Another Corker.
By Rodentia
10 Pro Evolution 5 (Multi)
Not so much an upgrade as a new number, but you lapped it up anyway.
It feels, looks and plays nicer than the last one I owned (Pro Evo 3), much more fun than watching or playing real football.
DocDaneeka
It's a rubbish cliche I know, but the best just got better.
Zen Chan
Given the later only came out in October I've spent rather longer on the older version this year, but either way it is chuffing great entertainment. Co-op multi-player in the flesh and 1 vs 1 on LIVE highlight the fun you can have.
Ely
Bastard hard at first (if you're trying to play it like 'Pro Evo. 4, anyway), but it clicks after a few hours. My mighty Manchester United side piss on everyone now. (On six stars.) The constant free-kicks are annoying, though. And some of the offside decisions are, erm, wrong. But nevermind. It's still better than 'FIFA 400', or whatever it's called.
dmj
9 Wipeout Pure (PSP)
The PSP poster boy enraptured many of us this year – the Kate Moss to our Pete Doherty perhaps?
Proved my PSP wasnt a worthless piece of junk for the first few weeks.
Hardeep Deol
The fact is, I don't like racing games. They bore me. WipeOut Pure didn't though - it plays like a roller coaster and looks gorgeous. I'd give it more, but I don't like racing games.
Bog
The title I have devoted most time to this year. A real slow burner of a game that, just when you think you've got the hang of it, ramps up the speed and difficulty to near PSP-smashing levels. A bonus point for the superb additional downloads adding bonus content to an already packed sandwich.
Deggy3
A game more 'this is what happens next' than anything I've played in fifteen years. The future very much in your hands.
Koworld
8 Advance Wars DS (DS)
Sometimes, only sometimes mind, more of the same is exactly what we all need.
No better or worse than the other two - which makes it one of the three best games ever made.
Coco
So compulsive.
Zen Chan
Who needs half-arsed 3D graphics when you've got this gaming goodness.
Daniel Robinson
7 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved (Xbox 360)
A well-deserved late entry for this mighty slice of retro-styled shooting nirvana. Worth buying an Xbox 360 for? Believe the hype.
The last game to make me swear so much and to make pad impressions on my fingers/thumbs was Tempest 2000 on the Jaguar, and that's all the justification I need.
PVB
For all of the fanboy toss about processor heft and brand loyalty, a pure, pyrotechnic, old-school show-stealer.
Sickboy
6 Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath (Xbox)
They finally get an Oddworld game right, we loved it and we’re never going to get another one. Stupid industry.
The pinnacle of current-gen gaming. Sumptuous visuals matched by accomplished and flamboyant gameplay.
Fuseball
Nearly, very nearly, a Halo beater. The most technically accomplished video game of this generation with a fantastic sense of humour and a superbly thought out combat system.
Gorecki
Fantastic Graphics - good gameplay - shame about the bit near the end.
Benedictw
Only current game this year that I played to the very end. Pure genius you cant afford to miss.
CharlieF
Slick, slick, slick. Beautiful tight gameplay, superb atmosphere, interesting storyline with some genuine funny moments, amazing character and gameworld design with attention to detail just oozing from every pixel. Plus graphcally I think it pushed the Xbox to it's limits, it's beautiful. I couldn't get enough of it
Xstreme
I loved the love that went into this game. Biological ammo was superb - the perfect antidote to mp5 after mp5 in first person shooters.
bluefunk
Plain good fun.
pyroxian
5 God of War (PS2)
It may have had a difficulty spike the size of Mount Olympia towards the end, but God of War got so much right that, by then, we didn’t care.
Stabbing Minotaurs through the throat has never been so much fun.
DocDaneeka
Layers of polish, and some good design work (not being able to accidentally walk off a ledge. Simple, why doesn't everyone do it?). It's just so slick, and rarely puts a foot wrong (stupid rotating spiky pole climbing section). The new standard for the genre. The next Tomb Raider is going to have to go some to beat it.
