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Game of the Year 2007

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  • Game of the Year 2007

    So! From what I can see, every notable game to come this year is out there now, which means it's that time of the year again.....time to pick your damn game of this action packed fun filled year that has been two thousand and SEVEN!

    For me, i'm still undecided between two games. BioShock and Uncharted: Drakes Fortune.

    BioShock had been my serious contender since day one. It was fantastic. Everything about the game just pulled me in. It had a fantastic story, and a lot of extra story content driven by your own desire to find out about the background of Rapture (through finding audio diarys). The plasmids were an excellent mix to the gameplay, allowing you to enter combat scenarios with entirely different play styles and tactics. You could run into a situation guns blazing, or you could freeze/stun someone and come at them with your wrench, or you could hack a security bot to go with you.

    It had its flaws (clear cut line between good and evil endings which won't reward you for a change of heart that may very well happen to a few people half way through, some useless plasmids/weapons, some AI issues and the game being pretty easy due to Vita-Chambers) but, for the most of this fall, it was untouched by any other game in my opinion.

    Then I played Uncharted, the last big release on my radar and one which I was starting to lack faith in. Although I had been looking forward to it, a few play throughs of the demo had made me think "Day one purchase" to "Hmm, I dunno if I want or not".

    However, playing the final game was an excellent experience. The game is really damn good. It plays like a mix of Tomb Raider, Far Cry and Gears. The game looks really great, one of the most graphically impressive game on consoles. The platforming mechanics are very Tomb Raider, specifically the last two games in the series, Legend and Anniversary (which themselves take the mechanics from Prince of Persia/Ico). The jungle reminds me more of Far Cry than anything else, and that's not just because "it's a jungle". It seems like a stylised portrayal of a jungle enviroment which Far Cry also did, compared to, say, Crysis, which is a jungle enviroment done hyper realistic.

    The gunplay is Gears through and through, but in my opinion, Uncharted feels a lot more natural than Gears. It has the L1 to over sholder aim, R1 to fire from Gears (with the inclusion of the ability to switch sholders with L3, a feature I believe originated with GRAW), and weapons are mapped to the D-Pad, much like Gears. The cover system is also very similar to Gears, although everything is mapped between X and O instead of the one button for Gears. O allows you to roll, stick into cover, and run out of cover while X is to vault over cover. There is something more satisfying about cover in Uncharted though, it feels much tighter. In Gears, there were times when you really had to play it like a racing game if you were using roady run because if you got to close to a wall, you stuck into it. In Uncharted, i've never had this problem. If you roll toward cover, Nathan will automatically stick to it, rather than standing up and then hitting into it.

    The story is a standard Indiana Jones style affair. Lost treasure and a "everyday" treasure hunter who happens to be skilled in gunplay, climbing and speed boat usage. Good going Nate There is an under developed story element and something of a twist that I felt was coming, but wish they had done more with. I also doubt this will be expanded upon in Uncharted 2, so who knows what happened there. It didn't take away from the overall feeling that this game is something special.

    Now, there have been plenty of AAA games this fall, and i've made sure to play all that I could. There have also been some more accomplished titles, but overall, only Uncharted and BioShock made me feel like it was something different, special, above and beyond the call of duty for a AAA game.

    Some of the notable games that I played that I could see people picking include:

    BioShock
    Uncharted
    Call of Duty 4
    Halo 3
    Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
    Super Mario Galaxy
    Crysis
    The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
    Mass Effect
    Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles
    Medal of Honor Airborne
    Hellgate: London
    Silent Hill Origins
    Stranglehold
    The Orange Box (Half-Life 2 Episode 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2)
    Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
    World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
    Crackdown
    Ninja Gaiden Sigma
    S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl
    Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition
    Metroid Prime 3 Corruption
    Super Paper Mario
    Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
    Castlevania The Dracula X Chronicles
    Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations

  • #2
    Nice post! I enjoyed reading your views...
    Game of the Year for me?
    Hmmm, I'm not sure. I've been playing a lot of games that were released last year but from the ones from 2007 I'd have to say (in no particular order):
    God of War 2 (ps2)
    Dirt (ps3)
    Heavenly Sword (ps3)
    GTA:Vice City Stories (ps2)
    Uncharted (ps3)
    RE-Umbrella Chronicles (Wii)
    Burnout Dominator (ps2)

    In the next few days I'm getting Uncharted, a Wii & RE-UC and maybe 1 or 2 others, so I'll be having a fun filled Christmas game time

