Laser tag games with oblique rules? Biometric games where you meditate to progress? Five-hour James Cameron rambles? Joel McHale blankly saying words that roughly translate to "hand me my check for saying your Star Trek words"? Oh, you must be thinking of 2010 Ubisoft. They shoved all that crap in a drawer and buried it somewhere in the desert months ago, right next to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick's conscience. 2011 Ubisoft has gone Hollywood, baby. They're lean, slick, and totally cash.

"Man, that terrorist's breaking out like a teenager on a chocolate binge."

I found myself taking a big interest in franchises I never gave any time to. Rayman made me grin like an idiot again. Ezio's aging very well indeed, as is Ubisoft itself. This year marks its 25th anniversary, and their plan of attack for celebrating seems pretty simple: attack.

Oh yeah. Ubi brought the games.

Given Microsoft's major shift towards Kinect, Ubisoft's decision to go all in on Kinect support feels a little smarter in retrospect. They're the developer who really knows how to build interfaces and games around it. Every Tom Clancy game going forward will support Kinect, they're doubling up with a Your Shape sequel (as they should). A new rabbids game won't really excite core gamers and another motion-control party game just feels depressing, but Raving Rabbids: Alive and Kicking strikes me as a best-of-breed title. Apply Ubi's Kinect savvy to the equation, and you get something that turns your living room into an amusingly frantic game of Whack-a-Mole, or a four-person create-a-shadow-shape game, where you have to work together to fill a UFO frame. For what it is, it's nicely done.

I confess I have zero interest in Maniaplanet, which puts me in good company...possible encompassing the rest of the real planet. Dance Central 3 also isn't my game, and Driver: San Francisco got a nice new trailer but no gameplay, and no presenters on stage. It's enough to know it's alive, I suppose. Gearbox's Randy Pitchford showed up to show they're going back to the Brothers in Arms well, but they've all seen Inglorious Basterds since the last outing. Brothers in Arms: The Furious 4 looks like a "kill dem Ratzis gud!" head-masher, and possibly the best comedy since Gandi.

Nobody tell the ESRB about this.

But really, Ubi's conference wanted to show you four games. That's all. Four games that build on their rich legacy, and might just propel it forward into the next 25 years.

• Rayman Origins look simply beautiful. I can't say there's still a huge market for 2D side-scrollers at a $60 price point, but this might be the one. The fluidity, imagination, and whimsy on display in that short demo outsells nearly everything in the category for the last few years. Rayman creator Michel Ancel co-opped a five minute demo that took Rayman and partner Globox through fire, water, and stone in an exhilarating chase after a very uncooperative chest. My favorite moment? Out of nowhere, a Tetris mini-game started over a lava pit, dropping blocks for the boys to platform across. Make no mistake, we're talking a Super Mario Bros. Wii-type 4-player co-op game, but moments like that could elevate Rayman into genius territory.  

• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier put four-player co-op on stage, and made it look good (if far more coordinated than it ever will be in practice). The active camo got a major overhaul, going from straight Predator to a slurry of colors. Very nice. Less impressive: Ghost Recon Online, a free-to-play online shooter, which doesn't look too far removed from what the Medal of Honor reboot put on consoles last year.

This man is perfectly reasonable and very, very, very, very sane. Very.

• Far Cry 3's lost Jack Carver and any hint of geniality. The demo -- largely involving a "get to the choppa!" scenario features Vaas, who's in contention to be my new favorite psychotic character accross all media. Take note: It's a shooter, and I'm highly impressed by the dialogue and the characterization. If that's not convincing enough, the action itself proved equally badass.
   
• Assassin's Creed Revelations presented a scene from mid-way through the game that's easily the best action setpiece I've seen in years. A 50-something Eizo wants to leave Constantinople. The Templars have blockaded the harbor to prevent this. What to do? How about blow up the (historically accurate) barricade, set fire to every boat in the harbor as cannonballs fly past, free run through the entire burning fleet to his escape ship, and gently sail away. Yeah. That works.

I really didn't have bit expectations walking into Ubisoft, but sure walked out with a few. A sign of life for I Am Alive would've solidified the show perfectly, but if Ubi can capitalize on the small pieces I saw here, their 25th year will be one to remember for a very long time.

But let's lose "Mr. Caffeine" (and any presenter like him) for next year. Ubisoft's clearly grown beyond such things.