Slashdot Mirror
Slashdot's Games of the Year
Not everyone who works on Slashdot plays games. Enough of us do, though, that I thought it would be interesting to tap my co-workers to see what folks would call their 'game of the year'. Below are comments on the best gaming of 2006 from Chris Nandor, CmdrTaco, Chris Brown, Scuttlemonkey, and myself. Then, once you've read that, we need your help in the comments. What was the game you couldn't put down? Perhaps it was over quickly, but you know you'll be thinking about it in the future? Was it a next-gen title, or something for the good old PlayStation 2? In your opinion, what was the best game of the year?
I've been a fan of the Tomb Raider franchise since the PlayStation days, but sitting down to Legend was like taking a step in a fresh and new direction. I found every aspect of this game wonderful. The graphics and sound engines are stunning, the the plot is well-written and executed, and the controls have been completely redesigned, eliminating the clunkiness found in past installments. My experience was sheer, unadulterated fun. My only gripe is the game's length. I blew through it in a weekend, and the ending cliffhanger left me hungry for more.
- Chris "Entweichen" Brown
Full Tilt Poker is my best game of the year. Basically, all online poker programs are kinda lame in one way or another, but Full Tilt has done a good job of fixing problems, adding features, and generally keeping the site and program running smoothly. And they have a wide variety of games to play, and usually plenty of people to play against. The biggest problem, other than being Java and eating up most of my CPU, is that it pretends to need a password to install, and doesn't even tell you why. That's very lame. And no, I don't play in the "real money" games. Because that is a felony according to both state and federal law, and I would never do such a thing, even though it's perfectly legal for me to go a few miles down the street, never leave my own residential neighborhood, and play poker for real money in an Indian casino.
- Chris "Pudge" Nandor
This year there were quite a few games to snag my interest, however, the one that was the most surprising to me was the MMOG, Eve Online. The game has been around since 2003, but I had always resisted since it looked like another time sink a la World of Warcraft, but a friend finally talked me into playing. While at first the game seemed like nothing more than a passing novelty I promised to give it 6 months, even if all I did was skill train and log out (unlike most MMOs skills can be trained while offline). However, once I had a better handle on all the nuances of the interface and a few skills under my belt the game started to unfold into this vast universe of possibilities unlike any game I had ever played before. The game starts off slow, very slow in fact, but if you have the patience to make it through the tutorials (dear god do NOT skip the tutorials unless you have your own personal guide) then there is plenty to keep you busy for months at a time. Of all the things that make Eve great, the skill system is certainly the most unique. Only being able to train one skill at a time and having a fixed time until it is done, you know exactly when it will finish (whether you are online or not). This allows people with real lives to at least keep up with the power curve in terms of skills, but ensures that the "veterans" will always have the edge. Many people complain about this fact, but I think it adds to the realism that pilots who have been doing it for years get to be the ace while you, the new pilot, get to play the rookie for a while. It doesn't take long (in terms of most MMOs) to at least be a contributing member of a large corporation (Eve's guild equivalent) and really get in on the fun. With all of the different possibilities in Eve it is no wonder that it is the only MMO still growing (and has been steadily since 2003 from what I hear). Whether you are a fan of casual solo play and just want to be the captain of a mining ship or are a meticulous power gamer who craves vast space battles and PvP, Eve has something for everyone, just give it a few months to grow on you.
- Patrick "Scuttlemonkey" McGarry
What can I say? I'm a Final Fantasy junkie- I even liked X-2, so take me with a grain of salt. Final Fantasy XII's new gambit system takes the tedium out of the game but still lets me control what I want. The ability to see mobs and avoid random encounters is fantastic. The graphics, the story, the gameplay. You don't often see a game worth of any sort of perfect rating but this one is it. My only complaint is that the traditional FF victory theme music plays only over the larger fights... but the other occupant of my living room would tell you that this fact makes this game an upgrade (as she humms the tune over and over again, each time with more fury). I'm not the sort of person who needs to go collect every last esper, so I guess my only complaint is that it's over, and it'll be awhile before I get to see a Final Fantasy on the PS3, which is probably what it will take for me to buy the damn thing.
- Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda
From the moment the soaring orchestral theme to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion began playing, I was hooked. Bethesda landed me like a gaffed fish, and while I've played a lot of games this year, Oblivion is always going to be my 2006 game of the year. As I said lo these many months ago in March, the story is great, the graphics are amazing ... but what made Oblivion special then and has kept it special all the way through to December is the trust the developers have put into the player. They don't put you in a little car, lower the safety bar, and make you ride through their experience the way they intended. You're at the controls, and they've made the effort to make every nook and cranny worthwhile to explore. Part of what has made Oblivion so compelling is that my preferred character from Morrowind has finally gotten his full due. Playing a stealthy character in Elder Scrolls III was fun, but in battle it was often quite a challenge. Oblivion's critical system has allowed my Khajit Assassin the punch he needed to make battles turn his way. A character now an embarrassing 75 hours old, I've run him through the main quest, the Thieves guild, the Dark Brotherhood, the Arena, 'The Collector' chain, and dozens of smaller quests. I've been across the length and breadth of Cyrodil, and in all of those 75 hours I have never, not once, found myself bored. It's hard to find the words to give a game higher praise than that.
I also want to give Half-Life 2: Episode One a quick nod of the head. For a little slip of a game that only lasted a few hours of my life, the time players spent with Alyx Vance this year will (I think) weigh heavily on gaming as a whole for the near future. Her wit, charm, and intensely personable nature are a high water mark that every other NPC now has to live up to. The promise of Episode Two has made PC gamers more than a bit cranky at Valve for the constant delays. It's not just the humor of Team Fortress 2 or the brain-bending of Portal that has us looking forward to Valve's next release; Half-Life players are very much looking forward to the next time we can have real backup in an FPS.
- Michael "Zonk" Zenke
- Chris "Entweichen" Brown
Full Tilt Poker is my best game of the year. Basically, all online poker programs are kinda lame in one way or another, but Full Tilt has done a good job of fixing problems, adding features, and generally keeping the site and program running smoothly. And they have a wide variety of games to play, and usually plenty of people to play against. The biggest problem, other than being Java and eating up most of my CPU, is that it pretends to need a password to install, and doesn't even tell you why. That's very lame. And no, I don't play in the "real money" games. Because that is a felony according to both state and federal law, and I would never do such a thing, even though it's perfectly legal for me to go a few miles down the street, never leave my own residential neighborhood, and play poker for real money in an Indian casino.
- Chris "Pudge" Nandor
This year there were quite a few games to snag my interest, however, the one that was the most surprising to me was the MMOG, Eve Online. The game has been around since 2003, but I had always resisted since it looked like another time sink a la World of Warcraft, but a friend finally talked me into playing. While at first the game seemed like nothing more than a passing novelty I promised to give it 6 months, even if all I did was skill train and log out (unlike most MMOs skills can be trained while offline). However, once I had a better handle on all the nuances of the interface and a few skills under my belt the game started to unfold into this vast universe of possibilities unlike any game I had ever played before. The game starts off slow, very slow in fact, but if you have the patience to make it through the tutorials (dear god do NOT skip the tutorials unless you have your own personal guide) then there is plenty to keep you busy for months at a time. Of all the things that make Eve great, the skill system is certainly the most unique. Only being able to train one skill at a time and having a fixed time until it is done, you know exactly when it will finish (whether you are online or not). This allows people with real lives to at least keep up with the power curve in terms of skills, but ensures that the "veterans" will always have the edge. Many people complain about this fact, but I think it adds to the realism that pilots who have been doing it for years get to be the ace while you, the new pilot, get to play the rookie for a while. It doesn't take long (in terms of most MMOs) to at least be a contributing member of a large corporation (Eve's guild equivalent) and really get in on the fun. With all of the different possibilities in Eve it is no wonder that it is the only MMO still growing (and has been steadily since 2003 from what I hear). Whether you are a fan of casual solo play and just want to be the captain of a mining ship or are a meticulous power gamer who craves vast space battles and PvP, Eve has something for everyone, just give it a few months to grow on you.
- Patrick "Scuttlemonkey" McGarry
What can I say? I'm a Final Fantasy junkie- I even liked X-2, so take me with a grain of salt. Final Fantasy XII's new gambit system takes the tedium out of the game but still lets me control what I want. The ability to see mobs and avoid random encounters is fantastic. The graphics, the story, the gameplay. You don't often see a game worth of any sort of perfect rating but this one is it. My only complaint is that the traditional FF victory theme music plays only over the larger fights... but the other occupant of my living room would tell you that this fact makes this game an upgrade (as she humms the tune over and over again, each time with more fury). I'm not the sort of person who needs to go collect every last esper, so I guess my only complaint is that it's over, and it'll be awhile before I get to see a Final Fantasy on the PS3, which is probably what it will take for me to buy the damn thing.
- Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda
From the moment the soaring orchestral theme to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion began playing, I was hooked. Bethesda landed me like a gaffed fish, and while I've played a lot of games this year, Oblivion is always going to be my 2006 game of the year. As I said lo these many months ago in March, the story is great, the graphics are amazing ... but what made Oblivion special then and has kept it special all the way through to December is the trust the developers have put into the player. They don't put you in a little car, lower the safety bar, and make you ride through their experience the way they intended. You're at the controls, and they've made the effort to make every nook and cranny worthwhile to explore. Part of what has made Oblivion so compelling is that my preferred character from Morrowind has finally gotten his full due. Playing a stealthy character in Elder Scrolls III was fun, but in battle it was often quite a challenge. Oblivion's critical system has allowed my Khajit Assassin the punch he needed to make battles turn his way. A character now an embarrassing 75 hours old, I've run him through the main quest, the Thieves guild, the Dark Brotherhood, the Arena, 'The Collector' chain, and dozens of smaller quests. I've been across the length and breadth of Cyrodil, and in all of those 75 hours I have never, not once, found myself bored. It's hard to find the words to give a game higher praise than that.
I also want to give Half-Life 2: Episode One a quick nod of the head. For a little slip of a game that only lasted a few hours of my life, the time players spent with Alyx Vance this year will (I think) weigh heavily on gaming as a whole for the near future. Her wit, charm, and intensely personable nature are a high water mark that every other NPC now has to live up to. The promise of Episode Two has made PC gamers more than a bit cranky at Valve for the constant delays. It's not just the humor of Team Fortress 2 or the brain-bending of Portal that has us looking forward to Valve's next release; Half-Life players are very much looking forward to the next time we can have real backup in an FPS.
- Michael "Zonk" Zenke
Hmm... ok. My top 5 games of the year, followed by the 3 biggest disappointments (not necessarily the worst games, just the ones that didn't live up to my expectations).
Best:
5th) Gears of War (360): I don't think there's much else I can add to what's been said elsewhere about this. It doesn't do anything that hasn't been done before, but by god it does it well. The ultimate example of an old concept polished to perfection. Let down ever so slightly by its length, but the whole experience is just so visceral that I don't really care.
4th) Company of Heroes (PC): The game that made me buy a new PC. It may be a system killer in terms of the specs it needs, but it's worth it. Incredible detail in the graphics and physics and, most importantly, they're actually used in a way that enhances the gameplay. I'll be hoping to see fully destructible landscapes in more games next year. The only downside? It rehashes those same old Normandy battles that we see in every other WW2 games. How about giving us some different battles in future, maybe even some from the first half of the war? So far, only the Blitzkrieg games have really had the balls to do that.
3rd) Final Fantasy XII (PS2): I'd expected to hate this, given all the negative publicity about the gambit system before its release, but the game turned out just fine. A darker, more mature plot, graphics that put most next-gen titles to shame and one of the best combat systems yet. My only complaint was that the difficulty curve necessitated a lot of grinding for levels and gil.
2nd) Neverwinter Nights 2 (PC): Only here on the basis of the 1.03 patch, without which the game is nigh-on unplayable. Finally, a decent successor to Baldur's Gate 2. Should get better over time, as more 3rd party modules start appearing. It'd be really nice if we could get an expansion with epic levels in 2007.
1st) Kingdom Hearts 2 (PC): For some reason, the critics didn't go for this game, but I was blown away by it. I honestly can't find anything to fault this game on. The difficulty curve is much fairer than in the original game, the plot has some unexpectedly dark twists, the voice acting is much improved and the graphics are stunning.
And now the most disappointing games:
3rd) Wii Sports (Wii): Not, I feel, the best title to bundle with the Wii. Once the novelty of the controller wears off, you realise pretty quickly that these games are essentially just brute-force and timing (baseball, boxing and tennis) or an exercise in not letting your hand wobble (bowling and golf). I've not actually played a Wii game yet that's really convinced me of the controller's merits.
2nd) Prey (PC): After all the hype and all the years of development, Prey turned out to be nothing more than a straightforward fps with lacklustre combat and a few gravity tricks. I'm still not quite sure how they managed to strain every single element of fun out of a tried and tested formula so effortlessly. Boring weapons, identikit enemies, endlessly repeated rooms and a plot that advanced at a glacial pace didn't help, though. If Gears of War is an illustration of how to reheat an old formula well, Prey is an example of what not to do.
1st) Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cereberus (PS2): OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE SQUARE! What were you thinking? You can do better than this. I don't quite know what I expected from this foray into the action genre, but it wasn't a bland third person shooter with a ho hum plot, twitchy controls and graphics that expose every single limitation of the PS2. It's hard to believe that this came from the same developer as FF12 and KH2. Must do better.
First post? Second best Final Fantasy ever. First being Final Fantasy II on good old SNES.
If a little too short. But I'd give a nod out to Garry's Mod 10 as Best Mod of the Year. Its very professional, updated as needed (so much smoother and quicker)and best of all, loads of fun. Garry definatly earned my $10.
Demented But Determined.
Obviously, KH2 is for the PS2, not the PC. Damned typos.
I received Elite Beat Agents as a gift, and it's surprisingly fun. I don't play many rhythm games, mostly because buying otherwise-superfluous accessories seems silly, but it really works on the DS. It's a little silly, a lot cheesy in places, but it's challenging and amusing enough to keep me involved.
how to invest, a novice's guide
My vote goes to Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf for the 360. TW06 and TW07 both have their differences, both good and bad, but I couldnt put them down!
... With you in a month or so.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Honourable mention should go to some Free Software games - whilst obviously not as good as those produced by professional games companies, they are still very playable, and improving all the time. Since I am into RPG's, my two favourites are:
- Nazghul/Haxima : http://myweb.cableone.net/gmcnutt/nazghul.html
- Lost Labyrinth: http://www.lostlabyrinth.com/
Does anybody else have any recommendations for good FOSS games ?
Roma Victor kept me busy :)
This year I'd have a tough call between Final Fantasy XII and Children of Mana. But Taco pretty much got FFXII in a nutshell...
/. news sifter... Is it as unstable as the free-trial server on all servers? It kept crashing on the saturday I was playing. It was fine on off hours, but on peak hours it wouldn't stay up for more than an hour at a time, and I kept getting bad marks because the stupid thing was crashing, and mission timers kept timing out, even though I couldn't even get back on to play the missions.
As for Eve by another
It was a fun game, but when it crashes 5+ times a day in your peak play tiems, it's just not worth it.
34486853790
Connection too slow for X forwarding? Try "ssh -CX user@host"
Solitaire
Best time killer of '06 FB2.0
I couldn't put down Black on the PS2, as it was incredibly fast-paced, had next-gen graphics, and was just so much fun. Now, if only they'd release it on the Wii, because...
Call of Duty 3 on the Wii is insane! It's the next best thing to using a mouse for shooters. Actually aiming on a console is such a welcome, and fun, addition. While CoD3 often uses the Remote to make you do silly and pointless things just for the sake of using the Remote, it makes up for it in its ingenious uses (like steering the jeep by holding the nun-chuck in one hand and the remote in the other, like you're holding a steering wheel).
I can't wait to see what the Black team has in store for the new consoles, and I hope they make a shooter for the Wii. We could be in for a treat.
CC Licensed Serialized Story and Podcast: Ingenioustries
Darn good game. I dig a good RPG and this one has been a lot of fun.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
I think PRey is probably the most interesting game of the year. The game itself was so-so but the capabilities of the engine are really cool. I love the gravity and portal effects. It seems like the perfect engine to build multiplayer games in.
Of course I had to wait ten years to actually see this game so no matter what it turned out to be I was bound to be a little let down.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Oblivion? Really? Okay...
My top 3 of the year (and by "year" I mean the part of the year I can remember clearly):
(3) Warrock (PC). Chances are it didn't start in 2006, but it's when I found it. It's a nice mix between Counter-Strike-like and Battlefield-like games.
(2) Rayman: Raving Rabbids (Wii). I put off buying this for a few of my many Best Buy trips following the Wii release beause I already had Wii Sports and Super Monkey Ball, and what more could another mini-game game bring me? A lot, it turns out. Hours of fun with friends.
(1) Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii). I can't describe how much fun I had playing this game. Me and my roomate finished it in 36 hours, and are going through and finishing the various side-quests and going after Ganon again.
I remember when I used to be a "hardcore" gamer, giving a large chunk of my day to the game du jour before moving on to the next big one (though I'd always find myself back at Counter-Strike after a while). Can't say I miss those days...
