Games Of 2007

Kinda drowsy from my cough syrup and definetly overslept (yet still feel tired) today so I'd thought I'd write about games I played/am still playing this year, in chronological order too.


World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
Summary: Very enjoyable leveling 60 to 70, grindfest after that

I ended my addiction to WoW this year shortly after hitting level 70, which makes my WoW career about 2 years (or however long its been since release). If I could travel back in time I would tell myself not to play it ever, cause thats 2 years I'll never get back! Anyways, WoW:TBC was quite enjoyable. Everything that was good and fun leveling 1 to 60 was put into the new content with little to dissapoint. After that, however, I found alot of the further content require way too much reputation grinding. And lets face it, once you hit the level cap, you either PVP or go raiding. Being put through Naxxramas before the expansion, I had lost my urge to raid and I don't PVP. But, also, I needed to get back to my real life :)

Lord of the Rings Online
Summary: Fun epic story group instances, not a great game but not terrible either

A few months after I quit WoW I was harsh jonesin' for an MMO so I grabbed LOTRO. Luckily it wasn't as addictive as WoW, but I'd like to think I had more self control too. I really enjoyed the epic story group instances, which are instances that follow along an epic storyline. Unfortunately, there weren't too many which is a pity because they were very fun. I quit after about a month and a half.

BioShock
Summary: Love the mood, story, graphics.. hate the very frequent crashes, high computer requirements

From the short time that I could actually play before crashing, it was very good, very well made. Unfortunately, I had to turn the very beautfil graphics down because it was just so sluggish. Unreal engine games and my computer never got along in the past and I guess won't be anytime soon unless I cough up a fortune to upgrade my computer. I wish I could write more but I spent so much time on the Bioshock forums trying to find a fix to the crashes, which apparently, is happening to everyone too. I tryed it on XBox360 later on, but somehow, it just didn't have the same feel as the PC.

Team Fortress 2
Summary: Very fun, lots of replayabilty

Instead of buying the Orange Box, I grabbed TF2 seperately from Steam for $30 because I'm a cheap bastard and I didn't have much interest in the HL2 Episode 2 (or whatever its called) nor the Portal game. I'm still playing TF2, its super fun, incredible replayabilty because of all the different classes you can choose. What's great is that there are no two classes that play the same or even similar!

Crysis Single Player Demo
Summary: Meh

Lots of hype on this game, turned out to be boring. I barely used any of the powers of the suit other than the improved shield and cloak. I didn't like how I need to unload an entire clip to kill one enemy, my gun looks more power than that. Just bleh... I liked the foliage and trees though, they were done really well.

Call of Duty 4
Summary: Rad + Awsome = RAWSOME!

This is what any serious FPS should be like. There is so much to like about this game. Perfect mix of tactial and arcade style FPS.. its not like SOCOM and not like Doom, its a perfect balance. If you want to play tactical, you could, if you want to run and gun you can also but to a certain point. Graphics are fantastic and ran at a better quality and framerate than Bioshock (unreal engine). It's a more movie like experience, and they did an incredible job of keeping the player immersed. All games need to have realtime cutscenes, seriously. Best game I've played in years, was so much fun.

Gears of War PC
Summary: I need a better computer

Grabbed this mainly for the new Unrealeditor included inside. I had alot of fun playing the Xbox360 version, I didn't feel it had the same magic on the PC but then again it's hard to match that "first time" GoW experience. I don't know if it's my computer, but I felt the textures didn't translate over very well.. they were all blurry and ugly even when I had it on a high settings.

Pirate of the Caribean Online
Summary: Uhmm.. it's free

I am a weak, weak man. I really like MMO's I just wish they weren't so life-sucking :) I saw this and it was free, so I gave it a try. It was very laggy and choppy even though the graphics were minimal. In order to play in full screen (yes, you have to play in an unsizable window mode with banner ads) you have to pay the small monthly subscription. Anyways, I never went farther than the intial in game tutorial.

Viva Pinata
Summary: Cute, charming, crashing

I heard good things about this game when it was released for the consoles. Unfortunately, it suffers from BioShock syndrome.. so again I went on the forums and, hooray, no patch. I don't see how companys can release a game that can't even work properly, especially decent releases like this and Bioshock. From the short time I could play, it was indeed charming and seemed like it could be fun. It felt too much like a console port though... sometimes I can't click on things and instead have to press down as if I'm using a console controller.

Conclusion
This year was definetly the year of the FPS. I'm still so surprised at how good Call of Duty 4 was. I totally thought it would be bland and just mindless shooting, but instead, it had everything.. great gameplay, great immersive story, great enviroments and levels, and fricken realtime cutscenes!