2006: A good year for games

I'm having trouble listing a single favorite, so I thought I'd list a quick summary of this year's highlights, in the order I played them.

GalCiv 2 -- Winner for "Most hours stolen from this fleeting existence", "Devious bastards"

SF civilization-builder game, you know the score. The historical difference between Galactic Civiliazations games and most others is the time spent on the AI. The first implementation of the game ran on OS/2, and took advantage of the OS's multithreading capabilities to let the AI run all the time, taking advantage of idle CPU time to think. It's not so much that the AI is more challenging than in other games, but the way you think about it as an opponent is different -- they feel almost human (or almost Drengin, if you will). They form friendships, hold grudges, and even act out of pure spite on occasion.

Oh, and there's something else that really impressed me about GalCiv 2 -- the continued support from the developers. The fairly small dev team managed to fix bugs in a timely fashion, but that's not all. They were very active on the forums, soliciting intelligent opinions for polish and new features. Watching the forum discussions on how the economics model might be improved, then seeing the most intelligent suggestions implemented in the following patch release was a thing of beauty -- the game now >> the game at release, bugs that have been fixed notwithstanding.

The games only serious failing would be its learning curve -- and the original print manual is now almost completely useless.

FEAR -- Winner for "Most soiled undergarments"

A very well-implemented FPS, with some heavy survival horror elements added in for spice. This game really knows how to push your buttons -- I'd suggest playing at night, with the lights off. Bullet time makes an appearance, which I find a welcome addition to almost any single-player FPS these days.

The multiplayer client is free to boot, it's hard to beat that.

Shadow of the Colossus -- Tied for "Most artistic", tied for "Original gameplay"

This is not an artistic game, but rather a work of art that happens to be a game as well. I'm not sure I've ever seen a game before that, outside of cutscenes, really applied the 1/3rd rule to the camera. The control suffers a little, and it takes a bit to get used to, but damn, it's worth it.

I'm reluctant to say much more -- unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've probably heard about this game. It is definitely frustrating from time to time, but I really think you're cheating yourself out of a unique (and good) experience if you don't play this game.

Kingdom Hearts II -- Winner for "Real Ultimate Power", "Suppressed homosexuality"

Wait, I included what? You see, KHII is a deeply flawed game (have you seen the MC Chris rant?), but it's surprisingly good at the same time. I walked away from the first game in disgust (distinct lack of fun, overabundance of retarded.), so I'm glad I had the lapse in judgement required to give the sequel a shot. Let me explain a bit...

While much of the game involves playing through snippets of various Disney properties, there is quite a bit of plot that belongs uniquely to this game, and all of it is top-notch. I'm not talking about new stories involving Belle or Ariel, I'm talking about Sora's quest to find his friends, Rikku and Kaori.

What about the gameplay? Again, good but flawed. As long as you're on the offensive, the game is fantastic -- control is smooth, and you really get into it. The moment you're on the defensive, however, it becomes much less pleasant. It needs polish, but when it's on, it wins hard.

Lastly, this game has set a new standard for interactive awesome -- I'm talking Real Ultimate Power type stuff here. The final battle sequence is one of the best (maybe the, but I'm reluctant to go that far) I have ever seen, and really makes you feel like, like... well, it's hard to explain. The battle manages to be very cinematic, interactive, and makes you really feel the awesome. Think "Duel of the Fates", but more so. And with floppy shoes.

Oh, and Mickey is King of the Badasses. Srsly.

Okami -- Winner for "Most polished", tied for "Most artistic"

Although it's a bit of an overstatement, I'd like to quote something I said after finishing Okami: "Well, I've played Okami, so I don't really need to play videogames anymore."

Sure, not everyone is on the same page with me, but this is one of the most enjoyable games I've ever had the pleasure of playing, and I'd call it just about as close to "perfect" as we have any right to hope for. The graphics are simply gorgeous, the music is excellent, and the story is compelling. Okay, I thought the last little bit of story was a tad cheesy, but I was still on the edge of my seat. This game grabbed me, and wouldn't let go -- there are several sequences of continually mounting tension, and I couldn't put the dang thing down in the middle of any of them.

Guitar Hero II -- Winner for "It goes up to eleven!"

A worthy sequel to an already-great game. They addressed the few problems with the first game, improved the multiplayer, and picked an even-more-rocking set of music. The new coop mode makes the game a great choice for gatherings.

Play 'til your fingers bleed, and rock out with your cock out!

Gears of War -- Winner for "Like a truck"

It's a 3rd-person FPS! It's almost unheard of for me to like a shooter on a console, but this isn't your usual twitch-based shooter, it's all about careful use of cover and supporting fire. If you've played any squad-combat games you might also know another word that'll come in handy: "teamwork". My opinion may have been tainted by the fact that I played through the campaign coop with Z, and his sniper rifle laid down the law on the enemy line while my shotgun took care of anyone who dared rush our position.

Final Fantasy XII -- Tied for "Carrying the franchise"

Okay, I've already talked about XII plenty. I'll just leave it at that.

Twilight Princess -- Tied for "Carrying the franchise"

Yeah, it's a Zelda game. That really ought to be enough, but I'll say a few more things. I really love the controls at times, but they also infuriate me from time to time -- possibly just because I'm not used to the wiimote. For what it's worth, Mike^2 has finished the game, yet he still can't do a shield bash to save his life. Also, this game doesn't just call Link the hero, it makes him the hero. You really get the feeling, more so than ever, that he's really earned it.

Wii Sports -- Winner for "Accessible gameplay", "Home runs for Jesus"

Broken TVs, black eyes, and lots of fun. This game is nothing more than a simple, fun sports game for all the gamers out there. This game is special, however, in that you can get any old person to play it -- I hadn't played a videogame with my dad since when we were little and he would occasionally kicked all of our asses at Strategic Conquest (an Empire clone, precursor to Civ). So, mega bonus points for accessibility.

Trauma Center: Second Opinion -- Winner for "Hello, nurse!", tied for "Original gameplay"

I missed out on the DS title, though now that I'm playing the Wii version I might have to borrow it from L and give it a shot. The game uses the wiimote to great effect as you use it to control various surgical implements. Cut open the patient, fix whatever is wrong, then patch 'em back up again. Of course, there's an anime tilt to all of it, so there's awkward romantic tension, latent super powers (bullet time), and chasing terrorists through Africa.

I know I'm giving "Original gameplay" to a sequel/remake, but I'm grouping both the DS and Wii titles together.

Also good, but not worth as many words:
There were tons of games this year that, while definitely being worth playing, didn't shine quite like the ones above. These are a few that I wanted to give at least a brief mention.

Castlevania: DoS (and, likely, PoR, not far enough to tell)
Chromehounds
Dead Rising
Final Fantasy III
Excite Truck

And the winner is...

Alright, alright... I can narrow down the #1 spot to a three-way tie, but I'm afraid I can't do better than that. GalCiv II, Okami and Final Fantasy XII, congratulations.