Excellence Awards for Superior Performance in Achieving . . . uh, Excellence?

2007 was a great year for games. It was also a tough year for gamers, since 90% of the great games were released in a 2 month span (October/November). I know my wallet took a huge hit.

Here are my picks for the best games of 2007. I'll throw in a bunch of random categories and also name my favorite game for each system (that I own). Some games win by default (I only played 1 game for the PS2 & PSP last year), and to be fair to other games, my all-around "Game of the Year" winner is not eligible for the individual systems' "game of the year" awards.

Unlike the Oscars, lets get the drama out of the way and give out the big award first:

2007 Game of the Year:

Bioshock

After all the anticipation - the Best of E3 awards two years running, developer videos, etc. - the fact that Bioshock lived up to all the hype says volumes. Bioshock was the most engaging, atmospheric, and fulfilling game of 2007. The underwater utopia of Rapture is one of the greatest gaming environments ever created and the game's premise, story, visuals and audio come together to create a truly memorable experience.

Runners-up:

Call of Duty 4, Rock Band, Portal

360 Game of the Year:

Call of Duty 4

Wow, I was not expecting this. After CoD3, I was burned out on the CoD series. When Modern Warfare was announced I found the premise intriguing, but it was still at the bottom of my list of wanted games. After the spectacular E3 presentation I began to take notice. I participated in the Beta and was blown away by the polished gameplay and super tight controls. After playing the full game I realized that it is one of the best First-Person Shooters I have ever played. The graphics are simply amazing, and the fact that they run at a blistering 60 fps with no drops baffles me. The single-payer campaign might be short, but it is packed with more memorable moments than 6 other games combined. It is a condensed adrenaline filled ride. The story drew me in and the game evoked actual emotion from me at times (the ending is just fantastic!). And the multiplayer, as I will comment on later, is sublime.

Runners-up:

Rock Band

Take Guitar Hero, add vocals and drums, and you have gaming nirvana. Playing Rock Band with some friends is some of the most fun you can have. I cannot stress enough how much I enjoy playing the drums. The song selection is fantastic and the downloadable songs have consistently been great as well. World Tour Mode is a blast and this game might have won 360 Game of the Year if that mode would be playable online.

Portal

Perfect level design. Perfect difficulty curve. Addictive, thought-provoking gameplay. And the funniest game of the year? Who'd a thunk it? Portal is simply amazing for the entire four or five hours it lasts. Is Valve going to release new levels already? C'mon, I need my fix!!!

PS3 Game of the Years:

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Wow, another surprise. During development this game always looked great from a visual standpoint, and I knew Naughty Dog was a talented developer, but I was not expecting to enjoy this game as much as I did. This might be the closest gaming has come to emulating a fun summer movie. The voice acting, cinematics and music might actually be better than most summer flicks. I played most of the game with a smile on my face. A lot of great un-lockables make a 2nd or 3rd play through viable options (as does the fun gameplay and tight controls). If you own a PS3 and haven't picked this one up, what are you waiting for?

Runners-up

MLB: The Show 07

Probably the best sports simulation I have ever played, The Show has come the closest of any other sports game to replicating the sport it emulates. Great animation, the best commentary in any game out there and rock solid presentation make this one a joy to play. Road to the Show mode is addictive fun (the only mode I played actually) and with some tweaks this series will get closer to perfection.

Ninja Gaiden: Sigma

Ok, I'm done writing about Ninja Gaiden. You all know I love the game. Tecmo really did beat this game to the ground though. This third iteration is the best, but it has definitely lost a lot of its charm by now. Still, it makes the list not only because it is still one of the best action games ever made, but because I only played 3 PS3 games this year, so I am covering all three. =) Hey, they were all good, what can I say?

PS2 Game of the Year:

God of War 2

Yes, this game wins by default since I played no other game on the PS2 this year, but that in no way means that GoW 2 is not deserving of this award. Even with all the quality "next gen" games I played this year, GoW 2 is still in my overall top 5 of 2007. That game takes everything established by its predecessor and makes it bigger and better. Graphically, no other game in the PS2's entire library comes close. The game is a technical marvel and left me impressed even after a year of exclusive 360 gaming before me (all it took was a few minutes to adjust to the resolution change). The game's scale is baffling. If this is what this series can do on a PS2 I can't imagine what GoW 3 on the PS3 is going to be like. I can't wait!

