World in Conflict really didn't seem like my type of RTS. A focus on micromanagement? No bases? What about those resources I love collecting? Whatever happened to carefully balancing your military, economic, and researching needs? Where's all the depth? I was sure this game wasn't for me. Boy, was I mistaken.

For me, World in Conflict is less of strategy game and more of a tactical game. You’re not making very many macro-level decisions; instead most of your decisions are on a very tight, specific battlefield, using only a few units. This brings a very entertaining aspect, however, as the game is in constant chaos. Everything has HUGE weaknesses and HUGE strengths, and balancing everything out is both challenging and entertaining to accomplish.

While I do miss a lot of my strategic insight over things like economy, building a huge base, and researching new stuff, the complete focus on the combat actually makes the game feel fresh. Many games have talked about removing economic management and base building, but World in Conflict is the first one that does it and still keeps the game tactical. From start to finish, the game felt well balanced and featured extremely exciting and intense battles. The graphics and sound is also top notch, which just makes the battles even more enticing to witness.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is one of those buggy games that still turn out to be a gem. It's got a lot of rough around the edges, but it's still attractive in its own right. If you are willing to forgive S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for some of its shortcomings, there is a lot about the game to enjoy.

One of my favorite aspects of this game is its learning curve. Or should I say lack of a learning curve? Right from the beginning you’re through in with very little direction. Bandits are gunning for you, the military checkpoint completely overpowers you with firepower, tons of wildlife that your starting equipment is too weak to deal with very realistically, and tons of anomalies that will destroy you with a single wrong step. Needless to say, it’s very difficult, and you’ve got very little direction to get things going. This challenge was very hard, but VERY satisfying to go through. One of my most memorable experiences in gaming was getting past the first few sections in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

While the game goes get easier as you get more guns, armor, artifacts, and so forth, it also gets a little bit repetitive and loses some of its charm. That being said, the RPG elements are great fun, the gunfights are pretty solid, and the game is very pretty, even by today’s standards. Add some genuinely scary moments (those invisible guys are nasty!) and a paper-thin story, but I give it credit for at least trying. Finally, the entire ambiance and atmosphere of the game is consistently good, going from outcast towns into the wilderness is pretty seamless and plausible. Overall, the game has a lot of good things going for it, but I really wish it had about 6 more months’ development time to make the entire experience just a little bit more polished.

My biggest complaint about this game is its repetitious nature. Repetition works very strangely on me. I don’t actively think “boy, this is getting repetitive and irritating me”. I just find myself suddenly not playing the game anymore. I haven’t even finished the game, and I’m a little more than half way through. Something must be terribly wrong with the game, right? Not really, it’s a lot of fun, and it even feels fresh! It was just mind numbingly repetitious, even though I never really noticed until I stopped playing it.

But climbing and navigating through the cities in Assassin’s Creed was an amazing experience. The sense of exploration, one of my favorite experiences in a video game, is extremely great in this game. That being said, a lot of the NPCs and landscape got a bit too monotonous. If there was a bit more individuality between the people on the street, it could have gone a long way. Add the great assassinations, cinematic combat, and a story I was actually interested in, the overall package was a nice surprise.

Shooters belong on the PC! I agree with this sentiment wholeheartedly, yet somehow Halo 3 breaks this time told rule. The controls, as always, are spot on. While it is yet another Halo game, there’s nothing wrong with that, as the imitations of Halo all seem weak. Nothing can beat what Halo brings to the table – an interesting yet non-distracting story, diverse and satisfying weaponry, variety in environments, enemies, and more. The entire Halo universe is pretty inspired and fun to play in, minus the always persistent Flood. They never seem to quite get that aspect down right.

I hated the Halo 2 campaign, and I’m happy to say that’s not the case with Halo 3. While not nearly as much fun as Halo: CE, the campaign wasn’t nearly as terrible as Halo 2’s was for me. The multiplayer is a truly fun and easy to use experience, and again really elevates the field in this matter. If they single-player and multiplayer weren’t enough, they’ve added the Replay mode and Forge mode. Both of these are fantastic features in the game, and add a lot of replay value to the game. The entire package here is really quite outstanding, and it lives up to the Halo name (which I felt Halo 2 never did).

