EWB's game of the year!

[Reddaye]

I'll throw my ballot into the hat, and include dates (for when the game was first released) to prevent any confusion. All of these were released this year in Canada, and by extension the United States as well.

1. Mass Effect (360)(November 20, 2007) - Although it has it's flaws and didn't live up to my two years of hype, no game this year pulled me into it's story and world like Mass Effect. I've replayed it six times with completely different characters each time and enjoyed it immensely. That said the extreme texture pop-in is annoying, and the uncharted worlds obviously took too many resources away from crafting a longer storyline. If Bioware can improve those areas ME 2 will likely be in this same position two years down the line.

2. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)(November 12, 2007) - I was giving up hope of finding anything on the Wii that was worth playing until this little baby game along. I haven't enjoyed a Mario game this much since Mario 64, and I've NEVER enjoyed a Wii game nearly as much. The controls are simple and don't involve a lot of arm flailing, the worlds are colorful and fun to explore, and graphics are surprisingly good. This is a real return to form for my old buddy Mario, and is the kind of quality adventure Nintendo needs to start giving us more often on the Wii.

3. Bioshock (360 & PC)(August 21, 2007) - Along with Mass Effect this game was one of the two titles I'd been waiting upwards of two years to play. Although I was a bit let down by the lack of RPG elements compared to System Shock 1+2, and Deus Ex, Bioshock is still an epic experience. The atmosphere in this game is hands down the best I've ever experienced. The first time I played through I was literally going at a snail's pace in some places because I never knew what I'd run into. Amazing game, and I can't wait for the sequel.

4. The Orange Box (360, PC, & PS3)(October 10, 2007) - BEST GAMING DEAL EVER. I'm not the world's biggest fan of the original Half Life 2, but Episodes 1 & 2 were some of the most fun I've had in a game in years. Valve really help draw you into the characters and storyline and make you feel like you're part of a huge adventure. The setting is cool, the shooting is solid, and Portal kicks all kinds of ass. Haven't been able to play Team Fortress 2 because of XBOX Live issues I've been having for months, but that doesn't hamper how awesome this set was for me.

5. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)(November 20, 2007) - Top of the heap for the PS3 this year. Uncharted was a little under my radar until the middle of this year which maybe helped keep me from over hyping it too much in my mind. Beautiful environments (thankfully NOT done with fucking UE 3), and a really fun storyline with wonderfully written characters who are voiced excellently are all things that stand out for me. I've always loved a great pulp adventure, and Uncharted delivered in spades. That being said, Uncharted was a victim of me getting sick of shooting things all the time. Although 90% of the games on this list involve shooting, Uncharted was played at the tail end of it all and I have to admit I'd like to see less shooting next year and more exploring.

6. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360, PC, & PS3)(November 5. 2007) - Speaking of shooting things; here's the game that did it best this year. CoD4 takes visceral shooting action and amps it up to twenty. Although the single player is only a few hours long, it's some of the most intense hours I've ever experienced in a shooting game. Infinity Ward really make you feel like you're in the middle of an epic war movie, and then run with it. I can't think of a single mission in this game that I disliked. Shame it was as short as it was (no multiplayer again because of Live issues).

7. Fire Pro Wrestling Returns (PS2)(November 13, 2007) - The greatest wrestling game I've ever played, bar none. After having put hundreds of hours into Fire Pro Wrestling A for the GBA some years ago I was pleasantly surprised to discover this game stomps the living shit out of it's predecessor. With a huge 300+ roster of wrestlers, tons of gameplay modes, and the greatest edit mode in wrestling games today FPR is a masterpiece. No one (not even AKI) has been able to make a wrestling engine that is more solid that the Fire Pro series (in my estimation).

8. skate. (360, PS3)(September 14, 2007) - Yeah Tony Hawk has sucked the last few years, I knew that before this game was ever even announced. Just how bad Hawk has sucked never really dawned on me until I played this game. People shit on EA for never innovating, but by God they can shut their mouths when it comes to skate. I've spent more time in this game just skating around the city than I ever did doing the missions in a single Tony Hawk game. The thumb stick controls are intuitive and generally easy to get a handle on, and the more realistic style is a welcome change to grinding over powerlines. There's room for improvement in the trick list and customization options, but skate really delivered for me.