PSP Game of the Year:

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions

Another default winner. Sweet nostalgia. Almost 10 years after I was hopelessly addicted to the original, I get to experience this gem all over again. This game has some of the deepest, most addicting gameplay I have experienced, and its play mechanics do not lose a step after all these years. And man, I love those character designs! All PSP owners need to experience this one.

Miscellaneous Awards:

Best Sports Game:

MLB: The Show 07

As far as baseball goes, this was by far the best title available. It might not have provided the graphical facelift I was expecting in its jump to the PS3, but I am hoping that will be addressed with this year's version (and it looks like it has judging from what I have seen).

Runner-Up:

All-Pro Football 2k8

Oh how I have missed 2K football. APF was a joy to play. As far as on the field play goes, this game gives Madden a pounding. The idea of building your own team with legendary players was executed very well. The only downside was a severe lack of replay value thanks to no franchise mode, a bare bones season mode, and far too little control over your generic players (which were a bit too generic). If there is another installment (I have my fingers crossed) and they add a beefy player editor, far more depth in the off-the-field stuff and a franchise mode, then I can do without the NFL license for a few more years.

Best Graphics:

Bioshock

Bioshock is the full visual package. Outstanding art direction (Rapture's 1950's art-deco style is genius) matched with technical wizardry equals a true feast for the eyes. The amount of ridiculous detail in the levels is astounding. Every inch of a level is meticulously rendered, leaving no area over looked. The result is a gaming world that feels rich in history. Great job Irrational Games. Err, I mean, 2K Boston.

Runners-up

CoD4

Again, how can this game run at 60fps? It is gorgeous.

Assassin's Creed

This game gets the award for best draw distance. Standing on a city's highest peak and being able to see everything until the horizon is quite a sight. Altair's character model is also the most impressive I have seen. Great detail. And the animation . . . well, lets leave that to another category . . .

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Huge levels and plenty of amazing vistas. The water effects are gorgeous, right up there with Bioshock. Did I mention that your character's clothes actually get wet? I mean, c'mon! This game is beautiful.

God of War 2

How many runners-up am I going to have? I could actually keep going, but I'll restrict myself (a lot of great looking games this year). I had to put GoW2 on this list though. I don't know how the developer managed to get this much out of the aging PS2 hardware, but GoW 2 is truly a graphical masterpiece. It made my jaw drop far more than often many 360 games.

Best Animation

Assassin's Creed

Normally, I would just lump animation in with graphics. But since I feel animation is the most important element in impressive visuals and the fact that there were so many games with great animation this past year, I had to honor them individually. That being said, Altair's animation in Assassin's Creed is the best I have seen for a video game character to date. All the transitions were seamless and I never got tired of watching him roam around and interact with his environment.

Runners-up:

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

If the transitions would have been more seamless this one would have taken the crown. Overall Drake's movements might be even smoother and more life-like than Altair's, but there were always a few transitions that threw me off. That being said I cannot get enough of the animation of Jake vaulting over an object. It looks real!

APF 2K8

Speaking of transition animations, this game still needs to work on that, but on a whole, the animation in this game runs laps around Madden. Everything is so life-like, whereas Madden's animations look robotic and completely unnatural.

MLB: The Show 2007

Best animation in a sports game that I have played. Everything looks perfect and natural. The tiny details and nuances of players playing baseball are perfectly captured.

Best Soundtrack

Rock Band

Is this even fair to include on here? Plus it keeps expanding every week!

Runners-up:

Bioshock

Fantastic score and great use of music from the period. Hearing "Beyond the Sea" when entering Rapture sets the mood perfectly.

Uncharted

Really great score! Again, movie-quality production values here.

Portal

C'mon, I had to add this. The ending song is the best song ever in a game. lol.

Best Sound:

Bioshock

I am running out of adjectives to describe things. As you'll notice, my entries will keep getting smaller. Anyway, no game last year immersed me into its world like Bioshock did and a huge part of that was the fantastic sound design. The city of Rapture is decaying around you and you hear it. Your 5.1 set-up immediately justifies its costs with this game.

