Game of the Year--what's your choice?

[agbulls]

Well, we're now into mid-January and every gaming site/publication feels the rightful need to declare their Game of the Year. We can treat this topic like the rant that it will inevitably become, bitching about why "Game X" was not the clear winner.

I don't think we're going to see anything near unanimous this year. Many people will say Zelda is going to win multiple awards. And, it will--deservedly so. However, IGN has already selected Okami as their GOTY. This is the one potential GOTY contender that I don't own just yet. How am I supposed to play everything? ;) I think Okami is a nice choice--and suprising--but just seems like a ploy by IGN to the hardcore community. Isn't this something we would choose when asked? Isn’t IGN just supposed to take the easy route...ala EGM and GamePro and just choose Zelda? I'm not the biggest fan of their writing or their reviews all the time. But, kudos to IGN...kudos.

Personally, I have played a TON of games this year and finished very very few. Comparing games of different genres to determine a GOTY is an incredibly difficult task and often just not fair. However, for sake of argument, I'll present to you my top contenders for 2006, and an eventual winner (in no particular order). Drum roll please...

Legend of Zelda: TP
Great gameplay that actually refines the legendary play mechanics to pinpoint perfection. Good story for a change too. It is incredible this is really just a GC game--and we're talking GOTY for it in 2007. Personally, I was disappointed by the lack of orchestrated music.

Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
I don't think I will ever stop playing this game. The more I think about it, the more I want to compare Oblivion to Grand Theft Auto meets Lord of the Rings. Great graphics, incredible open-ended gameplay and top-notch voice acting. 100+ hours of gameplay easy for most players. I just can't get over how I never know what to do next---because I can do WHATEVER I want. That is a rare rare feeling in a video game.

FFXII
It was about time someone revolutionized the turn based RPG. I was more than glad to see it come from Squeenix. I'm only about 14 hours in, but so far am loving the combat system and am duly impressed with the visuals. It will be hard to go back to an RPG where you can't see your enemies. Doesn’t that seem like something that should have been left in the days of the Apple IIe? Let me see what I'm going to fight dammit!

R6: Vegas
Incredible, incredible, incredible online multiplayer. Get a good group of guys and you'll blow hours while you coordinate plans to eliminate the other team. Single player is excellent as well--and the game has a unique cover system the feels natural (just hold the left trigger) with the control scheme. Casinos look flashy, characters mouths move with their voices in-game and co-op play is available. This game just has a boatload of options.

I don't feel I can include Okami here as I have only played a Japanese demo. Others that have please chime in. And no, I am NOT including Gears of War. This is NOT --- I repeat NOT intended to create a flame war. Personally, I felt Gears was a good game that had very little new to offer beyond visuals. The cover system was not as good as Rainbow 6, and the "hold A button all the time" control scheme just feel forced. Great graphics? Of course. But, as we have all argued about forever---GREAT GRAPHICS DON'T MAKE GREAT GAMES. Again, please don't flame the hell out of me...this is a very debatable personal opinion.

So...
Elder Scrolls: Oblivion it is for my GOTY.

I love Zelda, but feel like I've played it before. I love FFXII, and may feel different when finished, but just feel that Oblivion offers more interactivity. And, in the end...isn't the feeling of interaction and "being there" the point of playing? I'll likely NEVER finish Oblivion. Do I care? Definitely not. We're ALL playing it totally differently...and how cool is that?

[theshizzle3000]

What about Gears of War or is that last year?

Nevermind did not read the last paragraph ignore that first sentence, but Okami is supposed to be very, very good from what I have seen and read. I mean X-Play gave it a 5 out of 5 and they do that once in a never.

[agbulls]

What about Gears of War or is that last year?

Did you even read what I wrote? haha...ok...

I'm not the biggest X-Play fan either. But that's encouraging none-the-less.

[Joker T]

Gears of War would be my choice.

[Kroogah]

I nominate that one game that is only played by nerds trying to impress girls.

GUITAR HERO II

I was excited for this game ever since the announcement at E3 (and the mentions of "Psychobilly Freakout" "Who Was In My Room Last Night?" and "War Pigs") got the release date off work, some friends came over and I played the game for approx. 8 full hours. Beat it on Expert the same night. Still playing it. What an incredibly well-done game. The attention to detail amazes me; the venues, the encores, the animations, the Gibsons, all of it.

[Poofta!]

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

if that had never come out this year, I'd given the award to Final Fantasy XII.

[njiska]

Well i just did this recently for Blogcritics and i'm pretty sure my picks were something like:

Oblivion
Dead Rising
Gears of War
Something
and Something

But My Final choice for game of the year was Dead Rising. It didn't win our award but ti did get best original title and i was lucky enough to right the comments on that. Take a look

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/01/14/081219.php

[evil_genius]

I'm gonna go with Dead Rising here too.

[agbulls]

Here's an idea...

If we can agree on a potential list of game of the year candidates I can add a poll to this thread. If we get a good group of votes (I would think 100 or more) we could actually have an official Digital Press 2006 GOTY that we voted on. What do you guys think?

[heybtbm]

Legend of Zelda: TP
Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
FFXII
R6: Vegas


I agree with all four of those titles, except for your final GOTY selection. My personal choice for game of the year is Final Fantasy XII. It not only is the best RPG on the PS2, but is one of the best RPG's ever IMO...and I've played alot of them.

Don't forget the 360 version of GRAW. The single player was superior to R6:Vegas (multiplayer, R6 wins hands down). Gears of War should probably be on the list (if for nothing else) for exemplifying what "next-gen" games should look like.