Anyone else think the comments just weren't rendering right before they turned off ABP and saw ads?
Did I miss anything interesting in the past 20 years?
Missing option - SCO! No-one has mastered their circle strafing in the court dungeons of Utah. State-of-the-Art! Unfortunately they have never played their games on PunkBuster secured arenas.
Of the games I've actually played this year, Guitar Hero 2 and Wii Sports share the #1 spot. I can't put either one down, and they always turn out to be extremely fun when I have company over.
A poster above said that the games are all about brute force and timing, but isn't that what most sports are? In Wii Boxing and real life boxing, I have to hit hard when the opponent is not blocking, and block and dodge when he tries to hit me. Baseball gives the most reward for a homerun, in both real life and the game, so that's what you aim for. Tennis isn't so much about brute force, as you can give a soft lob close to the net to throw your opponent off after nailing them a few times in a row with hard hits.
It's like sex, except I'm having it!
...no one picked Parcheesi.
Man, I completely misread this. I thought I missed a cool new strip poker game.
Texas hold'em, to be exact. IRL.
Get off the couch, you spuds.
The latest Slashdot meme.
I got the DS version which is probably not as graphicy as the other platforms, but it's really a great game. So good that I'd probably consider getting it for another platform too.
These two MMPORG titles, although not released this year have both received significant improvements and additions and continue to be the best of MMORPG designs and gameplay IHHO. Challenging missions, excellent tactical combat, good group dynamics, excellent NPC AI, and incredible character creation and costuming system. I am still enjoying these games immensely. Sure, they are not the beall and endall of gaming, but they are excellent titles and very entertaining if you want to relax and engage in some good PvE combat. They also represent some of the best *designed* MMORPG games I have ever played. The developers listen to the players and usually enact good changes and improvements to the game.
"The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
My favorite is Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii).
Very fun.
Unreal Tournament 2004 Editors Choice Edition.
Wait, UT2004? No. How 2004, you say? But this year I got it for $19.99 in the bargain bin, and it ONLY had a printed CD key to type in for validation (NO stupid DRM / umbilical to the Net required). It was so cheap and fun that I decided to buy a legit second copy to play lan games at home, and I don't need a top-of-the-line machine to get good performance from it. Best $40 (total for 2 copies) I've paid all year for a game.
It's the first game to come out in at least a decade that has had this much replay value for me.
My top 5 games this year:
5. Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (Xbox/PC) - As soon as I heard that this was a sequel to The Longest Journey, I was sold. Besides, modern adventure games are getting increasingly rare. Yhe stealth and fighting sections are absolute garbage, but the actual adventure gaming works well. The plot, art design, and characters are all phenomenol. This is definitely a worthy sequel to one of the best adventure games of all time. It's rare that I say this, but Dreamfall's writing (and not gameplay) is what makes it stand out. If you can put up with a few gameplay issues (that can usually be avoided, thanks to the multiple solutions to most problems), then you'll be engrossed in one of the most enthralling stories ever written for a video game.
4. Yakuza (PS2) - Shenmue meets GTA is the best way to describe this game. Only with better voice acting than Shenmue, and more streamlined gameplay than GTA. It takes the huge living city present in both of its inspirations and pares it down to only the essentials, making for a very riveting game. In addition to the good main plot (augmented by some great voice acting) and fun beat-em-up fights, there are tons of minigames ranging from batting cages to romancing women. If you can put up with the overly frequent load times, this is definitely worth playing. It shows that Sega still has what it takes to make a good game. Too bad their other recent releases have been garbage.
3. Bully (PS2) - GTA in a school. With a better plot than any GTA game. Similar to Yakuza, Bully streamlines the GTA-style gameplay and presents a smaller but much more detailed city to explore. There's a ton to do, ranging from classroom minigames that make you want to show up on time to bicycle races to fighting (based upon a simplified version of the combat system in The Warrios). The story is great and will definitely ring true to anyone who has suffered through school. Ignore the controversies and play one of the finest PS2 games yet. The only flaw is the poor graphics. It's based on the GTA engine, which isn't all that impressive to begin with, and is definitely showing its age in 2006.
2. Gears of War (Xbox 360) - Believe the hype. Apart from only being about 10 hours long, this shooter is excellent. The graphics are some of the best ever, the gameplay is a very satisfying divergence from the typical run-and-gun shooter gameplay, the story is well-done (the characters are all grunts! They're SUPPOSED to sound like meatheads!), and it even includes full co-op for the entire game. Only the length and the rather limited multiplayer options keep this from getting the top spot. 1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360/PC) - The finest game I have played this year. The graphics are outstanding, the gameplay is a refined version of the system seen previously in Morrowind and Daggerfall, the story is well-done, the bajillion subquests all have interesting hooks to them, and the music is fantastic. It isn't without flaws, however. The entire world scales to your level, which means that you must be very careful how you level up, in order to get the best multipliers and prevent the world from scaling up beyond your ability. Also, this has one of the worst rip-offs in gaming history: the $2.50 horse armour. If you buy this, you're an idiot. Fortunately, later official downloads have much more reasonable prices. But they don't really add a whole lot to a game that will already take a few hundred hours to fully explore and experience. I don't think its quite as good as Morrowind, but it is still an amazing achiement and a must-play.
Overrated games that didn't make the list (not to say that these are bad games, just have some significant flaws that prevent them from being GOTY material):
3. Final Fantasy XII (PS2) - Finally, a fine Final Fantasy game that ditches the annoying ATB system. I think somebody at Square has been playing too much KOTOR, because this feels like a crappier (but still good) knock-off of one of the finest RPGs ever
I like the 3D remake of Final Fantasy 3 for DS. (If you played Final Fantasy 3 for SNES, that's actually 6.)
Melissa
"Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
I don't play WoW, but I have to list it because it's taken MMORPGs mainstream this year - I mean... even southpark had an episode about it. Go to any water cooler at just about any workplace and you're likely to hear someone say something like "dude, I leveled up last night!". Hang out with any bunch of women and you're likely to hear them complain about their husband/boyfriend and "that stupid game!". So, like it or not, WoW and 2006 will go down in history.
For me personally, it was We Love Katamari on the PS2. I drove my wife crazy with the music from that game and her loss of the living room TV for hours on end. I rolled up everything I could find - dinosaurs, rainbows, cloud monsters, even planets. I found myself crazily humming the theme songs in the car. I looked at real objects and evaluated how big of a katamari it would take to pick it up. I even started to "understand" all of the nonsensical cut scenes with the king in the game.
Something about rolling stuff up in a ball is just plain fun!
For my "Game of the Year," I choose DEFCON. It's the only game that I've found interesting enough to actually buy all year. Yes, it's a bit of a buggy mess, but also an addictive buggy mess. You can get a demo off of Steam or Introversion's website http://www.everybody-dies.com/. I'd recommend purchasing it off of Steam, as it's cheaper. Don't bother posting in the Introversion DEFCON forums, though, it's run by a small clique of anti-social types.
Slashdot: Playing Favorites Since 1997
There is nothing that con compete with a good editing session! :-)
My vote goes for Solitaire for Vista, hands down. After installing Vista, I wasn't sure whether the upgrade was actually worth it. Once I opened up solitaire, my perception completely changed...
Solitaire is a absolutely beautiful piece of work, and it is by far the best thought out and executed version of Solitaire I have ever used. Its use of fast animation and intelligent movement routines make it a huge success for solitaire players. Also, the variety of cardsets allows users to choose the one most suited to each individual.
People always talk about how Halo is what made the XBOX so popular, or how FFX is what made the PS2 so popular. I would have to say that solitaire will do the same for Vista - just wait and see.
Honestly, I've gone back to classic puzzle and/or side-scroll games, like Yoshi's Island. It's been long enough since I tried them that they're entertaining again, yet at the same time they're easy enough to pause and leave alone for a few days as my life has grown more complex. My Ubuntu box gets some credit here, too, as there's a rather nice collection of puzzle-type games available free (although nothing as fun as, say, Yoshi's Island).
Hands down favorite for the year. Then again, I don't own a PS2/3 or Wii, and my DS Lite fell out of my car just before Thanksgiving (that being said, New Super Mario sucked, and Metroid Hunters was unplayable, but Big Brain Academy and Brain age were good).
What, do they all have to electronic?
I picked up Shadowrun again and got together, face to face with a group of local gamers. Playing a bit of Warhammer RPG next weekend as well.
I also played a couple of board games with a different local group.
I did play some Doom3 back in the summer and got a bit farther along than I did last time before I got bored with it.
[John]
Shit better not happen!
I've been using my Christmas vacation to play through _Wasteland_ again. Man, what a brilliant RPG that was. A complete universe in seven or eight commands, and sixteen colors.
Check it out if you haven't already.
