VIDEO GAME WRAPUP REPORT
Okay here's the deal- I wrote a bunch of update stuff for this here journal around New Year's, but Firefox inexplicably crashed and I lost the will to write since then. Whatever. It had a ton of pictures and stuff. You won't get that here... but since I thought 2006 was actually a pretty good year for video games, here's all the games I played and short, badly written reviews of each.

METROID PRIME HUNTERS (DS): I thought this game was totally enthralling. Enjoyed the hell out of it. Controls, levels, everything. Tons of people told me this game was just some "generic FPS with Metroid's name on it" and I didn't get that at all. Whatever.

TETRIS DS (DS): Possibly my favorite DS game. The multiplayer on this is essentially perfect. It slayed both the 10 hour drive home from GDC and the 30 hour wait for the Wii outside Wal Mart.

ELDER SCROLLS IV: OBLIVION (Xbox 360): I'm sure this game is great for someone. I think it's boring as hell. I feel no drive to accomplish anything.

KINGDOM HEARTS 2 (PS2): YAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWN

BRAIN AGE (DS): What a fun, brilliant idea that seemingly came out of nowhere. I love this thing. Nintendo was brilliant to give it out at their GDC keynote, I wouldn't have played it otherwise.

NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. (DS): This game was exactly what I wanted. A new Mario game working within the confines of one of the old ones. They promised that, and delivered exactly that. Perfect. Thank you.

JAWS UNLEASHED (XBOX): You get to PLAY AS JAWS. How do you screw that up? Yuck.

DEAD RISING (Xbox 360): One of my favorite games, ever. My first thoughts on the game were that it wasn't as care-free and fun as the demo they released on Xbox Live. I felt really confined by the time limits and crap. But after a while, I learned that I didn't really have to follow the game's story/timeline to have fun. Once I knew that, it was a blast. It's one of those games I can just turn on, accomplish nothing, but just spend hours admiring all the little things. This'll sound a tad gay, but for a game about zombie survival, it's really... adorable.

NINETY-NINE NIGHTS (Xbox 360): Yeah, I know it's just a hack-'n-slash, but I didn't mind that. Nay, I hated this game simply for its checkpoints. Too far between, felt like my time was being wasted. Pass.

STAR FOX COMMAND (DS): Uhhh, good fun, just kinda repetitive. Worth buying if you can find it cheap, I guess. I just don't see why they couldn't have made it story-based like Starfox 64 instead of all this map-strategy-crap. No seriously- Why does Nintendo NOT want to make another Starfox 64?

LOCOROCO (PSP): What a beautiful, beautiful, fun, simple little game. Stale by the end, sure, but still, just a really _neat_ game. The music alone is worth getting it for. Dude.

LEGO STAR WARS II: THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY (Xbox 360): Sure it's kinda cinchy, but still great, simple fun. And co-op is fantastic. For what it is, perfectly done. I don't know why I never, ever get sick of the old Star Wars trilogy.

FINAL FANTASY XII (PS2): I think I have the exact same opinion of this game that I do of Chrono Cross- Totally engrossing world, insane amounts of detail, fantastic design, fun battle system... but ultimately, no good character development and kinda piss-poor storytelling (both games have a horribly delivered twist in the end as well). I loved playing FFXII to death, but please don't give me a bunch of totally interesting characters and not develop them. I guess I'm alone in playing FF for the story, but I don't see how anyone could have been satisfied by the last act of this one. Overall though, design-wise, still a great step forward for Final Fantasy (I haven't liked any previous ones since VIII).

LUMINES II (PSP): Just Lumines with a fresh coat of paint. All I really expected. Still addicting.

EVERY EXTEND EXTRA (PSP): Doesn't have the addictive simplicity of Lumines, but pretty darn fun! The continue system is kinda harsh, though.

GUITAR HERO II: It's Guitar Hero, of course it's fun. Songs aren't as good as the first one though- I'm more into "poppy and fun" then "masochistic and metal."

GEARS OF WAR (Xbox 360): Just shy of my pick for game of the year. One of my favorite games ever. The cover system is perfect, graphics are perfect, co-op play is perfect. Perfect.

YOSHI'S ISLAND 2 (DS): I flipped out when I learned they were making a sequel to possibly my favorite game of all time. The end result is... pretty good. You can really tell they just grabbed the guts of the old game and slapped new stuff into it, though- The clash of two totally different art styles is really apparent to me. But whatever, it's okay.

FINAL FANTASY III (DS): I bought this the second it came out and played it for maybe an hour. Graphic design is rad but the game still remains old school, which is cool, but uh... I'll get back to you on the rest.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (Xbox 360): Worst game of the year. We gave you another chance, Sonic Team. You blew it. Sonic is dead.

RESISTANCE: FALL OF MAN (PS3): Nothing revoltionary for an FPS, but actually pretty darn fun! I think it overstayed its welcome a little by the end, though (HEY HERE'S ANOTHER BIG MECHANICAL SPIDER KILL THIS ONE TOO THERE'S FORTY MORE AFTER IT K)

RED STEEL (WII): Really great ambition here, totally... But the end result plays like an N64 game to me.

LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS (WII): Game of the year. One of the best paced games I've played, I never felt bored. Completely engrossing in every way. Nothing really revolutionary (I think they'll need to change stuff up for the next one), but it didn't need to be. It worked within the limits of the traditional 3D Zelda and took it as far as it possibly could. And for some reason I thought the ending was fantastic. What else should I say here? It's Zelda.

TRAUMA CENTER: SECOND OPINION (WII): Totally rad game for a quick pick-up-and-play, that is until it totally jumps the shark and adds the GUILT virus to the game, effectively turning the game into a series of monster battles. Nahhh, I just wanted to do regular ol' surgery, thanks.

WII SPORTS (WII): This game, in all its simplicities, kicks ass. It's the most chill game released in a long time. But if you have a Wii you probably have this already anyway!

ELEBITS (WII): Great, Katamari-ish fun, but don't get mad at me if I don't want to replay a level because I missed something just as it hit the 16 minute mark.

DEAD OR ALIVE XTREME 2 (Xbox 360): Kind of a... lazy sequel, huh? But whatever, it's retarded fun and I still love it.

POWER STONE COLLECTION (PSP): yeah so this is just power stone from dreamcast but on psp so yay

PARAPPA THE RAPPER (PSP (import)): yeah so this is just parappa from playstation but on psp so yay

FAMILY GUY (PS2): GAME OF THE FUKKEN YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WATCH AFRO SAMURAI