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.

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For your everyday onlooker, Geometry Wars isn’t exactly that impressive to glance at. It’s a game though that once you begin to play, you truly understand its beauty. It comes as no surprise that many websites picked Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved as one of the Xbox 360 must have launch titles. So while Xbox 360 fans have been itching for a true sequel, it’s Wii owners who get it first with Geometry Wars: Galaxies.

The beauty of the original Geometry Wars was it’s simplicity. As a dual analog shooter (left stick moves, right stick shoots) the game was easy to pick up and play. The problem (if any) with the original was that once you got to a certain point in the game, it never changed or got more difficult. Galaxies sets to fix that with multiple level layouts, more enemy varieties, and even multiplayer. The core difference in Galaxies’ gameplay is how the multiplayer works. In the original Geometry Wars, you earned a multiplier (2x,3x,4x,etc) by killing multiple enemies in a row without dieing. In Galaxies your multiplier works by collecting Geoms. What are Geoms? Geoms are little pieces of badguys left behind after destroying them. Besides increasing your multiplier (which still reset to 0 when dieing), the Geoms serve as the in game currency to unlock levels and new abilities for your AI. That’s right, the other major additional gameplay mechanic is your little sidekick. The little guy, I call him Fred, follows you around and assists in the levels. Fred can be upgraded to perform various functions, whether that’s shoot where you are shooting, or become an auto turret and take down those pesky geometries. There’s about 10 different functions that he can serve, all which can be upgraded by killing baddies.

Galaxies is broken up into, surprise, galaxies! Each galaxy offers different planets to unlock and each planet has it’s own point total goals, enemies, and layouts. The layouts of the levels can vary between your normal square to one of many non standard shapes, both big and small. There’s lots of neat little things that happen on levels. Some levels have moving geometry which you have to work around. Others have enemies that lay down mines which you can trigger to set off chain reactions. And of course, there’s just the tried and true GW formula of shoot everything and never stop moving.

The one main problem with Galaxies is the game is a dual analog shooter without dual analog sticks. The developers made an admirable attempt to utilize the Wii controls to kind of use a point and shoot hybrid type control scheme. Unfortunately the Wii controller simply can’t provide a smoother circular motion and feels like a constant battle to aim and shoot where you want to. The Classic Controller becomes a necessity, but even then, I find the analog sticks and the hard corners of it detrimental to the fast pace of Geometry Wars.

Despite the controller flaws, the game is still Geometry Wars at heart, and that’s a good thing. The planets are very intuitive, and the unlocking nature of seeing what happens next is incredibly addictive. Add in co-op and versus play and the ability to link the game up to the DS and you’ve got a full value package at $39.99. The bottom line is this… if you are an arcade shooter fan - you need this game.

Score:
4 out of 5

Marble Madness pioneered a new genre of gaming back in 1984 on the Atari. Combining platforming, puzzle solving and incredible patience it was your job to navigate your marble from one end of the level to another. The game inspired numerous titles like Super Monkey Ball, Marble Blast Ultra and Mercury Meltdown. The latter was a launch title on the PSP and received fairly positive reviews and now Ignition Entertainment brings a sequel to the Nintendo’s Wii called Mercury Meltdown Revolution. I guess they didn’t get the memo it’s now called the Wii.

The basic premise of Mercury Meltdown is simple. Navigate your blob of mercury through various levels to reach an end goal as fast as possible. It sounds very straight forward, but there are plenty of curves in this game which add some strategy and puzzle solving elements.

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Back in May of 2006 I wrote a review of Rockstar’s Table Tennis. The game came out just as the Wii hype was taking place, and people immediately said - “Why isn’t this coming out on the Wii?” Fast forward to today when the game finally makes an appearance on Nintendo little white console. But is it the game people hoped it would be? Not quite.

For the most part the game remains completely unchanged in terms of content. There’s still the same characters, courts and outfits to unlock. In fact the entire single player campaign is identical to the Xbox 360 counterpart. Where the game differs is the online multi player component, namely there isn’t one on the Wii. Read the rest of this entry »

One more reason that WiiFit simply looks not fun. Stephen Totilo of MTV News found out that by sitting on the WiFit board you can do all the same “exercises” as you can while standing. Of course…my fat ass won’t fit on that thing!

