The 10 Best Games of 2006

Join us as we look back at the best games of what has turned out to be an exciting year.

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5. Canis Canem Edit (PS2)

You may know Canis Canem Edit better as Bully, the game hysterical parents and press members deemed the next Bad Thing from Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar. What it actually is, though, is an absorbing story of life in school for a troubled kid who everyone is out to get. Lead character Jimmy isn't a bad kid, just a bold one out to survive in the teenage jungle that is high school. The big draw here is the story and the many ways you can interact with the characters. Giving wedgies isn't bad either.

4. Dead Rising (Xbox 360)

Zombies. Nobody likes them, and in Dead Rising you'll be able to off them in just about any way you please. The game gives you, as photojournalist Frank West, the task of getting to the bottom of a plague that is ravaging a quiet town and its weapon-filled mall. Anything you can pick up, you can use as a weapon, and with tens of thousands of zombies out for blood you'll need every single one of them. Be warned though - the save system is a pain. Get around that and you'll find a compulsive experience that is bound to keep you on edge.

3. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360, PC)

Who would have thought that an open-ended game where you spend most of your time hacking at monsters while roaming barren fields could be so compulsive? And yet hundreds of thousands of people have lost large chunks of their lives to Bethesda's massively singleplayer RPG. The game was also host to some of the more questionable decisions in microtransactions this year, but the less said about that the better. Still, this is role-playing at its most epic, and it's a game that will keep you playing for hours and hours and hours.

2. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)

Not many 50-hour games can boast that they keep you interested all the way through, which is what makes Link's latest adventure such a marvel. Twilight Princess started out as a GameCube game but Nintendo jettisoned the crufty controls for motion-sensitive ones that attach you more strongly to the elfin star. The world of Hyrule is truly enormous and you truly will feel like you're on an adventure, as you battle through the dark and light realms in both Link's human and new wolf forms. The adventure is here. All you need to do is submit.

1. Gears of War (Xbox 360)

Lead designer Cliff Bleszinski calls his shooter not a run-and-gun but rather a stop-and-pop, and it won't take you long to see why. Gears Of War is all about cover and the many ways it can save your hide when swarms of marauding aliens come after you. But it's more than that. It's also a technical landmark, providing gamers with one of the best visual experiences yet. The story does end rather too abruptly for our tastes, but the pure thrill of the action ensures you forget any qualms you may have. The thrill of chainsawing an unsuspecting enemy - or a friends online - is something that will never grow old.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo

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