Well, here they are - the games we most enjoyed playing this year. This is by absolutely no means an objective run-down. These are the games that caught our imagination, or made us stay up too late on school nights. We know there are glaring ommissions, that was always going to happen.
Also, we're doing a list each, because none of us really play the same sorts of games. That will become clear. Anyway, have a look and let us know what you think.
We're also hoping to collate all your suggestions from the last 'games of the year' post into one definitive reader's list.
Greg
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo, Wii/Gamecube) Any fears over brevity or controls were banished by this epic adventure that made up in ingenuity, pace and sense of place what it lacked in originality. Tricky puzzles, slightly nonsencial plot, loads to do and see - Twilight Princess was an interactive fairytale and a reminder how much fun this gaming thing can be.
Oblivion: Elder Scrolls (Take 2, Xbox 360) Despite a few flaws - monsters increasing in strength as your character does - Oblivion was as ambitious a videogame as you'll see. The go anywhere, do anything - as long it involved swords, spells and collecting the odd flower - world was spectacular and there was even a plot of sorts. It may have lacked the eerie setting of predecessor Morrowind but Oblivion was a masterpiece whose landscape simply demanded exploration.
Brain Training (Nintendo, DS) 2006 was the year of the handheld, and the Nintendo DS in particular. Animal Crossing, Super Mario, Nintendogs - the DS had a corking year. Brain Training was the pick though, if only because it redefined what a videogame actually could be. From a mum picking it up to do a quick Sudoku puzzle to a teenager charting their mental progress each day, Brain Training was the ultimate guilty pleasure game.
Shadow of the Colossus (Sony, PS2) Not as groundbreakingly beautiful as its spiritual predecessor Ico, Colossus nevertheless packed a memorable punch. The stars were the titular Colossi - sadly you had to defeat rather than admire them - but the washed out landscape was just as inspiring.
Psychonauts (Majesco Europe, PS2/Xbox) An intelligent and surreally enjoyable platform romp that was criminally ignored on release. Now available to play on the 360, Psychonauts was simultaneously retro - tricky platform jumping - and forward looking with much of its appeal based on the narrative and characterisation.
Stinker of the year
Gears of War (Microsoft, Xbox 360) Not the worst game of the year by any means - Superman Returns probably takes that accolade - but as the game supposed to herald phase two of the next generation Gears fell way short. Comic book plot, musclebound heroes, shooting alien stuff - yes this was the same old teen schtick that some of us had hoped gaming had grown out of. Sure, Gears was good to look at and fun enough to play in short doses, but considering what it was hyped up to be Gears of War offered little more than bluster and cliché. Roll on Alan Wake.
Aleks
Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How old is your brain? What a game. Cleverly positioned across the mainstream market, didn't require too much of my time and responsible for some of the most consistent sessions I've had this side of Zelda: Majora's Mask. A perfect balance of skill-based puzzling and positive feedback. And ego stroking; my youngest age was 22.
Loco Roco Quite possibly the only thing I use my PSP for except to surf the web on the go. Ridiculous fun. A joy to behold and so easy to play. Quite possibly one of the least-serious games I played this year, with the exception of...
We (heart) Katamari It's not a surprise that the only UK-release of this very silly title has my heart all rolled up in its big sticky ball. While it's not as consistently good as the original, I give it props, along with other silly games like Wario Ware, Bishi Bashi and Chu Chu Rocket for bringing the unadulterated fun back to a period of over-serious gaming.
Samorost 2 I can't welcome the return of this visually stunning independent web-game enough. It shrieks classic Eastern European animation (one of my favourite styles), and presents hyper-simplistic (yet conceptually clever) puzzles. It's worth spending a whole lot of time with this one.
The Lost Experience Although Mind Candy's Perplex City was a successful Alternate Reality Game which reached out to an international audience, ABC's Lost Experience brought real-world community-based gaming to the masses. By using its enormous media-wrangled capital to infiltrate mainstream press, the gaming phenomenon captured attentions in a way that has never experienced in the US, mirrored in the UK only by the 1970s phenomenon Masquerade, which offered dreams of riches within its carefully constructed pages. For goodness sake, there were ads in People magazine! A truly excellent bit of interactive branding.
Stinker of the year
Kill Dat Nigga The hyper-violent video game created for Spike Lee's 2006 flick Inside Man and shown on silicone for a split second (in the hands of an under-age kid) was, yes, based upon the idea of (and the controversy in the US surrounding) Grand Theft Auto. This and other film treatment of games in 2006 (think Stay Alive) offers a clear window into how people who don't play games view the entertainment genre. If things are ever going to change, these beacons of regard are to be taken very seriously indeed.
Keith
Dead Rising (Capcom, Xbox 360) The controls are over complex and things get repetitive after a while, but I haven't laughed this much while playing a game for several years. The presentation is beautiful, filled with clever nods to classic zombie movies (beyond the obvious mall setting). And going at huge gangs of the undead armed only with a shop window dummy (or even better, a lawnmower) is a riot.
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft, multi-platform) A cerebral and slow-paced shooter, which often suddenly exploded into moments of frenetic action - the glory of the game lies in this brittle, brilliant pacing. The multiplayer stuff was great, too, especially playing against Gamesblog readers. Doesn't have the sheer brain-numbing immersion of Call of Duty, but utterly engrossing because of its more staid, considered approach.
Defcon (Introversion, PC) A wonderfully designed, chillingly cold-blooded nuclear war simulator. The stark, stylised visuals seem to guess at our nightmares about the unreality of modern computerised combat. In the end, it's terrifying because its true.
New Super Mario Brothers (Nintendo, DS) It was a toss up between this, Sonic and Phoenix Wright on the DS. Mario is what it always has been, a glowingly attractive, approachable 2D platformer that looks simple, but unravels a huge, multi-textured world at the feet of any dedicated gamer. Maybe a little easier than the 8 and 16bit iterations, but that's fine by me.
Guitar Hero (Activision, PS2) Guitar Hero is certainly not the first game to use a musical instrument controller - it's not even the first to use a guitar controller, but it is a game that truly understands both the idiocy of miming to axe solos and the pleasure that it provides. Even more than SingStar, it is a social tool, a means of bringing people together, united in unselfconscious abandon. No Christmas will be truly complete without it.
Stinker of the year
The whole mobile games industry Oh, there were a few decent titles - Gameloft came up trumps as always with its Tom Clancy tie-ins, while Stranded was a fun little rip-off of Lost and Tower Bloxx managed to find new things to do with the block-sorting puzzler. But it was a year that, for the most part, lacked imagination; a year of dull, lifeless movie and console conversions; a year of desperately, pointlessly trying to get 3D visuals to work. In 2007, everyone in the industry is going to be thinking about social networking and TV - games may get lost in the stampede. On current form, few will mourn. And that's sad.
