5 Games in 2006

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 » gaming list thought

Last year I held off on doing my games list until February because I was still playing Shadow of the Colossus (which ended up being #1). This year, it's been delayed because of sheer procrastination!

At one point I had typed out some rant about how barely anyone in the industry really understands what innovation really means (especially not Peter Moore), ending it with a request that developers just focus on making a product that's actually fun. That's based on the fact that all of the titles on the list this year (save for one) don't really push the envelope in terms of amazing new gameplay ideas; they're just plain fun to play.

The first four are in alphabetical order:

Excite Truck - Previous thoughts. I expect this will be my favorite Wii game for a while.

God Hand - For the longest time I had this craving for a simple, 3D action game where you just push buttons and beat people up and have it be inexplicably fun. It turned out that game was God Hand.

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Still not done with this, but I'm enjoying it far more than I was earlier. The game really picked up once I got the Master Sword. I still miss Wind Waker's graphics and overall presentation, though.

Tetris DS - As I mentioned in my earlier thoughts, I'll still take the original 1989 Gameboy Tetris for single player, but boy did I spend a lot of time playing the online VS mode in this one. Now if they'd just release a patch so I could listen to something besides that horrible Mario Bros. remix.

The last game I'm singling out as #1, because I have a horrible crush on Yasumi Matsuno and Hitoshi Sakimoto. (And Akihiko Yoshida, I'll never forget about you!)

#1 - Final Fantasy XII - I put over 95 hours into this already and fully intend on going back later for as long as it takes to fill the Sky Pirate's Den.

...And now, some other notables:

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin - Another superb 2D Castlevania, maybe even better than 2001's Circle of the Moon. It's got some really inspired level designs, and the best soundtrack since Symphony of the Night. I could get used to a yearly Castlevania sequel.

New Super Mario Bros. - Really fun, but also really short and really easy. Actually, it wouldn't even seem that short if it wasn't laughably easy. I hope they're not afraid to make NSMB2 totally impossible. Like, Super Mario Bros. World 8 impossible!

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence - A great update to my #1 game of 2004, with a new camera that makes me wonder how I ever played the original. It's too bad the online wasn't better.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 - Great, technical gameplay, but playing the super-robotic AI is only fun for so long. Single-cart local wi-fi or online multiplayer would have helped this a lot.

...And some notables from previous years:

Animal Crossing: Wild World - Yeah I spent an obscene amount of time playing this.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Proving that the text adventure genre is only 99% dead.

Pikmin 2 - One of my favorite GameCube games. Without that godawful time limit from the first one, this is actually sort of relaxing to play.

...And another:

God of War - Oh god is this the most overrated game ever? The over-the-top violence was fun for like a half hour, but then after that it just turns into an Onimusha knock-off with stupid-monotonous combat. Hey, every-PS2-owner-and-gaming-journalist: It is entirely possible for a terrible game to somehow have miraculous production values.

See you next February!