Cyril Lachel - Senior Staff Writer
2007 was an amazing year for video games. I won't go as far as some people who want to say that it was the best year for gaming ever, but 2007 was pretty darn good in its own right. When came to choosing my top five games I was left with a predicament, how on earth would I be able to narrow down my list from 15 worthy games to just 5? Well gang, I did it. This list may not be perfect, but this is as close as I can get to a finalized Top Five Games of 2007 list. If your favorite game didn't make the cut don't worry, I'm sure it was just oversight on my part. And if you're one of those people who hasn't played all of these games, then stop reading the rest of this article and run down to your local game store. No really, close that browser and get in your car, you don't want to miss out on any of these games.
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - I've made no bones about it; I've been in love with Puzzle Quest for almost a full year now. Ever since I received the preview build of Puzzle Quest for the PSP two months early I have fallen head over heels for what has to be the single most addictive puzzle game I've played since Tetris. In fact the very idea that I'm calling it a puzzle game at all defeats the whole purpose. Puzzle Quest isn't merely some puzzle game; it's the combination of an amazing puzzle game with a compelling role-playing game. It's this marriage that keeps me coming back to the game time and time again. I was addicted when the game was first released on the PSP. I was addicted once again when I played the Nintendo DS version. And then after a few months away from the game, I was bitten by the bug once again thanks to a fantastic (and dirt cheap) Xbox Live Arcade port. No matter what system you buy it for, Puzzle Quest is the kind of game you can play for months on end. While it's not the most high profile game of 2007, Puzzle Quest is the one game I hope that everybody plays. Is it really better than Rock Band, The Orange Box and Halo 3? Maybe not to some, but for me Puzzle Quest defined what 2007 was. Now bring on Puzzle Quest 2!
Rock Band - From the get-go I knew that Rock Band was going to be amazing. When it comes to making amazing music-related games, Harmonix is the master. What I wasn't prepared for is how fulfilling the whole experience would be. Sure, some can argue that the guitar portions of the game aren't as complicated as what we saw in the Guitar Hero series, but coming together with your friends to successfully capture the awesome power of the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter or My Iron Lung by Radiohead. It wasn't just that the game had an amazing line-up of songs, but the idea that you can download brand new tracks each and every week is enough to keep me excited for many months to come. Rock Band is not the kind of game you can just forget, even if you're playing the game as a single player there's still enough to keep you entertained for some time. The game isn't quite perfect yet (I still need to be able to play the multiplayer "World Tour" mode online), but with all of the music and instruments it's hard to resist the awesomeness that is Rock Band.
BioShock - There were a lot of amazing first-person shooters in 2007 (Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, The Orange Box, etc.), but only one of them was good enough to make my best of 2007 list. The truth is, if this was a top 10 list most of the other five would be FPS games, so I don't feel too bad leaving so many off this list. BioShock was able to do for me what no other first-person shooter has done for years; tell a compelling story that I was actually interested in. It's normal for me to get attached to a certain game world, lord knows how much time I've spent playing hanging out in San Andreas or the Willamette Mall. But Rapture is different; it felt like nothing I had ever experienced before. A lot of it had to do with the time period, which a 1950s world destroyed and revisited in the 1960s. The amazing use of licensed music only helps to make Rapture one of the scariest locations in video game history. But scary or not, Rapture is a fully realized world that tells one of the most interesting stories in video game history. Best of all, the game is full of small nuance and amazing moments, as well as a real sense of wonder. It may not have a dedicated multiplayer mode, but BioShock was easily my favorite first-person shooter of 2007.
Super Mario Galaxy - I'll admit, I held out on checking out Super Mario Galaxy. While I grew up loving the Super Mario Bros. franchise, part of me just can't get as excited about the plumber as I once was. Perhaps it was disappointing turns in Super Mario Sunshine and New Super Mario Bros. that soured me on the whole experience, but whatever the case I just couldn't bring myself to buy Super Mario Galaxy until weeks after its release. But thank goodness I came around, because Super Mario Galaxy is easily one of the best games of the year. I'll skip the part about how it's cute and full of amazing old school references, Mario Galaxy is on this list because of its variety. While it never dips into mini-game territory, Super Mario Galaxy has a surprising amount of different things for you to do. From 2D platforming to racing to collecting coins, this new Mario game has just about everything I could possibly want to do in a 3D action game. And just when I thought I had seen it all, Mario Galaxy continues to impress me with all of the new ideas it's bringing to the table. Even after gathering up 80 stars, there's still a lot of game to be found in this game, all of it done better than just about anything else on the market. And better yet, Super Mario Galaxy has finally given me a reason to turn on my Wii and play it for more than just a couple of minutes. It may not have the best graphics and voice acting, but there's nothing quite like Super Mario Galaxy ... and that's why it deserves to be included as one of the best games of the year.
Crush - Like Puzzle Quest, I was blown away by the creativity of Crush on the PSP. There's just nothing else like it on the market, it's a completely unique puzzler that has a gimmick that will wow just about anybody. It's not one of those small gimmicks that you barely notice, the moment that somebody sees exactly what the game does they are both amazed and hooked. You see, Crush is a 3D puzzle game that allows you to change the world to 2D in order to solve ingeniously difficult mind teasers. The game starts out simple enough, but by the end of the game you're going to have to use all of your mental functions to figure out the right way to get to the exit. Unlike most portable games released in 2007, Crush was the kind of game you could pick up for a few minutes when you had a short break. This isn't one of those games where you have to invest a lot of time to beating; it's perfect for people on any schedule. But it's the originality of the gimmick that sets this game apart. Until playing Crush I had never seen anything like it, the concept had me so excited that I couldn't wait to beat all 40 levels. The fact that I can still get this excited about a concept after spending thirty years playing literally thousands of different games is definitely refreshing.
So what games were the most popular for the staff?
Rock Band - listed by 5 staff members
Orange Box or game from this set - listed by 5 staff members
Call of Duty 4 - listed by 4 staff members
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