Since Tom’s top 10 thread this year seems to be more focused on discussing his list rather than posting our own, I figured a dedicated thread for dueling lists was in order. Here’s mine, with an explanation of why each one made it:
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Age of Empires: Age of Mythologies. This was a pretty rough year for the DS, in my opinion. The only other game I purchased for the system this year was Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. I never did get around to The World Ends With You, but I’m sure if I had it would bump this game off the list. Regardless, it’s a nifty little turn-based strategy game with what looks to be quite a bit of staying power. It has three campaigns, a variety of special scenarios, skirmish maps, achievements, and unlockables to extend its lifespan.
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Warhammer Online. While it wasn’t everything I hoped it would be, it brought some genuine innovations to the WoW-saturated MMO headspace. If the leveling is accelerated at some point, I may return, because it had some interestingly-differentiated class mechanics and real atmosphere for the various races.
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SoulCalibur IV. The first game in the series I’ve enjoyed since the original SoulCalibur. The decision to include Star Wars characters was not as disastrously retarded as I feared it would be.
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GTA IV. Ultimately not as mind-blowing as expected, but still pretty damn top-notch. Like its predecessors, it eventually eroded my enthusiasm through a combination of minor annoyances and pain-in-the-ass missions, but it still stands as a step forward for the sandbox genre.
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Audiosurf. Music games that will work from the user’s library of favorites, rather than a selection of licensed tracks designed to have broad appeal, are an important step forward for the genre. A $10 price tag didn’t hurt either.
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Sins of a Solar Empire. Personally, I was thrilled with the MoO2-lite gameplay on offer. This game also had the most fantastic-looking massive space battles of any game to date. Stardock’s phenomenal post-release support deserves kudos as well.
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Monsters’ Den: Book of Dread. Thanks to our friend garin, I lost a lot of productive hours to this little gem. It improved on the previous release in numerous ways, most importantly by adding new classes to improve replayability and adding an item shop, while refining the nifty dungeon-crawling and party-based tactical combat that lies at its core. If you haven’t played it yet, check it out for free on Kongregate.
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Rock Band 2. The game itself is an improvement on the original in every way (although I think the base tracklist isn’t quite as cool), but Harmonix’s year-round support of the franchise is the real star of the Rock Band series. With its full backward compatibility with existing DLC and the option to import RB1’s tracks, RB2 achieves Harmonix’s goal of being a true music platform effortlessly.
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Left 4 Dead. Not much to say here, other than “Valve has done it again.” I was a bit leery of its full-priced release, given the incredible value that the Orange Box led me to expect from them, but it turned out to be worth it. Whether you’re doing pickups on the Qt3 Steam group or hosting an 8-person LAN party for severe Vs. ownage, this is the best multiplayer game of the year.
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Fallout 3. Once again, what can I say? Bethesda did the impossible and crafted a worthy successor both to their own series of first-person sandbox RPGs and to one of the most revered series in gaming history. The entertainment value of watching NMA cry and moan about it made the whole thing even better.