I never played Masters of Orion or Space Empires (much). The prospect of galactic domination always seemed fun, but never has it been that accessible. Galactic Civilizations II really changed that for me, it seemed simply enough to understand, yet it didn’t skimp on the details. For Turn Based Strategy fans who want to take the step beyond Total War or Civilization IV, this is a great one. It’s very welcoming, yet it offers plenty of replay value and variety of gameplay styles, difficulty levels, and so on.

I never played much of the original Galactic Civilizations II, back when I got in 2006, and eventually passed it onto a friend. Civilization IV and Medieval Total War 2 sucked up all my time, and I didn’t have time for a third TBS. But the Ultimate Bundle, for $60, was too good of a deal to pass up. Receiving the full game, plus it’s two additional expansions, it’s one of the best deals on the market for a good gaming experience, probably only beaten out by the Orange Box.

... The Orange Box. While Gal Civ 2’s Ultimate Bundle is a pretty good bargain, nothing can compete with this gaming bonanza. Coming at you with three fantastic, amazing, mind blowing games, for the price of ONE GAME, honestly… whose idea was that? They need to either be given many awards and a copious amount of raw, hard cash, or they need to be fired.

My favorite was, hands down, Portal. Unfortunately, it has the least replay value, and it also pretty short. But it’s unique, cute charm mixed with a dark, comedic story really made it oh so enjoyable to play through. While never a big fan of Half-Life 2’s puzzle sequences, Portal’s First Person approach to the puzzle genre is pretty solid. Half-Life 2: Episode is more of the same, but much improved on over Episode 1. It had a lot more memorable moments in it, and this entire Episode I felt was much better than the last one.

Finally, Team Fortress 2 is an amazing, fast paced game full of character and a very unique take on graphics in a video game. Team Fortress Classic (the HL one) was a game I never actually played. I watched my friends play it a lot when I was younger, but I never actually played it. So the nostalgia factor wasn’t really there for me, but sadly the game felt a little dated in some ways. Just the entire gameplay concepts seemed too simple for long-term replay value, especially when compared to the next game on the list. While some players may enjoy Team Fortress as a game you can simply get into and play, when it comes to multiplayer I just prefer a little more emphasis on strategy and teamwork.

Complexity is something that Team Fortress 2 does not have, and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars has plenty of. While this is a turn off to many players, and rightly so, if you’re willing to dedicate yourself to the game, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars has a lot to offer. With a huge emphasis on teamwork, strategy, and having a team competent enough to grasp those concepts, Quake Wars is definitely harder to approach to similar games of its ilk, such as Battlefield 2 or Enemy Territory. There are many facets and dimensions to this game. To get a complete rundown of what I mean... read my review!

For me, I enjoy the competitive and "hardcore" aspects to the game. You put a lot of time into it, you play all the classes, and you get a really well rounded gameplay experience. It requires time and effort, which for me thankfully I had. If you don’t feel like putting in serious time or effort, this game isn’t going to be as rewarding to you as it is to me. I put in my hours, though, and I’ve got a lot of quality gaming experiences packed together.

Supreme Commander takes a huge leap from the traditional Micro-management of other RTS games, and goes straight up for macro-management. With an effective control scheme, it’s easy and fast zoom levels, and no zoom level restriction – the game is much easier to play than any other RTS I’ve played before. You get to focus on your strategy and your entire battle plan, without worrying about individual units. In fact, you’re unit counts will quickly be in the hundreds, as you race to bring out bigger and better units to the battlefield, while balancing your economy. While this sounds like any other RTS game you’ve played, it’s really quite different.

