Top Console Video Games of 2006

[Guest Emperor]

1. "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" (Wii, GameCube)

2. "Gears of War" (Xbox 360)

3. "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas" (Xbox 360)

4. "The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion" (Xbox 360)

5. "Resistance: Fall of Man" (PS3)

6. "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter" (Xbox 360)

7. "Final Fantasy XII" (PS2)

8. "Call of Duty 3" (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)

9. "Dead Rising" (Xbox 360)

10. "Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops" (PSP)

 

I have played all of these and could debate moving Gears to #1 and GRAW higher as well... but I tried not to be biased.

[Guest Majsju]

FIFA 06, best football game ever made.

 

And also only 06 game I've played, the rest of the gaming year has been oldies but goldies :D

[Kaznen]

I'm surprised Resident Evil 4 wasn't on the list.

[Guest Emperor]

The way the list was formed:

 

I consulted many gaming sites and checked what they had for their top games. I read a few reviews and then thought about my top games of 2006. I wanted a somewhat unbiased list of the top games, because otherwise mine would have all been xbox 360 games.

 

Now, what is your list of top games of 2006? They can be PC games if you wish.

[The Outsider]

I'm surprised Resident Evil 4 wasn't on the list.

 

RE4 was 2005 though wasn't it... it won the Spike TV video game of the year for 2005 anyway.

[Guest Emperor]

Good call! I actually never played that game... well I played the first one in the series and liked it.

[The Outsider]

I've never played it either. I did briefly borrow a copy of the first Resident Evil (Directors Cut) for PS1, but only played it for half an hour to an hour. Certainly never made it past the first level.

 

RE4 is on my long list of games to play though.

 

I'm one of those who isn't qualified to rate games of the year cos I'm still playing the games of yesteryear. Working on GTA 3 on the PC right now, and then it will probably be on to Metroid on the NES with Wind Waker waiting on deck on the Cube.

[Guest Majsju]

Res4 is absolutely awesome. Especially if you play at night, slightly tipsy, and all the lights out, it scares you silly :D

[Guest Emperor]

Do you scream like a little girl? Err, not that I do that when no one is around....

[Kivam]

FIFA 06, best football game ever made.

 

No, that would be Madden '05. But FIFA is a good soccer game :P

[Guest Majsju]

FIFA 06' date=' best football game ever made.[/quote']

 

No, that would be Madden '05. But FIFA is a good soccer game :P

 

[booklover1]

I have a Wii and actually have played Twilight Princess.It is an astounding game and one well qualified to be game of the year. :D

[The Outsider]

I have a Wii and actually have played Twilight Princess.It is an astounding game and one well qualified to be game of the year. :D

 

Bah! Humbug!

 

(slightly bitter at not getting a Wii for Christmas)

[AissaJacarn]

Uhh... I don't see any of the Sims 2 expansions on there... :P

 

And since that's the only game I play, I can't list anything else. Heh.

 

(Yes, I know I'm sad.)

[Twitchy]

Yeah, although Twilight is a good game, I'm pretty sure Gears should be moved to #1, because it shows what next-gen can do, and the one flaw in it is...uhhh...the glitch when sometimes you can't hear people on Xbox Live.

[Taren]

Zelda Twilight Princess is well the winner!

[Guest Emperor]

Twitch, what is your xbox live name? I play Gears online quite often.

[The Outsider]

I've not played either game but I disagree with that principle. IMO the game that was the most fun to play should be ranked highest regardless of what the graphics look like.

 

In that respect I will list my top whatever games I played in 2006, since I didn't play any games that were made in 2006.

 

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

 

I finally played all the way through this one for the first time and it didn't disappoint. This game has been sitting on my shelf for years. Too bad I never made the time sooner. It was just plain fun to play. With a lot of games the levels are frustrating to an extent, but with OoT just going through the dungeouns was fun. Figuring out the bosses was also fun. It's no wonder why this one is as hyped as it is.

 

2. 007: Everything or Nothing (GCN)

 

The varied missions mixing up stealth with traditional combat, driving missions with motorcycles, helicopters, and different cars, and the cinematic qualities and feel made this one as much fun as a real Bond film.

