My 2016 Games of the Year

For you longtime blog visitors (both of you), this will bring back memories. For the rest of you, here's a quick explanation.

I don't play new games all that often. So, rather than come up with my games of the year, evaluating the four actually new games that I played, I generate a list of the top ten games that I played during the previous year. That means that the games could have been released at any point in history (see #2), or are repeats from last year (see #1).

Anywho, here's my list. I spent most of the second half of this year playing D&D, and while I do love dungeon delving with the total freedom that D&D gives you, I kind of miss video games. We'll see how 2017 pans out.

I always put my lists in order, because I need to judge things.

10. Rocket League

Rocket League is an international sensation...which I find to be just decent. It's not that I dislike the game or anything. I get why it's fun, and I enjoy it from time to time, I just don't have the same excitement that it gets from a lot of other people. Specifically Scooter. Still, it's fun enough to round out my top ten.

9. Clash Royale

I'm not generally one who sticks with phone games. I get my fill and then move on, because none of them really ever have an "ending." You just keep going, keep building, keep leveling up, keep grinding, and never really "accomplish" anything.

Clash Royale has a lot of that same grind to it, but there's something gratifying about finding a deck that you can run well, and rolling over a couple opponents in a row. Combine that with a solid clan and regular splashy content, and I find myself consistently engaged by the Clash.

8. 4 Elements

So the funny thing about this game is that I only started playing it because I knew I wasn't playing many games, and figured I'd start towards the top of my games list. So, starting with the number "4" and 4 Elements, I fired up a new game. It's a simple puzzle game with its own twists of strategy. I wouldn't call it revolutionary on any level, but it's aesthetically pleasing and simple enough to pick up. I would just barely recommend it, if you're looking for something to kill a few hours.

7. Destiny

I bought Destiny basically because a friend told me to. I hadn't played an XBox One game in a while, and he had suggested it a few times. So I grabbed some pack off Amazon that included a couple expansions and fired it up. It's made by some of the same folks who made Halo, and it shows in a lot of the artwork and gameplay. That said, it doesn't really capture that certain something that Halo's campaign system had.

The game itself is fairly fun, it's essentially an MMO first-person shooter, but your experience is very rarely "massive," which is a good thing. You can do a series of solo missions (that you can bring friends along to complete as well), and you can also join a queue for dedicated multiplayer missions, missions that are considerably more difficult and require teamwork to complete. Overall, it was a pretty fun experience, and while I won't be paying $60(!) for a new expansion, I might pick it up down the road someday.

6. Dead Rising 3

I love Dead Rising. If I had to pick one franchise that I think defines all that I like about video games, it's Dead Rising. It's got great weapons, a somewhat open world, and the the ability to render massive numbers of zombies inert. Eddie got me Dead Rising 3 for Christmas last year, and I dove into it eagerly.

And it was good. It wasn't the perfect sequel like Dead Rising 2 was, and it wasn't a revolutionary advancement like Diablo 2. It was a solid game with some interesting characters, and enough of the classic material I enjoy to keep me entertained. The one caveat I would give it is that, while the graphics are an "improvement" over the previous games, the extra layer of detail is a bit difficult on my eyes over longer gaming sessions. It became too much eventually and I set the game aside, but someday I definitely plan to get back into it and finish the story.

5. Heroes of the Storm

A repeat from last year's list, it's still a very solid game that has developed a lot over the past year. There are a ton of new heroes, though this year's crop is a bit less revolutionary than last year's; there's no hero like Cho'Gall or Lost Vikings this year. In that regard, it's getting a bit closer to League of Legends, but with the solid gameplay, the introduction of a similar "brawl" system to Hearthstone's, and the fact that the game continues to be completely free to play, it's still a winner in my book.

4. Lifeline

Anthony told me about Lifeline when it was free on iPhone for a couple days (or maybe is still free? I don't know). It's essentially a choose-your-own-adventure book, put into the context of you being on the other side of a communication device, trying to help a stranded space traveler survive on a moon or asteroid or planet. I don't remember the specifics, but I remember really enjoying the game. The way it presented the story was insanely entertaining, and while the finish was clearly built to encourage you to purchase a follow-up game, it was satisfying. Very well done.

