Avatar

What’s that about a new TV? You’ll think you need one if you ever see Avatar running in 3D on a 103-inch stereoscopic TV. Once you pop on the glasses, you’ll be awestruck by how 3D effects turn what otherwise looks like a pretty standard third-person shooter into something spectacular. Your character strides nearby in the foreground as spent ammo shells jingle all over the place and pursuing enemies disappear deep into the foliage in a way that’s just mesmerizing.

Of course, if, like us, you’re not rich enough to spring for a stereoscopic set in a recession economy, the game runs just fine on your regular HDTV, and in that case, it’s less about the wow power and more about how Ubisoft is fashioning an intriguing adjunct to James Cameron’s holiday blockbuster-to-be. In this sci-fi epic, you start out working for the RDA Corporation, which is mining valuable resources of the beautiful but incredibly hostile and lethal world of Pandora. And “beautiful” really is an understatement, as these lush jungles are filled with exotic creatures…that want to eat you…and pretty, lush, bioluminescent flowers and vegetation…that also want to eat you!

Thankfully, the game has its own (mysterious) tale to tell, rather than recapping the movie’s, and as you progress, you can decide to change sides and fight as one of the Na’vi, the blue-skinned species of giants who are native to Pandora. Instead of flying wimpy choppers like RDA chumps, the Na’vi whip gracefully through the skies on the backs of fiery birds and completely take the RDA to pieces with axes and arrows. We’re in!