CoD4

While a large part of Bioshock's audio brilliance comes from ambient sound and horrific screams echoing through empty halls, CoD 4 is an atom bomb on your system. From beginning to end your speakers will not stop churning out gun fire, mortal explosions, and total chaos.

The Orange Box

Half-life has always had great sound design. The trend continues with the Orange Box. It has Bioshock's creepy ambience when needed and CoD's mayhem when appropriate.

Best Story

Mass Effect

It was Mass Effect's story that helped me overlook its flaws. The main quest is movie worthy. The final act had me on the edge of my seat. Bravo Bioware, bravo.

Bioshock

Just what happened to this underwater utopia? Just wait and see.

CoD4

Ok, I am sure you are asking yourself, "CoD4? Best story?! You're crazy!!". And you'd be right. In all honesty, other games deserve this runner-up spot more (Half-Life 2 for example), but compared to past CoD games I was actually drawn into this story and it was some pretty hefty stuff. The single-player campaign is just phenomenal. Great job Infinity Ward.

Biggest Disappointment

Band Wold Tour Mode not online

What a shame. Rock Band's best mode, the one the game seemed to have been built around, is not available online. Talk about a missed opportunity. It is not always possible to have three friends over to play. On top of that, this mode is not available to play solo either (another baffling decision, since it is a lot better than the regular solo career option). I'm still hoping we get a patch to address this. C'mon Harmonix, this would make the game an 11!

Runners-up:

APF 2K8's pathetically shallow season mode

Visual Concepts dropped the ball here. An unlicenced football game has a lot of potential for a deep franchise mode. You can create a league history and have rivalries set-up. You can have robust create-a-player options and mold the players to your liking. You can have deep stats and front office options. But APF has none of that. You get a single-season, with nothing interesting in-between games. Boo.

Bioshock's ending

After such an amazing game, the final battle and the ending that follows seemed pretty dull in comparison. The boss battle was out of place and the short CG ending left a lot of be desired.

Madden 2008

I saw a lot of developer interviews in which Tiburon would praise this year's great "branching animation" system and how awesome it was going to be. Maybe it gave players great control, but it essential broke Madden's already weak animation. Player movement was so unrealistic and unnatural that is was actually funny.

Best Multiplayer

Tie! CoD4 & Rock Band

This was a tough one. Any other year, Rock Band would have won this award easily. After all, anyone who has played this game with a full band of friends knows what a great time it is. But I had to include CoD4 because it has gotten me hooked on competitive FPS multiplayer, something I never really enjoyed before. I did all my GRAW and GRAW 2 online gaming in co-op mode. Same goes for R6 (terrorist hunt with friends was a blast). Aside from the occasional Halo 2 match, I just wasn't into death match type of online games. And every time I played Halo I was in a party with some friends, if my friends weren't on I wouldn't play. But I am all over CoD4, whether my friends are on or not. It is the best competitive multiplayer game I have played. The ranking and leveling up system, the perks, it all comes together beautifully. If Infinity Ward can just find a way to improve the latency/killcam discrepancy and add host migration, it would be perfection.

Runner-up:

Halo 3

4 player Co-op is great. The other online modes are deep and robust, but I've discovered Halo's play style just ain't for me.

Most wanted Downloadable Content

Portal

More levels! More levels! More levels!!!!!

Rock Band

Guns N Roses pack! Or the entire Appetite for Destruction album!!

Portal

More levels! More levels! More levels!!!!!

Favorite gaming moments of 2007

In no particular order . . .

CoD4 single player campaign

I would single out a particular moment, but I couldn't decide on just one. The single player campaign has so many memorable "wow" moments it is ridiculous.

Portal's last level

Just when you think you've figured out the structure of the game, Portal's last level throws you a curve ball. Great stuff.

Playing drums in Rock Band

After 2 years of playing with a guitar controller, sitting down and hitting the pads was just a fantastic feeling. Nailing your first tricky section, complete with perfect foot-pedal usage is exhilarating.

Entering Rapture/First little sister

The beginning of Bioshock was just phenomenal. The plane wreckage burning on the water's surface, entering the mysterious lighthouse, descending into Rapture, it was one of my best gaming experiences of the year. A short while later it was followed by another, the first time you rescue/harvest a Little Sister. Wow. Just wow.

Playing 2K football again

Playing a new 2K football game after 3 years of Madden felt great. The gameplay was refreshing, as were the small details in the animation. Here's hoping we see a 2K9.