By the time you’ve finished a map, normally you’ll be working on expanding your large base, building massive Experimental units, having dozens of air units patrolling your airspace, working on creating large artillery batteries, covering your base with high level shielding, and more. But early and mid-level games are still equally fun, as you race around trying to grab as much territory, scout the enemy for weaknesses, and build forward bases scattered around the map. Everything is made easier due to the zoom levels – you can quickly get a glance at the entire battle, AND command it, by zooming out all the way. This tool is infinitely useful, and quite frankly RTS games that lack it have become annoying to play.

The waypoint system, quick unit selection, and other shortcuts and hotkeys this game has really just clicked for me more than any other game has before. It had quite a learning curve, but once everything started to go together you could get some really grand, epic strategy implemented with very little hassle. All of my favorite RTS memories come from Supreme Commander – from fierce early game battles over strategic resources, to sneaky attempts at developing a cloaked base behind enemy lines, to simply bearing down on an enemy base with a massive Experimental unit.

It’s hard to really revolutionize the FPS field. But this game isn’t trying to revolutionize anything; it takes yesterday’s gameplay, gives it a new layer of polish and jazz, and turns it into tomorrow’s top shooter. It works perfectly – playing through the game is incredible fluid and smooth experience. You remain immersed in the game thanks to its fantastic animations, graphics, sound, level design, it’s focused gameplay, and it makes an amazing overall package. It’s so easy to get drawn into this game, completely immersed in its world, and enjoy every second you play.

Nothing this year is as refined and solid as Call of Duty 4. That being said, Call of Duty 4 doesn’t try to think outside the box. The single-player is linear, the multiplayer hasn’t really improved from previous COD games, but the game is still a wonderful package. The decent story, superb voice acting, great presentation, and top quality pacing make the single-player Campaign an absolutely amazing experience, even if it is a bit on the short side. The multiplayer offers a ton of replay value with its ranking system, unlocks, customizable classes, perks, and other tweaks and customizations you can make. That being said, the core gameplay in multiplayer is a bit too straightforward to enjoy for hours on end. However, it does make a fantastic “pick up and play” multiplayer game, officially replacing Counter-Strike in my gaming library.

You know those books that are so good; they keep you turning pages until 3am? Or those movies that keep you on the edge of your seat for the entire movie, the plot constantly twisting and turning? That sense of wonderment that keeps you completely captivated in the story, because you need to know what happens next. Mass Effect captures this sense of excitement and wonder without compromise. Mass Effect feels like an epic story that just happens to be the most innovative new medium for entertainment. You are in control of the entire experience, and you make many choices in the game that can have serious repercussions. There is really nothing quite like Mass Effect, and it’s progress is really phenomenal. It shows why video games are emerging as not only as entertainment, but also as stories and art. Everything from the plot pacing, the overall story arch, to the individual character development, voice acting, presentation, all of it – it’s simply breath taking and completely captivating.

It takes more than just a good story to make a good game, to help with the story is the innovative, new universe of Mass Effect. Feeling just as real or cool as Star Wars or any other popular Sci-Fi universe out there, Mass Effect feels completely authentic, and its back stories are genuinely interesting. From politics on a galactic scale, to undertones racism against other species, to the personalities and quirks each of your crew exhibits… there’s a lot to take in. When it comes down to everything – the characters, storyline, individual sub-plots, the universe as a whole… the entire feel of the game, it’s pacing. It feels nearly perfect.

Then there’s gameplay. I’ve got my complaints about some of the combat, but overall it’s still satisfying. It does its job without being anything too great, but it doesn’t keep the game down, and it’s paced just perfectly. Just before the combat starts to feel repetitive, the story throws another curveball at you, and you forget any of your complaints. From a technical standpoint, the graphics and sound development are top of the line. The game looks and sounds really great, especially in High Definition.

While other games on this list exhibit more replay value, and even a better value, no game offered such a comprehensive, complete experience that Mass Effect did. Like a great novel or movie, I could not put Mass Effect down until I finished it. It completely took over my thoughts for about a week as I steamrolled through the game, beating it perhaps a bit too quickly. Nothing else in 2007 has kept me as interested throughout the entire game, and my biggest regret is I couldn’t keep on playing.