GameOverYeah's Favourites of 2005, round one.

It had to happen sooner or later, we couldn't hold back the urgings we were having and are therefore plunging headlong into a very predictable top five of 2005. We couldn't really remember large parts of this year, so we had to check amazon to find out when certain games were released, so if these things are wrong, don't harp on to us. Also, we're only picking UK games, we're not about to pick shadow of the colossus, or animal crossing as our favourite game of the year, as most people haven't played these yet, and reading us bleating on about them will simply enrage the populace.

The keener eyed amongst you will have noticed that GameOverYeah is made up of two gentlemen, so we're both going to be entering into the new year spirit with these list things, the difference is, I'm getting in first, so it looks like Ratty is copying me when he picks the same games. That'll work.

Starting from the rear, as is the procedure for such things, Number 5 is 'Zelda: The Four Swords' and yes, we checked, and the release date is marked as January 7th, so it bloody counts. To my knowledge, we only played this game once in it's full 4 player, GBA:SP, takeaway and beer glory. But, that one time was more than enough to rank it this highly, it was amazing, co-operating, fighting, mass panic and man-hugs were the order of the evening, and none of us will be the same again. The fact that this game looks like a GBA game with fancy effects simply means nothing, it's perfectly playable, colour-coded puzzles, races for treasure and unified shouting at bosses couldn't be made better by next gen graphics.


Number 4 is Metal Gear Solid 3, and I won't hear any arguing about this. It delivered everything I wanted from it in a gameplay sense, and more than I could have imagined from the storyline sense. The extra elements of gameplay concerned me somewhat during the build-up, the talk of the camo-index, as well as having to catch food to eat during the mission seemed to be elements that could diminish the stealth element of the game. What a fool I was to think such things, the camo-index came in dashed handy without the soliton radar, and hunting poisonous snakes to unleash on the bumbling guards gave another way to oust them from the situation. I adore the cutscenes and absurd storylines of Metal Gear, and Snake Eater really managed to ramp up the quota on both of these, the young Ocelot stealing every scene with his gestures and his pointing, and Snake's wayward eyes genuinely making me laugh on occasion. I'm sure Metal Gear 4 will be just as good, and, if it isn't, then I hope a game is made that revolves around revolver, maybe during his FOXHOUND days.

Fairly predictably, Nintendogs features here at the midpoint. It's clearly not a game that can be played for any great length of time, but that's the beauty of it, similarly to Animal Crossing, 15 minutes every other day is enough time to come in, feed and water the hound, take it for a gentle stroll, and see if it can win some moolah. But it's not this that seems to be it's winning factor, it's probably the concept. While virtual pets have been done before, they've never been done with a touch screen to stroke, they've never looked this good, or been instantly understandable. I enjoy the fact that there is no aim whatsoever, no growth cycle or forced goals to attain, the game would be happy enough for you to sit in, washing your dog then feeding them jerky treats, as it would if you decided to win all the contest grades and bought the best interiors. Similar games, like Seaman, really lost my interest as it appeared that my man fish needed me to do very particular things with them. Also, girls like Nintendogs, and I like girls.

This was where I became unstuck with my chart, I had to decide which of these two games I liked THE MOST, one of which manages to permeate my daily thoughts, I don't feel whole if I don't play it with friends at least once a week, but this has been true of Pro Evo since I used to play ISS64, I can't call it my favourite game of 2005, because it's always my favourite game, it transcends the yearly calendar.



So Number One is Resident Evil 4, I won't go on about it, simply suffice to say that a month or so ago, I wanted to start playing the Resi games from the start, work my way through the series. Once I loaded up Zero, I suddenly realized that I didn't want to anymore, the franchise has been ruined by the brilliance of this, the whole rotate to move, storage chests, zombie nonsense all seems hideously unplayable now. So come on Capcom, pull the finger out, get the Re:Re:makes done, I want to play Resi 2 with this engine.


You will notice that there are no PC games, or Xbox games in my list, this is because I don't play PC games, and there were no good Xbox games this year. I imagine Ratty may put some of these things in his list, but don't hold your breath for Warcraft. Also, if you'd like to comment on what has transpired here this evening, do so, i shall read your comments and reply accordingly.