Personal games of the year?

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=bluemonkey]

Lots of 360 games I know.  You could call me a fanboy but I didn't pay any money for my 360 and got nearly all the games for half price through plenty of bargains.

[/QUOTE]

Well, to be fair, if you're not playing handhelds, the 360 was where it was at this year.  Were they even other consoles this year before Novemeber (I think I heard a few worthwhile things from the PS2, and the Gamecube had a game, maybe two, I suppose).

 

I keep hearing how Microsoft wasted a year in forums and stuff, and I wonder how it's possible to think that.  In all honesty, Xbox Live Arcade was probably better than the PS2 and Gamecube, and I think it alone is still better than the PS3.  Once the actual 360 games are factored in, it wasn't a close year at all regarding which system had the best library.

 

By the way Monkey, is Heavy Weapon a good game?  It looks really old school.

[Leo Ames]

Xbox Live Arcade is a disappointment and underutilized in the eyes of many, sorry but one good PS2 game like Ace Combat Zero was better than all of 2006's XBLA releases. At least 2007 is looking a little brighter though.

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=Leo Ames]Xbox Live Arcade is a disappointment and underutilized in the eyes of many, sorry but one good PS2 game like Ace Combat Zero was better than all of 2006's XBLA releases. At least 2007 is looking a little brighter though.[/QUOTE]
Galaga, PacMan, Street Fighter 2, Dig Dug, Frogger, Contra, Defender, Joust, and Robotron were all released this year with world wide leaderboards on Xblox Live Arcade. There, I just completely refuted your post.  Oh, as well, you can download Doom and play through it co-op online or play deathmatches online.  How is that under-utilized?

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=Atarifever][QUOTE=Leo Ames]Xbox Live Arcade is a disappointment and underutilized in the eyes of many, sorry but one good PS2 game like Ace Combat Zero was better than all of 2006's XBLA releases. At least 2007 is looking a little brighter though.[/QUOTE]
Galaga, PacMan, Street Fighter 2, Dig Dug, Frogger, Contra, Defender, Joust, and Robotron were all released this year with world wide leaderboards on Xblox Live Arcade. There, I just completely refuted your post.  Oh, as well, you can download Doom and play through it co-op online or play deathmatches online.  How is that under-utilized?
[/QUOTE]

Many of those games weren't very good ports.

 

I did like a few of the games on XBLA this year, but I don't think there were that many overall.  Time Pilot, Galaga, and Smash TV were about it for me.  Frogger was decent enough I gues.  But I absolutely HATED the Pac-Man port.  I really tried to like it.

[bluemonkey1]

Those ports were perfect.  For me though XBLA rocks for all the original games coming out on it.  I have no points left so have only played the demo of Heavy Weapon.  I was very impressed.  The menus, storyling and little animations all have a great over the top 1980s style gung ho-ness to them and it's very tongue in cheek.  In the game the screen constantly scrolls right and you move left and right along the ground.  In the opening level I played various enemy aircraft fly back and forth across the screen firing down on you.  Supply aircraft move across quite often and it makes it a lot more challenging trying to take the enemies out without hitting your own planes.  The graphics are very sharp and the gameplay is fast.  It has that cool 2D style of the DC shooter Radilgy/Radirgy.  A good game for sure, whether it is a great game will depend on later levels but I honestly think it will be.

One HUGE recommendation is Mutant Storm Reloaded which in my opinion is much better than Geometry Wars.  It's like Robotron with rooms and enemy waves.  The visual style and the music are amazing and the enemy designs are great.

The Assault Heroes demo is well worth checking out if you haven't already.  Scrolling shooter with 360 firing arc, a bit like Expendable or Cannon Spike perhaps (haven't played them but I thought they were like that)?

Reasons why XBLA is great: Marble Blast Ultra, Wik, Mutant Storm Reloaded, Assault Heroes, Outpost Kaloki X, Heavy Weapon, Lumines Live (with all the packs it is half the price of Lumines 2), Geometry Wars, Hexic, Cloning Clyde, Doom, Feeding Frenzy, Roboblitz, Texas Hold Em, Gauntlet and Jewel Quest.

Personally I can't wait for some of the upcoming games Hoopworld, N+, Castle Crashers, Mutant Storm Empire and all the classic board games.

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=bluemonkey]Those ports were perfect.[/QUOTE]

They most decidedly were NOT perfect.  The controls on the Pac-Man game were particularly harsh.  When something as accurate as the XBOX 360 controller is utilized in a fashion where it becomes LESS accurate than the arcade joystick original, you know something is wrong.

 

Additionally, there were no switch options to speed the game up early on, which is how the arcade games almost always became presented later on.  The Ms. Pac-Man port was easier to control than the Pac-Man, but lacked that essential feature.

 

Time Pilot was indeed a perfect port though.

[Paul Campbell]

Mine are:

New Super Mario Bros.  (I think it is the better than Super Mario 3 at this point, but I should probably go back and replay 3, cause it's been a little while)

007:Agent Under Fire (GC)  (I know it's old, but the multiplayer in this game rocks, especially the one where you kill or protect the VIP.  I've literally played all night)

Mario Kart Double Dash:  (Infectious graphics, gameplay, and music.  Tons of replay value)

Twilight Princess  (I also am not enjoying this quite as much as Wind Waker, in fact I have decided to go through WW again when I finish Twilight Princess, but kudos to Nintendo to really digging into the story this time.  And the dual claw-shot is a blast under pressure!)

