Since I don’t have the time, money or desire to play every game released within a year I tend to shy away from making statements about what the “game of the year” should be. But that will not stop me from talking about the games released this year that I played. It may look like I did not game much this year but I am not mentioning demos, betas, games released in other years. I am going to tackle them in the order in which I played them.

WoW Burning Crusade
Ok, yes it is just an expansion, but really this was the game of my 2007. I spent more time playing this than all the other games combined. And it was this expansion pulled me back in. BC is a great expansion with plenty to offer new and existing characters/players and along with the content updates Blizzard released throughout release I was continually pulled into the game world.

Crackdown
Cheer! I loved this game. Could the developers improve it, sure. But it was really a blast to play as it is. I think every adult with a 360 should play this.

Lotro
I wanted to like this game so much, I wanted it to pull me away from WoW. It did for a few weeks, and then it lost its luster. Yes it offers a few things that wow does not, and did a few others in ways I think are better than wow. Though in the end I found it was not that much different from Wow and so why not simply play wow. So I did.

Bioshock
The graphics, sounds, music, and dialog build an enviroment that while completely fiction felt real, and unnerving. The story is compelling as it unfolds and I loved having options on how to face each challenge. Where the game lacked was in how in consequential some choices you have to make ultimately impact the game, and how the in action sequence felt tacked on by a teenager. As much as I enjoyed this game that that “boss battle ” was lame.

Halo 3
I really should not comment on this. I don’t play FPSs on consoles, since I always feel I am hindered by the controls. But I have made an exception and have played the single player campaign in the Halo series, and enjoyed pretty much all my time doing so. I s Halo 3 good? Yes. Is it an improvement on the others? Yes; replay movies, editor, 4 player co-op make it so. But for me someone who plays only the campaign alone a single player, I found it to be more of the same and have not yet completed it.

Of course I am the exception.

Puzzle Quest
Match 3 puzzle game + RPG elements = a must buy for me. This game is simply awesome and I think it is another must have for anyone. (its out on every system I think)

Portal
Best 4 hours of gaming I have had in a very long time. Anyone who claims to be a gamer should play this wonderful first-person-puzzle-comedy-action game. Then when finished watch the credits.

Team Fortress 2
It has been a while since I have played any team based FPSs so its hard for me to compare this to recent releases, but I found this game to be basically spot on. The art and sound design capture the over the top action and the different classes provide enough variety and abilities to keep the game balanced and replayable.

Hellgate
The most bug filled, broken game I have enjoyed this year. Though the developers are working hard at addressing some issues, it still has too many problems for me to ever think of paying for a subscription.

Assassins creed
The incredible animation and city modeling you experience during the free running aspects of this game are worth at least renting the game. Alas the game becomes very repetive fairly quickly and ultimately, to me, kind of dull. Though for the sake of the thin sci-fi story hook I finished the game, only to have the designers kick me in the family jewels telling me to come back for the sequel if I want to know the end.

Mass Effect
*sigh* I wanted to like this game a whole lot more than I do. Do not get me wrong, I really enjoyed this interactive story and was entertained most of the time while I was playing and I recommend it to any RPG fan with an xbox360. I just wanted it to be much more smooth, a bit deeper in mechanics, and a lot more variety.

I wanted the planet bound segments to feature more variety of planets, ok any variety. How about a river, a city, a bit military base, a forest, some farmland, really anything except barren planets. I wanted there to be more interaction with my ships crew, and more and longer, more important feeling side quests with that crew. I wanted an inventory UI system that did not suck.

EQ2 Rise of Kunark
Yes I bought it, and I went back to EQ2 for about three weeks. It is signifigantly more fun that it was at launch, and offers a number of features other games don’t and should have; achievement xp, guild xp, trade xp, equipment slots just for show, and player housing. I really did enjoy the game, and if I had a group of friends looking to work through a fantasy MMO that was not WoW then I would suggest it. Alas it has the problem, for me, that all MMOs have; it lacks an engrossing story arc that has a beginning, middle and end. Instead the players get to “create” their own stories, that are perpetually stuck in the middle.

NWN2 Mask of the Betrayer
Technically I have not played this yet, but I have installed it and the latest NWN2 patches and am finally working my way through the original campaign. Thumbs up the game+xpack give DnD fans a great value, the game runs well and includes an extensive module creator.

I think that is it. Cya next year.