Mass Effect's finale

The final mission and build up to the final battle was about as exhilarating an experience as you'll find. Great pacing, music, voice-acting, writing, cinematics, everything came together perfectly.

Honorable mention to games I enjoyed last year but didn't win any awards

Lost Planet

It is easy to forget about Lost Planet. It came out way back in January of 2007 and in the wake of all the AAA games, it can get lost. But I really enjoyed it. Great graphics and animation, fantastic mech designs, and HUGE scale enemies and levels.

Halo 3

Wow, if you would have told me at the beginning of last year that Halo 3 would not win any awards from me (it only got a runner-up for multiplayer) I'd think you were lying. But the competition this year, especially on the 360, was just brutal. Funny thing is, I think Halo 3 is probably the best entry in the series. I felt it stumbled a bit in the last two levels and it did not finish with the epic battle I was anticipating, but the game was polished and fun. Gotta give props to Bungie for the 4 player co-op, the saved films, forge, file sharing and the many, many multiplayer options.

GRAW 2

GRAW 2 seemed to come and go with little fanfare. It was fun, but was way short. I hope R6 Vegas 2 is more of than just an update. I still had a good time with GRAW 2, but it certainly felt too familiar.

Games I wasn't able to play in 2007 but wanted to

Hopefully I'll pick these up at bargain prices in the future:

The Darkness

From the people that brought us Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. Can't believe I missed it. Looks to be right up my alley too. The demo was cool.

Heavenly Sword

This game always caught my eye. All the behind-the-scenes videos showcased some cool motion-capture work and facial expressions. The demo was fun, although crazy short.

Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction

I have enjoyed all the Rachet & Clank games so I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy this one. The reviews were solid and technically the game is a marvel. And again, the demo was great.

Skate.

Maybe it is because I am tired of the Tony Hawk series and their over-the-top nature, but I always wanted to play Skate. The realistic take on skateboarding is a good angle and the control scheme seemed pretty intuitive. And one more time . . . the demo was fun.

The whole Nintendo Wii line-up

I have owned every Nintendo system since the NES, yet I do not yet own a Wii. Granted, it is still hard to track one of those puppies down, but back in the day I would have made it happen. It is weird, I really want a Wii and I know I will love it, but it is still not up there in my list of must-have products. I be pumping more money into my new hobby now too (hi-fi headphones and gear . . . don't ask, I'll write about them soon enough), so I probably won't be getting a Wii until the end of this year the earliest. But I really want to play all those great Nintendo games: Zelda, Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid . . .).

And that wraps it up. 2007 was one of the best years I can remember as far as quality game releases. Lets see how 2008 treats us gamers. Hopefully we'll continue to see AAA titles. I just hope publishers decide to spread them out throughout the year and not cram them all into the Oct./Nov. launch window.

Currently playing

I am going through one of those periods where I think I have too many games to play. I hate that. I like devoting myself to one game. Ideally, two games, with one of them being a sports title (since those are easy to jump in and out of and break up the monotony of playing other types of games).

It started off that way. Playing DiRT and MLB: The Show 07. As always, I mix in some Guitar Hero II here and there. After great word of mouth and reviews, I picked up Super StarDust HD from the PS Store. A friend let me borrow Prince of Persia 3 (whatever it is called) for the PS2 (playing it on the PS3). I'm also periodically playing Rainbow Six: Vegas single-player again. And last but not least, I picked up Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PS3.

Whew.

DiRT - My previous post with impressions was actually written over a week ago. In the last week I have been playing very little of DiRT. As I started getting more and more into The Show, DiRT started taking a back seat.

The Show - I created myself as a closing pitcher and began my career. The game is a lot of fun. Graphically, it does not have the snazzy look of 2K7, but it does have a very clean, sharp look. The animations are great and the commentary is, without a doubt, the best of any sports game I have played.

Playing through career mode is a lot of fun. It is especially fun to be a closer because you come into games late, in save situations, sometimes with runners already on base, and you have to try to save the day. Plus, since you only pitch one inning on average, you can play through multiple seasons in a fraction of the time it would take for other positions.

I just started my 3rd year and I finally made the Marlins' roster (I was working my way up through the minors). The game still has some flaws which I will talk about in a later post, but it is a lot of fun.