3. Sid Meier's Civilization V

So I was a little late to the Civilization V achievement hunter party, but I did get there eventually. Over the past year, I nabbed a couple dozen achievements through considerable playtime, as I figured out what settings I needed to use on my laptop to make it work without crashing...often. The game is just really, really solid. Every time you play it's a new experience, and the maps and different civilizations provide nearly endless replay-ability. It'll be a while before I get the new one, obviously, but that's partly Sid Meier's fault. He made the previous version just too damn good.

2. Total Extreme Wrestling

TEW is a wrestling simulation game. That's right. A wrestling SIMULATION game. The game puts you into the role of a head booker at a wrestling promotion, and your job is to put on the best product possible to increase your popularity, generate income, and keep your job. You manage rosters, contracts, locker room chemistry, pushes, and all of the business aspects of how you put on a show.

It's the kind of game that appeals only to a narrow group of people, but I'm one of those people. I freaking love this game.

1. Dungeons and Dragons

I mean, what else is there to say that I haven't already said? I play D&D 2-3 times a week, which when you compare that with the 4 times a week I work, it takes up the lion's share of my free time. It's complex, it's cooperative, it's creative, and it's social. I say again, D&D is the perfect game.

2015 Games of the Year

A few years ago, I did my own "Games of the Year" list, where I talked about not the games that were released in that year, but those that I myself played that year. A friend of mine suggested doing the same thing in an email thread that we share with some other gaming buddies, and so a few of us shared our experiences from 2015.

But for those of you who aren't on that email thread, I figure I spent the time writing up everything, so I might as well share it. Here's my list for 2015. Also, you can see on the sidebar that I'm trying to keep track of the games I play this year, in the hopes that I maybe do this kind of post again at the end of 2016.

Honorable Mention: Rock Band 4
The newest iteration of the Rock Band franchise was...fine? I haven't gone through the whole campaign, but after advertising it as a "Rock Band RPG," it strikes me as being pretty similar to Rock Band 2; hardly a role-playing game. If you're interested, I wrote about what I thought a true Rock Band RPG could be like on my blog.

10. World of Warcraft
So here's the thing about World of Warcraft. Before Warlords of Draenor turned it into a glorified smartphone game, it was already a glorified smartphone game for me. I'm not good enough to raid or PvP, and outside of that, it's just gold-farming. I don't dislike gold-farming per se, but as I play it more, I'm realizing that it's less of engagement and more of a habit. I'm thinking 2016 won't have WoW on its list.

9. Heroes of the Storm
If we were considering sheer volume of time, Heroes would rate higher on this list. I played pretty often with Chip and Nick, the quicker matches being less of a commitment than games like CS:GO or League of Legends. The lack of items and summoner abilities takes a layer of complexity off the game, but it does have some unique heroes like Cho'Gall, Murky, and The Lost Vikings. Heroes is good for at least an occasional diversion.

8. Card Hunter
If I had only played the first 5 or 6 levels of Card Hunter by the time I wrote this up, it'd be higher on the list. It's a fun card-based game that functions like D&D. The problem is that the game kind of over-complicates itself over time. While you start out with a weak 15-card deck, as your characters advance in level, the deck gets stronger, but also bigger. Anybody who's played any Magic knows that the smaller the deck, the happier you are. Still, it's fun enough that I'll keep it installed at least.

7. Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal
There were, apparently, two previous Creeper World games, but I never played them. This was an impulse purchase for I want to say like $0.79 during one of the Steam sales. It's not an overly complex game, but it does offer a new take on tower defense style games. I enjoyed playing it as much as I did, and I could see myself getting back into it. Unconventional tower defense games are almost as much fun as...

6. Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten
...conventional tower defense games. Defender's Quest was another game I purchased during a Steam sale over the years. I began playing it before last year, but I jumped back into it when I had a stretch of regular Twitch streaming a little while back. It's a bit of a grind, but my kind of grind. I haven't finished the "new game+" yet, and it's an easy game to stream, so I expect to play it some in 2016 as well.

5. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
There was a stretch there in 2015 when CS:GO was my game of choice. Missions were an interesting addition, and it swayed my focus on a day-to-day basis. As always, I watched for interesting investments, though the time of quick profits has passed. I haven't played it in a while, but it was a huge part of my year, and I'd be surprised if I didn't get back to it at some point this year as well.

4. Magic: The Gathering - The Deckbuilding
So here's the thing about Magic. I didn't play a ton of matches of Magic. But "playing Magic" means different things for different people. For me, deckbuilding is far and away my favorite part of the game. I bought some sealed content and spent time all throughout the year building and rebuilding decks. I love trying to figure out the interplay between the various cards, and talking about it with other people or reading about it. Magic was definitely a big part of my gaming 2015.

3. Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
I remember playing a demo of the original Dead Rising and running out to buy a used copy at GameStop the same day. I played the shit out of it, and I continue to play the shit out of Dead Rising games. I didn't buy Dead Rising 2: Off the Record right away, because it's basically a remake of the original Dead Rising 2 with different cutscenes. Still, it was a lot of fun.

2. NHL '16
I'm always a fan of NHL games. I actually played a fair amount of NHL '13 this year as well, but it seemed silly to include two hockey games. NHL '16 was part of the bundle I got when I bought my Xbox One, because I knew I'd play it. I haven't tried Franchise Mode (or whatever it's called these days), but the Be A Pro, Hockey Ultimate Team, and just exhibition games are all crisp and fun. Hockey is great.

1. Dungeons & Dragons
D&D is the best game ever. I've always liked cooperative games with a lot of freedom, and no game satisfies that hunger like D&D. It's a fun game to play with friends, it's a great environment for humor and creativity, and it still incorporates battle-based challenges. It takes more time to set up a game than other games, and requires coordination with your group in order to make things happen, but with Tabletop Simulator and now (the superior) Roll20, it's a great time to play D&D.

2011 Games of the Year #1 - Terraria

There are two things I like in video games: I like making stuff, and I like blowing stuff up. Terraria offers both options in spades, so I like Terraria. A lot, in fact. Enough to net the #1 spot on my games of the year list for 2011.

Terraria is reminiscent of Minecraft, but it's got a few aspects that I think set it apart, positively. First, Terraria has a bit more direction for you. There are feats to accomplish, and rewards for doing so:

• Build a house? You now have somewhere safe from zombies when night falls, and a place for NPCs to hang out.
• Shatter an evil orb? A meteorite may fall from the sky, giving you access to a unique resource to craft better armor and weapons.
• Defeat Skeletron, a floating skeleton head and a pair of bony hands? The tailor is free of his curse, and can offer you his wares.
  

Additionally, Terraria is 2D, rather than Minecraft's 3D nature. Certainly there is value to the 3D system, but adding the third dimension also adds another level of trickiness to the game, and at least in my limited experience, another level of frustration in building. Also, by using a 3rd-person point of view, with a standard mouse cursor, it's much easier to be able to build what you're actually trying to build, without having to constantly mine and place blocks (I cite my crafted version of Air Man as an example).

Finally, and I may get some detractors here, but I think Terraria's just a better-looking game. The graphics are eye-pleasing if simplistic, and everything is crisp and easy to see. It may run on basically Super Nintendo graphics, but the Super Nintendo did alright. I don't remember people ever complaining that Final Fantasy III didn't look good enough.

Terraria's got a nice flavor when played multiplayer, as it adds in that level of panic that all good multiplayer needs. You can work together to take down bosses, and cover each other while harvesting the lands resources. It's also got a PvP option, though I've never used it. But I could see it being fun, in the right circumstances.

More than anything, I like Terraria's potential. The game has received two huge updates since I purchased it last year, and I've read plenty of articles of people talking about their gaming experiences, and sharing their creations. I've really enjoyed what I've seen so far, and I'm excited about how much more it can be.

Oh. And as always...fuck Valentine's Day.

2011 Games of the Year #2 - Dead Island

As someone who's got a history of liking zombie games, I looked forward to Dead Island for a while. From Left 4 Dead to Dead Rising, and through a plethora of lesser games, I've always been on the lookout for another zombie game. Something about killing zombies just feels gratifying, more so than Nazis or wild beasts. It's like I'm doing God's work...