Flabio
For sheer kinetic, bone-headed, blockbuster-shaped funnery. The most refreshing blast of mindless joy I've experienced in ages, after spending eons doggedly pursuing more obtuse gaming experiences. Cos I'm an elitist arse most of the time.
Mr_Glide
Frustrating in parts, but top notch stylish violence all the way through with some great design.
stx
Slick, stylish, and fun.
supermonkeyworld
God of War is one of those games that makes you look at a fair few other games and realise what they were trying to do, (Devil May Cry, Kain series, etc). It's extremely playable and impresses even the most staunch anti-computer-games-technophobe. Plus, it has one of the most fitting, enjoyable and memorable themes of any computer game - I challenge anyone to play the whole thing and hum out: da-DA-DA-DAAAAAAAA-Dum-Da-Dar.
The Dark Prince
Ultmate Hack n' Slash game. Just to be sure, I played Onimusha 3 and Devil May Cry, and both were, how can I say, a piece of cake compared to God of War (specially on Spartan difficult).
Wade Garrett
4 Mario Kart DS (DS)
Mario IP done right.
Just glorious. Not an ounce of flab on it. The perfect advert for what gaming should always be about: fun. And Kong's juggernaut horn-honk makes me laugh, every time.
Sickboy
They didn't mess it up shocker!! Pure fun.
GeeZa
Fantabulous.
pyroxian
Nintendo invents online 'snack' gaming. Also happens to be the best MK game to date.
WhiteSpy
3 Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
This may well be the year of the swansong. Shadow of the Colossus’s melancholy grace wowed everyone who came into contact with it. This game managed to be everything that we had wished for, and so much more…
We can only know beauty by knowing its flaws.
Chad Sexington
[Just in case anyone is in any doubt, our Chad is a professional games journalist - Ed.]
Beautiful game - stunning to look at and listen to. Needs better controls, but what the hey.
Flabio
I've never played a game as beautiful as this. It's amazing. Not just does it look good, but it's incrediably atmospheric. Behind that is a really innovative game especially when ranked on Hard Mode. It's also impossible to review without playing through on hard mode. It's actually close to taking the top spot from Zelda:OoT in my "best game of all time" list, but loses out a little as it's not as long.
Ryan
A flawed masterpiece.
supermonkeyworld
I'd been waiting a long time and it was worth it. One of my all-time favourites.
The2bears
Gorgeous, breathtaking, exhausting.
Teamonkey
Great art, music, graphics, story (and what a story!), this is one of the best games I've played in my entire life. A born classic!
Wade Garrett
And our ‘optimistic voting’ award of the year goes to…
Ain't got it yet, but I know I'm going to love it like me first-born. And something so beauteous deserves some recognition, y'know.
Mr_glide
2 World of Warcraft (PC)
The subject of the most obsessional, fanatical even, adoration of all the games featured this year. You didn’t like this game so much as worship at it’s slightly calloused feet. Although Rodent does worry about the effect this game is having on our collective relationships, as the following comments show…
A pointless waste of time. Often stunning. I get to be a Warlock.
GeeZa
Half videogame, half huge sprawling community. Both a time sink and something I could play constructively for a few minutes each day. Awe-inspiring and fantastical as much as touching and personal.
Fuseball
Love it/hate it relationship since it won't let you play anything else.
grue
All the addictiveness of MMORPGs, lush gfx, and much fewer irritating bits. Seriously. Some parts of most online RPGs really pissed me off. WoW hasn't!
Mr Dom
It simply refuses to let you play anything else. I've clocked up 44 days of playtime on my main character since February’s release. Not since Frontier: First Encounters has a game had me so completely in its sway.
Stuart B
I had to quit playing because otherwise I'd never have played anything else again. This game is actually more addictive than it is good, I thought. But still…
Chris Ekholm
It may not be perfect, but by drawing on the WarCraft IP it's opened up online gaming to a wider community.
Daniel Robinson
Can I have my life back please Blizzard.
Pyroxian
Been playing it since February off and on and I still haven't reached level 60. It's a truely immersive universe, much fun.
Melly
Wow indeed.
WhiteSpy
Results 25 to 11 - Results 10 to 2 - The Winner 2005
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