With that in mind, I present to you Game|Life East's Ten Favorite Games of 2007. The criteria for a game's inclusion is the enjoyment I derived from playing it, nothing more, nothing less. These are the games that I return to, that I recommend to my friends, that make me smile just to think about them. Some of these will undoubtedly end up on my Desert Island list, along with other Favorites from the past, like Psychonauts and Deus Ex.
Feel free to discuss, argue, or compile a list of your own.
10. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. At the risk of being called a blasphemer, I didn't enjoy Twilight Princess all that much. It's a masterpiece, certainly, but I got tired of chasing down golden bugs and heart containers about half way through it. Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS) takes everything that's great about Zelda, makes it bite-sized, then adds the touch screen controls as a bonus. Some gameplay elements like tooling around in the boat were definitely a drag (no pun intended), but the brilliant dungeons and beautiful visuals more than made up for it.
9. Catan. Though the premise of resource gathering and road building on a grid of hexagons may sound a bit dull, it makes for some of the most ruthless and addictive gameplay that Xbox Live has to offer. There's a huge difference between knowing how to play Catan (Xbox Live Arcade) and knowing how to win it, as a quick multiplayer match will illustrate. Even the most intricate and well thought-out strategy can fall to the whim of the cards, so being able to adapt and improvise on the fly is crucial. Sometimes, however, you just have to accept the Cleopatra is going to play a Year of Plenty card at the last minute and trounce you -- that's what rematches are for.
8. Persona 3. The Shin Megami Tensei series isn't exactly known for being light-hearted, but the blend of real-world concerns and monster hunting in Persona 3 (PlayStation 2) is remarkably upbeat. At night you'll head to Tartarus, a sprawling tower filled with wildly creative and freakish monsters, but by day you're attending high school, joining clubs, making friends, and doing homework. Leveling up and fusing the creatures you capture is fun, as is developing your real-world friendships, but marrying the two together is nothing short of brilliant.
7. Pac-Man C.E. When I first heard that a new Pac-Man was coming to Xbox Live, I shrugged. More maps, I thought, so what? We've been munching those power pellets for two decades now, what possible new spin could anyone put on it? Then Pac-Man C.E. (Xbox Live Arcade) came along and gave me the slap upside the head I so richly deserved. The original Pac-Man is just the starting point for this Live Arcade game, which turns the familiar mazes into neon-drenched, pulsing labyrinths that shift and change as you navigate them. The Championship Edition doesn't just put a new coat of paint on a retro classic, it completely deconstructs Pac-Man and rebuilds it into a fresh and exciting experience that's nearly impossible to stop playing.
6. Chocolatier 2. The first Chocolatier was a fun, but simple economic sim (think of it as Civ with caramel) that tasked you with rebuilding a chocolate company from the ground up. Chocolatier 2 (PC) improves on the original in every way possible, adding more locations, new recipes, and secret ingredients to your quest to build your very own chocolate empire. It'll take you less than ten hours to return the company to its former greatness, but you'll be surprised at just how much enjoyment you get out of making raspberry chocolate sauce or researching the recipe for sweet honey hearts.
5. Ghost Squad. True to Sega's long-standing formula for arcade light gun games, Ghost Squad (Wii) is a hilariously stupid good time. The only thing worse than the voice acting is the writing, and the game only has a story in the broadest of senses. But who cares? You don't play Ghost Squad for the characters, you play it to shoot the holy bejesus out of terrorists that jump out of cupboards or drop down from the ceiling. The aiming can get a bit squishy towards the edges of the screen, but you'll be having such a great time you won't much care, especially if you're playing with your pals.
4. Folklore. Although its core gameplay is somewhat unremarkable, what makes Folklore (PlayStation 3) truly special is that it creates a nearly palpable atmosphere, a true feeling of otherworldliness. Everything from the music to the comic book-like cut scenes to the designs of the Folk themselves combines to make you feel as though you've been dropped into the pages of a child's storybook. The intertwining stories of Ellen and Keats will keep you guessing and enchanted as you explore the stunningly beautiful realms of the Netherworld, adding to your menagerie of weird and wonderful Folk.
3. Portal. A game that eloquently proves that less can be so much more. The concept is simple, the graphics are sparse, the controls are the barest of bones, and yet Portal (Xbox 360, PC, PS3) is more satisfying than big-budget games that throw everything they can at your face in the hopes of being considered "next-gen." More than just an ingenious puzzler, Portal also features truly brilliant writing, as illustrated by the game's sheer quotability. We'll never be able to look at cake the same way again.
2. Mass Effect. The inventory system is a nightmare. The combat is frequently a pain in the ass. The driving sequences are a chore. And yet Mass Effect (Xbox 360) is still one of the most playable games to hit the 360 this year. The main story arc was absorbing, but it was the numerous side quests and conversational opportunities that kept me playing. Going after Sovereign and Saren was certainly exciting, but so was tracking down the rogue AI that was siphoning money from the casino or delivering justice to a mad scientist on the run. Many games claim to put you in ethical quandaries, but the Sophie's Choice moments of Mass Effect are true jaw-droppers that had me staring helplessly at the screen and wringing my hands, wondering what do I do, what do I do?
1. BioShock. While others might point to the moral dilemmas or Randian philosophies as what makes BioShock (Xbox 360, PC) more than just a stunningly beautiful shooter, what puts it at the top of my Favorites list is its tragic love story. Andrew Ryan loved Rapture with everything he had, but his unwillingness to see her for what she really was, as opposed to what he wanted her to be, doomed their love affair from the very start. As is so often the case with such relationships, Ryan refused to acknowledge the problems that were causing things to fall apart, preferring to put the blame on others for the failure instead of taking responsibility for his role in the collapse. By the time we meet them, it's far too late to do anything but mourn the loss, to lament what might have been.
Source: http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/12/susans-top-ten.html
No comments:
Post a Comment