nwizardblog

Screw everyone’s Best of ‘06 compilations…we all know Zelda, Gears of War, and Resistance are big games of the year. I’m gonna 1-up everyone by opening it up to all of history for my top games list. No top 10 though, because in all reality comparing games of vastly differing genres is stupid, so I’ll break it down as it should be done.

Best Action/Adventure Game: (TIE) Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess/Ocarina of Time
Best First-Person Shooter: Goldeneye 64
Best Fighting Game: Super Smash Bros. Melee
Best Massive Multiplayer Online RPG: (TIE) World of Warcraft / Guild Wars
Best Platform Game: Super Mario Bros.
Best Role Playing Game: Final Fantasy VI
Best Sports Game: Madden 2007 (Wii)
Best Strategy Game: Starcraft: Brood War
Best Game of all Time: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Honorable Mentions: Half-Life 1/2 (and related mods), Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, Halo 2, Final Fantasy VIII (and VII if I must), Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario RPG, Super Mario 64, Bomberman (pick one), Castlevania (any 2D game), Tetris, Pong

Yeah, I gave it to Twilight Princess. What, you wanna make something of it? Lemme tell you something: modern-day reviews are f’d up. Case in point? The ridiculous amount of reviews that state “Twilight Princess is better than Ocarina of Time” and then proceed to give it a much lower score. When you strip down to looking at gameplay, and stop comparing graphics and audio to Gears of War or something, you’ll realize this game is everything Ocarina of Time was plus so much more. It’s an absolute beauty to play and behold, and the game design is practically flawless. It also marks the first Zelda that has actually captivated me with it’s story…

Smash Brothers wins over old-school 2D fighters and the Tekken-types because EVERYBODY loves it and it’s just plain more fun. Easier to pick up and play, with more widespread appeal, and awesome for parties, it definitely takes the cake. Guild Wars tied World of Warcraft because it continues to improve in almost all aspects on a regular basis in a number of areas. If you haven’t played the game in a few months, boot it up and you’ll immediately catch a number of wonderful updates. And it keeps coming! Oh yeah, did I mention that lack of a monthly fee. As far as I’m concerned, money SHOULD be taken into account when judging MMOs.

FF6 beats 7 and 8? Blasphemy? Miscount? No, that’s what gameplay will do for you. Seven may have captured the hearts of the entire female gender and all the Cloud wannabes, but in all reality FFVII is not the the perfect pearl of a game people want to believe. An epic, wonderful RPG with a good storyline, yes. Greatest game ever? Not even close. That would go to FFVIII long before VII anyway, as it is essentially an all-around improvement on VII (especially in graphics), with a better main character (I’ll fight ya to the death defending that too). The 2D perfection that is FF6 gets it because it not only hits home with great characters and storyline, but gameplay-wise it is the culmination of the Final Fantasy series and perfects the tried-and-true formula.

I really can’t judge sports accurately, as I eskew that genre. I picked Madden on Wii because honestly I can’t think of anything to compete. Tecmo Bowl comes to mind, but that’s about it. Certainly nothing in the current or last generation stands to hold up to the great change of pace Wii controls bring to sports. Wii Sports may even hold contention here.

Don’t agree with my choices? Well, too bad. Them’s the brakes. It’s quite likely I forgot something, pulling stuff just off the top of my head at 2 in the morning, but I pretty much stand by these, bar a couple possible arguments. I know there’s a whole crapload more games I need to add to honorable mention, but there’s just so many! Actually, in one sense there’s not enough. Hopefully 2007 will bring about some newcomers, and I’d expect them most likely to come from the Wii. Super Smash Bros. Brawl holds a chance at topping Zelda in my book, but I do reserve myself know fighting is my favorite genre.

And remember, if I was truly biased, Naruto Clash of Ninja 4 would have been up there.