--saint
The biggest disappointment for me this year was probably FF-XII; neither the models, story nor music clinched for me. Thou, I've only played it a little-bit on a PC emulator (not out here yet), it might get better further into the game.
Gaming the retard moderators has become a way of life.
Mod me down you bunch of snivelling, basement-dwelling excuses for human beings!
OMG it pwns all!
"...while I've played a lot of games this year, Oblivion is always going to be my 2006 game of the year."
Oh, really? Are you sure something you play in '07 won't knock it out of first place? Jackass.
'cause if you do a search in Google...it doesn't come up!
For me 2006 is the year of Oolite. I am ashamed to admit I just discovered it this year... I never got into elite despite my interest because of the steep learning curve and the fact that I somehow never had the game and a guide at the same time. Well, I got oolite and a guide at the same time, and it's kept me pretty well-riveted. It's funny because it's about the least graphically complex game I've played in years (besides solitaire and bejeweled) but it's really quite deep and more importantly, it's extensible. The game supports addons and you can do all kinds of things with them. But even better than that, it's cross-platform with XML savefiles that work on all platforms, so you can have it installed on Windows, OSX, and Linux, and take your savegame between all those platforms (handy if you want to play at work and at home - not that I have time to play at work. But I have in previous jobs.)
If you liked tradewars, and you like live-action simulations, you'll love Oolite.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I'm the guy that waits a year or so for the game I want to drop down to $20 or so, when I saw the first LEGO Star Wars installment become a Players Choice game I knew it had to be pretty good.
:-)
;-)
Actually with my Zelda background I expected free camera movement and didn't really "get it" the first time I played, so it sat on the shelf for a week. Then... strangely my WIFE said she wanted to try it, she hasn't played a single video game EVER since we've been married. I'd never have expected it, but we found a game we can play together and work out way through. She'd actually come home and say "Okay after dinner lets play some LEGOS", it was a shock! Alright the one annoying thing is when teammates walk in opposite directions the screen pulls you back, so sometimes you can get yourself stuck in a repeat dying spot and have no escape since both characters can't move. Other than that, I've gotten quite used to it and have enjoyed it immensely. The Freeplay mode is a lot of fun and the ability to swap characters at any time let's you blow through old enemies that were at first challenging. Also the ability to "drop out" and then join back in comes in handy when the wife gets stuck on some jump or pod-racing section she can't beat. I'm also surprised how rarely she drops out as she's willing to try over and over until she figures something out. Normally she hates games she loses at, but with the infinite lives and not throwing us back to the start it doesn't bother her much.
Nice bit of variety with the pod-racing and space battles, it's a great game for a gamer to introduce a non-gamer with. Being able to go two-player at any time is really nice.
Any game that gets my wife interested is the game of the year to me. Now she can't wait til we get a Wii.
Only problem is... I have to watch Pride and Predjudice.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
My top 5, they are all XBOX 360 games, because its the only thing I am playing games on: 5) Kameo - Stunning graphics. Simple story, but its stays fairly interesting. Not the most original thing in the world, but executed really well. 4) Test Drive Unlimited - A brilliant execution of online play where you are dropped into what amounts to almost a MMORPG Racing game. The graphics are wonderful, but the characters look like at you with those weird dead eyes. The entire game is a map of Oahu, I just found it a little odd there are no people walking around. Kind of runs out of steam when you aquire the fastest car, but its harder to get cars in this game than in #3 3) Project Gotham Racing 3- Great graphics, wonderful online play (I watched the online games now more than Speedvision). Cool cars. I think you get the money a little too easy in the game so you end up with A class cars almost within the first hours of play so its more about medals. 2) Prey - Nice atmospheric story which unfolds well, interesting characters. I ended up loving the Cherokee idea (although before playing I thought it might be silly), it turned out to be something that drew me in to the game. Others have slammed this one, but I had the benifit of never hearing about it before it came out so I had zero expectations and ended up really liking the journey the game took me on. 1) Gears Of War - To be honest I think without the skilled use of HDR (the graphics CODERS for this were top notch) Im not sure the graphics would be rated so high, but its still AAA artwork and in the end it looks better than pretty much anything out there. Gameplay is really where the game shines for me with the cover system being a breath of fresh air and a nice surprise when you give it a chance. Honorable Mention : Dead Rising - How many times can a game say "Loading please wait" ? I wish it had online play. I wish it had a better save system, I wish it was longer. I wish it would not tie you into the dumb story and let you roam more. But I like Zombies, and I especially like them in a shopping mall getting bitch slapped with a sledge hammer. I dont want to say these are the worst games, but I sold my copies within hours of purchase or just deleted it: 1) Full Throttle- The idea of the rocket/gun/weapon on the car seems like one of those ideas that looked better on paper. After the first few minutes of shooting stuff I was reaching for PGR3. It may have been more fun if there were pedestians. The graphics are top notch, and the coders who did the crash effects really had something cool there, its just the gameplay for me was repetitive and boring with uninteresting/unoriginal weapons and cars. 2) TotemBall - Came with the Eyesight. I could not control it worth a damn. Not fun.
#1 Zelda Twilight Princess (only got GC at the moment) #2 HL2 Ep1 (divide the total awesomeness by the length and you get a really high number) #3 Company of Heroes (looks brilliant and plays just like a wargame but in real time and with PHYSICS) #4 Garry's Mod (for £6, fantastic fun! I love the exchange rate) Didn't think Oblivion was that good.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
World of Warcraft must be on the list somewhere. This is the game everyone is playing, waiting for new content, and generally has made gamers a mainstream group.
Guild Wars would be a close second because as a free game this is what many gamers would be playing if they were not on WoW.
Finally, I have to say Guitar Hero is worth looking at; this is a party game for everyone, beyond the popularity level that DDR ever should have reached. This is a competitive game that everyone can play without shame or sweat.
I wouldn't have turned into a ROCK GOD!! if it wasn't for this game.
but the other occupant of my living room would tell you that this fact makes this game an upgrade
/. cred around here.
Jeez Malda, it's us, fer Chrissake. You're an editor already! You're allowed to say the G word (girlfriend) without losing
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
My game of the year is Oblivion - I simply love this game and frankly was a little surprised not to see it mentioned more. There was even a comment deriding it a bit ("Oblivion? Really?)... My question to you all - and I seriously am asking with the utmost respect - is HOW can this NOT be the game of the year for more people? What is it about Oblivion that keeps you from nominating it your game of the year. Please don't turn this into platform and/or genre bashing - not interested in that. Just curious as to what people find wrong with this game! Thanks y'all! A
Flatout 2
Using a wheel and pedal set doesn't make my wrist hurt and I cannot use console controllers.
The game is a blast. It has great graphics and physics and an almost completely deformable environment. Except for the solid objects that stop you cold and launch your driver onto the pavement.
Fun, fun, fun which is all I really want from a game.
To me, Oblivion is role-playing game designed by people who never really played RPGs. I described it as "An RPG for thumb-bashers and FPS-addicts without that gay story and puzzle shit". The FPS style combat was tedious -- I derive no fun from fighting games. Although I do feel a little like Homer Simpson when I say "Doesn't everyone realise RPGs reached perfection with Diablo II?" :-)
The bitter lessons of a veteran coder: http://bitterprogrammer.blogspot.com
3) Extreme Bullrider! 2) Battlecruiser 3000AD! Darek Smart is the smartest person, ever, and he can beat up ANY coke machine! 1) Daikatana!!! John Romero is teh l33t!
1. Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
2. Company of Heroes
That is all. I tried some of the others, but I could never really get into them.
The bitter lessons of a veteran coder: http://bitterprogrammer.blogspot.com
Busy day at the office or I'd be replying and reading through all the comments, but alas I shall just randomly post my thoughts. #1 Games for enjoyment this year for me was FEAR I would say.. The sheer immersion factor of that game took the FPS genre to places I had only dreamt. The closest thing to playing a movie I have ever seen in a game #1.5 - Wii Sports tops my list for pure fun.. I love people saying it's all about timing and bla bla bla. Very curious as to how this differs from any other game on the market at all :) I went out and bought 4 other games with my Wii(Rayman, Zelda, MonkeyBall and RedSteel) and I haven't even looked at the others more than a few times compared to the amount we all play Wii Sports in our house. This game almost gets the #1 spot for this next reason alone: ***PARENTAL ALERT*** Before we had to schedule babysitters weeks in advance, however ever since we've had the Wii in the house there is now, no word of a lie, a waiting list of babysitters at our beck and call, and the only thing they ever play is Wii Sports.
#2 Elder Scrolls IV: Ground Breaking RPG in every way shape and form. This game was probably the closest thing we'll see to a WoW killer in a while :)
As for 3 4 and 5 , wish I had time to think of em, but I just can't :)
You heard me. Yeah, it's full of bugs, but oh well. Still a pretty good game, best of 2006 for me personally.
