Game of the Year 2007: your choices

[Lunchbox]

2007 came and went, and theres no doubt we came across many many many great games last year. What would you consider to be your personal GotY?

I think mine would be hands down Rock Band. I was always a GH fanboy but Rock Band just did everything better than the GH series. Everything. The music selection, the world tour mode, the in-game concert experience, everything. I've also yet to run in to someone who's come over to my place and didn't like playing Rock Band. Its the kind of game everyone can get into and is tons of fun on all instruments. The continuous DLC songs coming every week just continues to extend the fun too. Just a great experience overall.

Honorable mention: Call of Duty 4. Probably the best FPS I've ever played.

[Veggita2099]

Of all the games I played in 2007 I would have to say Mario Galaxy was probably the most enjoyable.

My honorable mention would be Bioshock.

I would like to mention I haven't played Call of Duty 4 yet so I can't really say on it. I would love to Say Half-Life 2 Orange box but that wasn't really a 2007 release.

[MetalGearRay]

Call of Duty 4.

[Calavera]

It's funny how everybody picks games that were recently released (Q4 2007) for the game of the year. I'm surprised nobody picked "Classic British Motor Racing" for the Wii as game of the year.

[melancholy]

I'm going to have to go with Super Mario Galaxy. I've already beat it once with all 120 stars, and now I'm another 60 stars into another game. I will freely admit that I hated this game at first, but once I was 20 stars in, I found myself loving it more with every star. It became an obsession, evoking a feeling I haven't had since back when Mario 64 was released. It was like a purging of the series, striping away all the filler and leaving only the essence of enjoyable gameplay. And hey, my wife loves collecting star bits, so it is the first game in history where I can get my wife to play along with me.

Actually, for me, this has been a fairly weak year for games. Looking at my shelf, there isn't really anything there that stands out as noteworthy. Orange Box was good, but I really only liked it for Portal. Skate was amazing, but became repetitive too fast. Assassin's Creed was also excellent, but also became repetitive. And Odin's Sphere look spectacular, but the gameplay didn't interest me. Last year was a much better year for games.

Or I should say console games, because this was a killer year for handhelds. My DS received more gametime than any of my consoles. Phoenix Wright, Hotel Dusk, Phantom Hourglass, Rune Factory, Puzzle Quest, and Sim City DS were all excellent games that gave me way more gameplay than any console game has offered this year.

[Calavera]

Wait, now which one is it?

Unfortunately, this has been a really, really good year for video game releases, which translates into a really bad year for my Dreamcast. Last year you would find me breaking out Headhunter and Ikaruga every once in a while, but there was so many new games coming out this year that my days have been filled with new releases.

Actually, for me, this has been a fairly weak year for games. Looking at my shelf, there isn't really anything there that stands out as noteworthy. Orange Box was good, but I really only liked it for Portal. Skate was amazing, but became repetitive too fast. Assassin's Creed was also excellent, but also became repetitive. And Odin's Sphere look spectacular, but the gameplay didn't interest me. Last year was a much better year for games.

[melancholy]

Wait, now which one is it?

Unfortunately, this has been a really, really good year for video game releases, which translates into a really bad year for my Dreamcast. Last year you would find me breaking out Headhunter and Ikaruga every once in a while, but there was so many new games coming out this year that my days have been filled with new releases.

Actually, for me, this has been a fairly weak year for games. Looking at my shelf, there isn't really anything there that stands out as noteworthy. Orange Box was good, but I really only liked it for Portal. Skate was amazing, but became repetitive too fast. Assassin's Creed was also excellent, but also became repetitive. And Odin's Sphere look spectacular, but the gameplay didn't interest me. Last year was a much better year for games.

Both. There has been a ton of good games released this year that I have played through, as I have mentioned. But compared to last years Final Fantasy XII, Oblivion, Twilight Princess, Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, Kingdom Hearts II, and Okami, this year's releases simply do not compete.

For handhelds, though, this has been an awesome year. Best year yet for the DS.

[MulletMan13]

Jesus... there were a lot of games I really enjoyed this year:

Super Mario Galaxy
BioShock
Portal
Mass Effect

Out of all the games, I would have to say BioShock was the most enjoyable to play. The story REALLY brought me in there, I absolutely loved the atmosphere created, and the whole game felt very fresh. Halo 3 was the most enjoyable multiplayer experience for me... although I haven't really played CoD4 quite yet.

Mario Galaxy was just plain fun, but I've never had a game draw me in as much as BioShock did. I've still yet to really finish Galaxy, I murdered the last Bowser, but I'd like to get all 120 stars [and play through again with the alt.] Mel, I assume thats what you're doing for your second play through... does it feel a bit different?

