Jeff’s Best Games Of 2007

As the year draws to a close, I thought I’d just post my thoughts on the best games I played this year. Rather than trying to put up an ordered list of my favorite games, I just broke them into “tiers”. I basically did this because my “top” games basically shifted from day to day, so why try to fight it? I just put them into tiers and you can basically consider the positions within the tiers interchangeable. Without further ado:

Must-Play Games:

Portal (PC/360/PS3) - A short “first person puzzle” game built on a brilliant gimmick would’ve been a fun diversion, but add in some hilarious black humor, a subtly told “story”, and the best ending credits song ever and you have a classic that will be remembered for years to come.

Bioshock (PC/360) - While Portal told a subtle story, Bioshock’s broken up, but more “traditional” story, dripping with atmosphere and actual adult themes, is perhaps one of the best ever told in gaming. Add in some moral dilemmas and one of the best plot twists ever in a game (that I actually think about all the time now when playing OTHER games) and you have yet another classic. Oh, and the FPS elements in the game are great as well.

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - Take Mario 64, add in some mind-bending gravity puzzles and platforming and you have one of the happiest and most fun games ever made. The sheer variety in the game is amazing, but what really makes Mario Galaxy so amazing is how effortless it is to control and play, even when seemingly tackling conceptually difficult puzzles. A classic from beginning to end.

Rock Band (360/PS3) - I can’t say I expected that I would ever be buying a game for $170 only to pony up even more money for downloadable content on a regular basis, but here we are. Accessible to anyone, just grab four people and your next few hours are set. We’ll be playing this one well into next year.

Halo 3 (360) - Haters be damned, this is the best game on XBox Live. While you can have a blast playing online by yourself, it’s when you join up with a friend or two that the game really excels. The amount of variety and content that Halo 3 provides is unprecedented in an online game. Start the night with some simple team deathmatch and objective, move onto some hilariously fun Rocket Races, and maybe top off the night with some online coop. Whatever you want to do, you’ll have some fun.

Great Games

Call of Duty 4 (360/PS3/PC) - This has one of the best sequences I’ve played in a first person shooter (the sniper level) as well as a few others that are almost as amazing, but the game played a bit too much like the other CoDs at times, and also relied on sort of “cheap” strategies to increase it’s difficulty on some of the later levels which prevented me from putting it in my top tier of games. The multiplayer is a lot of fun, but the amount of sheer content in Halo 3 sort of trumps it. Still, definitely worth playing.

Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Wii) - Resident Evil 4 with very capable Wii controls that make it a total blast to play through again?  True widescreen progressive scan support?  The Project Ada secondary game?  Only $30?  Need I say more?

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) - Great FPS controls and a game that is actually intelligently built around the mechanic of “lock-aiming”.  A return to form for the Metroid Prime series.

God of War II (PS2) - Some of the most epic boss battles ever, fantastic set pieces, and a slew of memorable sequences.  God of War II is probably the PS2’s last amazing game.

The Rest of the Good Ones

• Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
• Mass Effect (360)
• Assassin’s Creed (360/PS3)
• Uncharted: Drakes Fortune (PS3)
• Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock (360/PS3/Wii/PS2)
• HL2: Episode 2 (360/PS3/PC)
• Team Fortress 2 (360/PS3/PC)

Note: I reserve the right to edit this list as I remember more stuff. Let me know what I’ve forgotten.  Also, keep in mind this is only stuff that I’ve played, and the lists are rough. All of these games represent great games that you could probably make a case for the top tier, but I can’t possibly rank a game that I didn’t get to play.