Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends

To all those who say that PC gaming is dead, I say play this game.  So there.  Then, take note that there are umpteen million of those silly Tycoon games on the shelves every month and tens of thousands of people downloading and playing casual games and you’ll realize that the PC is far from dead.  It’s just changed, that’s all.  But it has also stayed the same in being the platform capable of offering the most innovative and amazing games created.  This is one such game.  It is very good.  Play it.

Prey

Remember when I was asking whether there could be innovation in an FPS anymore?  There can and there is and it is called Prey.  If you’ve not played this for the Xbox 360 or the PC you need to go and get the demo and play it now because it is simply amazing.

Saints Row

The term GTA clone gets tossed around a lot these days and this game earns it perhaps more than any other - but it is awesome anyway.  Full of the kinds of things that an open would game should aspire to, Saints Row is the first real sandbox in the next generation.  Crackdown may be on its way and an actual next-gen GTA sometime after that, but this is here now and well worth everyone’s time.

Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra

The final installment of the Xenosaga saga was what we were all waiting for.  It answers  our questions and more than makes up for the pathetic middle episode.  A brilliant way to bring a saga to a close.  George Lucas could learn a few things from the folks at Square.

Gears of War

If you own an Xbox 360 you should own this game, that’s all there is to it.  This was our Game of the Month for November and will likely be a lot of people’s Game of the Year.  If this is the direction that games are headed, I like it.

Resistance: Fall of Man

If you own a Playstation 3... Well you’re probably rich and incredibly lucky.  You should also be playing this game as it is the best game available for the new system (and possibly one of the best games in existence, period) and perhaps is the only game really worth playing on the PS3 right now.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

If you own a Wii… yeah you guessed it.  The long awaited new entry in the Zelda dynasty is the best ever and well worth the wait.  Some of the Wii-specific controls seem a little tacked-on, but it’s a great game anyway and  one that no fan of the series, fan of Nintendo, fan of adventure games, or Wii owner should be without.

Sid Meier's Railroads

Good old Sid started up the whole "Tycoon" thing with Railroad Tycoon way back when.  Now he's remade that game with a modern twist, much as his company Firaxis did with Sid Meier's Pirates! last year.  Firaxis may well be the only company that can get away with this kind of recycling - but they're so darn good at it that we love 'em for making the same game time and again, just making it better every time.

 

Final Fantasy XII

Final Fantasy moved into the new generation with Final Fantasy X, an entry that introduced much new content and concepts to the FF world.  Now, as that generation prepares to make way for another, Final Fantasy is back with the first traditional entry in the series since that one five years ago.  Again we are introduced to groundbreaking concepts for the series - and we love every minute of it.  There have been better games this year, but this is one I’ll remember better than any of the others.

These are, of course, just a handful of the games released this year and one could argue that there were others that made an impact - but none made quite the impact these did.  The real excitement about gaming in 2006 is, more than anything else, looking forward to gaming in 2007 and the years to come. 

When PS3s, Wiis, and 360s are installed in two, three, and four times the households that they are now we are sure to see some amazing things in gaming.  As bigger, badder, and more powerful gaming PCs and video cards come out we'll start to see what the next next generation will look like.  Will that be five short years from now?  With the prices of consoles becoming what they are, one hopes not, but you never can tell.  Everything is moving at an incredible rate - yet phenomena like Xbox Live Arcade and the Wii Virtual Console are also proving that older games still have legs too.  Games like Spore, Sons of the Patriots, and the new Super Mario are on the horizon.  All in all it's a great time to be a gamer.