Dead Island is a slightly different kind of game from a lot of the other zombie games out there, though. It draws on two games in particular: Left 4 Dead (obviously) and Borderlands (not so obviously). The basic scenario (zombies overrunning everything) and many of the enemies seem to hearken back to Left 4 Dead. And it definitely induces the same sort of panic when you start getting pummeled by the infected.

But overall, the game is actually more like Borderlands, morphed into a melee-heavy game. You spend a lot of time accumulating gear and doing quests. The missions are fairly straight-forward: kill X zombies, collect Y supplies, escort Z bastard back to base. Yes, there are escort quests, and yes, they suck ass, just as they do in every other game. But the innate universal bullshit of escort quests isn't enough to counter the substantial awesomeness of Dead Island.

One of the cooler facets of the game is the crafting of new weapons. You can take a simple weapon like a baseball bat and add barbed wire or razors, or take a machete and charge it with electricity. You can also create bombs, Molotov cocktails, and ammunition. Guns aren't all that useful in the game, but they have their place. Mostly, though, you're hacking and slashing up close and personal, which gets pretty tense. Especially because you really can't take many hits before you're toast.

Multiplayer is enjoyable, though you'll likely miss out on some of the cutscenes because people click through, or because you're hearing your friend talk shit. Truthfully, though, the story in my experience so far has been fairly blah, so you're not missing much. The negatives of missing plot points are far outweighed by the enjoyment of partnering up with three friends and stomping on zombie skulls.

Though there are ways to improve upon it, Dead Island one of the strongest zombie games out there.

2011 Games of the Year #3 - Magic 2012

As Anthony put it, "The game so nice you bought it twice!"

Many months ago, Xbox Live had a sale that dropped Magic 2012's price down to $5, and so I jumped on it. I've always been intrigued by Magic: The Gathering, but it's quite a complex system, which makes it a bit intimidating. And when you're a nerd like me, you're easily intimidated. I had bought the previous version, and I found it fun, but frustrating, as it was pretty buggy. Interesting enough that I was willing to give the new version a half a shot, and boy am I glad I did.

The game is...well, it's Magic. But there are a few things that the game does particularly well to bridge the gap between Magic neophyte and total nerd-bomb.

The first thing is the decks. They start you with just two decks to choose from, and they're fairly straight-forward decks. That's not to say they don't have their own intricacies and nuances, they're just a little easier to spot. As you play the game and win matches, you unlock more and more decks, with escalating levels of complexity. So by the time you win the last few decks, you've learned enough to actually be able to use them effectively.

The second bridging factor is the use of "puzzles." The advanced puzzles are mostly exercises in frustration, but the first 6 or 7 are learning tools. They help you learn about some of the more common keywords and activated abilities, and teach you (often through trial and error) how the different cards work together, and how to generate synergies. Some of it can be frustrating, but it's pretty damn gratifying when your plans come together perfectly.

It's got online multiplayer which is entertaining enough, but the most fun I've had playing the game is playing local multiplayer, using the Archenemy feature. Archenemy is a 3 vs. 1 game, where the solo player gets bonus "schemes" that give him a distinct advantage. Only by the three players working together can they defeat the Archenemy, and Nick, Eddie and I have spent several hours working together to try to take down the super-villain.

In Steam's end-of-the-year sale, the PC version of Magic went on a deep enough discount, and enough of my friends purchased it that I grabbed a second copy so that I could play with them. And in fact, I purchased a third copy that I gave to Scooter, so we could play some cross-continent battles. They've come out with three deck packs that offer two new decks apiece, and I've purchased all three for PC, as well as two of the three for 360.

It's a good strategy game that takes some time to get the hang of, but when you do, it's a lot of fun. And the games are short enough that you don't have to play for four hours to feel like you did something. I'm looking at you, World of Warcraft.

2011 Games of the Year #4 - Jolly Rover

There was no way I could've predicted this game making the top five list at the beginning of the year. There was also no way I could've predicted this game making my top five when I actually started playing the game. Jolly Rover wasn't striking off the bat, and it wasn't a particularly long, or challenging, or immersive game. And yet, all those aspects seemed to work together just fine to create a perfectly enjoyable game.