If a train station is a place where a train stops, what's a workstation?
er... Diablo II wasn't an RPG at all, though it was (and is) the single greatest Gauntlet derivation ever created.
All those games suck.
...Profit?
1. World of Warcraft
2. Guild Wars (When WoW is down)
3. World of Warcraft
4. World of Warcraft
5.
Notice a trend?
Lousy facepalm.
Grand Strategy (www.denizengames.com), a web-based Risk clone is without a doubt the game of the year. Never before has playing Risk been so easy and so accessible.
A brief list on why GS is so great:
1. Gone are the hours devoted to setup and dice rolling.
2. Your house mates and relatives will not have to collared and cajoled into sitting down with you, the "strategy game freak", for 5 to 6 hours.
3. Grand Strategy uses Ajax and is fully Web 2.0. VCs love it and can't give stop giving me money.
4. It is guaranteed that while playing Grand Strategy that crazed strangers will not take slight at your mentioning the weakness of the Ukraine and attack you on subway trains!
Snooty comic book guy, everyone! Give it up!
SRSLY.
Dwarf Fortress was the funnest game I've played all year. And I played it more than I played FFXI!
5) Gears Of Hiding Behind Shit: if you've got sixty dollars and about three hours to kill, this game can't be beat.
4) Tom Clancy's Imperialist Death Squad: Donald Rumsfeld can't get an erection unless he plays one of the Tom Clancy shooters for at least 15 minutes.
3) Madden 2007: Same goddam game as the last one, still better than 99% of the crap released this year
2) Searching For Your Nintendo Wii Controller After You Accidentally Flung It Across The Room While Drunk And It Fell Behind The Couch: This one speaks for itself
1) New Super Mario Brothers: The DS is the best next-gen platform of them all.
Are you sure you know what a RPG is?
The bitter lessons of a veteran coder: http://bitterprogrammer.blogspot.com
Geometry Wars: I was suprised to find that this ~5 dollar game gave me more play-time than many of my 60 dollar games this years. There's always this sense that you're riding the knife's edge over oblivion. Coupled with the opportunity to beat your last score keeps you playing this apparently simple game over and over through the continuous tension.
Company of Heroes: I typically loathe RTS games and the frantic resource management+rush focus. But in this game, because of the tactical emphasis in conjuction with strategy I found myself thoroughly enjoying the gameplay. It ran smoothly at full settings even on my aging rig, though network connection problems were constant in multiplayer.
HL2: Episode 1: This game offered little innovation, but where it distinguished itself was through quality and polish. In particular, I was impressed in that they made me want to protect Alyx rather than plant a bullet in her forehead, as with the scientists of HL1. The developer commentary mode sheds insight on how this was achieved. They also discuss deliberate gameplay pacing in order to keep the experience from feeling repetitive and aimless. This demonstrated how the accumulated experience through crafting HL1 and HL2 served allowed them to improve their skills for this admittedly short campaign.
Games I burned the most time on / enjoyed the most this year: 1) Eve
Loving the Kali expansion. Oh, and as to the complaint that older players are 'uncatchable': I don't mind, because it's not possible to be the end-all be-all of everything in Eve, unlike other MMO's where you can master all types of weapons, magic, armor, get the highest possible level, etc. And even if you could, you can only fly one ship at a time. All the Cruiser skills in the world don't mean jack when you're in a Battleship. No matter how old a character is, they are only slightly less vulnerable than the next guy in low security areas.
2) Day of Defeat: Source.
At first I hated it compared to the original DoD, but it grew on me.
3) Final Fantasy XII
Yeah, FF freak, what can I say?
4) Sam & Max: Culture Shock.
It's almost like Myst or Safecracker or something, except with sick / violent / non sequitur humor all over. Awesome!
Unpleasantries.
1.) Girlfriend 2.) Social life 3.) Exercise
i played only one game for the better part of the year - a free game - TrackMania Nations.
in november, french game company Nadéo released TrackMania United - a "compliation" (but with extreme online/community parts) of TrackMania Original, TrackMania Sunrise and TrackMania Nations (with extra building blocks!) - making it *the* focus of attention of the TrackMania world/community. unfortunatly, it was only released retail in France/UK/Australia, as they didn't meet the retail deadline for the rest of the world, but 10000 copies was released for online orders. the rest of tjhe world gets TMU retailed in february/march 2008.
i don't need more / new games, i just need addons to the best racing game ever. EA - take note - NFS sucks compared to this. i didn't check out your latest attempt, but everything points to that being POINTLESS anyways.
Still the best MMORPG out there. All the WoW fanboys can suck it. When you're ready for a great MMORPG, that actually challanges you, come on over to FFXI.
Oftentimes the show of a game's greatness isn't by someone's top 10 list or whatever, but for how long people can accept it. The Ocarina of Time is a great example of this.t ings.asp
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has found it way to #14 (though it was once #3) on game rankings: http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/simplera
Indeed, it is the only 2006 game on the top 20.
Anyone who has played those games knows they deserve to be on that list, but more often than not, they fail to be mentioned. Metroid: Prime has eluded many (though not all) game of the year awards simply because it was supposed to be an absolute train wreck.
Wonder what the public key field is for?
"Ubisoft has pushed back the genre's limits in terms of quality and innovation so that we are now one of tinsel town's choice partners."
Well, at least they were honest about that part.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
The problem with this game is that I pretty quickly found out how to become almost immortal, which is quite boring. Since nothing can see invisibility, focusing on illusion and staying invisible all the time means you have no real challenges left. The only trick to it is to make destructions or conjuration spells with invisibility as secondary effect. And if it got though (meaning I ran out of mana), I just casted invisibility and hid, and later just stayed invisible until my mana had restored (since if you focus on it, the cost of invisibility gets lower than your mana restoration speed at some point). Most on the time while exploring the world, I galloped on an invisible, waterwalking horse...
Not sure where the hell you got THAT idea. It also shouldn't eat up your cpu either. I used to run it on a 233mhz pII laptop and it barely used any of THAT cpu.
While rfactor (a racing simulation) was released last year by ISI games, this year has seen some very good mods released for this simracing platform, like the ETCC03 mod (European touring cars) and lately the brilliant F1 1979 mod, bringing all cars of the F1 1979 season to rfactor at no additional cost. Also, a great "current" F1 season has been created by the community, so if you're into racing sims, this is the one title to check out.
More about rfactor can be seen here: http://www.rfactor.net/
All the best, uwe
Ever wondered whats wrong with the world? http://www.ishmael.org/
is Wii sports bowling, though I could never figure out how to not throw the Bowling ba^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Wiimote at the tv.
Zelda TP is my GOTY. I was sold on this game when I had to walk on the walls and ceiling in the 2nd dungeon.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Given the nature of Slashdot's readership, any roundup of the year really needs to include Armadillo Run.
If you haven't heard of it, go and check out the site and (if you have access to a Windows machine) download the demo.
Most fun I've had with a 1-player game since the original Lemmings.
My pick is Civ4 which I found super addicting. I can't stop playing. gtg Ghengis Khan and Montezuma just declared war on me. I'm gonna kill those war mongering nuts.
1) Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3). Great shooter, great multiplayer.
2) Motorstorm (Japanese version, PS3). American version isn't out yet but the Japanese version rocks. Best racer ever.
3) NBA 2K7 (many systems, I have for PS3). Best graphics I've ever seen on a sports game and good gameplay.
4) Marvel Ultimate Alliance (many systems, I have for PS3). Marvel characters in an action RPG. What more can you ask for?
5) Ridge Racer 7 (PS3). A great driving sim.
I read /. between games!
I have to say, I agree for the most part. I've been kind of amazed at how good the Wii games have been.
My ranking of top 5 games would be:
1. Rayman's Raving Rabbids for the Wii - OMFG this is fun!
2. Sims 2: Pets - but only because I've been playing it since I bought it on Wii launch day - I think you can play the GameCube version right now, I'm using the PC version.
3. Legend of Zelda for the Wii - cool!
4. Wii Sports - cause I keep playing this and so does everyone else.
5. Elebits for the Wii - but I just got it, so I have a feeling I'm biased, everytime I get a new game I freak.
I'm surprised. I thought I'd be chomping at the bit for Mario Galaxy, but right now there's just not enough time and too many games.
If I had a PS3, or xBox360, I'd probably have that alien WWII game (PS3) or the Gears of War (360) on my list. But I'm still using PS2 and xBox games and haven't heard anything that makes me want to get one of those consoles - one game does not a console make. Wake me when they have five really great games.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
"Most games are about precision, which involves precise positioning, and timing. Only a few fit your description, like say rugby :)"
OK so this maybe getting off topic but I'll bite anyway as above poster is modded to 4 insightful.
