My Game of the Year

It's the time of year again for top 10 lists, Something of the Year lists, and all other forms of reviewing our lives over the past 365 days.

So I'll pick my Game of the Year: Crackdown.

Released in February, Crackdown was destined to be a dud because included with the game was a beta-key for Halo 3 online multiplayer. What other way to sell a crappy game than to entice gamers with a taste of Halo goodness? What sucker is going to pay $60 just play the multiplayer, two week Halo server stress test?

A lot of people. Because it's Halo.

But a little surprise came from that $60 purchase: a really fun, sandbox-style, superhero, total destruction, 800-hidden-objects-to-find, online, co-op action game.

Crackdown really had it all: running 30 miles an hour, picking up and throwing tractor trailers at enemies, jumping 4 stories in the air and jumping the rooftops of cities, punching enemies back 20 feet, driving cars that transformed off of ramps at high speeds, and even climbing up and jumping off the highest point in the game. Then doing it all with a friend online and laughing your heads off. Not really much was left to the imagination with this game. You could do or go pretty much anything or anywhere you wanted.

And itt was probably the best superhero game without actually calling itself such. Not even the new Superman game, a series that has always left a bad taste in gamers mouths, could compete with such a well built action game like Crackdown.

What was wrong with Crackdown? It wasn't particularly deep in storyline. It didn't have online multilayer with more than one other person. The enemies weren't hard to kill at all. It could make you sea-sick jumping around and spinning the camera constantly like you have to in order to jump around and make your way around the city. There are 800 collectible items in the game (and I'm freakin' two away!).

Crackdown wasn't the big Triple-A title of the year and there are certainly many games in contention for game of the year: Mass Effect, Bioshock, Halo 3, Guitar Hero 3, Rock Band, Forza 2, Call of Duty 4, Assasin's Creed, and on and on. But for the money, Crackdown gave me the best experience and I enjoyed it the most. And while Rock Band is teaching me how to play the drums and is in my top 5 of the year, it's really more of a side effect than a feature of the game.

Now I haven't played all the games that came out this year, so my pool of candidates is about the size of a baby pool, but that's what you get when you have a real job, a mortgage, and very limited hobby money.

It's my game of the year. Probably not many other's.

Note: My top five would be Crackdown, Rock Band, Halo 3, Forza 2, and Mario Galaxy.