Jolly Rover is a point-and-click adventure game, like the old King's Quest and Police Quest games. Your character is a poor, scrawny little pirate dog, so you can't use brute force or high tech gadgets to accomplish your goals. You have to use your wits, your instincts, and the occasional input from your chirpy little parrot, who gives you clues if you give him a cracker.

Anyways, you move through your mission...quest...thing, meeting characters, getting bullied, and making funny asides. The puzzles are fairly interesting, and the jokes are actually quite witty. As I said, the game isn't an epic, but that actually works in its favor. The humor might run thin over a 14-hour game, but for just a few hours, it stays fresh and fun.

The one half-complaint I have about the game is that you can't lose. I don't mean that you have to start over if you fail; I mean that you literally aren't allowed to do anything that would cost you the game. In this regard, Jolly Rover is more of a cinematic experience than a game. But you definitely don't feel like you're not part of the adventure.

The best thing I can say about Jolly Rover is that it reminded me how much fun I used to have playing point-and-click adventure games. It was a fun, quick experience that I'm glad to have had.

2011 Games of the Year #5 - Pokemon Pinball Ruby/Sapphire

Way back when I was living at home, we had kind of an unreliable power situation. When weather hit, either heavy thunderstorms or heavy snow, we often lost electricity at the house, and we'd have to either sit around and do nothing or play Kevin's Game Boy. So we'd usually trade off turns on the original Pokemon Pinball.

With a 17-hour train trip down to Disney World at the beginning of 2011, I knew I'd need to be entertained for a while. So I grabbed my own Game Boy Advance and snagged a copy of Pokemon Pinball Ruby/Sapphire to fill the time. And it was worth it.

The game is simple enough; it's pinball. There are two boards, one much more difficult than the other, but both follow the same basic premise. You capture various pokemon, evolve them, run through bonus levels, and so forth. It's really not so much that the game is anything special; it's just a fun, simple game in portable form. Sometimes that's all you need. Good enough for #5 on the list.

Games of the Year - 2011 Eligible List

Last year was a much different year than previous years as far as my video gaming, the big difference being that I really didn't play much in the way of "new" games. Most of my gaming time was spent revisiting games I had played in the past (Mass Effect, Dead Rising 2, Rollercoaster Tycoon, World of Warcraft) or continuing to play multiplayer games that I started playing a year or two before last (Borderlands, League of Legends). This leaves us with a fairly sparse list of eligible games, and a tough decision on which games will make my top five. But hey, that's why they pay me the big bucks, right?

Here's the list of eligible games for my 2011 Game of the Year:

Gameboy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network 3
Pokemon Pinball Ruby/Sapphire

PC
BIT.TRIP.BEAT
Champions Online
DC Universe Online
Dead Island
Half-Life
Jolly Rover
Magicka
Puzzle Pirates
Terraria

Playstation 3
Call of Duty - Black Ops
Demon's Souls

Xbox 360
Dead Rising 2: Case West
Magic 2012

2010 Games of the Year #1 - League of Legends

With apologies to Chip, League of Legends is my Game of the Year.

League of Legends, developed by Riot Games, is one of a few successors to the classic Warcraft III custom game, Defense of the Ancients (DotA). When my brother sent me a link to the game over a year ago, I was intrigued, but not enough to really sit down and give the game a good run. But a few months later, when several friends started playing, I returned to see a game that had developed considerably.

The basic concept of the game is a glorified arena. Two teams of three or five players meet on a battlefield. Waves of troops pour out of two bases, pushing towards the other base. The players each control a champion who joins the battle, trying to turn the tide of combat.

The sheer complexity of skills, and the potential for great teamwork is what keeps me coming back to the game. They release a new hero every couple weeks, and while I'd really like to see a new map (hint hint Riot), the new heroes keep things fresh enough.

