PLAY
Games of the year
With next gen machines coming into their own, lain Davidson looks back on the best releases of 2007
hat promised to be a
rather mundane year in
gaming turned out to be a surprising I: months. 'I‘wo lessons were learned in 2007: firstly. discount .\'iiitendo's infectious iniioyation at your peril. .-\nd seeondly. punters can‘t get enough of imaginatiy e stories.
'l‘he big winner this year was the inyolyed. physical interaction between man and machine championed by Nintendo. The Wii went from strength to strength. aided by some quirky titles. And for eyery llrlrlg'lt’ and lz'leilees there was an old layotii‘ite like .Ilario. Zelda and lt’exi'ilenr lii'il preyenting it from getting too silly. Bolstered by the other platforms chipping in with ling“. Sines/or and the immense Guitar Hero. it‘s clear that the simple joypad is no longer the weapon dti jour. Indeed. Nintendo‘s other machine. the DS. continued this theme with a brilliant Zelila title of its own. The Phantom Hourglass. a new Pokemon title and a great Version of [ego Star llars. .-\nd there still seems no way to stop the world domination of Dr Kawashima and his Brain 'l'rai'nr'ng.
'I'he .\'bo\ 300 had a good year too. cementing Microsoft‘s position as a serious player in the console market. The Xbox I.i\'e seryice increased in si/e and scope. pushing online capacity towards being a
‘PUNTERS CAN'T GET ENOUGH IMAGINATIVE AND INVOLVING STORIES'
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basic console necessity rather than a noyel selling point.
But it was the games that really beautil'ied the 360. Ila/o .i’ was the obyious standout. lians of four wheels were also spoiled on the 300. with the excellent triumyirate of Form Moro/sport 2. I’URJ and ('olr'n MeRae: l)rl\"l'. But it was the oyerall improyement in stylish storytelling. exemplified by titles like Assassrli 's' ( 'reetl and lilosltoelx' that really stood otit in 2007.
The good old PC had a so—so year. improyed immensely by the Noyember release of the almost excellent (‘ryxisp That's assuming
that your PC can handle it of
course. Otherwise. it was more ('all of Dirty. Unreal 'loarnament and a million strategy games. The highlight. howeyer. was the latest chapter in the Hal/life story thanks to the Orange Box (also on Xbox 360). another example of how game writing shotild be done. Meanwhile the addition of the puzzler Portal and the ridiculously enjoyable 'Ieam l'orlres's 3 made The Orange Box” a yery special treat.
And Sony'.’ A price cut helped shift some more P83 hardware. but the jury‘s still out on the potency of their software. A few highlights. such as John II'oo's .S'rranglelioltl and the earlier Mororsrorm. almost made up for other disappointments. Resistance: Fall of. Man didn‘t hit the mark and 1m, was a crushing disappointment.
But the biggest news was that. finally. in 2007. I’lla oyertook Pro Evolution Soeeer ll’ES) for sheer pleasure and quality. Who would haye guessed that 12 months ago‘.’
All games are available now.
Resistame: Fall of Man was among Sony's. 2007 release.
Book ReVIews
WEB (leDt JESSICA ASHBY Weird Websites (John Blake) 0.
A good few years back. when the web was in its infancy there were tons of books, magazines and guides to the internet. But these seem to have slipped into the shadows of later Split into topics such as ‘Animals', ‘Mythology and the Paranormal and 'Crime and Punishment Ashby has e0iiipiled an exhaustive list of sites from all four corners of the web, Most of them are genuinely entertaining. or at the very least 'weird'. as promised Yet. in the post- Google world it's hard to see the pomt of this book when you can type 'animals' or even more speCifie keywords into yOur favourite search engine and get a myriad more options at the click of a mouse. Fun but pointless. iHenry Nortmerei
Wt is eriANks ART FARKAS
Letters to eBay (Hodder) 00
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