Guitar Hero II - I haven't played in a while, but all it takes is for me to hear one of the game's songs on the radio and I'm right back in.

Super Stardust HD - Plays like Colony Wars a bit, mixed with Asteroids. Haven't devoted much time to it, but looks like it could be addictive.

Prince of Persia 3 - Didn't even want to play this one, but I was at my friends house and he had it and I mentioned that I enjoyed the first 2 games (well, the second was only okay) and he just told me to take it. I'm not sure I even want to play through this. I popped it in and the graphics were pretty ugly. At least God of War 2 still managed to impress me visually.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma - Yes, playing through Ninja Gaiden for the like 5th time now. But I can't help it, the game is fantastic!!! The Sigma demo (which I wrote about HERE) convinced me that I needed to play through this action masterpiece one more time.

So far, so good. The game is still as much fun as it ever was. Graphically it looks very nice, although you can tell this game is based on old technology. Some of the textures are still very last-gen looking and a lot of the geometry is still strictly out of the Xbox version. But the game moves at a blistering 60fps and is super sleek.

The new Rachel segments (I've only played two) seem to be an interesting diversion. Her combat mechanics are very different from Ryu's, so it is a nice change of pace. I don't like her running animation though, I think it looks a bit silly.

I'm playing through the game at the default difficulty. I'm now thinking I should have bumped it up (was a harder option even possible in the beginning?), because I am breezing through the game. Sigma seems to be a lot easier than Black was, with more save points and more shops to purchase items. I have not come across a difficult section yet. Of course, I have not battled against Alma yet (that bitch!).

GoW 2

Going through my notes and there are a few posts I wrote up and never added to the blog, to their timeline is way off. This is one of them . . .

I finally beat God of War 2 this past weekend. Aside from one grueling section towards the end in which you need to fight about 6 waves of tough enemies with no save points in-between, the game was a blast.

Best looking game of the PS2's life span. Great story as well. And a blast to play.

The game ends on a cliff hanger, so we now have to wait for part 3 for a conclusion to Kratos' story. And what a cliffhanger it was. The third entry should start off with quite a bang.

GoW 2 further impressions

Ok, I've delved a little deeper into God of War 2. A few more impressions.

First, I am now playing the game in "HD Mode". You need to basically press some button combination as the game loads to get it to run this way. Why not just have an option in the game itself? It is kinda tricky to get it to work on a PS3, since the PS3 controller turns off when it is loading a PS2 game, so you need to quickly try and turn it on and hope you can input the code in time. Annoying. Also, it is not a "real" HD mode (720p/1080i), I forget the exact resolution, but it is only slightly higher than 480p. That being said, to me, it makes a huge difference. Really. The game running in just regular progressive scan had a soft, almost blurry look to it. In this enhanced HD mode, it looks very, very crisp. I like.

I played for about an hour yesterday and I was having a fantastic time! This game is just fun. And visually (and not just because of this new HD mode), the game is now looking absolutely gorgeous. I just had to "adapt" to non-HD again, but I have been floored by the game's graphics. The section I am by now, which takes place on some ancient ruins, floating by some island (hard to explain) looks absolutely phenomenal. The colors and lighting really come together, and again, the sense of scale is fantastic. Everything looks large and vast! This series is going to blow people away when it is released for the PS3.

I'm really looking forward to my next session. I do not want to put it down.

Game Drought

Looks like we are now in the usually summer gaming drought. There's nothing on the horizon that I am looking forward to. At least not until August.

I played some CoD 3 the other day (still haven't beaten it). That was ok, but I want something new.

Like I mentioned, I've been playing Ninja Gaiden Black again, but . . . I want something new.

So I was in Best Buy yesterday, looking through the racks, and I had two choices. In one hand, I had Motorstorm. In the other, God of War 2.

Motorstorm. $60, good reviews, but not enough depth or game modes.

God of War 2. $50, Great reviews, but not in high-definition (I'm telling you, once you go HD, it is VERY hard to go back).

I went with God of War.

So far I defeated the first Boss (the giant statue) and I am by I guess the 2nd level. Or maybe third, since I passed the Pegasus flying sequence.