Oh, did I mention the game is free to play? There are hundreds of items you can buy, such as champions, skins, runes, XP boosts, and other useful items, but you don't have to spend a nickel to play. Furthermore, Riot has taken an admirable stance and insisted that "power" would never be sold. That is, any item that increases your champions abilities can only be bought with Influence Points, an in-game currency that you accumulate from playing. So while I can't use the Nurse Akali skin unless I pay for it, I can always buy runes to boost my damage and kill any Nurse Akali I come across.

The game isn't without its flaws. Their servers are sometimes inconsistent, particularly with regards to friends lists and chat, but they've settled down the gameplay servers. It's also pretty frustrating at times, since you're matched up with and against complete strangers fairly often, and a lot of them can be terrible/rude/stupid. But you'll get that cross-section no matter what game you play.

In the end, it's a well-made game that's a lot of fun, and into which I put a great deal of time in 2010. Congratulations League of Legends. Victory!

2010 Games of the Year #2 - Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

From the moment I saw the title of this game on Steam, I was intrigued. One of my favorite aspects of World of Warcraft is the buying and selling that goes on in the auction house, so a game that transfers focus onto that aspect is definitely going to draw my attention. But even with my interest piqued, I didn't expect to love the game as much as I have.

You take on the role of a child who has to turn her home into an item shop in order to pay down her now-missing father's extraordinary debt. The game does a good job of walking you through the beginning, and opening up options over time rather than overwhelming you early on. But you also stand virtually zero chance of actually beating the game the first time through. It's got a similar feature to Dead Rising, where you can start your game over, keeping your merchant level and purchased goods. And most people should be able to generate enough money to pay off the debt by their second playthrough.

Yes, buying and selling products is a big part of the game, and yes, I do enjoy it. But luckily, that's only half of the game. The other half is a dungeon-crawler, with several different warriors to choose from. You pay a hero and send him/her off into a dungeon to fetch treasures that you can sell at your store. The different champions have surprisingly different abilities and play styles, and you learn to appreciate each of them in their own way. You gain one companion early on, but as you progress through the dungeons and meet more people around town, you gain several more warriors to choose from.

The strongest evidence in support of Recettear being near the top of my list is simply that I've poured a ton of time into it. Between the two games I've played (at home and at work), I've put in over 40 hours of game time, and I don't foresee it dropping off any time soon. That's partly because my gaming options at work are limited, but also because the game is simply a lot of fun.

And I've still got so much left to do! There's at least one more warrior to unlock, tons of new gear to discover, and I'm less than halfway to the maximum merchant level. I expect to be playing Recettear plenty in 2011 as well.

2010 Games of the Year #3 - Dead Rising 2

This ranking probably comes as a shock to a lot of you. Dead Rising 2 was by far my most anticipated game of the year; it was, in fact, the only game I pre-ordered. And at #3, I certainly don't regret having pre-ordered it.

I'd go into a whole discourse on the game's merits and how it plays, but I've really already done that. First, I talked about the prequel mini-game that Capcom released to generate buzz for the game, and make a little cash. Then, I spoke about the game itself, here. The game has since also had an epilogue game released, which I've purchased, but haven't played yet.

So why did it end up #3, rather than at its preordained spot up at #1? Well, two main factors.

First, the game, while entertaining and a distinct improvement on the original (which I also loved), didn't expand too much on the features of the original game. The crafting system was a neat addition, and the interface/controls are definitely crisper, but it's still basically the same game. Also, I'm a sucker for achievements, but many of the achievements for this game were simply outrageous. That sort of scenario dampens my feelings of accomplishment, which are really the main reason I play video games at all.

Second, through no fault of its own, Dead Rising 2 just didn't measure up to the top two games. It was a very good game, and a lot of fun. The top two were just better. Which games, you ask? Stay tuned.

2010 Games of the Year #4 - Mass Effect

From the first day Mass Effect came out, my brother has told me, "This is your kind of game, dude." Three years later, I finally decided to give it a shot, and I was very pleased with the results.

I played a lot of Knights of the Old Republic, and the games are similar. The interactions with all sorts of people, the wide array of options given to you over the course of the game, and the good vs. evil spectrum of your actions. The main difference between the games is the live combat, and I think it's for the better. Rather than relying on good odds in a D&D style rolling system in order to hit your enemies, you just have to hit them. It's also a lot more gratifying to blast a guy with a shotgun manually than to "pew pew" him with a blaster pistol automatically.

