Welcome to part 1 of my top 10 games of 2007. I’m going to work my way backwards from #10 to #1.
10. Rockband (PS3/360)
Rock Band is a recent release of the year, but it’s one that should be on everyone’s list. Rock Band is the ultimate party game. Combine Karoke Revolution, Guitar Hero and drums and you’ve got something for everyone to play. The music selection is varied, and the presentation is absolutely top notch. I expect this game to have a lot of legs well into next year, especially with the weekly support of downloadable content.
9. Company of Heroes (PC)
The first time you fire up Company of Heroes you’ll marvel at the detail and animation of the game’s characters an environment. Then you’ll realize you can use your little mouse wheel and zoom all the way down to street level and see even MORE detail. The best thing about this RTS is it’s focus on action and the units. There’s no resource gathering here, it’s all about building up your army and conquering the enemy.
8. Heavenly Sword (PS3)
From a purely game play standpoint Heavenly Sword doesn’t bring much new to the table. But what is there is very solid. What the game really excels at though is story telling and character detail. You will be hard pressed to find a more detailed facial expression system than the one found in Heavenly Sword. Even Mass Effect which looks gorgeous in it’s own right can’t hold a candle to the emotion that was conveyed by the characters facial expressions in Heavenly Sword.
7. Crackdown (360)
Crackdown is one of those games that if it was released later in the year it would be on a lot of people’s GOTY lists. But having been released in February it’s going to get glossed over quite a bit. Crackdown redefined what it means to be a sandbox game by setting players in a futuristic city in control of a character with super powers. Anyone who played the game remembers that first giant leap from building to building, or climbing the Agency Tower and looking out over the entire city. The game was an amazing technical marvel. Not only that but it provided some of the most fun I’ve ever had in a game via online Co-Op play. Many people picked this one up for the Halo 3 Beta, and after playing it many people spent more time on Crackdown than they did in the H3 Beta.
6. Portal (PC/360/PS3)
Portal was packaged in with the Half-Life: Orange Box set, which was probably the best value in gaming. Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 1, Half-Life 2 Epside 2, Team Fortress 2 and Portal all for under $60! The funny thing about it is, Portal was the game everyone thought was a tack-on, and it turns out Portal was by far the best game of the bunch. The game is a 3-D puzzler of sorts where you need to get form point A to point B by placing two inter connecting Portals. It forces you to think outside the realm of normalcy to solve the puzzles presented. What makes Portal so enticing is the atmosphere and character. Set in a Test-Lab you are guided by GlaDOS to your goal of testing out the Portal gun for Aperature Science. Everything here is top notch, and if there’s one downside to Portal it’s the fact the game only lasts under 2 hours. The game spawned an internet catch phrase (the Cake is a lie), the companion cube craze, and a song so catchy everyone wanted to sing it.
5. Mario Galaxy (Wii)
From the moment you turn Mario Galaxy on you know the game is going to win the hearts over of many gamers. The game features Mario on the path to rescue Princess Peach who was captured by Bowser and wisked away across the galaxy. It’s your job to go from galaxy to galaxy and then jump from little planet to little planet to gather up lost stars. The design, the colors, the controls are all top notch. This is one game every Wii owner shouldn’t be without.
Be on the lookout for the top 4 games of the year later this week.