[PDorr3]

There were some really awsome games this year, but my vote would go to oblivion, downright the mother of all RPG's, I mean very few games emerse me in them so much that I actualy feel like I am interacting in a real world.

[Poofta!]

Here's an idea...

If we can agree on a potential list of game of the year candidates I can add a poll to this thread. If we get a good group of votes (I would think 100 or more) we could actually have an official Digital Press 2006 GOTY that we voted on. What do you guys think?

there is already an official DP awards thing that goes on every year thats run by Joe and the Mods.

[monkeysuit]

EDIT*

I didn't see Poffta's post.

So, hm, Gears of War GOTY confirmed? LOL

[agbulls]

there is already an official DP awards thing that goes on every year thats run by Joe and the Mods.

Oh. I didn't know about this. Is there a thread/home to this? I'm just kinda curious really. My idea wasn't to ursurp any official official awards thingy. More so, this would be to make an official user's choice. Oh well, no big deal.

[8-bitNesMan]

IMHO, Gears blows Rainbow Six clean out of the water!

[AMG]

Final Fantasy XII is my choice for GotY.

[agbulls]

IMHO, Gears blows Rainbow Six clean out of the water!

Can we at least get some reasoning? I assume you have played both...Blatt crosses fingers...

[evil_genius]

Rainbow Six shits on Gears' chest.

[diskoboy]

I'd honestly hafta give Gears Of War my nod, as well..

But out of the choices given - I'm going with Zelda: TP. It's one of those games I tell myself I'm only gonna play for an hour.

I look at the clock, three hours have passed, and I'm still not ready to turn it quit.

[gepeto]

I would have to call it a tie between gears and oblivion.

Gears for the sweet game that was under the most pressure to produce.

Oblivion for the staggering amout of content and quality of the title in a genre that is a hard sell to the masses.

This is a tough one

Oh I forgot to mention the Tobias Bruckner Award that goes to Killzone 3 for the ps3 for being a no show for 2 years.

[petewhitley]

Oblivion for the staggering amout of content and quality of the title in a genre that is a hard sell to the masses.

Action RPGs are a hard-sell to the masses? ...

Anyways, I vote Super Robot Taisen: O.G. 1 & 2. It's a damn shame it took so long for that series to get over to the States.

[Trebuken]

I thought Gears and Okami were amazing and they are freshest in my memory; I'm playing Zelda now and am sure it'll be great, but Oblivion was just something else. I can't remember the last game I committed 100hrs to that was not a MMORPG. I have not played Rainbow 6 or Dead Rising. Have not been able to get interested in the Rainbow 6/Splinter Cell/GRAW games, though Dead Rising I'll pick up the next time I see it for $30 or so.

I've also been hearing good things about Company of Heroes for the PC.

[gepeto]

Action RPGs are a hard-sell to the masses? ...

Anyways, I vote Super Robot Taisen: O.G. 1 & 2. It's a damn shame it took so long for that series to get over to the States.


I just think anything with Rpg in it is a much harder and riskiy sell to the masses. I think alot of people bought oblivion and then realized what it was and traded it in. They had an excellent marketing campaign. I believe rpg'ers are a special group the majority of people I know think rpg's are too slow and boring not enough action.

Their loss.

[agbulls]

I thought Gears and Okami were amazing and they are freshest in my memory; I'm playing Zelda now and am sure it'll be great, but Oblivion was just something else.

100% agreed. I feel like I'm actually in another world when I play it. Have you ever gotten freaked out when the sky turns red and you know there is a gate nearby? That's just creepy.

[klausien]

My tastes differ from most. I am not a big fan of the current trend of "more realistic" graphics and the like, nor would I put an FPS on the top of a GOTY list. RPGs bore me and don't even get me started about the yearly update sports titles (though the Wii might be changing that a little for me and I have always loved tennis games). For my choice, I had an extremely difficult time deciding between 2 incredible adventures.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is the best Zelda game ever made. My retro tastes want me to keep Zelda 3 on that pedestal, but the Wii controls and incredible level of finesse displayed by the wizards at Nintendo have made me say it is time. Unfortunately, I can't give it to Zelda.

People may call me crazy for this, but I think the most innovative, beautiful, exciting and addictive game of the year is Okami. There are flaws, but each moment I just found myself saying "This is an unadulterated masterpiece". It is now in my top 5 games ever and I still can't say enough about it. I haven't been that lost in a game since Castlevania:SOTN. I play a lot of games, not necessarily for as many hours as most, but a lot of different games on a constant basis. This game held me down for 60 hours and wouldn't let me go until I won. Even Zelda, despite being arguably a better adventure game, has not been able to do that for me.

From a mainstream standpoint, Gears of War, Dead Rising and even Zelda are more obvious choices, but I am for the upset here.

[meancode]

TES IV Oblivion over Dead Rising and Gears of War for GOTY, thats my personal vote. Those would be my top 3:

1. Oblivion
2. Dead Rising
3. Gears of War

Zelda doesn't deserve GOTY, as its the same game I have played seven times already - just with purdy graphics and a mind numbing beginning. Now, when they actually add to the "Legend of Zelda" then I will be impressed.

[heybtbm]

I've also been hearing good things about Company of Heroes for the PC.

CoH is the best PC game of 2006, hands down.

[ChaosKidz]

Screw that DEAD RISING goes for the BZGE (*cough,cough* Best Zombie Game EVER!!!)

[j_factor]

Beggar Prince.

...ok maybe not. But it deserves a little mention.

Strangely, I think I have to go with Wii Sports. It's provided more enjoyment for me than any other 2006 game.