    Just a minor trivial point:
    The gunplay is Gears through and through, but in my opinion, Uncharted feels a lot more natural than Gears. It has the L1 to over sholder aim, R1 to fire from Gears (with the inclusion of the ability to switch sholders with L3, a feature I believe originated with GRAW), and weapons are mapped to the D-Pad, much like Gears. The cover system is also very similar to Gears, although everything is mapped between X and O instead of the one button for Gears. O allows you to roll, stick into cover, and run out of cover while X is to vault over cover.
    I think these features were pioneered in 'Kill Switch' (Namco, ps2). It's definitely worth checking out if you've never played it. It's a mad sort of cross between Time Crisis and MGS (on crazy pills). The duck and cover system lets you do all those things and when the shit hits the fan you can even fire blindly by sticking your gun over your head or around corners. It's not a brilliant game overall but the combat system alone makes it SO damn fun to play. It deserved a lot more attention than it received.
    Last edited by Skunky; 12-24-2007, 02:52 AM.

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    • #3
      Game of the year, eh?

      Either Bioshock or Guitar Hero 3, for 360.
      Call of Duty 4 for PC.
      Super Mario Galaxy for sure on Wii.

      Bioshock=seriously good setting, really sucks you in for hours on end.

      Call of Duty 4=sweet graphics and controls and an online mode that got me addicted. I hate most online games, but seriously, this one made me go nuts.

      Guitar hero 3=well, I like me some guitar hero...that's about it.

      And super mario galaxy simply because it's definitely one of the best 3D platformers of all time, not to mention my favorite 3D mario game of all time. Plus the 2 player is nice, considering it keeps someone waiting to play active in the game, yet not dominant or anything.

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      • #4
        Mine has to go to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl. I've been following the game for many years and it was great to finally see it get released. I've been reading all the short stories about "The Zone" for so long it really was great to finally get to play it. While the game had some serious bugs at launch I stuck through it and it was one of the most immersive games I've played. Being a junkie for derelict buildings and sci-fi end of the world scenarios the game just struck a cord with me.

        I suppose I'm also a little biased towards it since it was from a little known dev, and wasn't exactly a huge seller. I guess I like rooting for the underdog Anyway, it definitely gets my GOTY.
        Last edited by Dot50Cal; 12-12-2007, 11:33 PM.

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        • #5
          Mass Effect for me hands down. While I do love Orange Box, Mass Effect delivered just like I hoped it would.

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          • #6
            bioshock (or god of war 2)

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            • #7
              Call of Duty 4, evenmore so online.
              Finally playing 1.5. Woo-Hoo!!!

              sigpic

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              • #8
                I like bioshock but really, it is just System Shock set underwater so I can't vote for that.

                Call of Duty 4 maybe, or Super Mario Galaxy.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by The Dude View Post
                  I like bioshock but really, it is just System Shock set underwater so I can't vote for that.
                  Why does that mean you can't vote for it?

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                  • #10
                    Cause years ago I voted for System Shock (jk.)

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                    • #11
                      Mine is Burnout revenge and Gears of war.

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                      • #12
                        Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass

                        I haven't been playing much that was actually released this year, but Z:TPH was great
                        sigpic

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                        • #13
                          Console: BioShock
                          This game oozed atmosphere and I just enjoyed every minute of it. I even stopped playing it with fear of it ending. Although some may argue it's almost System Shock 2 but in a different setting, BioShock was definitely my most anticipated and most enjoyed game of the year.

                          Portable: Silent Hill Origins
                          Who would've thought a portable horror game could be almost as scary (or even scarier) than their console counterparts? I must praise Climax for bringing a console exclusive genre to the handheld and not losing anything in the translation.

                          Furthermore, Mass Effect almost would've been my GOTY but it's just so unimaginative outside of the main storyline. All the sidequests are extremely similar and it's not as "open" or dynamic as the original press statements had you believe. Furthermore, Orange Box is also a pretty harsh contender, since it's essentially 2 old games packaged with 3 games that should be nominated separately, not as a package. I don't think it's very fair.
                          Last edited by James; 12-23-2007, 07:31 AM.

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                          • #14
                            Handheld there's no competition, it's Zelda, by a mile.

                            On the home consoles, nothing came close to touching The Orange Box for me. But an honourable mention to F.E.A.R. Files.

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                            • #15
                              I'm going with BioShock. There are a lot of similarities between it and System Shock, and I really wish one of them would explain the bloody ghosts. But it doesn't take away from what a good game it is. The storyline is good and origional, and while I did see the one of the twists comming it took me a long time to work out what it was. I sure as hell didn't get the second one until after.

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