Game of the Year Poll results

Okay the Game of the Year poll has closed and here are the results:

Mass Effect 0 votes
BioShock 4 votes
Assassin's Creed 0 votes
Call of Duty 4 2 votes
Halo 3 1 vote
Mario Galaxy 0 votes

I voted for BioShock but the whole time the poll was open I wondered if I should have voted fro Call of duty 4 instead. The fact that Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed didn't get any votes surprises me. But here's my take on things:

Mass Effect: This game has a great story going for it. I have friends that have played this game completely 4 times and they still want to go back and play it some more. The visuals are stunning and the action is great. What this game lacks is multiplayer. How you could fit that into the game world (like multiplayer for Gears of War) I don't know. But multiplayer isn't everything.

BioShock: This game revolutionized the gaming community. It will impact the gaming community for a long time. Visually it's gorgeous. The story is a morally wrenching dilemma. And the game play is fantastic. The biggest compliant is the game is too short (and no multiplayer). I think we're going to see lot more games with a very distinct visual style to them and more gut twisting decisions gamers are going to have to make in order to progress through the story.

Assassin's Creed: The game mechanics of this game are great . . . once you get the hang of them. I laughed so hard when I watched my brother try to shove someone aside but instead pulled out his knife and killed an innocent bystander. He had to spend the next ten minutes making sure he didn't get caught. It was hilarious. While some of the moves and controls are great some are a little bothersome. Add to the fact that it's a fantasy type game in a science fiction type world and I can see why gamers are little bit hesitate towards naming it Game of the Year.

Call of Duty 4: I love this game. But I've only played half of it. All my time spent in this game has been on the multiplayer side. What you can do in multipayer is fantastic. The Prestige levels alone are superb. The fact that veteran players must start again at level one gives those genuine noobies a chance instead of being fodder and every one's favorite target. The customization of Perks and weapons makes this a multiplayer game that you'll never get bored with. Why I couldn't vote for it as Game of the Year is because I haven't played the single player game. Maybe it'll suck. But even if it does the multiplayer side of the game is enough for it to be a contender for Game of the Year honors in my book.

Halo 3: I played Halo 3 when it came out and while I like the game (the jumping ability has saved my ass a few times) I don't see what's so different or special about this Halo compared to Halo 2. Maybe I haven't played Halo 2 enough to see the difference besides better graphics. Being able to use more vehicles is a plus, but I don't think that's enough. It might be that everyone got so excited about it's release that when the game finally came out all the excitement waned and you weren't interested in it any more. Besides this is the only game on my list that has franchise to fall back on. Call of Duty 4 as the CoD name but since the game was placed in "Modern Warfare" it doesn't have that Word War II vibe to build off of.

Mario Galaxy: I've only seen demos and people playing this game in Game Stop so I don't have personal experience with it. But with what I've seen I have to ask: What's the big deal? Every console release Nintendo has their Mario game. And if you wait a few more months you'll have all the other Mario games available to play on the new console. All this game has seemed to do is take Mario into a true 3-dimensional world of game play. Other games have done that. So what makes this one so special? I don't know. I do own a Wii and eventually I will be getting this game, but it's not one that I must have right now.

I agree that BioShock won. It's a game that had an impact on the community not just from the game play alone but also the word of mouth the game generated. It was a great year of gaming so here's to hoping that 2008 will just as good, if not better.