Category Archives: Xbox

Best of 2006, Games, GOTY, Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox

GOTY Late Additions

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It’s always a risk when deciding on your games of the year before 31st December (and especially before 25th December) that something will come along that could or should have made the list, had you only played it a month before. So instead of going back and messing with the whole list, here’s a handful of latecomers that deserve a mention and had a shout of making the list:

  • Final Fantasy V Advance (GBA) – The first of two Final Fantasies, and one from back in the glory years which FFIV began a year earlier (yes, they used to make one a year). RPGs and portables often aren’t the best of bedfellows, but couple this with a Game Boy Micro and you have a top combination. A machine small enough for you to forget that you have it and a deep game that actually lets you make decent progress on the commute go together nicely, and it helps that this is one of the stronger instalments in the series. Bring on FFVI Advance in February!
  • Final Fantasy XII (PS2) – FFXI aside, this is probably the biggest breaks from the formula for a major series that I’ve ever seen. At first I wasn’t completely convinced by the MMORPG influence (MMO combat is completely inane, and the only reason to do it is because it’s with real people – why would I play it with AI characters?), but a few hours in, once you have a party and the Gambit system in place, it just clicks. Had I played it earlier this could probably have made the top five.
  • Viva Piñata (360) – If I was doing special awards this would have been a shoo-in for both surprise of the year and best game nobody played. I certainly expected it to be rubbish, but quite the contrary. Playing like a cross between The Sims and Animal Crossing (neither of which I’m a massive fan of, oddly), it’s surprisingly addictive and paced well enough that you never go long without unlocking a new Pi?ata or other item, ensuring that you have an incentive to keep playing. Best of all, it’s an Animal Crossing-style game that doesn’t use a real-time clock, so you sidestep the issue of having to go back to a weed-filled garden after a few days of downtime.

All of those are worth a look. And I’m so glad that bloody feature is out of the way for another year.

Best of 2006, Games, GOTY, Xbox

Best of 2006 #3: Gears of War

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Gears of War

Of all the games on here, this is the one that, almost above all, had to be good. Despite positive previews it was really an unknown quantity until launch, and without Halo 3 until next year it was the 360’s big gun for its first Christmas with direct competition. And while it wasn’t perfect, Epic did a fabulous job and laid the foundation for Microsoft’s latest big franchise.

Just to get it out of the way, Gears looks amazing. It’s certainly the technically most impressive console game I’ve ever seen, and until Crysis it’s debateable that even the PC has anything to match it. Look at the caverns in Act 3, and I defy you to tell me that it doesn’t look stunning.

While the campaign isn’t the longest in the world, while it doesn’t act on the potential of its story, and while the macho stereotypes are tired (though slightly tongue-in-cheek, which helps), what it does have is a refreshing take on the usual run and gun shooters and some of the most visceral and satisfying combat in any game, that is even better when played online with a friend. The chainsaw bayonet is an obvious and ludicrous example, but it works in this context where even the destroyed opulence around you is larger than life.

I doubt that Gears will have the legs that the Halo games have had, but nonetheless this is a lesson in how to do a next generation game. After this and Rainbow Six Vegas, expect every shooter in the next three years to have some kind of cover mechanic. If you didn’t like it in this game, you’re screwed.

Best of 2006, Games, GOTY, PC games, Xbox

Best of 2006 #4: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

I love my immersive, coherent worlds, me. Make a good one of those and you’re halfway onto my top ten of the year list. One of the best ones won last year, in fact. This is also one of the best.

The scale of Oblivion is the amazing thing. As I type this I’m playing Final Fantasy V Advance, originally released in 1992, and it strikes me that what was a large game then can now be done in full 3D, fully voiced with proper actors, and just looking absolutely phenomenal. It had technical issues that were maybe symptomatic of overreaching on current hardware – or possibly unfamiliarity with it – but the magnitude of Bethesda’s vision was just phenomenal.

But give an ambitious and talented team the time and budget (and possibly the Lord of the Rings licence), and this shows what you can get. The moment when you first walk out of the sewers and up the hill – possibly getting held up or attacked by an ogre on the way – to look back at the city you’ve just come from is burnt indelibly into the memories of everyone who saw it, whatever they thought of the game.

Memorable towns and innumerable settlements and landmarks that can be endlessly explored make a great game, marred only by some technical quibbles. It’s unmissable.

Best of 2006, Games, GOTY, PC games, PlayStation, Xbox

Best of 2006 #7: Hitman Blood Money

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Hitman: Blood Money

Perhaps one of my more controversial choices, this was the first Hitman game that I ever played at any length and turned into a surprising favourite. In fact, I think it’s the only game this year that I’ve been moved to play through more than once.

It’s not spectacular looking or anything like that (‘clean’ is really the only superlative that applies to the 360 version, impressive Mardi Gras level aside); it just ticks the boxes that made me enjoy the Splinter Cell games so much. As you’re funnelled along through the story, it gives just enough room for improvisation to make multiple playthroughs feel different. I’m replaying the second level in my head now, and I can think of at least three different ways to approach the first target alone, and the elusive Silent Assassin ranking provides an effective carrot to the same perfectionist in me that Sam Fisher kept tempting.

I’ve heard from fans of the series that Blood Money is one of the best, so I hope that Eidos and IO can give 47 a proper next-gen runout. I’d love to see what they can do with these inventive scenarios when they properly tap into that extra power.

(Merry Christmas)

Best of 2006, Games, GOTY, PC games, Xbox

Best of 2006 #9: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

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Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Ah, the token Tom Clancy appearance. You just can’t stop the guy.

Deserving credit both for turning me onto the Ghost Recon series (or sub-series?) and helping to end the terminal drought of software for the 360 earlier this year, it still stands out as one of the games that looks and plays like something really next-gen. Don’t agree? Just look at how dreadful the Xbox and PS2 versions turned out.

As well as looking stunning and delivering a believable near-future setting, GRAW also brought with it one of the better multiplayer suites of the year. As well as the basic deathmatches, this included the immensely satisfying co-op mode with support for up to 16 players: the mode singularly responsible for the odd number that is my gamerscore. Annoying, but still top fun.

Like Rainbow Six Vegas, GRAW did a superb job of making what had previously been somewhat esoteric games and making them accessible to us normal people. And once the campaign was out of the way it became one of the few games that could tempt us away from COD2 multiplayer. That takes some doing.

Best of 2006, Games, GOTY, Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox

Best of 2006

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It’s that time again. There are only ten days of 2006 remaining and, as I did last year, I’ll be running through my top ten of 2006. These are my favourites of the year, with the rule being that they had to be released in one of the three major territories and played by me at some point between 1st January and 31st December 2006, Anno Domini.

This time last year I’d spoken about the unusually high number of hardware launches making it a particularly strong year, but now that 2006 has brought with it the DS Lite, PlayStation 3, and Wii – as well as the 360 really hitting its stride – last year looks almost anaemic by comparison.

There was quite a scuffle for top spot and some debate over whether Street Fighter Alpha Anthology should get a spot (it didn’t: as great as it was, excellent value for money doesn’t hide the fact that the newest of those games is pushing ten), but the best of this year almost picked itself for me, with some great next-gen titles and the old guard looking for a good send off as well. I welcome all feedback as it comes.