The graphics are good, the interface is good (although combat can be a little clunky), and the story is interesting and fun. And immersive. You can literally play the game for 40 hours and still not have completed half of it. I know. I haven't completed half of the game yet, I don't think. And I'm well over 40 hours.

For whatever reason, I went elsewhere before I finished Mass Effect. I didn't stop liking the game, and I didn't get frustrated or disappointed with anything. I think I just started playing something else, and never went back. That's the only reason I've got the game down here at #4 instead of higher up.

And hey, any spot on the list is pretty good.

2010 Games of the Year #5 - World of Warcraft - Cataclysm

Some of you know that I've spent quite a lot of time playing World of Warcraft this past year, and certainly plenty of time after the most recent expansion. It's possible that I put more hours into WoW over the past year than any other game. It would seem logical for the most-played game to be #1 or #2 on my annual list.

But I've been playing WoW for years. The eligible game is not the original WoW, but the Cataclysm expansion, and that's a different bird altogether. A bird that I didn't get all the way into.

Here are some notable features that I associated with the expansion when evaluating it for this award:

• Two new races: goblins and worgen - I've been hoping for the opportunity to play as goblins for a while, so this was a nice feature. However, I had sort of been hoping that the goblins would be a third, unassociated faction, rather than part of the Horde. So, my excitement was tempered.
• New zones, new dungeons - I've seen some of the starting areas for goblins and worgen, haven't seen any of the 81-85 zones, and likely won't for a long time, if ever. My style is to play several characters, rather than push one up to max level.
  
• New secondary skill, Archaeology - I haven't gotten high enough with it to know if it's actually useful, but I do like digging up fossils on a basic level, so it's a good addition.
  
• Totally revamped classes - This was the most important part of the equation, and the part that brought the expansion into my top 5.
  

The changes they made to the classes, specifically to the paladin class, were tremendous. Long ago, I made a dwarf paladin, and I grew to be disinterested in him. He just didn't have the fun factor that some of the other classes had (rogues, hunters, etc). But with the revamped skills and talent trees, paladins became, in my opinion, the most fun class. So fun that I'd guess that paladins are my two most played characters.

Check in tomorrow for the #4 game of 2011.

Games of the Year - 2010 Eligible List

In what has shockingly become an annual feature, I'll be posting my personal Game of the Year list for 2010 all next week. We'll start with #5 on Monday, and finish off with my #1 game of the year on Friday, February 11th.

As you may remember, the Housington Game of the Year system is a little different from your normal Game of the Year stuff. I don't buy very many new games, but I do generally buy/play a lot. So, my Game of the Year eligible list includes games that I feel like I got into enough to use up their "rookie" status. The list of eligible games is below.

This year's list is extensive, as it was my first full year purchasing and playing games from Steam. Their sales are numerous and the discounts are deep. To give you an idea of how much so, I've already got more games in my Steam library that I haven't played than are on the PC list below. I also purchased a PlayStation 3 in 2010, though obviously from the lack of any PS3 games below, you can tell that I haven't really gotten into it yet. Expect that to change in 2011.

GameCube
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour

PC
And Yet It Moves
Alien Swarm
BattleForge
Borderlands
Braid
Dead Frontier
Dungeons & Dragons Online
Gish
League of Legends
Left 4 Dead 2
Lord of the Rings Online
Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers
Osmos
Puzzle Agent
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale
World of Goo
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

Xbox 360
Band Hero
Dead Rising 2: Case Zero
Dead Rising 2
Guitar Hero 5
Guitar Hero Smash Hits
Lego Rock Band
Mass Effect
Overlord
Rock Band 3
South Park Ultimate Tower Defense

I'd love to hear your predictions, if you've got any. You've got a week to make your guesses. And I'll tell you what; to make it easier, I'll post a poll over on the sideboard.

Edit: I removed BIT.TRIP.BEAT and Company of Heroes from the list of eligible games. The reality is that I did not play those two games enough for them to have lost their rookie eligibility. I don't expect either to make it into the Top 5 in 2011, but they remain eligible.