I am playing on Hard (Like I did with the 1st game in my first play through). It basically plays the same. The graphics were pretty painful at the beginning, but I have since adjusted. For a PS2 title they are insanely impressive . Smooth animation and HUGE characters/levels. The first level is plenty hectic, with a giant statue following you around and tormenting you. The following Pegasus flying stage was pretty fun, especially the sequence towards the end when you fly into a cave and are flying around what appears to be another giant statue that is alive. Really impressive visuals in that section and a great sense of scale.

Since I have been playing Ninja Gaiden Black a lot lately I am finding it extra frustrating that you cannot manually rotate the camera in GoW, or even go into a 1st person mode. This did not bother me as much in the first game, but now it feels extremely restrictive. Also, since GoW and Ninja Gaiden have similar control schemes, I find myself trying to do the evasive roll by holding block and moving the left stick, instead of just using the right stick. I wish I could actually configure it this way, because I am so used to it by now and like the way it feels.

So far the game is a lot of fun and I am enjoying the cinematics and story. I really enjoyed the first game's premise and story and this one seems to be entertaining as well. I'm actually looking forward to see what happens. Something I can't say about most action games.

GoW 2 / GH II

There were reports going around that God of War 2 would run in 720p on a PS3. IGN even mentioned it in their review. Needless to say, I was siked.

IGN has since updated their review and now Sony has claimed that those reports are false.

Damn shame, because GoW 2 in 720p would have been fantastic.

For a while I was contemplating not getting GoW 2. Sure, I absolutely LOVED the first game, but since I was so into my "hi-def" 360 gaming, GoW 2 just didn't interest me much. After IGN's extremely positive review (it got a 9.7), and the fact that since I can play the game on my PS3 now and at least run it in progressive scan (my PS2 is only connected with an s-video cable), I've had a change of heart. Plus, all the videos I have seen of the game look phenomenal.

So, looks like it is Gow 2 and GRAW 2 for me in March. I'm going to try my best to resist getting Guitar Hero II in March (although I'm sure I will get it eventually). I am dying to play the game in 720p, with 5.1 surround sound, on-line leader boards (YES!), achievements (YES!), downloadable songs (HELL YES!!), but I can't see myself plunking down $90 for essentially the same game I am playing now on the PS2 and still enjoying very, very much. Plus, I'll lose the ability to play multiplayer since I am not buying a 2nd 360 Guitar controller anytime soon (already have 2 for the PS2). Once there is some DL content I might take the plunge, but I'll try my best to resist a March purchase.

Although, we all know how strong my will power is when it comes to gaming . . .

Games of the Year 2006

Last year I did a Game of the Year awards for 2005 (found HERE). I guess I might as well do one for this past year of gaming as well. I hope I remember everything I played, because it was a lot. As before I'll throw out the disclaimer saying I'm only choosing from games that I actually played, I'm sure there are a lot of gems that I missed (especially on PC). Also, I did about 90% of my gaming this past year on my 360, so don't expect a diverse list.

Ok, here we go:

Xbox 360

Game of the Year: Oblivion

When I decided to rate all of the games I own not too long ago (LINK) I discovered that Oblivion was the one I rated highest. It was a surprise to me then, but in hindsight it really shouldn't have been. As far a sheer value for your buck, no game tops Oblivion. You can see my previous write-up on the game HERE. Needless to say the game is huge, ambitious, and a hell of a lot of fun. The level of freedom afforded to you is unmatched by any other game out there (console-wise at least). Throw in truck-loads of downloadable content which add even more hours of game play and you have a game you can play for 200+ hours. That is insane.

On a side-note, I recently started playing this game again (I will finish the main quest at least, even if I don't finish the hundreds of additional side-quests) and I'm now about 140 hours in. 140 freakin' hours!!! And I have so much left to do. This game might actually offer TOO much content. :)

Runner-ups:

Gears of War - With all the hype this game received, I'm suprised it managed to live up to it. For the most part at least. Overall the game was great. You can find my earlier impressions HERE. It did not revolutionize the action genre, but it was a blast to play through. The single-player game (especially co-op with a buddy on Hardcore or Insane) is as good as it gets. The game's narrative and story were completely non-existant though (give us some backstory and info next time Epic!!!), but the controls were great, the action was fast, and lets face it, the graphics did wonders to keep you interested in this game. Even though I went all anal-rententive on the visuals previously, they are still the best this generation has to offer so far.