The Multiplayer Blog has the full story.

So a week later (more if you count the demo) and I’m still playing Crackdown like a crazy penguin fool. The game has seriously taken over multiple aspects of my life. I’ve even gone as far as to discuss actual happenings in Pacific City with my Co-Workers and friends as if they were real. The game simply is the best sandbox game to come out in a long time.

On another note I was reading Ozy’s blog today and noticed he mentioned how he got to a certain point in Zelda and just stopped. I can echo is sediment, as myself as well stopped playing Zelda as soon as my broken 360 returned. Since then I haven’t gone back and gamed on the Wii much at all in fact. It’s really a shame, because the Wii is a solid little system; but for whatever reason it just isn’t for me. Sure there are certain games and experiences that I find enjoyable on it, but when I compare my feelings for it to what some of these people on the Internet think about it, I often wonder…what am I missing?

On a side note, I played some of the PS3 demo kiosk this weekend and I can honestly say I’m glad I did. I’ve been on edge about getting a PS3 for a month or so now, and was really close to pulling the trigger a few times. After playing the kiosk I can honestly say I’m not missing anything, and don’t see myself missing anything for at least a few months. Motorstorm was simply not all its cracked up to be. It’s basically ATV Offroad fury with trucks and buggies and bikes. There’s nothing innovative about the racer at all IMO. Yes the graphics are solid. Why is that? They have an amazing texture artist and a fairly easy terrain palette to work with. Is it better looking than say something like Gears of War? I don’t think so, maybe on the same level, but artistically not even close.

With my XBox 360 down and out, I’ve been playing the Wii more and more. Most notably The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has been getting most of my time. Honestly I’m just not having that much fun with the game. There are moments of brilliance during it, and the graphics are actually pretty decent (with the component cables), but the controls at time get annoying, and I find myself almost feeling limited by the lack of buttons on the controller. The combat just feels too simple, and the puzzles for the most part have been uninspiring. I also find myself despising any of the parts where you play as the wolf.

I also got a copy of Dragon BallZ: Budokai 2 for the Wii from Atari. I’ve never been a fan of DBZ, and playing this game reminds me why. The game is essentially a fighting game with insanely large arenas to fight in, and the way the controls work on the Wii are quite frustrating. To begin with you have 1 attack button, and then a secondary move button that you hold and do gestures with the Wii-mote to complete special moves. The game essentially becomes button mashing without any buttons to mash. Here, try this. Hold both arms up in the air. Now wave your right arm uncontrollably while pressing your thumb down over and over and over again. That’s what playing this game is like. There’s also this annoying quirk where if you don’t sit/stand close enough to your TV, a big white message comes on your screen telling you to move closer. No thank you, I’d like to keep my distance.

I also tried a bit of Red Steel this weekend and found the controls simply attrocious. The fact that you need to move to the end of the screen to turn, and the looseness of the aiming. I will say the presentation is pretty nice, but the graphics are severly lacking.

Finally I’ve been playing a ton of Wii sports. Mostly just Bowling and Home Run Derby. Everything else on the game simply is too inconsistant for my tastes. Especially Golf, Boxing and sometimes Tennis. Bowling is damn near perfect, and truly shows a great use of the Wii-mote. Home Run Derby is a blast as well, but there are a few tricks you can do (sometimes accidently) that cause you to hit the ball REALLY far without actually swinging.

Overall the Wii is not living up to the hype for me. The initial offering shows quite a few shortcomings in the Wii control system. I’m hoping most of it is a software issue, and that as developers get more and more familiar with the Wii they’ll put out more solid offerings with more consistant controls.

I just got word from a source in distribution that a whole bunch of Wii systems and accessories, including those impossible to find Wii-motes, should be hitting retail shelves late this week or early next week. Those of you still looking for either the system or accessories should start looking come Thursday.