It’s a great year to be a gamer. I’ve already written about some of the big games of the fall, including Guitar Hero World Tour, Rock Band 2, Gears of War 2 and Resistance 2. Here are some other great titles to consider gifting to the gamer on your list.

• BioShock (2K Games; PS3; rated mature) — One of last year’s best games makes its debut on Sony’s game system. Finally, PS3 owners can unravel the secrets of Rapture, the underwater dystopia that is populated with insane, genetically modified citizens.

• Call of Duty: World at War (Activison Blizzard; DS, PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii; rated mature) — The Call of Duty series returns to the Second World War for this game, focusing on the Pacific theatre and battles in Eastern Europe.

• Fable II (Microsoft Game Studios; Xbox 360; rated mature) — A high-fantasy tale set in the land of Albion. In this, gamers take on the guise of a girl or boy who becomes a hero of the land. Whether your hero is benevolent or tyrannical, though, depends entirely on your choices.

• Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks; PC, PS3, Xbox 360; rated mature) — Set in 2277, 200 years after a nuclear war devastated the world, players start this game by leaving the safety of Vault 101 — the fallout shelter in which they were born and raised. In the devastated area that used to be Washington, D.C., they find that life, of one form or another, has survived.

• Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft; PC, PS3, Xbox 360; rated mature) — Set in a fictional African nation, gamers take on the role of a mercenary and can choose to fight for whichever faction they choose. In this world, that is less fictional that we’d expect, every group believes they are in the right, and the others are the bad men.

• Gears of War 2 (Microsoft Game Studios; Xbox 360; rated mature) — Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad are back. In this rambunctious shooter, the humans of Sera take the fight to the homeland of the Locust: deep underground. Bonus battle: inside a giant worm.

• James Bond: Quantum of Solace (Activision Blizzard; DS, PC, PSP, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii; rated teen) — Daniel Craig is the new Bond, and Activision is the new publisher of 007 video games. This one bridges the two films in which Craig has starred.

• Left 4 Dead (EA; PC, Xbox 360; rated mature) — From Valve Software (Half-Life 2) comes this survival horror game that redefines co-operative play. Up to four players must depend on each other in order to survive a journey to safety through areas swarming with Infected, a.k.a. flesh-eating zombies.

• Little Big Planet (Sony Computer Entertainment; PS3; rated everyone) — The funnest game of the year, Little Big Planet puts players in control of little Sackgirls and Sackboys who run and jump through whacky environments that look to have been constructed with craft supplies. After mastering the pre-designed levels, you can easily build and share your own.

• Mirror’s Edge (EA; PS3, Xbox 360; rated teen) — In this title, gamers are literally looking at the world through the eyes of Faith, who lives in a pristine city ruled by a totalitarian government. Faith is a runner, a courier who moves through her environment using the physical art of parkour. It is possible to complete this game without ever shooting an enemy, by either avoiding them or disarming them with acrobatic martial moves.

• Prince of Persia (Ubisoft; PC, PS3, Xbox 360; rated teen) — This is a different prince than the one featured in the Sands of Time trilogy. In this game, which has a beautiful illustrated visual style, the prince teams up with Elika, a woman with magic powers, to fight Ahriman, the ancient god of darkness.

• Resistance 2 (Sony Computer Entertainment; PS3; rated mature) — The Chimera have focused their attack on the United States. Nathan Hale, struggling against the infection that is turning him into the enemy, battles through the streets of San Francisco and Chicago, the hills of Twin Falls, Idaho and the canyons of New Mexico.

• Tom Clancy’s EndWar (Ubisoft; PS3, Xbox 360; rated teen) — This tactical game turns players into generals who have to direct the movement of units in a world war that occurs in our near future. An advance voice recognition feature means that this game can be played using only voice commands.

• Tales of Vesperia (Namco Bandai; Xbox 360; rated teen) — Vivid character designs make this RPG the best of the Tales series. Yuri must recover a device stolen from his village that controls the flow of fresh water. His journey becomes one of self-discovery.

• Tomb Raider Underworld (Eidos; PC, PS3, Xbox 360; rated teen) — The sexy Lara Croft is back, and her adventures in this game take her to Thailand, the Arctic, Mexico and under the Mediterranean in search of Thor’s Hammer.