easy. Others? Not so much. While no actual blood was shed in the CG offices while trying to whittle down our best-in-show list to a mere 15, quite a few egos were damaged beyond repair. (Oh, and one toilet in the men's john was plugged. Sabotage?) Join us as we finish the countdown to our pick for the No. 1 game of the show.

5. Fable II
(Lionhead/Microsoft)
(Out: October 2008)

PRO: Aka "Molyneux's Attempt to Right the Wrongs From the First Game" features a life-like dog companion, a much larger world to explore, and plenty of virtual burping and farting.
CON: The look and the feel of the game, unfortunately, is eerily similar to the original.


4. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
(LucasArts)
(Out: September 2008)

PRO: Become a bad-ass apprentice of Darth Vader, and use the Force to do all the bad things you've ever wanted to do, including cheating on the written portion of your D.M.V. exam. Yay!
CON: Sorry, Uncle George, but it's really hard to get it up for anything Star Wars-related after those god-awful prequels. Maybe this game will help cleanse our palates.

Want more? Read the preview.


3. Spore
(Maxis/EA Games)
(Out: September 2008)

PRO: Will Wright's god sim has you beginning your virtual life as a tiny bunch of cells, and evolving into an entire race of planet-populating creatures.
CON: As nifty as the creature creator is, until we get a better feel for the actual gameplay involved, Spore still rhymes with "bore," as in "This game could turn out to be really freaking boring."

Want more? Read the preview.


2. LittleBigPlanet
(Media Molecule/Sony)
(Out: September 2008)

PRO: Sack Boy and friends run, jump, and play in a game that, if it delivers on its promise about user-generated content, has the potential to be beyond awesome.
CON: This game has the dubious honor of demo-ing better than probably any other game in history. We should know, as we've sat through about 906 demos of it in the past two years. The fact that Sony's been holding onto it for so long makes us worry that, beyond an awesome demo, the game might not be the rich, blow-your-mind experience we've been promised.

Want more? Read the preview.