Hello, New Year! Nothing like starting a year with a review of the last. And, considering how messy last year was, it’s probably best to start off this one on an up note. Games — it’s about the games! Alphabetically…
- Burnout 3: Takedown - Arcade racing taken up a notch. It doesn’t quite have the technical appeal of Rush but it more than makes up for it with sheer adrenaline. Driving your rival into a telephone pole at 200mph is where it’s at. Doing it with a friend in co-op mode is even better.
- Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest - A mediocre hack-n-slash on the face of it, but co-op online play with voip make this baby a must have. The first time you hear your friends screaming and seconds later see them rush out of a tunnel engulfed in flames, you’ll be sold.
- ESPN NBA 2K5 - VC finds ways to improve what seems like perfection every year. This time, changes in the post game and help defense push it impressively close to reality.
- Feel the Magic: XY/XX - Looks can be deceiving. This short and simple looking win-the-girl-through-minigames title is the first to illustrate the potential of the DS. Whistling, blowing, singing and…uhm…touching. Rude yet charming stuff and, oh yeah, hella fun.
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - The big daddy is back and in fine form. Rockstar spent the two years well and built a game that somehow uses the cartoon GTA universe to create some of the most believable characters ever. It can be touching and brutal at the same time. Most of all, though, that old GTA fun is back with extremely creative extensions.
- Katamari Damacy - Rolling giant piles of junk is in. All who try this strangely, wickedly addictive game are sucked in to its bizzare world. Oh, and good luck getting the soundtrack out of your head. The single most innovative title of the year, if not several. Indeed we do feel the cosmos.
- Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal - Everything you love about platforming and everything you love about shooting games seamlessly integrated. In a future world that is just campy enough, just smart enough. No one was more surprised than me.
- Winning Eleven 7 - Wicked tight soccer you can almost reach out and touch. The dynamics of the game keep every match different and challenging. Now, if they could just get the difficulty settings on a bit shallower curve…
- World of Warcraft - The first MMORPG to appeal to the non-hardcore gamer. The pacing, the glorious art direction, the east of connecting with others. This is ever-crack for the rest of us.
Honorable mentions: Mario Kart: Double Dash and Second Sight
Not played but might very well have ended up on this list: Astro Boy: Omega Factor, Half-Life 2, Halo 2, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Hardware of the year: Logitech Cordless Action Controller - Finally a PS2 wireless controller that is worthy of comparison to Nintendo’s Wavebird. Feels perfect, never runs out of batteries, and even outdoes N’s fine entry on several fronts. Rumble and auto-off, anyone?
For more, see last year’s list.
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