Rugby is only about brute force if thats the way you choose to play the game - but arguably the most exciting - and greatest teams play with skill levels to match any top nba basketball team - this isnt always apparent to the casual observer who has never attempted to learn the game. Rugby played right is an artform as anyone who was a kid and grew up watching JPR williams, Cerge Blanco, Barry John etc can tell you. If you've played it ever you would know this. Even the parts of the game that appear most brutal involve surprising levels of skill - this quote taken from the wiki description of a maul.
"The tactic of the rolling maul occurs when mauls are set up, and the ball is passed backwards through the players hands to one at the rear, who rolls off the side to change the direction of the drive. This tactic can be extremely effective in gaining ground and takes great skill and technique both to do properly and to try to prevent."
Needless to say that there are no computer games (especially no easports!) that have even come close to simulating the tactics, strategy and skills required for playing a game of rugby.
I got one of those atari in a joystick things this year and played pong with a friend for 8 hours straight.
I don't think I blinked the entire time, since my eyes were ready to bleed...
You guys and your new fangled graphics, and WAV/PCM audio..... Get off my lawn!!!
Interestingly, Wii Sports Tennis does care. In addition to forehand, backhand and how or high balls, it's possible to slice the ball. How to do it is not immediately obvious. I first saw this when the better computer players started doing it, and I've figured out how to do it: You turn the controller while hitting the ball as if you were to slice it in real tennis. Well... D'oh.
It takes a bit of trying, but it works.
It's pretty funny to shoot balls like that, because they curve, and when they hit the ground, they change their direction - sometimes dramatically, which makes it really hard to time returns.
Similarly, when first playing Wii Sports Boxing, most people start flaying the controllers in every which direction. Sooner or later, one player goes down and doesn't come up again, and the other declares himself the winner. At first, I thought this game sucked, but after playing it for a bit, I figured out that there's a huge amount of tactics and precision involved. Covering and evading is a lot more important than hitting. Avoid the other person's hits and hit back when he lets his cover down. Hit with precision: If you move your body sideways and your hands up and down, it's possible to hit very specific parts of the other person's body, thus going through his or her cover. When I play the game with my brother, nobody ever goes down since if the other player knows how to avoid being hit, it's very hard to knock him out. It's a lot of fun to play the game like that, lots of tactics and precision involved.
Oh, and by the way, Wii Sports is my personal Game of the Year. Yeah, Zelda is a much better game in every way, except... Playing Wii Sports against a few pals is the most fun I've ever had with a console. Nothing comes even close. No Dance Dance Revolution, no Guitar Hero, no Bomberman, no Mario Party, no Donkey Konga, no Super Monkey Ball. Nothing.
it is no wonder that it is the only MMO still growing (and has been steadily since 2003 from what I hear)
Second Life isn't a "game" really, but since you left off the "G", I'll say it. SL started around 2003 and has been growing very quickly lately. The retention on there isn't very high, but they went from 1 million signups to 2 million signups in about a month.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
After playing the very simplistic version of golf in Wii Sports, I just can't go back to those other golf games. Wii Sports has spoiled them for me. It just feels weird pushing the buttons to swing the iron... Don't play any Wii golfing games if you like golf games on other consoles!
Can't wait for a real golfing game on the Wii.
That's not necessarily a bad thing!
If everyone likes Wii sports so much, that the good games get ported/made for it, then I dont see a downside. It can only help the wiivolution of consoles in the long run (at least in an optimistic view).
Yes, I thought it all the way through. If I say, "jo7hs2's ignorant statement is the most ignorant of 2006!" then I can not come back after you make another retarded statement in 2007 and say, "jo7hs2's new ignorant statement supersedes his other ignorant statement, and becomes the most ignorant statement of 2006!"
Why? BECAUSE IT'S A STATEMENT MADE IN 2007. Please go back to MySpace and continue sucking Rupert Murdoch's cock. One day his demon seed will eat through the lining of your stomach, and finally fulfill the purpose of evolution.
(With apologies to Bill Hicks. These dumb fucks are still ruining the world, Bill.)
I'm surprised no wargaming types suggested this one; I sunk almost 200 hours into this thing. Even though the storyline had less of The Funny that the first game was infamous for, the game had a somewhat richer and more approachable system than the first game did. Much of the "secret" content is somewhat more obtainable than in the first game. (Though I admit unlocking the Land of Carnage was a PITA.)
That said, I still think Nippon Ichi games are grossly underdocumented in their instruction manuals... There's usually a lot of stuff in the game that's not explained, pretty much forcing players to use cheat sheets. (Paper Mario, it isn't.)
Those who complain about affect & effect on
From the article: "And no, I don't play in the "real money" games. Because that is a felony according to both state and federal law, and I would never do such a thing, even though it's perfectly legal for me to go a few miles down the street, never leave my own residential neighborhood, and play poker for real money in an Indian casino."
No, no, no. Gambling (if you don't mind the word, since poker specifically *is* a game of skill) online is not a crime in the United States, at least according to federal law. Your state law may vary, but I don't think the law is that harsh in a majority of the states. The latest piece of legislation Congress crapped only dealt with the transfer of funds between gambling sites and financial institutes and did NOT criminalize the act of playing online itself.
The idea that actual play is illegal is a false concept that has probably been spread by the moralists and the brick and mortar lobby who pushed the law through in the first place under the guise of homeland security. The only problem you may face is with transferring money to and from the poker site itself. Another cause has been the fact that many online casinos have closed their doors to players in light of this law, but play remains perfectly legal (so far - I doubt they are done yet).
I loved these games this year. Not all were first released in 2006, tho...
:)
Guitar Hero. I was a PC gamer until June 2006. I finished my MS project, turned it in, and went to Target and bought a PS2 and Guitar Hero. It seemed like a great idea, and I loved the track list, and all the reviews were great. Well, the reviews don't do it enough justice: this game is awesome! People laugh when I describe it, but once they play it they are hooked! My family got me Guitar Hero 2 for xmas, and while I love the coop mode, I haven't had the time to play it as much as the original.
FEAR. OMG this game was intense. The same linearity of Doom 3, but no monster closets, and a whole lot of new underwear. Little girls in red dresses scare me now.... and no shit, there is some device in my office thats makes that little whiney sound you hear in FEAR that warns you that something is going to happen soon... Sadly, I thought the sequel sucked balls. But the original.... oh sweet terrifying crack!
Wii Sports. My whole family plays, from my 4yo son who beats everyone in boxing to my non-gamer wife who beats me in bowling. Rayman Raving Rabids is great, too.
BF2142. Yes, it had (and still has! Titan mode lag sucks...) major problems. But its pretty, and it has several of the things I loved from Planetside. Yeah, it is just BF2 with some new graphics. But its pretty! And I have a soft spot in my heart for post-apocalyptic stories. I love the dogtag feature - the game records who you have knifed, so you can compare your self against them. Seems I've shivved a couple folks in the top 500 in the game
Midway Legends for PSP. It has Cyberball 2072, my fave arcade game of all time. I love taking adavantage of the Option-teams starting with magnesium powerbacks & tight-ends: I usually start the second half with them both upgraded to titanium. I always ignored the powreback in the arcade; now it my #1 offensive weapon!
Save the Music; Save the World at http://www.TuneTriever.com (Our latest Android game)
And I haven't played Twilight Princess much yet-- but it's a lot of fun to watch...
When did the future switch from being a promise to a threat? -C. Palahniuk
Okami is my pick for the best game of the year. It's stunning visually, it's got an interesting story line and creative combat possibilities; I thought it was just fantastic. I'm playing through it a second time to catch everything I missed. There are very few games that actually capture my imagination and this was one of them.
~ Leilah
I don't play many games, but I liked Xenosaga III a lot, more than I liked any Final Fantasy game (including FF12).
If you like RPGs, it might be worth checking out, reading a few reviews or whatever.
I know, and Diablo is not. ;-)
Circumcision is child abuse.
Personally I agree. To be clear I LOVE Zelda, but WiiSports got my retired parents (who are as non-gamer as you can get) interested in purchasing a Wii. That is unprecidented, and the sign of something special.
I have figured out how to slice the ball, and pick my corner of the court I want to return the ball to, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to consistantly do the "Rocket Serve". Sometimes I just do it and can't repeat it. Any ideas?
I couldn't agree more. In fact I sold all my Golf, and Tennis video games on eBay, as there is simply no going back. Personally I can't wait to play Mario Tennis Wii, or Tiger Woods Wii, but they better get the controls right. (Incidentially Super Swing Golf for the Wii screwed up the mechanics.)
