The Writers’ Games of the Year

We here at Mom’s Basement felt like we should do a 2007 Game of the Year discussion just to truly establish us as a gaming blog. However, leave it to us to leave it until the last week of January, and we still only have six writers contributing. Oh well, you snooze (and ignore everyone’s communications for a few weeks) and you lose. Enjoy!

Sherlock – Hotel Dusk: Room 215: Although it slipped under the radar, Hotel Dusk had a fantastic mystery story that quite simply had me hooked from beginning to end. It had well developed and mature storytelling and characters, a unique visual style, and it did some interesting things with the DS’ technology. Hopefully Cing will bless us with another mystery like this in the future.

Runner Up: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Jonny The Pie King – Super Mario Galaxy: An obvious choice, but Super Mario Galaxy is my game of the year. Honestly, I played a lot of games over my life, but very few match up to the excellence of Galaxy. It made me want to play Mario games and platformers in general again. The game just feels so close to perfection, and with its old school charms made new again (ie: the soundtrack), it hits the perfect spot of nostalgia and feeling fresh at the same time.

Runner Ups: Call of Duty 4, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Dementium: The Ward

Smeags – Super Mario Galaxy: I must admit, this has been quite the year to be a gamer. So many amazing games, yet there can only be one. And that one I chose was Super Mario Galaxy. Now many of you saw this coming, but that’s exactly the point. Super Mario Galaxy has been embraced as a masterpiece by the gaming community for its mastery of imagination and quality. In an age of an ever growing realistic, morally grey video game world, Galaxy reminds us all of what’s truly important: having fun. My hat’s off to you Mario and here’s to a bright future.

Runner Ups: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Bioshock, The Orange Box

AZN_INC – Skate: Surprised? Sure it’s no Super Mario Galaxy or Mass Effect, but it was really the only game this year that changed a genre so much without really changing it at all. It was challenging, showed that gameplay really does make a game, and most of all it was fun. Spending more than 10 hours on a single game other than an RPG is really a difficult task for me these days and Skate somehow managed to suck me back each and every time I loaded up my 360.

Runner Ups: Portal, Rock Band, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Soren – Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn: Galaxy amazed me and everything, and is one of the most fun games I’ve ever played, but Fire Emblem is probably one of my favorite series’ of all time, and this is by far the best entry in the series to date. Needless to say…

Runner Up: Super Mario Galaxy

Shvitzel – Super Mario Galaxy: This game had a major impact on me as a gamer. It reminded me of what game introduced me to this world of gaming and it reminded me why I play games. The game may have been easy at times, but I don’t think anyone can deny that there were some definite challenges. What’s so beautiful about those challenges is that at the end, you aren’t sighing with relief that you’ll never have to do that again; you’re sighing because you feel like you’ve accomplished something. The graphics and art style are brilliant by any game’s standard, to me at least, and the music is among some of the best music I’ve heard in a long time from any game, movie, or band. This is truly a king among games.

Runner Ups: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2