2006, Game of the Year

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Machina said:

Funnily enough one of the worst years for me. Not because I didn't play many, but because half of the games in the poll and 'other' list I played based on how acclaimed they were and just did not enjoy them in the slightest: Oblivion, Gears of War, Twilight Princess, Dead Rising, Wii Play, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, and Saints Row. And some were only decent, like Wii Sports, Call of Duty 3, Elite Beat Agents, Virtua Fighter 5, and LocoRoco.

I had the most fun with MotorStorm, assuming the Japanese release date of 2006 counts. Followed very closely by NSMB, and then Daxter.

That has been my feeling for this period of gaming as well.  Most of the big games made in this era were not made for me.  The new motion control games like Wii Sports were fun, but I wanted them to have more depth.

The only game in the poll or the list of extended games that I really liked from this year was Final Fantasy XII.  To me it was the last great home console Final Fantasy game.  It marks the end of the SNES/PS1/PS2 era when Final Fantasy games were all amazing.