To do a "Rocket Serve", you need to hit the ball at its highest point. It stands still for a very short amount of time, and you need to hit it at this precise moment. I get it about 75% of the time, but my brother gets it almost 100%.
Wii Sports is best with friends. I had a blast playing golf and bowling with my cousins. Especially on that course with the little "island" of fairway in the OOB area where you had to hit it just right to get there... we had lots of fun with that and some of the other challenging courses.
"Hey, Mike's taking a THIRD turn in a row! Boy, Mike must really like this game if he's playing it so much!" Priceless.
That's why it's not Game of the Year, the AI's long-term strategy is still just too predictable.
Call of Duty 2 Mac port released this year following the awesome PC version. MONTHS of time wasted ... um 'spent' playing online! :0)
The only descent game available on the PPC Mac! Gets my vote!
CoH/V has no challenge at all, bland boring repetative gameplay, and developers that actually despise their customers. "Its not a nerf, its diversification". Yeah, that's some impressive listening to the players and enacting a good change. Impliment a massive nerf, across the board so its not even for balance, lie about it, have everyone quit, and then admit it was just a nerf because "players were too powerful".
Tilematch for the gp2x - simple but amazingly entertaining. An excellent difficulty curve.
apt-get install deathstar && deathstar alderaan && echo "You're far too trusting"
I was praying that Dungeons & Dragons Online would take my spouse and me away from World of Warcraft. We still vacation in Azeroth!
All year, I expected to be playing BF 2142 this fall - But BF 2 is still better.
I expected GT 4 to be good and it so rocked! (2005 relase: Yes but I only got it this year!)
I never saw Marvel: Ultimate Alliance coming and now my daughter, my spouse and I have played together over the Christmas break!
I expected to never touch Guitar, but I am now looking to buy GH2. I watched a 50 something play it for her first time and she kicked ass. It was scary! Now I must have it.
I expected to play Neverwinter Nights 2 with my spouse! But perhaps we did not stay long enough for the patch to 1.03 as mentioned, but the box is now gathering dust.
I played more Fate this year than I ever thought I would - Nethack clone. It was better than I expected. Not sure when this was actually released.
The expansions for BF 2 were better than I expected.
I played too much Apples to Apples and Hoopla because they were SO good! Board/Card Games.
Hopes for 2007 - In MY Particular Order:
Lord of the Rings Online
Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific
UT 2007
HellGate
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Bioshock
Spore
WoW Expansion: Burning Crusade
HL2 Episode 2 & 3
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Panzer Elite Action
Team Fortress 2
Far Cry Expansion Pack
Shadowrun
Silverfall
Pirates of the Burning Sea
Soul of the Ultimate Nation
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness
Another Game that kicks as much ass as WoW did.
Things I hope we hear more on:
Diablo 3
Apples to Apples & Hoopla Expansions
A Good Camera Perspective (FP?) for NWN2
HackMaster RPG or MMORPG
Travelers MMORPG or RPG
Peace,
PaGeN
When a Ball Dreams, It Dreams it's a Frisbee.
Without a doubt, the game of the year that I would pick has to be: Shadow of the Colossus, by team ICO, for the PS2.
The story and twist at the ending is haunting, the environment and setting are completely immersive, the gameplay is unique (climbing and conquering the bosses -- each are puzzles), and the soundtrack is epic.
The game won many awards, so I'll quote the Wikipedia article:
However, this game is not for everyone because there's very little immediate gratification: it takes time to explore the forbidden lands on horseback and to find the bosses, the interface is minimal, there are no points, and each battle can last 20-50 minutes.
It's a masterwork, I flash back to moments of gameplay and the ending, and I only wish that there would be more of it because very few games have captured my imagination this way. I hope you enjoy it, it's become a "greatest hit" for under $20 now. Cheers!
My opinions are my own, but you may share them!
I second the vote for Eve Online. This year the ability to play under Linux improved dramatically. I play it under Cedega, but it also works under Wine now. Since the free recent expansion greatly improved the power of fresh newbies, it's definitely worth giving a spin on the 14 day free trial (google Eve Online Free Trial, and click the Google Ad).
It's the sole MMOG I've found that has struck the proper balance between player skill and character skill when determining the outcome of a battle.
Jonathan Pearce jonathan@pearce.name
3EAAFB2A http://www.jonathan.pearce.name/
GPokr .. by a guy named Ryan Drews.
...
It is basically a GWT Programming experiment or example that does a really good job.
Completely free and great fun with no strings attached. I found out about it general java programming news and have been hooked ever since.
check it out : http://www.gpokr.com/
One of the good things is that it has a cool level headed programmer running it it
I think having Vice City Stories on my PSP has been great this year. Not too many great PSP games out there right now and i have always loved the GTA games. this one has some great added options like being able to buy back your guns after being arested and such. (also being able to swim rocks).
I have been playing Valkrie Profile on the PSP and that is a nice port they did. I also have been happy playing Final Fantasy XII on the PSP. being able to play PSOne games on the PSP is sweet. so maybe that is the best thing this year for me at least.
I would NEVER buy a Xbox becasue my home PC is a nice gaming rig so no need for a Xbox. I have some money set aside for the PS3 but i think i will wait till May to buy one.
Personally, I'd go with Shadow of the Colossus and God of War for the PS2. I don't know if either of these came out this year exactly, but they are certainly excellent games. They lose replay value quickly though.
:)
Another thing I feel obligated to mention is the Order of the Stick Adventure Game. Board games are cool too
Your sig(k) has been stolen. There is a puff of smoke!
"I also want to give Half-Life 2: Episode One a quick nod of the head."
How about all the bugs. From the opening cutscene that wouldn't play, to the level I can't even start because the machine locks up.*
*The one were you come up from the underground (elevator) into the city and hear that scientist talk. I'll give Valve props on level design, and the lip sync and physical movement of the NPC's are top notch. But the bugs absolutely kill the entire franchise for me.
...is obviously nethack.
Help! I've fallen in a karma hole and I can't get up!
I was expecting "Slashdot" games, such as:
* Race to First Post
* Find the Dupe
* The Mystery of What Happens in Soviet Russia
* Whack-a-Troll
Diplomacy is the art of saying, "Nice doggie!" until you can find a rock.
My friends and I spent the entire year playing Warcraft III. It was a good year.
[o]_O
1) Silent hunter III with some custom mods 2) Gothic 3 ( yes even with the bugs ) 3) Neverwinter2 4) Space empire V
Godfather PS2. Best game, ever, fan or not.
Interesting that SL isn't listed, though it is labeled as a MMOG -- thus considered a game, by some.
For the first time ever, I picked up a game controller after repeated requests from my grand children a few days ago. I started out with Star Wars Battlefront II (PS2), instant action, to Battlefront I (PS2) and ended with Medal Of Honor ~ European Assault (PS2), Death Match and Capture the Flag. Man, do I suck! We played all the games in 'split screen' which, they told me, is more difficult.
.... and Luke and Hans and Leah and all those other mealy-mouthed, self centered, egotistical do-gooders.
My son, grandson and granddaughter all kicked my butt in Medal of Honor (being a combat veteran didn't help) but I found the Star Wars games to be a little easier. This "save the children from video game violence" is such BS but I will say, as Darth Maul, I did enjoy killing that little green rat Yoda
While it's true that many of the Wii Sports games lack the polish required to be classics, they're certainly more worthwhile than a running pad on the NES... However what really impressed me that I haven't seen anyone mention yet is that it's the first multiplayer console game in recent memory where you can be playing with one hand and drinking BEER with the other... Drunken bowling night is drawing all sorts of friends who normally avoid game parties, and even my girlfriend enjoys them... A console that interests women and allows you to keep drinking as you play??? That's BRILLIANT!
You need more psychedelic art in your life. rhesusmonkey.deviantart.com
I didn't see or play any good NEW games this year. I'm not that picky either, I've had one new game a year added to my list pretty much on the regular. I just wasn't impressed by any games in 2006, of course, I may have missed one.
/. guy's picks.
I didn't like any of the
Here's my top 11 that I STILL play though:
1. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
2. Super Mario 64, 1, 2, 3, and Super Mario Land.
3. Tetris
4. Quake 2
5. Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit
6. Mario Kart 64
7. Urban Terror
8. Bust a Move
9. Enemy Territory
10. Civilization II
11. Mortal Kombat II
Now, pretty much every other game I've installed gets played a couple times and then deleted. I have yet to find a fun flying game that is as easy and fun as say, Mario Kart, or the old Wing Commander games. I'd love to have a good death match 3d flyer with updated graphics. As a matter of fact, if any of these games had updated versions of themselves that were ACTUALLY FUN (I'm looking at you Civ III and IV, and Quake III and IV, and every other Need for Speed, and that shit bag Double Dash), I'd be ecstatic.
