Ok, so Darius and Jeff both did this, and I want to weigh in too. Why? Because I hate feeling left out.
- Portal - simply put the best 5 hours of game play I have experienced in a long time. When you walk through your life looking for places to put portals, you know a game has gotten in to your head. That hasn't happened to me since the original Katamari Damacy. Added bonus points because the song, Still Alive helps to get Nora to sleep.
- Catan (XBox live arcade) - This game has been in constant use on my 360, probably accounting for why it hasn't red-ringed yet. It's a great way to get a Catan fix late at night, or with friends online when you can't all be in the same place. It captures the spirit of the game well. And the music has a good beat and my daughter likes to dance to it.
- Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (DS port) - I had so much fun with this little game and it caused me to lose more sleep than was probably healthy to do so over the summer. Matching skulls up in my dreams for weeks at a time. Great game to play in relatively small increments, late at night, after the last bottle has been given.
This is in no way a comprehensive analysis of all games produced this year. Like Jeff, things were pretty hectic. I didn't play as much as I wanted to with a toddler to chase after and a new position that is kicking my butt, but a lot of games that I played, while enjoyable, weren't game of the year quality.
Noticeably absent -
- Mass Effect. I want to play it, I just can't have that much of my life sucked away right now.
- Rock Band. You won't believe how much day care will run you...and you want me to get this too?
- Assassin's Creed. After reading Matt's analysis I'm curious to try it, but can't comment on it yet.
- Bioshock. Really want to get this game. Loved the demo. But am afraid I will be disappointed (based on other's commentary) and not sure I can commit so many late nights to playing it.
- Halo 3. I played through it, I just didn't like it that much.
I guess it also doesn't help that I've been retro gaming like a mad fiend on both the 360 and Wii, which kind of cuts down on total titles to talk about for this year.
Bioshock is not that long of a game... and it is probably one of the most amazing 1st person shooters I've ever played. It has an amazing story AND it's just plain fun!
Assassin's Creed is excellent, but I would rent it-- it is not the type of game I would play a second time.
Rock Band is just fun.
Mass Effect is so epic. I haven't gotten too far into it yet.
As for Halo 3- well... It was a good conclusion to the story. It just felt like the same as the previous installments... just better graphics. There were no twists in the story. Everything that happened was fairly expected.
Might I also recommend Call of Duty 4 (Don't let Nora see though- its very violent)
The Orange Box is my next purchase.
Posted by: Gregg Helfman | January 03, 2008 at 12:01 PM