With the release of The Sims 3 and Red Faction: Guerrilla, this is not going to be a good week for your wallet. (Also out this week is Fuel, an open-world racing game pushed back from last week, but the prospects for that one look increasingly bleak.)

The Sims 3 is a must-have for fans of the series. Duh. It isn't quite the stellar leap the series made between Sims 1 and Sims 2, but it's still a leap you won't want to miss. And while I have some reservations about EA's money-grubbing micro-payments-from-hell business model, it's all but impossible not to get drawn in by the personality, charm, and open neighborhoods.

Then there's Red Faction: Guerrilla. After seeing a demo at last year's E3, I included it on a list of 10 games to be wary of. While my suspicions have born out on the other games, I am elated to admit I was dead wrong when I posed the following question:

Could this be a bog-standard shooter set in an unremarkable world, leaning too heavily on an unproven gimmick? Can dynamic breakable buildings make up for a curiously featureless Martian landscape?

The answers are "no" and "this Martian landscape is anything but featureless, you dummy". The world of Red Faction: Guerrilla is full of character, detail, and gameplay. It doesn't rely overmuch on the breakable buildings, which are just one element of this thrilling, generous, wide-ranging, and clever action game. The developer, Volition, has infused it with the same creative genius as Saints Row 2, but this time with a touch of Far Cry 2, a tangy sci-fi twist, and a best-case example of how physics can make a good game great. Plus, the multiplayer -- think Halo meets TRIBES -- is the bee's knees.

So unless you're averse to The Sims or a truly fantastic action game, kiss about a hundred bucks good-bye this week.