Four very different games have released this week, each catering to extremely different audiences and garnering diverse opinions from critics. With review copies for all four games landing in the office this week, the editors at OXM have each drawn their lines in the sand. Of course, many of us have just started playing these games, so we didn't want to pass early judgement on any of them. Instead, the question we posed for this week's OXM Pickem was:

Which new release this week is most up your alley?

FRANCESCA REYES, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
I feel like I'm cheating when I say this, but I have to go with what I know - and what I know is Child of Eden.

I'm going to make a confession: as a former editor on the Official Dreamcast Magazine and a Sega devotee in my youth, I'm  a sucker for a lot of the stuff that comes out of most of the Sega alumni. This includes Tetsuya Mizuguchi - the guy who heads up Q Entertainment, the team behind Child of Eden. Everything the studio's done since Mizuguchi branched off from United Game Artists where his team had created Rez (for Dreamcast *and* PlayStation 2 - one of the first of Sega's third-party titles, post-Dreamcast) incorporate the same themes: music, interaction, and visuals combined for a sensory, near-wordless experience.

Everything from the puzzler Lumines to the shooter Rez HD (and even Space Channel 5 as part of Sega) now feel like stepping stones to what Child of Eden offers. Sure, it's crazy short, but I kind of see this game as the realization of the themes and goals that Mizuguchi and Q have been working on for so many years: a synesthiac shooter. And who knew that something like Kinect - or some such motion/gesture-control doohickey - was the key?

But that's just one reason why I'm putting my weight behind Child of Eden - and there are too many to list here. Everything from the noble goals of hope and positivity through sight, sound, and movement to the fact that games have reached a point where you can trace a designer or team's thematic or narrative threads over the course of their body of work (just think of Irrational Games and their return to BioShock with Infinite or Square with the Final Fantasy series) -- this game spurred all of this wheel-turning in my brain over the course of its short run. I didn't regret a moment spent in Eden - and I hope that anyone else who has, feels the same way.

COREY COHEN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR
I probably shouldn't say this, but this week has made me want to call in sick SO badly, it's ridiculous! I loved American McGee's Alice, Transformers: War for Cybertron, AND Duke Nukem 3D, so to receive the next game in all three of those franchises in one week is an absolute bounty, even if Alice: Madness Returns and Duke Nukem Forever haven't been getting much love in some critical corners. If I have to side with one of the three new releases, I'll go with Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Even though I've yet to see how our reviewer feels about it, I've enjoyed what I played - I think it's safe to say that High Moon Studios definitely has a real affinity for this license. If anything, they certainly know how to throw bones to longtime fans like myself. It'll be fascinating to see what they do with next year's War for Cybertron 2.

RYAN MCCAFFREY, SENIOR EDITOR
I'm playing through Duke Nukem Forever this week for the OXM review. It's definitely not a good game, much to my disappointment, but yet, somehow, I can't stop playing it. It's a piece of videogame history that I get to play. Work obligation to complete it aside, it's casting a gotta-watch-this-train-wreck spell over me. Hail to the king...of my attention span.

Read on to the next page for Kevin, Alaina, Dave, and new intern Nick's picks!

KEVIN W. SMITH, FEATURES EDITOR
Child of Eden. From what I've played, it reminds me of a world fashioned out of those poorly designed '90s flyers for secretive raves I would stare at as a teenager, completely perplexed by their existence. In a good way. Plus, the whole controlling the game's music with your hands component makes it seem like you're some sort of MDMA-enabled electronic symphony conductor.

ALAINA YEE, MANAGING EDITOR
Well, offensive humor seems like the obvious choice for me, but I got both Duke Nukem Forever and Alice: Madness Returns on the same day...and I popped Alice into my 360 first. As Dave notes in his entry, nostalgia is indeed a hell of a drug - especially when you can recall those gloomy winter nights in sixth grade, curled up in a couch and turning the pages of a bizarre little book called Alice in Wonderland for the first time.  Added to that is how breathtaking American McGee's Alice was; there's that same eerie, haunting charm in Madness Returns. I keep saying I'm only speed-running through Alice: Madness Returns for its Achievements, but that's a dirty lie: a part of me keeps thinking, if I keep plumbing through Queensland, I'll somehow magically find further insight and story about Alice's sister.  Or if I keep hunting, I'll discover one more sound bite from Alice's childhood.  Much like how I love a cat who attacks me randomly (sigh) but licks my face when I come home from a long trip, I love this game for how enchanting and beautiful it is when it's showing me its finest.  I also have the feeling this game will help dull the sting of my reaction to Duke when I get to it next...

DAVE RUDDEN, WEB EDITOR
Even though the game hasn't been winning critics over, I've got too much of a soft spot in my heart for the Alice franchise to prefer anything but sAlice: Madness Returns. I love the concept, idea, and the fact that American McGee creates such unique work with each new project (even if some of them aren't very successful). More than any of that, I loved the original American McGee's Alice - when I first played it, I had never seen a game mix lighthearted elements like platforming and fairy tales with a dark design. What's more, unlike the glut of Todd McFarlane-influenced games that sprouted in the original's wake, Alice was made more interesting due to its gothic overlay. I can count the number of PC games I've played at length on two hands, and Alice was one of the few games to make that cut. With my nostalgia running high and early impressions of the sequel sounding positive, I had high hopes for Madness Returns. I hope my nostalgia for the original will enhance my time with the sequel, because it sure didn't work with Duke. At the very least, I'll get to play the original game on Xbox Live Arcade, even if Alaina is saying that didn't turn out very well either. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

NICK PINO, INTERN
For me the choice is clear, it has to be Child of Eden. Child of Eden gets points just for being a soul successor to a game with a rather "interesting" peripheral. Throw in the game's beautiful soundtrack, mind-melting visuals, and its extremely entrancing gameplay, Child of Eden is the trippy LSD of the gaming world we've all been waiting for. Plus, let's be honest, $60 for some quasi-mind altering substance is the cheapest deal on the block.

Have your own Xbox memory that you'd like to share? Sound off in the comments section below, respond to our Facebook post, or reply to us on Twitter!