Is your GameQ ready? November is the busiest month of the year when it comes to major game releases. Eager to capture Thanksgiving sales (or rentals as the case may be), game publishers push out an unprecedented amount of product during the first three weeks of November. In fact, you'll probably be faced with some hard choices about which games to rent this month (and let's not forget some of the great October releases like LittleBigPlanet, Dead Space, Fable 2 and Fallout 3). Here's my guide to the biggest games of the month.

Valve's Left 4 Dead is not your typical shooter.

Police chases return in Need for Speed Undercover.

Lady Lara Croft is back in a new Tomb Raider adventure.

The Shooter Showdown

Like clockwork, every November brings with it a battle between major shoot-em-up action games. This year, the big contenders are two exclusives: Gears of War 2 for the 360 and Resistance 2 for the PS3. Both these games deliver extensive single and multiplayer experiences. When it comes to Gears of War 2, I've played through it, and can tell you that the scale of the game is gigantic. You'll take part in huge boss fights, ride a Brumak, and be amazed at the depth of the story. In addition, make sure to check out the new multiplayer mode called Horde, where you try to defeat wave after wave of oncoming Locusts.

But don't worry if you own a PS3 and are sick of all this Gears talk - Sony has something else just for you in the form of Resistance 2. This time, the Chimera invasion hits the homeland and Nathan Hale battles in U.S. cities like Chicago and San Francisco. Once again, the scale of the combat is miles beyond what we saw in Resistance: Fall of Man, and Insomniac has packed a lot onto the disc. Besides the single-player campaign, Resistance 2 includes 64-person online multiplayer and a completely separate 8-player co-op campaign.

And that's not all. Don't forget about two other shooters that will also be competing for your attention. First there's Call of Duty: World at War, which surprisingly takes the franchise back to its World War II roots. Developed by Treyarch (not Infinity Ward, the creators of Call of Duty 4), this game has had its fair share of skeptics. But after playing it, I can tell you it's a solid shooter with two interlocking campaigns, one set in the Pacific and another in Berlin. Be warned, however, that the four-person online co-op mode is quite challenging, as the game scales up the difficulty for co-op. Finally, don't forget about Valve's Left 4 Dead, the one non-sequel on this list. This co-op zombie shoot-em-up breaks new ground by letting you play as both the human hunters and as the undead zombies - and yes, you can do it online as well.

The Female Factor

If high-stakes shooters aren't your cup of tea, two other big action-adventure games are also due out this month - and both happen to star female protagonists. Mirror's Edge is a sleek adventure game starring Faith, a runner who jumps across skyscrapers in a futuristic-looking city. Although the game is played from a first-person perspective, you spend most of the time jumping across rooftops, sliding under poles and wall-running. I was skeptical of the concept, but the game feels different and fresh. Just don't expect a ton of action. A similar note can be applied to the new Tomb Raider Underworld, which looks phenomenal but focuses more on puzzle-solving and exploring than action. But at least Lara's no longer stuck underground in tombs. Instead you'll find her swimming in the ocean at the start of the game...in a wetsuit. What happened to the bikini?

Everything Else

If those games aren't enough, here are a couple other big releases to keep your eyes on in November. First, if you want to experience something totally different, check out Tom Clancy's EndWar, the first real-time-strategy game you control via voice commands. RTS games aren't huge hits on the consoles, but the voice-command interface works well and hints at something we may see a lot more of in the years to come. Racing fans may want to check out Need for Speed Undercover, EA's latest racer that finally brings back cop chases to one of the longest-running franchises out there. And finally, if you're a Nintendo fan, you might feel a little out of luck this holiday season. There is a new Animal Crossing due in November called Animal Crossing: City Folk, but otherwise the lineup of Wii games is surprisingly thin - especially given that the Wii is outselling the competition by a factor of two or three. If you're really hard up for a new Wii game, you might want to check out the new Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, which uses the Wii Balance Board for butt-surfing...seriously.

That's it for this month, but I'll talk with you again in December when I give you the early word on which titles might win Game of the Year for 2008.