This year's 10 best games for parent-child faceoffs

Video games aren't just a wonderful present for children wielding gift cards after Christmas; they're also a wonderful opportunity to bond.

Here are the 10 games my 9-year-old son and I played the most together this year:

10. "Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light" (rated Teen for PC, PS3, Xbox 360): This action-adventure title turns the classic franchise into a top-down cooperative game of problem solving and defeating the bad guys.

9. "Minecraft" (unrated for PC): While this indie mega hit is still in development, gamers can already drop in to build and play. Players spend the day chipping away at the landscape to dig out homes and construct monuments and then the nights trying to survive the enemies that invade. You can also set up a private server to explore and build with your child.

8. "Split Second" (rated Everyone 10+ for PC, PS3, Xbox 360): This racing game has players tearing around tracks built on giant movie sets. The tracks are packed with major events such as explosions, building collapses and falling overpasses, all of which can be triggered by players as they race. The split-screen cooperative mode makes it a blast to play with your child.

7. "Toy Soldiers" (rated Teen for Xbox 360): The biggest draw are the wonderful diorama graphics, which deliver a play field of plastic landscapes and toy soldiers. Players need to defend their base from attacking German or British soldiers. A split-screen mode allows you to play with your child at the same time.

6. "Super Mario Galaxy 2" (rated Everyone for Wii): Super Mario returns to space to travel to different galaxies, delivering a slew of levels for him to explore. A second player can help Mario by controlling an orange Luma, which can grab enemies, attack them and shoot Star Bits.

4. "Kirby's Epic Yarn" (rated Everyone for Wii): This has to be the cutest game of the decade. Players control yarn versions of already adorable Kirby and Prince Fluff. The entire game takes place in a world of yarn, stitching and buttons. Players need to hop and yarn-attack their way through the world, trying to defeat the evil wizard Yin-Yarn.

3. "Dance Central" (rated Teen for Xbox 360 Kinect): This game does what no wedding reception, New Year's Eve party or family gathering has ever succeeded at doing: It gets your child to want to dance with you -- well, dance against you. Using Microsoft's motion-sensing Kinect camera, players follow the onscreen characters to dance their way through popular choreographed songs. Most important, though, you can have dance battles with your child, proving once and for all who the king of the robot is.

2. "Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4" (rated Everyone 10+ for PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii): This latest title is the best in the Lego-themed video-game library. You and your child take on the role of Harry Potter and his friends as they make their way through the first four books and movies.