I don't understand why so many game devs refuse to keep the games FUN during upgrades.
rhY
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
http://taspring.clan-sy.com/
Based on Total Annihilation, but is way ahead of its originator in many ways (some say it has better features than the upcoming Supreme Commander, eg, deformable terrain).
Open source. Cross platform (doesn't run on Mac yet, though).
Amazing what happens when fanatical open source developers get on top of a cross platform 3d kit.
The only difference I can see between Diablo 2 and Oblivion is that Oblivion has a few more towns and quests. And Diablo 2 has a better combat engine, better story, goody collecting system, and far better voice acting.
Some may think it is lame, but it taught my (then) 1st grader to read. My tween started using it and then my wife and then me. Believe it or not...
...and there is one problem, you need to be using IE to get in.
- There are challenges for every age.
- There are probably more adults than children on it.
They took story writers, animators, and trainers and put them together to make a game that the whole family can play together or separately. It is not extreme, and there are not killer graphics, but the people are great. My wife has heard of two marriages, one which will be in a month or so in Germany...it seems she knew the groom and the mother of the bride, but did not know that they both were about to be related by marriage.
I have met the Slashdot crew a few times at Linux shows and they might not be from the demographic that Disney is shooting for, but there are plenty of Slashdotters who have kids, tweens, or teens and they can have fun with their kids in a friendly environment.
If you see Kane, a red duck with 111 laugh points, or Dr Painless Dentist, a 55 lp black cat in green scrubs with maxed gags, say "hello".
If you are still reading, check out www.toontown.com
"This page not working with Internet Explorer. Use Firefox!"
Wonderful. Piss off the 80%-90% of gamers who are running IE. Gamers who have actually been known to crack open their wallets to pay twenty dollars for a halfway decent shareware game.
Ideology over common sense. The perfect model for the cash-starved FOSS developer.
was really sceptical of the idea of being a were-rabbit as an action game but I am hooked already :)
http://wolfire.com/lugaru.html
My favorite is Battlefield 2142, I never enjoyed Battlefield 2 very much, but this new one is really a heck of a lot of fun. Epic battles over huge landscapes with high-tech weaponry and vehicles set in a post-global warming Earth, now that is just enjoyable. Titan mode is great, the unlockable beyond next-gen weapons are well thought-out and highly destructive, and the amount of action is unparalleled. It's good stuff, really.
Diablo's a hack'n'slash, not an RPG. It's a clickfest. You don't converse with NPCs or even make decisions. Just follow the linear map, click & kill a bunch of enemies, pick up the new loot, and watch a cutscene after a boss is killed.
By far the best game I played this year was F.E.A.R.
In fact, it's by far the best game I've played EVER. It's the first FPS game I've ever played through *again*, after completing it.
I only play PC games (I don't own a console), and I'm not sure if F.E.A.R. was actually released in 2006 or not, I just know I played it this year. I enjoyed the expansion too, but it was just a bit more of the same, and thus doesn't stick out in my mind as much.
But F.E.A.R. is so heads-and-shoulders above every other game I've played, I just had to mention it here.
- Spryguy
There are three kinds of people in this world: those that can count and those that can't
I've been playnig final fantasy since I was about 12 and have many fond memories on the game. I have to agree with (cmdrtaco?) about the game's excellence and also about ps3....i won't buy one until they have final fantasy on it, which thankfully after the release of 12 will probably be a while. I'd additionally have to say that 12 is a great recovery from a botched 10-2 story line and that it's utilization of the ps2 graphics are remarkable. I'm 'temporarily away' from my ps2 concole which puts my ff12 on pause and it is killing me!!! Damn playstation and your region encrypting....grrrrr..... yet another reason to one day look forward to ps3.
If you are not part of the solution then you are part of the precipitate
I don't like Rayman as much as everybody else seems to. I own both Rayman and Super Monkey Ball, and I prefer Monkey Ball. Two reasons:
Rayman is a nice game (the minigames are generally better than in Monkey Ball), but it could be so much more if they hadn't forced you to unlock every damn game in single player mode, and if they hade actually implemented a decent multiplayer mode.
Gears of war split screen on a 100" inch projector image in a coop campaign on Insane. nuff said.
Thanks for your nice review of Shadow of the Colossus.
I have its predecessor Ico, and it was a beautiful game, so I'll be looking for SotC in the shops.
I've had a lot of fun playing Urban Dead (http://www.urbandead.com/), which is a web-based multi-player zombie game. Your character can be a human or zombie. Humans can be killed and become zombies. Zombies can be revivified by specially trained medics and become human again. Your character is pretty useless at the beginning, but it can level up and gain many new skills. There are about 500K registered characters/players, so there is a good amount of activity.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
No uppercut? Have I missed something?
"Faked" punches (where you punch in one direction and then change to another direction before hitting) are somewhat hard to execute, but possible. You start your punch in the given direction, but exaggerated (if you want to hit your oponent on the right side of his body, try hitting straight right), and then change direction (without changing the direction of the remote itself, I think). It takes a bit of trying, but it's possible. It's sometimes possible to get around or below your opponent's block that way.
My personal pick for the year is Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime. It's got simple Zelda like gameplay but it's really addictive for some reason, especially if you're one of those people (like me) who are into 100% completion. The tanks battles are odd but figuring out the strategies and then kicking ass at it is lots of fun. And you get to control a slime! How cool is that? My one disapointment is that so far as i can tell having gotten gold statues of every single monster in the game doesn't seem to have unlocked anything cool :(
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
This is the other three-fourths of TTEOT, the one where all the stairs and ladders actually go someplace, you can get to Greeton from Peterney, Adray comes back from wherever with an entire sidequest, and the graphics have graduated from doll-posing to fluid motion and facial expressions. Oh, wait. They won't release that one in the Global Warming universe, for obvious reasons...! Never mind.
``Tension, apprehension & dissension have begun!'' - Duffy Wyg&, in Alfred Bester's _The Demolished Man_
I'd say gears of war would have been #1, if it had come out for the pc, no way am I buying an Xbox360 for just one game, even though it's such an awesome game (tried it at a mates' place, it's so sweet..) so I'll give it 5th place instead. A game that cool just begs to be on the pc platform. In 4th place I'd put new super mario bros for the DS. It has more charm than the original, and that's surprising, I'm actually playing it, and I can see myself finishing it, that's a good game in my book. The DS really caught me by delighted surprise when I bought it last christmas, and it's a good entertainment system. I'd put Brain training for the DS in 3rd place, it is one of the few games I actually played through (meaning I unlocked all the extra minigames and played them.. can't truly 'finish' the game) I was lucky enough to grab a hold on a Nintendo Wii before christmas, my first console since the original nintendo, and I consider it a great piece of entertainment. That's why in 2nd place I'm putting the rayman raving rabbids. I actually completed the game, and the only reason I can't give it the top spot is that I really only played the game through to unlock the minigames for wii parties (playing it with a few friends is so much fun), but many of the minigames are crap, however many in there are excellent, but I can't really see myself replaying the rabbids on my own (who else had problems smacking the last few rabbids in the bunnies have natural rythm?). And first place has to go to Wii sports. At first glance, you think it's just such a simple, simple set of minigames, but each time you play it, you get a better feel for the nuances of the remote, and of all of them I enjoy tennis the most because of the tactics (and that I can yell out silly lines from prince of tennis... that's just priceless). I've been a solid fan of the PC for years.. my current rig is an AMD 4800, 2GB RAM, x1900 vidcard, and a 30" dell LCD, and this tiny little computer from nintendo with the processing speed and pixel throughput of a fart is kicking its ass game-wise. I predict Interesting times ahead for 2007. K.
RA2 is the best game of all time, no question about it.
Any game that has this much depth and breadth, that can keep me interested and still discovering new content after this long, that continues to pull in new players after reaching a mind-blowing 7 million subscribers proves that there is a magic formula to a game.
I've heard of many people leaving, but we see them come back within a few months. One of our guildmates bought a Wii when it released. He spent 6-8 hours one Saturday playing some game on it, logged on to WoW that evening and stated that he had finished it. I ventured out and tried a few others myself, especially betas of other MMOs. I keep coming back to WoW because it has everything I want in a game for now.
Just like it took WoW to pull me away from 7.5 years of Ultima Online, it will take something even more earth-shattering to pull me away from WoW. New content every few months, new dungeons, new gear, seasonal events and items and the ability to explore the world anew from a different perspective any time I want. WoW will likely be my game of the year for many years to come.
Buy it and install it on your pc before we kill you.
You may not agree with what I say, but you should fight to the death to allow me to say it, by modding me up.
Definitely a game to pickup for any Wii owner.
A team of people of normal weight and height has absolutely no chance against a heavier team.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.