 

3. Super Mario Bros. (NES)

 

Finally using raw determination to beat this game after so many years was eventful enough that I had my wife take a picture of the end screen. Going all the way back to the 80's I could get to 8-3 but never got past it, and usually only made it to 8-2. This time I played all the way through without using warp zones.

 

4. Star Wars - Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (PC)

 

Don't know this is considered an FPS... Does anyone stay in first person mode and use guns after they get a lightsaber? Ultra-cool game, especially with the dismemberment mode on. Fun story and gameplay.

 

5. The Wheel of Time (PC)

 

Forgot to add this one to the list. Oops. I got this game back when it first came out, but then discovered that my pc at the time wasn't quite up to par, so I decided to put it off until later when I had a better graphics card or pc or whatever and never got around to it. Until this year. Finally played through it and greatly enjoyed the game and story. The graphics are dated, they are still very beautiful. It seems odd to me that this game is poorly rated among WOT fans, but the non-fans who have it rate it highly. Seems like a classic case of expecting too much if you ask me.

 

6. The Legend of Zelda (NES)

 

I bought this game on hype and never really got into it, but with after playing OoT I was in a Zelda mood and wanted to finish old NES games I had never had the patience to finish out anyway. So I played through the first quest with a little bit of walkthrough help (the wandering was what initially put me off, so having a bit of guide improved the fun for me). I'll probably play through the second quest this year after I've played some other games...

 

7. Castlevania (NES)

 

I had never made it past the Grim Reaper before, and had always found it difficult getting past Frankenstien's Monster as well, so beating this one knocked it up on the list out of sheer sense of accomplishment after beating it.

 

8. Riven: The Sequel to Myst (PC)

 

Another one I had way back in the day and never finished. I also have Myst III sitting somewhere and it has never been on my PC, so I finally decided to play through this one. By taking notes I found I had to use the walkthrough less than I had anticipated.

 

9. Grand Theft Auto III (PC)

 

Fun game, but a bit driving heavy for me. I played this one sort of as a secondary game while I had other games 'in progress' on the other systems, so it took about half a year with lots of starts and stops. It wasn't uncommon to see my last save being from a month beforehand.

 

10. Goldeneye: 007 (N64)

 

I finished the last few levels of a game saved years (and years) before, then played through the entire game on the medium and hard modes, mostly using the invincibility cheat, just to unlock the hidden levels. Great game, but overhyped a bit. Of course, most of the people who hyped it back in the day loved it because of the multiplayer back when it was less developed. With me never loving multiplayer, I enjoyed the single player game, but not as much as when it was new.

[Guest Emperor]

The list you have is good! I would have ranked goldeneye higher as it is a classic but otherwise I can get on board with MOST of your rankings.

[The Outsider]

The list you have is good! I would have ranked goldeneye higher as it is a classic but otherwise I can get on board with MOST of your rankings.

 

I suspect I'm maybe not much of an FPS gamer. In fact after reading your comment I tried to think of other FPS games I've played and had to struggle to come up with names. Jedi Outcast, which was 90% third person swordfighting really, MOH: Allied Assault, which I've only really messed about with (it's still on my list of games to play through), and Wheel of Time, which I played this year and forgot to put on the list, so I revised and Goldeneye got dropped further. Bear in mind what I said about several of the NES games though, in that they got ranked higher because of the fact that I had never beat them before. For instance, should I play through SMB again this year it would have a tough time making the list at all since the novelty would be gone. Of course, there was the novelty of beating Goldeneye for the first time too, but there we are talking about like 8 years instead of 20...

 

Another thing, is that I think Goldeneye maybe hasn't dated so well as other games. It is a classic, but the reason it is a classic, I think, has more to do with the fact that it was an innovator in that it brought the FPS genre to console gaming. It was the first to come up with an aiming system that would be feasible in place of a mouse and also one of the first to have human adversaries rather than fictional monsters. The story itself was just a port of a movie though, and the level design, while good, was also confusing in places. It was easy to get lost in some places, especially the statue park in Russia. Ocarina on the hand, has dated very well. While the graphics have obviously dated, the story and gameplay itself, like a good book, is still fun. :)

[Guest Emperor]

I think Goldeneye was great because of the muliplayer levels and weapons. I agree with you about the aiming system.

 

I have become more of a fan of the FPS recently, especially with Gears of War and Ghost Recon.