Rainbow 6: Vegas - Score another one for the Unreal III engine. Rainbox 6 turned out just a well as I was hoping. Great tactical action and a solid single-player experience. On the multiplayer side the game shines even brighter. Playing co-op Terrorist hunt with some friends is about as much fun as you can have. I'm not a big fan of versus deathmath type games, but R6 offers plenty of options for those who are. Great visuals, tactical gameplay, and plenty of modes and options to keep you playing for a long time. Make those single-player checkpoints a little closer next time Ubisoft!!! Playing through on Realistic produced some pretty frustrating sections because of lack of checkpoints.

GRAW - The first 360 game to really show us what next-gen visuals could look like (or wait, did Fight Night come out before this?), GRAW still holds a special place in my heart (regardless of my issues with the multiplayer lobbies HERE and HERE . . . oh, and HERE). The single-player experience was only hindered by questionable teammate AI, which at times seemed hellbent on sabotaging your mission by blowing your cover, dying often, or doing idiotic things like just standing around while being shot. Other than that, single-player was a blast. On the multiplayer side of things (aside from my issues with the lobby system) the game was fantastic. Once again, co-op with some friends was (still is actually) one hell of a good time. This is probably the one 360 game I have played more online than any other. Every now and then I still fire it up and play some co-op.

PS2

Game of the Year: Metal Gear Solid III Snake Eater: Subsistence

It took me a while to finally play this thrid installment of the MGS series, but it was well worth the wait. Read my thoughts HERE. Despite some issues with the controls and the series' trademark extra long (but extremely stylish and well-directed) cut-scenes and over-bearing story, the game was just fatastic. Plenty of memoriable set pieces, boss battles, and great character development.

Runner-ups:

Guitar Hero II - Guitar Hero II should probably be winning this category. I think in overall, sheer fun and entertainment, it tops Snake Eater. It also improves over the original in every single way (except maybe song selection). But it has lost just a hint of the charm and originality that the original had. That is not the game's fault and it in no way makes it any less of a great game. I still want them to make at least 20 more sequels to this franchise. I just felt like giving the slightest edge to Metal Gear in this case. Ask me which of these two games I want on a desert island though and it is GH II hands down.

MLB: The Show - One of the finest sports games I have played in recent memory, see my previous thoughts HERE. The Show has the best Career Mode for a sports game yet (alot better than Madden's Super Star), some of the best animation out there and without a doubt, the best commentary in any sports title that I have heard.

PSP

Game of the Year: Daxter

Daxter is just a gorgeous and extremely enjoyable game. It is easy to pick up and play in short bursts or in a long play session. Perfect controls and fun platforming, mixed with almost PS2-calibur graphics makes this one my pick.

Runner-ups:

Loco Roco - This charming and completely original title is the very definition of what a portable game should be. It was desgned with the PSP in mind, delivers an experience which is not offered on a console and can be played in short sessions. Some clever level design, very unique visuals and a totally whacky but phenominal soundtrack made this one a total blast. The only negative is that after a while you feel like you've done it all. Sure, each stage is different, but it is mostly just more of the same.

Misc.

Biggest Disapointment:

Madden 2007 - Although greatly improved over Madden 06 (see impressions HERE), and although I did manage to have a good time with it, the Madden series is still not even close to where videogame football should be by now. 2K's recent announcement however is the best thing that could have happened to football fans.

Runner-ups:

Superman Returns: The Videogame - I thoroughly enjoyed the demo and actually had hope that this was going to be an above-average game. Boy was I wrong.

GoW's story - There is a great background story and history to Gears of War (read it on Wikipedia) . . . umm, but where is it in the game? Epic went hrough all this trouble to create this backstory, and hint at it rhough great trailers pre-release . . . but the actual game gives you zero info. Zero!!! What a waste. The game could have been so much more imersive.

Street Fight II (Live Arcade) - The controls stink and game is way too hard. See my previous complaints HERE.

Most Underated Game of the Year:

MLB: The Show - What was probably the best sports game of the year and might be the best baseball game ever released on a console received average scores and little to no recognition (outside of the hardcore sim comunity). This game just did so many little things right and captured all the nuances of baseball perfectly. The tv style presentation was phenominal and really, I cannot stop complementing the commentary. Fantastic job guys. I hope the PS3 version is more of the same with next-gen visuals.