Dragon Warrior (NES)  I don't like RPG's, but something about this one, maybe its simplicity, makes it MUCH more fun to me, I'm finding it hard to put down)

Elebits (Wii)  (Very creative game.  The only complaints I have are a: I wish some items actually took damage when I throw them around  b: I with there was a 2 player cooperative mode instead of just a high-score mode)

Wii Sports    (Now I forever have something to do when boring people come over to my house, challenge them to a game of tennis!)

I don't have a 360 or PS3, so I am obviously biased.  I watched a friend play Gears of War the other day though, and it looked AMAZING.

[Adamant1]

Wii Sports (Wii): Must've been the most played in the dorms since I got it. Tennis is crazy fun, Golf is a good second.

Legend of Zelda - The Wind Waker (GC): Okay, it's not new, but I never beat it back then, and am currently replaying it. Great focus on exploration, beautifully designed temples and dungeons, and interesting NPCs (the figurine quest adds a lot to these characters). Could've been better, the fun is very condensed, and a lot of islands are boring and uneventful, but it IS a great game.

Pac'n Roll (DS): Criminally underrated "platformer". One of the better DS games out there.

Final Fantasy III (DS): As a remake, it adds little but prettier graphics. As a game, it's excellent. In the end, it's awesome.

Gunstar Future Heroes (GBA): Should've been less remake and more sequel. Still, it's Gunstar, so it's got to be good, right. Certainly is.

Mega Man X Collection (GC/PS2): 3 of the finest shooter-platformer out there (MMX, MMX3 and MMX4), plus the pretty damn good MMX2 and the surprisingly fun Mega Man Battle 6 Chase. Oh, and X5 and X6, but they're crap, so screw them.

Mario Power Tennis (GC): Okay, I'm cheating again, since I got this shortly before New Years 2005-06, but whatever. One of the best multiplayer games ever. Single player is pretty boring, though, and it's not thaaat much better than Mario Tennis (but hey, it's Tennis, what can you do?).

Mario Kart DS (uh, DS): Most excellent, dude! Yeah, it's good. More stages than ever, the new stages are good, unlike the majority of the Double Dash crap, and I can race my friends online too. What's there not to love?

Midway Arcade Treasures (GC): Not as good as Activision Anthology for the GBA. Still more fun in here than most other games you can find today. Ad I got to try Bubbles for the first time, and instantly fell in love with it.

Guitar Hero 2 (PS2): Second most played game in the dorms. Love it.

Tsukihime (PC): Best game ever, period. Not that much less gameplay than Metal Gear Solid either (and the plot blows MGS out of the water).

[Adamant1]

Also, worst game of the year, since that's an interesting point of discussion as well:

Dun dun

Sonic Riders (GC/PS2(/Xbox?)): The Critic was too overbearing with it, this crap is an instant F. Completely unplayable.

[m0zart1]

I can see that we are not worried about whether or not the games were actually released this year.  Having acknowledged that, I would put these games on the list, in order from best to worst:

 

1. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii/GC) -- The Wii version is the best, but the GC version is great too.
2. Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! and Elite Beat Agents (DS) -- Fantastic games... even in Japanese nothing is lost in translation.  The American version of the game above has the same kind of gameplay, but all new players and all new content.
3. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (XBOX) -- Being a big Lovecraft fan, I have seen countless attempts at taking his stories outside of literature and put into another medium fail and fail miserably.  I had no hopes for this game at all.  What a pleasant surprise it was when it absolutely rocked my world.  It is very rare that Lovecraft fans are treated this well.
4. Trauma Center: Under the Knife (DS) -- I have had an incredible amount of fun attempting to get S-rankings on all of the surgeries.
5. Time Pilot (XBLA) -- This is probably one of the best updated releases of an old arcade game I've ever encountered.  Putting the facelift of graphics and sound on top of it, but keeping the same basic core gameplay engine to drive it all, was ingenious.  And since the facelift is optional, I can play it in its original arcade splendor as well.  This is also the first game that has ever made me enjoy multiplayer gaming.
6. Condemned: Criminal Origins (XBOX 360) -- I love horror games, and this one is extremely tense throughout.  I usually don't go for first-person perspective games, but along with Call of Cthulhu, this one has helped dissolve that bias.
7. Siren 2 (PS2 -- import) -- The first Siren challenged my memory and observation skills in a way no other video game had ever done before.  I went through great effort to get this and to play it after receiving it, and though it was not as challenging as the first one, it was very much a great game that challenged both the powers of my mind and sensibilities.  There's literally nothing like matching wits with chess-playing zombies.
8. Wii Sports (Wii) -- I am addicted to Tennis in Wii Sports.  I can't seem to put it down.  It's odd how such a simple premise can be so addictive, but this one has me by the @#$%.
9. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) -- It was sure nice to have a traditional Mario platformer after all these years.  It wasn't the best game of the year, but it was the perfect length and challenge level.
10. Excite Truck (Wii) -- I don't care what anyone else says about this racer, I absolutely love it.  I love both the stearing controls, and the ability to control jumps and leaps using simple motion controls.  Once you grow used to them, they really provide a punch.