Game for gold

Brian D. Crecente, Special to the Rocky

Published January 25, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

Text size

Poll

Which is best? Brian Crecente offers a great selection of video games in the annual Golden Crecentes. Tell us which of the following is the best:

More More Entertainment

More stories »

The Golden Globes were reduced to a press conference, the Oscars could be more about picket lines than the red carpet and even the Grammys were nearly rendered silent. But fear not - the Golden Crecentes shall not be deterred or diminished. Rocky video game expert Brian D. Crecente bravely crowns the best of the field for the second year.

Game of the year

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

This solid first-person shooter for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 may not be as innovative as The Orange Box and Super Mario Galaxy. It may not deliver an awe-inspiring glimpse at an eschewed philosophy like BioShock or create the sort of sizzling character interaction found in Uncharted, but, hands down, it is the most thoroughly entertaining video game of the past year.

The single-player story is captivating, set in a present-day Middle East and parts of Russia and comes at the player in a mix of sweeping cinematic set pieces and smart pacing that can easily glue the audience to the game for the entire six- to eight-hour experience.

It's a game that has the sorts of moments usually found only in film, hiding these startling revelations in gamers' blind spots. People you come to care about die. You die, and not in the sort of plastic, ephemeral death found in video games. These deaths are permanent and, at times, evocative.

A deep, seemingly limitless online multiplayer experience also adds quite a bit of life to the title. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare may seem like more of the same, but this title is the realization of a rewarding franchise meeting its complete potential.

Runners-up

* BioShock (PC and Xbox 360): Set in an underwater dystopian society built on the principles of Ayn Rand's Objectivism philosophy, BioShock makes you think and puts your ethics, as much as your trigger finger, to the test. Keeping it from Game of the Year honors: the rambling ending, which does as much to tear apart BioShock's impact as the game's wondrous denouement does to build it back up.

* The Orange Box (PC, PS3 and Xbox 360): More anthology than single game, this collection of shooters gives players a rich sampling of all the genre's flavors, starting with Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2. Most impressive is the astounding Portal, which delivers a sort of 3-D puzzle-solving title to gamers in the form of a shooter.

* Super Mario Galaxy (Wii): This 3-D platformer has Mario questing across galaxies hopping from one planet to the next, sometimes literally, as he once more seeks to save Princess Peach. Only in this game, the gravity flips back and forth and Mario is often on planets so small it's as if he's walking on a beach ball. The game's controls are just as creative, making use of the Wii remote's motion sensing to jump, deliver attacks and run.

* Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3): This title starts with a jungle setting, ancient artifacts, gunplay and a twisting, Indiana Jones-like plot, then adds the sort of character chemistry sometimes not even found in movies. The game's mix of amazing graphics, including some of the best facial animation, confounding puzzles and a healthy dose of game play makes it one of the best to hit the PlayStation 3 last year.

best portable game

The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass

This action role-playing game for Nintendo's DS satisfies every type of gamer, from hardcore to casual, with its blend of cartoonish art style, lighthearted story line and pick-up-and-play controls that lean heavily on the touch screen and stylus.

Runners-up

* Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters (PSP): The duo once more take on the galaxy's forces of evil using an eclectic, and sometimes humorous, collection of weapons and wit in what was the year's best PSP title.

* Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (DS): This role-playing/puzzler hybrid pits gamers against one another and computer opponents in a race to clear a field of colored gems, by moving and matching them. The play is augmented with attacks, special weapons and even a castle you can stock with monsters.

best rhythm game

Rock Band

Where Guitar Hero delivered the experience of being a guitar god into the pasty, baby-soft hands of nonmusicians, Rock Band hands over the entire band for your PS3 and Xbox 360. The full kit includes a lead and bass guitar, drum kit and microphone, making it the perfect bar game. Powerful online support allows gamers to hook up with faux band mates and jam to an eclectic mix of music, making it a great home game as well. Weekly releases of song packs will expand the song selection into the hundreds by the end of this year.

Runners-up

* Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PC, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360): A redesigned Les Paul guitar and more plot helped the title and the franchise set a new sales record in 2007.

* Jam Session (DS): You play an endless selection of chords on your DS by holding down the direction pad and stroking the touch screen, as if strumming a guitar.

* Beats (PSP): For $5 this downloadable PlayStation Portable is a steal. The game uses the music stored on your PSP to create simple rhythm games that require you to push buttons in time with your favorite songs, delivering a light show when you get it right.

best pc indie game

Desktop Tower Defense

Of all of the free, typically Flash-driven PC games to hit the Internet in the past year, Desktop Tower Defense is likely most responsible for work slowdowns and stoppages. As simple as it is addictive, players build, place and upgrade automated turrets while "creeps" overwhelm the play field from different directions. If any of the creeps make it past your defenses and exit from the other side, you lose.

Runners-up

* Cursor*10: Simple line-drawn art and monochromatic settings belie a fascinatingly complex gaming experience. Gamers use their mouse cursor to click their way up stairs on the way to level 16 in a timed run. The catch? You need to rely on the replays of your former tries, which ghost past you as you play, to make it through some of the levels.

