Blowing things up is such a huge part of the games we play, it's easy to become totally jaded about most of them. But there are still teams up people out there looking for the next big thing in big bangs and booms.

Look at the team at DICE that worked on Battlefield: Bad Company, for example. Not only is a large part of the game built around you blowing holes in buildings to cut your own path through, but those explosions look terrific. Blasting out a wooden wall with your grenade launcher sends splinters flying everywhere, leaving behind a jagged, uneven. realistic-looking hole. Considering you repeat that action dozens of times over the course of the game, it's especially impressive that those explosions manage to look great every time you see them. On top of that, there are plenty of exploding tanks and Jeeps, terrific artillery attacks, and other such explosions to keep things looking varied and great. With all that in mind, Bad Company was an easy choice for the year's best explosions.

The follow-up to LucasArts' Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, takes these guns-for-hire to Venezuela. This sequel introduces drop-in, drop-out online co-op with the availability to play through the entire single player campaign with a friend. Complete with trophy support.

Fallout 3 is an open world action RPG developed by Bethesda Softworks. The player steps into the shoes of a resident of Vault 101, who trades the safety of their vault for the post-apocalyptic wasteland surrounding Washington D.C., in an attempt to find their father.

Turn back the clock yet again in EALA's third installment of the popular alternate-historical RTS, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3.

Build big block towers and send them crashing down in Stephen Spielberg's Boom Blox.