Runner-up:

Viva Pinata
Viva Pinata has a huge marketting push by Microsoft, yet the game came and went with little notice. The game was suprisingly deep and addictive. Read my impressions HERE.

Biggest Surprise:

- All the lauch 360 games I picked up for a bargain price and thoroughly enjoyed (PGR3, Condemend, Kameo). I picked up Kameo, Condemned and PGR3 all for bargain bin prices and I enjoyed every one. Sorry I ignored them all at launch (although I always did have my eye on Condemend). Read impressions HERE and HERE.

Runner-up:

- I'm sure Dead Rising could be listed here, but I have yet to play it.

And that's it folks, those are my picks. If I'm not feeling too lazy I'll do some technical awards later this week (Best Graphics, Sound, etc.) although knowing myself, propbably not.

Long Weekend

Man I love Thanksgiving. It gives us "The four F's". Family, Football, Food and Four-days-off!!

I spent Thanksgiving at my grandmother's house, cooking with my sister, watching football, playing catch and drinking. That is a good day right there.

On Friday I relaxed at home during the day. Powerpuff and I managed some Gears of Wars co-op action and then I went out with some friends for more drinking. That is a good night right there.

On Saturday, I stayed home all day on my couch feeling miserable after two days of drinking. Seriously, the drinking the night before was a bit on the extreme side. After about four glasses of 151 & Coke (before even heading to the club) and then a few shots of Liquid Cocaine and some Dewar's on the rocks, I was out of it. 70% of the night's events are a complete mystery to me, but from what I hear, it was quite the night.

In my extreme misery, I managed to get in a good amount of time with Rainbow Six: Vegas (in between naps and tylenol breaks). The game is great!

Me being the bad-ass that I think I am, I started playing on the "Realistic" difficulty. That is my new thing apparently, I like to start games on the hardest difficulty. Mostly to extend the life of the game, and by experience the harder setting usually provides more enjoyment. But it sure can prove to be frustrating at times.

Since I am not much of a R6 veteran (I played some of part III, but never really finished it) I had a hard time getting into it. Mostly because I was dying constantly and getting used to the game's controls (I still had Gears of War in the head).

Once I started to feel really comfortable with the controls and style of play, I was greatly enjoying myself. Some sections are still incredible tough on Realistic, and it seems like you need to die a few times just to learn how to pass some parts by trial-and-error, but the game is great.

Visually, it is far more impressive than the demo. Granted, the demo level mostly took place in the dark in a constrution zone, so it did not have many opportunities to flex its visual muscles, but the final product looks gorgeous. Vegas is vibrant and alive. The game uses the Unreal III engine and it is refreshing to see just how different the game looks from Gears of War. Usually if a game is using a certain graphics engine, it will share similar visuals (ala Doom III and Prey), but Gears and R6 look absolutely NOTHING alike. This is good news for all future games using Unreal III (and there are plenty of them)

So, Rainbow Six: Vegas is a buy in my book.

In PS2 news, I am now about ½ way through Guitar Hero II on Expert. Man, some songs are a serious work-out for your fingers!!! I need to practice some more because after about four songs I need to take a break.

No CoD3 in a while now. Still not feeling it. Will probably wait until I am done with R6 and tired of GoW.

Busy November

The crazy (quality) game influx we've had in November has been much more bearable thanks to one factor which I had forgotten about. My birthday.

A couple weeks ago I was tormented by the fact that titles such as Gears of War, Guitar Hero II, CoD3, and Rainbow 6: Vegas were all coming out withing a few weeks of each other. Who can afford that?

Well, my friends and relatives can apparently.

My birthday was last Saturday and everyone knows my favorite gift is Best Buy gift cards. So guess what I got? A whole mess of Best Buy gift cards. Gears of War was already in my posession (I've had it since 11/8/06, will write about it later), so Guitar Hero II, CoD3 and Rainbow 6 are now a go. Maybe even Viva Pinata so my girlfriend can play (Ok, I want to try it out too).

Anyway, I already picked up Guitar Hero II and CoD3 on Sunday thanks to said giftcards, and I have another one waiting for Rainbow 6:Vegas. =)

Thank you family and friends!!