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Excite Truck (Wii)

I'm not a racing game kind of guy. Never have been, and probably never will. But when I popped in Excite Truck, I found the game to be irresistible. Sure, the buzz around early Wii titles is centered on The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It's an impressive game but it takes some time to really get into it. Excite Truck, on the other hand, offers instant gratification and demonstrates the motion sensor power of the Wii Remote. The game doesn't have the slick, awe-inspiring graphics of the next-generation racing games like Grand Turismo. But what Excite Truck lacks in visual style it more than makes up for with outrageously enthralling game play. Players simply turn the Wii Remote around and hold it like a classic controller; the Wii sensor bar does the rest. Tilt the controller to the left and you steer your massive 4x4 to the left. Flip the controller back to extend your turbo jumps and flip it forward to shorten them. Yes, the Wii Remote is simply a novelty and without it, Excite Truck wouldn't be much of a game. If you're like most gamers, you probably lean and jerk the controller with your old consoles while playing racing games, even though the movements have no effect on the game itself. Well, now they do. And it's fun. But give Excite Truck a spin and then try going back to playing a regular analog stick game. You'll probably find it's just not the same anymore.

Along with entertaining game play, Excite Truck offers classic Nintendo features like bad soundtrack music, preposterous stunts that shun any notion of realism and outrageous sets like a lava-spewing volcano on the Fiji course. Excite Truck hasn't received particularly strong reviews, but for my money it's the best window into the Wii. The motion sensor scheme will take some practice, but even when you're veering wildly off course and crashing into everything in site, it's still enjoyable. In fact, I haven't had this much fun screwing up since my freshman year of college.

Price: $49.99

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Company Of Heroes (PC)

I'm a huge Call of Duty fan, but let's forget all the World War II shooters out there for a second and turn the spotlight on Company of Heroes. I was skeptical of another WWII title, even though Company of Heroes is a real-time strategy game and not an FPS. But when I got a glimpse of this title at E3, I was intrigued. And sure enough, the game actually lived up to its hype and quickly became one of the more critically lauded RTS games in recent memory. Don't just take my word for it; my fine colleague Aaron McKenna played the beta version just before Company of Heroes was released in September, and he instantly fell in love with the game. Indeed, this could be Relic Entertainment's finest hour. Instead of blurry, outdated graphics that have plagued some RTS titles in the past, Company of Heroes has exciting visuals powered by Relic's Essence graphics engine. The rich detail and beautiful design only enhances the outstanding game play, which offers tons of creative strategies, attacks and actions as the fictional Able Company makes its way through Europe. Company of Heroes also displays some truly high level A.I. and realism with completely destructible (and sometimes rebuildable) environments. Whether you're a fan of WWII, strategy games or simply great games, Company of Heroes justifies its price.

Price: $49.99