2007 Game of the Year: Revenant Wings
I've been meaning to get around to this post for awhile now, so you'll just have to forgive me that I'm announcing my own personal video game of the year for last year a few weeks late.
The year two-thousand-and-seven was an amazing year for gaming. I've posted about many of my favorite games this year, including Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales, The Legends of Zelda and Spyro: Phantom Night, Pokemon Diamond, and Wario Ware: Twisted! I also didn't post about some game I really enjoyed, like Super Paper Mario and Halo 3.
But although all those games rocked my socks, my personal pick for video game of the year can go to only one game: Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings for the Nintendo DS. My wife gave it to me in the middle of December as an early Christmas present and as soon as she did, I was hooked. Although it's both a sequel to a game I hadn't ever played AND in a series that I swore off after terminal frustration with random battles, this game captivated me completely.
What's not to love? The art and visual design of the game is gorgeous (with cute, retro sprites for the characters you control); the music is amazing for a portable game, the story has surprising twists and turns (and was far more compelling to me than the much-lauded Mass Effect, which I consider to be an Ass Defect); and the gameplay, though repetitive, was fun throughout (the difficulty did vary widely throughout the game, as the final missions were insanely tough, but even that didn't damper my spirits). Honestly, I can't think of a better game I've played in a long, long while. My highest praise is that I'm looking forward to playing through it again soon and I never ever play through games twice.
But now I'm curious, my video game playing friends, as to what your personal Game of the Year would be? I know that L's involves assassination, and the Pants might go with one that involves rocketing around as a slime, but I'd love to see a blog post or two about them. What game of 2007, in your opinion, was super special awesome?
Comments
2007 was indeed an epic year for video games. I however could scarcely choose a favorite. In the end I reached a sort of compromise. I have 2 games that vied for the title. one of them recieved the "best of 2007" and the other recieved "best game I'm likely to own for the next several years".
Super Mario Galaxy was pure condensed joy squeezed into an optical disk. I loved every minute of 242 stars and plan on replaying it many times. maybe once per year. This game therefore receives my vote for the best of 2007.
Some games come in a single package. you buy it once, play it as long as you like, and it stays perfect and nice the way it is, like super mario galaxy. other games however, come in large boxes, and you play it obsessively for weeks with your friends. then each week you buy a bit more of the game. Rock Band is just such a game. I've consistently bought one or two tracks every week I've had xbox live and I keep loving the game more and more. i imagine that in a year or so when I'm with friends and we're bored, they'll give the familiar call for us to play rock band, and we'll sign in with our legendary band, characters lovingly crafted, instruments individualized meticulously, and then we'll scroll through more than 200 songs for something to play.
So, despite pure excellence in mario form, Rock Band is the best game I've likely ever owned, or will own for some time.