[|darc|]

Super Mario Galaxy and Portal.

[Wagh]

I don't think I played anything this year that made me want to play for more than a week. Most titles were fun and interesting but quick and easy. The big game I was excited about was BioShock. That quickly subsided when I came to terms with the fact that I had not gotten a duplicate of System Shock 2.

Edit: I take that back.
Rock Band is actually fun and worth replaying.

[MulletMan13]

I don't think I played anything this year that made me want to play for more than a week. Most titles were fun and interesting but quick and easy. The big game I was excited about was BioShock. That quickly subsided when I came to terms with the fact that I had not gotten a duplicate of System Shock 2.

Edit: I take that back.
Rock Band is actually fun and worth replaying.

Do you mean that it quickly subsided when you came to terms that you had gotten a duplicate of System Shock 2?

I played through System Shock 2 after BioShock initially came out, and although they have a TON of the same elements, BIoShock's story, presentation, and playability are so much better (of course thats to be expected with the same developers maturing, new hardware, and years of polish).

I do agree that everything was very short/easy. I really want to play through BioShock again on 'Hard', and get all the audio diaries, but I also don't think anything would really change since you can respawn whenever you die. There isnt much of a penalty if you die in the game, but I think it's for the better the first playthrough... if I had actually died in some points and had to repeat section upon section, I would just end up getting pissed off. Also if it was much longer I don't think I would have been as interested as I was. It was very short and sweet, and I am happy they didn't drag it on to ridiculous lengths just to make it longer. I can deal with a somewhat short game if it is of very high quality (and I don't feel like I'm repeating myself), but if a game is mediocre or slightly fun, but long and repetitive (I'm looking at you Assassin's Creed), then it just loses points with me. By no stretch of the imagination was AC long, but it felt like it with all the repetition. I amassed the skill to finish the game within the first hour or two of playing =\

[melancholy]

Mel, I assume thats what you're doing for your second play through... does it feel a bit different?

*POSSIBLE SPOILER*

The controls are like constantly walking on ice and the jumping is slightly different, so that adds extra difficulty in itself. They also ramped up the difficulty in the comet stages. The very first comet stage where you race yourself took me a dozen tries to beat. But I'm determined to get all 120 stars again.

[pink_spider]

I'd have to pull Okami from 2006 and say it was still the best in 2007 lol, but tbh, CoD4 was pretty good, UT3 and Quake wars were decent, but my fav game over all is Starcraft, so it wins every year ^.^ now just to wait for SC2, better not dissapoint me T-T!

[butters]

I haven't played many games this year, but Mario Galaxy is the best thing I've played.

Hate to hijack the thread, but how is the PC version of Bioshock? It looks like a neat game. Will my Geforce 8500 handle it well?

[Smiley]

I can't decide between Super Mario Galaxy, The orange box, or zack and wiki. The latter being a suprise hit for me.

[Wagh]

I don't think I played anything this year that made me want to play for more than a week. Most titles were fun and interesting but quick and easy. The big game I was excited about was BioShock. That quickly subsided when I came to terms with the fact that I had not gotten a duplicate of System Shock 2.

Edit: I take that back.
Rock Band is actually fun and worth replaying.

Do you mean that it quickly subsided when you came to terms that you had gotten a duplicate of System Shock 2?

I played through System Shock 2 after BioShock initially came out, and although they have a TON of the same elements, BIoShock's story, presentation, and playability are so much better (of course thats to be expected with the same developers maturing, new hardware, and years of polish).

Sure it had tons of the same elements. I was just expecting SS2. And it wasn't. Enjoyed the game but SS2 is more fun.

[Vlad Tepes]

I haven't played many games this year, but Mario Galaxy is the best thing I've played.

Hate to hijack the thread, but how is the PC version of Bioshock? It looks like a neat game. Will my Geforce 8500 handle it well?

I played Bioshock on PC, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I don't know how well it would run on an 8500, but it ran well on my friend's 7900GT, and it ran near flawlessly on my 8800GTS.

My favorite games this year:
Mario Galaxy
Bioshock
Portal
CoD4 (Multiplayer)

[Covar]

Super Mario Galaxy and Portal.

[S. Thompson]

Super Mario Galaxy hands-down (cliche, I know). No other game has simply motivated me to play it quite as much as Mario's new adventure. God bless Nintendo.

- Fuzmeister

[APE]

It's funny how everybody picks games that were recently released (Q4 2007) for the game of the year. I'm surprised nobody picked "Classic British Motor Racing" for the Wii as game of the year.

Recent memory is stronger than that random awesome title they played back in February.