I’ve completed my months-long task of painstakingly recreating all of my lost GOTY lists over the course of my professional career as a writer. The links to that are at the bottom of the article.
But what I have yet to ever do, quite the impossible task to people nostalgic for a certain era of games, is make a game of the year top ten list for when I was in high school, and work my way backwards. The goal is writing my GOTY lists now for years when I wasn’t a professional in the field. The field of wordsmithing. I good at the words.
Who knows, maybe I’ll go past the year of my birth! But I will be limiting myself to only one(ish) sentence per game, as both a challenge to myself and a relief to my editor. He needs a vacation very badly.
2007
Honorable Mentions: “God of War 2,” “Warioware: Smooth Moves,” “Pokemon Diamond and Pearl,” “Brain Age 2,” “Beautiful Katamari,” “Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction,” and “Assassin’s Creed”
10. “Super Paper Mario” — This game is a hilarious romp that’s so esoteric and bizarre it deserves to retain its cult status through all criticism, and I hope Nintendo comes to their senses and gives us a port.
9. “Guitar Hero 3” — Arguably the last great music game and effort from Red Octane/Activision; plus it gave us Slayer for the first time in any of these games.
8. “Crackdown,” but also the “Halo 3” beta that it came with — I cannot believe nobody was able to capture this lightning in a bottle more than this one time. Shame on you all for not giving us adequate sequels.
7. “Halo 3” — I think it’s still one of the better Halo games, but has been surpassed by “Reach” and doesn’t quite have the multiplayer punch of “Halo 2.”
6. “Peggle” — The most joyous game to ever be crafted by the hands of angels.
5. “Rock Band” — As a proof of concept, this was outstanding. As a set of instruments and a soundtrack, it would later be much improved.
4. “Portal,” but inside of “The Orange Box” so I get all of the other games as well. That counts; fuck you it’s my list — I get to count all five of these games and they’re the most brilliant fucking things ever made and Valve lied to us about Episode 3 and I will die mad about that.
3. “Super Mario Galaxy” — I recently replayed both of these games when they came to the Switch 2, and I think this first one might be better? It’s hard to say, but it’s still a thing of beauty.
2. “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” — Pound for pound the best first person-shooter of the 360 era, and maybe of all time, and the best COD ever made. The campaign, the multiplayer innovations, the way it feels, the guns, it all handles like a dream.
- “Bioshock” — Say what you will about the final boss and the “ludonarrative dissonance” but this is still one of my favorite experiences in gaming history and the number of things it exceeded at far outweighs whatever negatives we can throw at it today with modern eyes and expectations. A masterclass, a pillar, and a shining beacon.
2006
Honorable Mentions: “Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin,” “Splinter Cell: Double Agent,” “Ape Escape 3,” “Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max,” “Full Auto,” “Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,” “Me and My Katamari,” “Brain Age,” “Hitman: Blood Money,” “Prey,” “Dead Rising,” “Okami,” “Excite Truck,” “Sneak King,” “Wii Sports,” and “Call of Duty 3”
10. “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” — The fact that this beat out so many great games I like/love shows that this is still underrated in the series. And where the fuck is our HD remaster Nintendo? Huh?
9. “Black” — I remembered thinking this was the best graphics were ever going to get in my lifetime. I had a BLAST with this game.
8. “New Super Mario Bros.” — Of every “New” Mario platformer in the very old and long running series, this is the best, and they shouldn’t have kept this ugly ass art style going beyond the DS.
7. “Rainbow Six: Vegas” — Why are there no shooters like this anymore? With co-op, a fun setting, and very lethal rounds that lead to quick fights and tense planning?
6. “Guitar Hero 2” — This was my first introduction to the plastic instrument craze, and if it wasn’t for the covers, this list of tracks could have been the very best.
5. “Marvel: Ultimate Alliance” — Why we let dungeon crawler beat-’em-up cooperative RPGs fall out of favor is so wild to me. “Gauntlet” and the “X-Men: Legends” games were so fun and ubiquitous, and then they just stopped being produced?
4. “Tony Hawk’s Project 8” — Gun to my head: This is the most underrated of all of the “THPS” games. Better than the first or fourth, five through seven, and everything after.
3. “Kingdom Hearts 2” — The best “Kingdom Hearts” game by a country mile. The best levels, the best combat, and the best RPG systems.
2. “Tetris DS” — My favorite flavor of “Tetris” because of its backgrounds, music, controls, number of modes, and portability.
- “Gears of War” — The best “Gears” game. A revelation for third person shooters. And a truly scary campaign with great level design, fun multiplayer, and a story that was never properly followed up on in any way, shape, or form.
Image Credit: “Bioshock,” Irrational Games and 2K
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