9. The Witcher(PC)(October 30, 2007) - Good Western RPGs are a dying breed, especially ones that have some resemblance of a good storyline. Based on the novels by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, and using an updated version of Bioware's Aurora engine; the Witcher takes RPGs to a darker place. Anyone sick of the some old high fantasy bullcrap should give the Witcher's darker take on the genre a look. The inquisitions, whores, genocide, racism, and imperfect characters all gave me a warm fuzzy feeling that I haven't felt since Fallout 2 years ago. It's up to companies like CD Projekt to keep a dying genre alive, and I hope to see more from them in the future.

10. The Darkness(360, PC, & PS3)(June 25, 2007) - Sadly this gem seems to have been lost in the shuffle, as I sadly expected it would be. Starbreeze are hands down one of my favourite developers right now. Riddick was a classic and I honestly feel The Darkness was just as good, if not better. With the unique Darkness abilities you get, great atmosphere, excellent story, and the charming voice work of Mike Patton, the Darkness just oozes gritty goodness. Although the actual shooting could be better, everything else greatly makes up for it. I can't wait for the Riddick remake Starbreeze is working on, and hopefully a future sequel to this game.

Honourable Mentions - Pokemond Diamond (DS), NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer (PC), Overlord (360 & PC), R&C Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3), and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii). Lego Star Wars: The Complete Trilogy (All), and God of War 2 (PS2).

Dishonourable Mentions - Assassin's Creed (360, PC, & PS3), Chicken Shoot (Wii), Heavenly Sword (PS3), John Woo: Stranglehold (360, PC, & PS3), and Need For Speed: Pro Street (All).

Those are my choices, and I'm sticking to them. Feel free to flame away if you wish, I'm a big boy...I can take it.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

All polls are skewed. Afterall, loads of people may not have even heard of some bands in my top ten list let alone heard their music, same can be said for some of the death metal fans on the board. There are millions of movies to choose from, there's no way people have seen all of them and of course some movies will attract more viewers than others despite their quality. Even the sexiest women threads have it, half of the women in the top 50 are American actresses from stuff like the OC that I've never even seen so have no idea who they are.

No list can be perfect because we all watch, play and listen to different stuff.

Also, it's easy to be "smart" isn't it (I try to be on all the lists in entertainment, and generally fail ), I mean "Well this game is best but everyone else will vote for *THAT* which I hate, but they haven't played *THIS* game which is my favourite and clearly the best.

A lot of people LOVED Assassin's Creed, including myself, and I've been blessed through work to play easily over 100 released games this year (on PC, 360, PS2, PS3, DS, WII, PSP) and feel that I can give a top ten out of those. But if some people only played four games all year and loved just those then their opinion on those four games they loved is equally as valid, if not more so as they've been able to play a game to death...

To finalise, this list is for fun and conducted on an internet forum of teens and twenties from different countries who should all have better things to do and therefore the results REALLY mean nothing do they...It's all a bit of fun and seeing what games wins is only for entertainment. (Y)

EDIT: Ignore all that, I sound like a trying-to-be-smug arsehole Just enjoy voting

Edited January 13, 2008 by ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster

[Scott McFly]

Heh, I'm not even sure I've played 10 games from this year (cheapo last-year games ftw), but I've enjoyed every one that I have played, so here goes...

1. Halo 3 (Xbox 360)

2. Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)

3. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS)

4. Orange Box (PC)

5. Sensible World Of Soccer (Xbox Live Arcade)

6. Phoenix Wright: Justice For All (DS)

7. Worms: Open Warfare 2 (DS)

8. Spider-Man 3 (DS)

9. Guitar Hero III (Xbox 360)

10. Sega Rally (Xbox 360)

Some games I've totally completed, others I've only played a few times (otherwise I might've put them higher), but what I have played is enough to rank them. I would highly recommend Hotel Dusk to anyone if they can get a copy, very underated game. If you like Phoenix Wright, but wished it had DS-quality graphics, more mature storylines and a noir setting, then it's the game for you.

Edited January 14, 2008 by Scott McFly