What makes a good video game? Strong visuals are important. Good controls are essential. A well-crafted concept helps too. These days, most games can boast at least two-thirds of that criteria.
So, then what makes a game great? Feeling. Emotion. Surprise. Interaction. Even addiction. Playing a great game causes you to stay up all night, even knowing you have school or work the next morning. Playing a great game compels you to push your reflexes and brain harder and faster. And playing a great game forces you to experience and imagine.
It's a magical feeling when a game offers all these elements. Knowing that by turning on the TV and the console, instantly you are no longer just sitting on the couch in your home but instead are a galactic warrior. Or an undersea explorer. Or a fuzzy alien. Or a hero. Or even a villain.
So here are the titles we deemed the best experiences of 2007. Admittedly, we didn't play everything (because that would probably be impossible), but of the titles that did cross our paths, these are the ones that resonated most. Our favorites in order:
Best of the Year
BioShock: Adventure games don't get any better than BioShock. What makes it so good is that it's more than just a game; it's a complete experience. So immersive is the action, so remarkable are the environments, it takes only a few minutes of gameplay for BioShock to invade your mind and make you feel like you are indeed wandering through a 1960s-era failed undersea utopia populated by crazed zombies and freaky little girls who carry chemicals to enhance your biological superpowers. Besides the extensive details, like the period props and costumes, great score and brilliant art direction, the story and concept of BioShock are better than most movies. And with so many rooms to explore and so many creepy elements to this masterpiece -- part horror flick, part sci-fi novel -- complete escapism was never so easy or fun. (Rated: mature.)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare: Spectacular, edge-of-your-seat warfare is served up with a great story and even better visuals in the latest of the Call of Duty franchise. Reinvented as a modern conflict (unlike the series' WWII-based previous titles), COD4 is the war game that all other war games want to be: a perfect blend of action and realism with visuals that are unbelievable. Besides the technological perfection, COD4 also boasts a well-crafted story full of unexpected surprises. (Rated: mature.)