* Portal: The Flash Version: Stripped of the graphics and sound of the popular first-person puzzler included in The Orange Box, it's still a blast to play.

best party game

WarioWare Smooth Moves

Nintendo is a master of the party game, so it's no wonder that all of the titles in this category were made by or for them. WarioWare Smooth Moves wins by combining the addictive nature of bite-size mini games with the Wii's motion controls. It helps that the mini-games, some as easy as balancing the remote on your hand or using it to shave an imaginary mustache, often include a bit of the bizarre or humorous.

Runners-up

* Mario Party DS (DS): A combination of a board game and a video game, this title has you use a controller to roll dice to move around the board, and then compete with one another in mini-games at the end of every round of play.

* Mario Party 8 (Wii): This Wii version of the popular franchise adds a motion-controlling twist to the regular slate of mini-games played between rounds of board movement. An excellent title for families with children.

* Wii Play (Wii): Although not as nice a collection as Wii Sports, it makes up for it by coming packed with an extra remote control, making the game not only a must buy, but the second-best-selling game in the U.S. last year.

best console downloadable game

Everyday Shooter

This compilation of original shoot-'em-ups from PlayStation Network takes its inspiration from such classics as Asteroids and Ikaruga. But what helped it nearly sweep last year's Independent Games Festival awards is its inspirational use of music. As players shoot and interact with the environment, they destroy the flowing, colorful enemies as well as create original music. The result is a collection of styles that feels more like an album than a video game.

Runners-up

* flOw (PlayStation Network): You control a single-cell organism as it drifts through a sea of smaller and larger micro-organisms, avoiding the greater and eating the lesser. As you consume, your creature evolves. The ambient music and surreal graphics make this a rare game that both entertains and calms at the same time.

* Pain (PlayStation Network): Created by the local Idol Minds, this celebration of cartoon violence is all about causing as much physical damage to the main character as possible by launching him into a bustling cityscape from a giant rubber-band catapult.

best strategy game

World in Conflict

In the stagnant strategy genre, World in Conflict dared to be different, removing the tedium of resource gathering and buildup found in most strategy titles and concentrating on the conflict. Players command a finite force of troops in a struggle to capture small towns in a Russian-occupied America of the '80s. In the PC title's online multiplayer matches, where the game really sizzles, a player must choose to control one unit type in the encounter: infantry, armor, air or support, and rely on his fellow players to back them up when things get ugly.

Runners-up

* Supreme Commander (PC): This spiritual successor to '90s monster hit Total Annihilation gives players control of one of three types of nations as they duke it out in giant robots. The game's biggest accomplishment is allowing gamers to zoom in or out so far that the conflict looks like a miniature map of the conflict or so close that you appear to be on the battlefield.

* Command and Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars (PC and Xbox 360): This time the title manages to provide the same level of depth and detail on the console as found in the PC version of the game, almost a first for a console strategy title.

* Universe at War (PC): Players get three incredibly diverse factions to choose from, each one so different at times it feels like you are playing different games. The game backs up the varied game play with a story line packed with pulp sci-fi references and inside jokes.

best shooter

BioShock

2K Games' first-person shooter for the PC and Xbox 360 has such depth, so much plot, that it's hard to classify the game into one category. The game's story, likely one of the best to hit last year, opens with a spectacular ride into a city under glass at the bottom of the sea. Once there, you are quickly caught up in a rebellion against Rapture's objectivist ideals. The story, but unfortunately not the game, wrap up with a plot twist worthy of M. Night Shyamalan.

Runners-Up

* The Orange Box (PC, PS3 and Xbox 360): For fans of first-person shooters, this collection of games is a must, if only to experience puzzler Portal and hear the ending credit's song.

* Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC, PS3 and Xbox 360): While it was the best overall gaming experience of the year, as a pure shooter it didn't measure up to BioShock's mix of role-playing, puzzle-solving and action.

* Crysis (PC): Every year a game needs to come out that proves your computer is outdated; that's Crysis' job this year. Packed with incredibly realistic graphics and amazing details, you can probably hear your graphics card weeping as you play.

best platformer

Super Mario Galaxy

While the Wii turned out to be the top-selling console of 2007, it still didn't have a wide selection of games tailored to satisfy hard-core gamers. Fortunately, Super Mario Galaxy came just in time to satisfy that itch. The unique spherical level design, lengthy game play and multiplayer support combine to make this the hands-down best platformer of last year.

Runners-up

* Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3): The first title to really show PS3 owners what their console could do, the title's sprawling levels all feature bustling backdrops and minutely detailed scenery. Combine that with genuinely humorous writing and weapon design and you have a title that is a pleasure to play and repeat.

* Contra 4 (DS): The 11th installment of this 2-D action franchise is one of the most frustratingly hard titles I've ever played, but that doesn't stop me from playing it over and over and over again . . . and dying each time.

best puzzle

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

Puzzle games often suffer from a lack of depth and eventually become something you play more out of obsession than enjoyment. But Puzzle Quest - available for the DS, PC, PSP, Xbox Live Arcade and Wii - adds a detailed story line, gives you a character to customize with weapons and armor and turns the puzzle genre into something with heart.

Runners-up

* Picross DS (DS): Pure puzzling addiction powers this game, a collection of nonogram logic puzzles that are played on grids that have to be either filled in or left blank. The DS version is insidiously easy, but hard to put down.

* Zendoku (DS and PSP): Gamers must solve a Sudoku puzzle before their computer opponent does. As you work your way through the puzzle, certain solutions trigger attacks for you and your opponent to use on one another, adding an interesting level of frustration.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News