Best Xbox 360 Game of the Year
- Scribbled on January 1st, 2007 by Jonah Falcon
- Filed in GameStooge Game of the Year Awards, Microsoft Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 had one of the best years ever for a console system, with the nominees being all-time greats - not including The Orange Box. Perhaps the greatest testament to this year’s nominees is that any one of them could win and not be a surprise.
The Nominees
BioShock
Ken Levine’s terrifying spiritual sequel to System Shock 2, set deep in the ocean in an underwater city gone berserk
Call of Duty 4
Infinity Ward takes the Call of Duty to the Middle Eastof the modern age, with an engaging multiplayer mode as part of the package
Forza Motorsport 2
The sequel to the realistic racing game complements its driving with a fantastic community feature.
Halo 3
Bungie’s masterpiece and final installment of the Halo trilogy features an exciting campaign mode and addictive multiplayer action
Mass Effect
BioWare’s sprawling, epic science fiction roleplaying game features a dynamic conversation model and a thrilling script
And the Winner is:
Halo 3
Somehow, despite selling 3.3 million copies in a few days, earning almost universally rave reviews, and all the excitement before and after the release, Halo 3 has been overshadowed by other Xbox 360 games, notably BioShock and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It seems that Halo has reached the status of being taken for granted, because the reason it is the best game of the year is that it has it all: a great story in the campaign, with a superb ending that wraps up the storyline of the trilogy, a hot multiplayer that’s constantly evolving thanks to Bungie’s support, and a marvelous set of tools for users, namely the saved films and Forge features.
One of the greatest strengths of the series is each game’s lifespan - even after Gears of War came out, a ton of people continued to play Halo 2 multiplayer - and many play it even now. This will be the last Halo game for a while, but you can bet it’ll continue to thrive years from now on Xbox Live.
Runner Up: BioShock
Just a thrilling, creepy setting and a magnificent storyline, as Ken Levine uses the formula for System Shock 2 and puts it underwater with a retro-50’s theme. It’s the perfect warm-up for that other retro game coming in 2008: Fallout 3.
Jonah Falcon’s Best Xbox 360 Game of the Year: Halo 3.
Jonathon Howard’s Best Xbox 360 Game of the Year: BioShock.
Mitchell Dyer’s Best Xbox 360 Game of the Year: Mass Effect.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
[...] Xbox 360 Game of the Year [...]
January 9th, 2008 at 5:24 am
BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Ah… Ah. Halo 3? Really? The game that you-whomp-’em-aliens for the umpteenth time in the same levels you played 10 years ago?
Brilliant!
Really though, Halo’s hype machine is more successful than the overall quality of the game itself, which is average at best.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Even if Halo 3 was a different licensed game with different characters and no Master Chief, it would have won. The AI, the multiplayer, etc - this game will be still be played in 5 years on the Xbox 360 or whatever new machine is out there. It’s that good.