Game of the Generation / Game of the Year 2006

[MikeRox]

Personally I think Jet Set Radio (DC) would be my GOTG, I think most people have forgotten that the DC is part of this gen though as I'd have expected more games for it to be bandied around.

On the GTA front, I can appreciate why it would be thought of as GOTG by others, but personally I can't stand the game. Just leaves me feeling cold and for me gaming is about feeling magical, something far too many games fail on for me

[Richard.John]

Halo would be my GOTG. It took console FPS gaming into the stratosphere with sublime controls, amazing combat, vehicles and more. It blew me away back in '02 as it really was as good as the hype.

[MattyD]

There's a lot of selective memory regarding Halo IMHO. The first two or three levels are admittedly great, but people only seem to remember those instead of the appalingly lazy level 'design' throughout most of the game and the utterly tripe second half fighting against The Flood.

[MikeRox]

Have to say, after a very enjoyable first play though, Halo has compeltely bored me to tears ever since, same for the sequel did have a nice physics engine for the time though.

[Dogg Thang]

Totally agree with you, Matty. I don't quite get it to be honest. Yes, it has bits that are fantastic and the game should be commended for those but I would have thought that the amount of generic sub-Unreal levels that padded the game would knock it immediately out of the Game of the X running. Unless it was specifically a Great Game Bits of the X.

[PeteJ]

If one game has caused more arguments and endless debates about its repeating level design, limited enemy set and unoriginal design, then it would be none other than Bungie?s Xbox launch title Halo. The arguments will never end, and no doubt this result will not help matters

As much as I love Halo, and I really do, I suspect that anyone who voted for either game did so on the strength of the multiplayer\coop.

[Soi]

And whats wrong with that?

(Runs)

BTW, were votes for Halo and Halo 2 added together?

[jimmbob]

I hope not, Halo 2 was ****!

Lol.

Only kidding the multiplayer was full of cheaters...I mean it was brilliant.

[Commander Marklar]

Absolutely. There was nothing like GTA3 when it came out. And there have been very few titles since that have been able to deliver that same amount of freedom and yet still have a structured game that held together. SA is almost overwhelming in its potential (though, I would argue that the amount of land is a negative).

Lets not forget the how each GTA manages to snapshot an era perfectly, all the inconsequently little details that seemingly get glossed over by the majority of gamers. Be it cultural references or something stupid like radio banter typifying middle-class America, it's hard not to appreciate what the GTA franchise represents. I made the same comment to NTSC-uk after a certain other review seemed to group GTA into modern Chav culture.

And that's despite playing one means you've practically played them all

As for why Shenmue isn't a better candidate, well, I would say it's because Shenmue gives an initial appearance of a fully working world and then doesn't deliver on it. It's window dressing. It's a fantastic game, no doubt. But how beautifully realised the world is actually draws attention to just how limited the game itself really is.

Easy, it's missing what GTA has. For all the things in Shenmue, it lacks the glue to stick all the nice bits together.

[Concept]

Well exactly. to my mind Shenmue and GTA are different sides of the same coin.

Shenmue is by far a more social experience (though it could have explored its ideas far more) than GTA, and GTA is far more of an immediate experience with regards to just being able to go and grab whatever it is you want. The main improvements in San Andreas with regards to the above were due to its character customisation for people who wanted to explore those aspects.

Subsequently, Oblivion and Mass Effect are hinting what you can do with that slightly slower, graphic-adventure style side of the sandbox genre which GTA struggled with during the last generation (or ignored from a design point).

[Concept]

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As much as I love Halo, and I really do, I suspect that anyone who voted for either game did so on the strength of the multiplayer\coop.

You see, this is where I feel I have to stick up for the original Halo. I've never played it on co-op, and when I first played the game (and struggled with it) I didn't think too highly of the experience.

I was wrong though. I later decided to give it another go and went through on Heroic and Legendary (where everything just fell into place - the AI, pacing, involvement, action).

To my mind even on the basis of Halo's single-player, it's one of the best games of the generation when it clicks with you.

[Richard.John]

Absolutely. When it clicks it's astonishing. In fact I want to go back and play it again now after reading the comments here. Sure the level design towards the end dragged on a bit but levels like Assault on the Control Room or the Silent Cartographer were legendary (sorry for the pun).

[melody]

The US GC version is the best one. I know most think this is so minor it probably won't be worth mentioning, but Capcom gimped their own sense of immersion in the game for the European and PS2 versions by including a loading tag during the screen transitions (presumably because they didn't believe people were patient enough to wait for five seconds without being told what was happening).

The game works so much better without.

Here's another slightly stranger difference: Mercenaries is only on disk two of the UK game whilst it is on both disks of the US game.