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The year has ended and new one has begun.  What does that mean?  It means that I need to tell you what my favorite game of 2007 was!

Each year, I have made a tradition of naming my own "game of the year".  This year was a fantastic one for the world of gaming.  We saw some exceptional titles, a lot of sequels, and a few that bordered greatness.  While each year seems to offer up this same scenario, this year was a very full harvest!

Each system saw some great titles head their way:

The XBox 360 was graced with Halo 3, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Rock Band, Call of Duty 4, and Orange Box.

The PS3 received Rock Band, Call of Duty 4, Warhawk, Assassin's Creed, Oblivion, and Orange Box.

The Wii gave us some happiness with Super Mario Galaxy, Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, and Resident Evil 4.

So, how do we determine the "game of the year" for 2007?  For me, it all boils down to what game gave me the most enjoyment during my playing time.  First, let me tell you a few titles I didn't pick, and why.

First off, Halo3.  While a very entertaining game, and much improved over Halo2, it still just follows the same formula as its predecessors without expanding on what could have been.  The original Halo is my all time favorite game, and with Halo 2 they took a major step down.  With Halo 3, they took some great strides forward without stepping out of the comfort zone they've created with the series.  Where were the wide open landscapes?  Where were the branching paths that let you help dictate the outcome?  Why was Cortana's dialogue so lame and why did she and the villain constantly interrupt your gameplay by freezing you in place while citing horribly written monologues?

While a great game, and quite fun, Halo 3 failed to live up to my expectations and was just too reminiscent of the previous entries.  A few steps forward, a few steps back.  Not game of the year material.

Mass Effect was my second choice, but it failed simply because its control is lacking in so many areas.  Not only do the controls of running your guy around and getting stuck "hiding" behind thing when you don't mean to infuriate you, but the control of the lander that you drive around on the various planets is beyond frustrating and is completely glitched at times (things you run over get stuck and make your vehicle uncontrollable).  Add this frustration to the repetitive level structures (things really start looking more of the same the more you play) as well as an inconsistent frame rate, and you start to wonder if this game even went through any quality control.

Ahh, but then, once you get passed these annoyances, you find the heart of the game: the story.  This is a fantastic sci-fi tale that you get to control.  The voice acting, the dialogue, the story, it all plays out so well and makes you feel like you are really doing something within the game.  Once you get involved in the plot and the side quests (there are many!) you seem to forgive and forget about the things mentioned earlier.  In fact, you forgive them so much that you actually put this in the top three for the choices for "game of the year".  It's just that good, but lacking enough to keep it from stealing the thunder away from the winner.  A sequel is NEEDED.  You must play this game!

Warhawk on the PS3 is a great example of an unfinished game.  With no single player missions, a limited 2-player split-screen mode, and a steep learning curve, many will write this title off before really getting into what makes it great.  This is a "go anywhere, use anything" type of game where you play capture the bases, or just go into a death match style of game.  I loved the ability to use any vehicle, any weapon, and the diversity of each of those elements.  The controls took a bit of adjusting to, but they were manageable.

The downfall of this game is the lack of missions in a single player setting, and the inability to add computer controlled opponents (bots) to a game so you can enjoy what it has to offer without having to subject yourself to the immature world of online gamers.

This game could have been not only a classic, but a real boost to the weak PS3 library, and a real contender for game of the year if they had just added more.  Warhawk 2, anyone?  Please!

The Wii is a great system, and the new Mario game proves how fun it can be.  But still, it's another Mario title.  Hmmm, you still do the same things.  It's time to step outside of Mario's comfort zones as well.  A few "motion" tricks are fun, but it still doesn't cover up for the fact that it's just like all the other Mario titles:  fun, but very familiar.   Still, it's a great game, and worth picking up.

The Call of Duty series is a great one, no doubt.  With 4, they have stepped beyond the WWII setting and gone with a modern one.  This is a step in the right direction and the game is very impressive.  The only real way the could have improved this dramatically is if they would have included co-op play.  No game should be without co-op play, especially in the day when all the systems now have online enabled gaming.  COD4 screams for co-op play, but that was left out.

While not the greatest, Call of Duty 4 is a great example of a series evolving in the right direction.  Moving away from the WWII setting was a smart move and one that probably saved the franchise.  Now, if they could just include co-op play!

Had this game not already been released on the XBox 360 the previous year, then this would be a serious contender for game of the year.  Instead, it's a nice gesture to all the PS3 gamers out there so that the Sony Loyalists can see what 360 gamers were enjoying the year before.  It's a fantastic game and well worth the price of admission.  If you've got a PS3 and haven't played this, then you owe it to yourself to enjoy what is easily one of the best games out there.

Assassisn's Creed is a fantastic example of the direction games need to go.  It's wide open in landscape (think Oblivion) and the graphics are a step above pretty much anything else that's out there.  What holds this game back is the redundancy that plagues the missions and the difficulty of controlling what exactly your guy is doing.  While not impossible to understand, the learning curve on the controls are pretty steep.  This, again, will scare away quite a few people.

While on the border of being game of the year, the control and a few issues keep this down.  But, this is a game everyone should see in motion.  It's got true "next-gen" written all over it.

Ok, so these were a few of the great games that didn't make my cut.  So what is my choice for game of the year?

Rock band wins with ease in this battle.  Not taking anything away from the others, but Rock Band does pretty much everything right and provides gamers with a fun, low-stress game that really begs for more people to play. While playing alone is fun, there's just nothing like grabbing three others and playing a song.  At first, it might seem a little silly, but once you get going, you'll be loving it.

If you own a 360, a PS3, or are still using your PS2, then you owe it to yourself to experience the true evolution of "rhythm games".  With downloaded songs to add to your song mix and a healthy variation already on the disc, you should find some music to please just about anyone.  While the game is on the expensive side ($170), it's well worth it for what you get (drums, guitar, microphone, and game).  Bottom line is that you NEED this game, and it truly deserves "Game of the Year"!

So, while 2007 was one of the best years in gaming history, we still have a long ways to go.  Some games have touched the surface of the direction we need to go (Assassin's Creed), but with the ever expanding costs of production, we're still stuck in the latter part of last generations ideas.  Hopefully, as time goes the expenses will lessen and newer ideas and concepts can flourish.  How about we start by getting a game like Oblivion, squash all the game play bugs, mix it with online play, and have the world constantly evolving for replay value?  One can only hope!

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