By Jeremy Azevedo

This year at the E3, it has become clear that gaming is undertaking an evolutionary leap forward in terms of how games are played, what kind of stories they tell, and how users can interact with them.

eAfter playing dozens, maybe even a hundred or more games, it was hard to pick just a few that represented the very best.Instead of picking the obvious ones, we selected the games that had the most impact in style, mechanics or unique features. Check out our picks for the top games of the show that we would totally buy:

Battlestations: Pacific



I normally find myself averse to playing WWII shooters as a general rule. There are just so goddamn many of them, and the genre is as confining as it is overcrowded. So it came as a very pleasant surprise that Battlestations: Pacific was unlike any other WWII game that I’ve ever experienced, and a hell of a lot of fun to play. First of all, it’s not really a FPS at all; in fact all of the battles are pretty much by sea or air. You command an entire fleet of US or Japanese ships and planes, and can take the wheel of any vehicle in your command at any time for a fully immersive action experience. You rarely see action and tactical elements combined as successfully as they have been here. The planes handle amazingly well, and even the giant sea destroyers and carriers are a snap to control. The story for the Japanese side is noteworthy for being sort of a “what if” scenario in which the tide is turned midway through the war. It also bears mention that previously classified specifications regarding Japanese sea craft and planes were provided to the developers, lending the game an unmatched level of realism and historical accuracy.

Shaun White Snowboarding



This one was another big surprise for me, as I usually don’t play sports games at all. However, the features in Shaun White Snowboarding are so groundbreaking for a game like this that it could be the next Tony Hawk-ish breakthrough extreme-sports title. The mountains look as real as humanly possible, even when you are flying through the air. The controls are intuitive, and there are no set paths down the mountains. You can ride with a posse of friends, just as you would in real life, and are able to challenge each other to different events like races and trick runs. The Wii version doesn’t look nearly as good, but it does utilize the Wii Balance Board quite well, which you have to admit is pretty neat.

Guitar Hero World Tour/Rock Band 2



As a longtime Guitar Hero fan since the beginning, it pains me to say that I am tempted by the promise of an amazing song list by the developers behind Rock Band 2. Hopefully the GH tracks can compete, although the custom song creator might just be the clincher. Konami is out of it’s mind if they think they have a chance in hell of weaseling their way into the North American rhythm action genre this late in the game with the mere 40 songs they have planned for Rock Revolution, many of which are real annoyers like “Sk8er Boi” and “All the Small Things”, or songs we’ve already played a bajillion times elsewhere. But whoever comes out ahead in this three-party race, I’ll be setting aside a large space in my living room for still more obnoxiously proliferating plastic gaming devices!

Lego Batman



Lego Star Wars was great, Lego Indiana Jones didn’t really appeal to me, but Lego Batman? That’s a no-brainer for just about everyone. Batman has one of the best collections of villains both large and small, and Lego Batman promises to deliver more than you can count, from the most famous of them on down to the most obscure. Also, the developers are no longer constrained by the limitations of a pre-existing story, which really opens up the design of the levels, set pieces and story. You play as Batman and Robin in the main story, each with 5 separate costumes with different powers, or in the villains mode as any of Batman’s formidable adversaries that you have unlocked. The game looks and plays better than any of the previous games in the series, and will even incorporate vehicle stages both separately and in-stage like Lego Star Wars. This is one you probably will be dying to play after you see Dark Knight this weekend!

Bayonetta



This isn’t the first game about a hot chick that blows away monsters in an over-the-top flashy, blood soaked manner, and it probably won’t be the last. But after what I saw at the show, it might be the best! Your main character uses pistols, blades, whatever is laying around, and guns strapped to her stilettos to rip apart avenging angels, using their halos as currency to upgrade skills and weapons. Additionally, she uses her magic power to conjure up torture devices like guillotines and an iron maiden to dispatch her foes, as well as a portal that turns her long black her into different weird ass shit like a giant boot or an even giant-er dragon. One of the sexiest, goriest, best-looking games of the show.

Keep checking back here for more of the best from E3!