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Year-End Games Wrap

Columnist Scott Gardner gets all judgmental

Once again it’s time to look back at 12 months of aliens fragged, goals scored, riffs shredded, giant hydras beheaded and, um, cyber sudokus solved. A typical year, really, where videogames got both smarter (the artistry of BioShock) and dumber (Cyberball 2072’s robotic football) and Bill Gates made a lot of money ($300-million in one week, thanks to Halo 3).

Best Reason to Renovate Your Rec Room: Rock Band

The Guitar Hero rhythm games where you “play” along to rockin’ hits with a life-sized, guitar-shaped controller have become huge sleeper hits. (They’re also why you’ve noticed people under 30 humming “Carry On Wayward Son.”) But now Rock Band (PS3, X360) takes the rec-room-as-stage concept to its gloriously illogical extreme: a full band. The game breaks 50 classic songs down into guitar, bass, percussion and vocal parts, and includes a (mock) Fender Stratocaster, microphone and a four-piece drum kit. It sounds goofy, but it’s criminally fun. And don’t worry, if you’re friendless you can still play and sing while the game fills in the other tracks. Plus, solo acts make more money.

Genre That’s Run Out of Gas: Auto-Racing Games

The “check engine” light is officially on for auto-racing games. They’ve never looked better, but somewhere along the way they’ve gone from pick-up-and-go fun to the kind of difficult, fiddly driving and endless custom tuning (does any game need 50 different hubcap options?) that’s the exclusive domain of obsessive-compulsive young men. Sound familiar? Most sports games suffered the same fate about five years ago. Our last hope: 2008’s Burnout Paradise (PS3, X360), which promises a wide-open world with online pick-up races and crash events on every corner.

Most Depressing Movie Tie-in Game: Alvin and the Chipmunks

Paws down, the winner is the “music” offering Alvin and the Chipmunks (DS, PC, PS2, Wii). Isn’t the life expectancy of a chipmunk about four years? Why are these rodents invading the 21st century? With good music titles everywhere (including Sony’s kid-friendly SingStar and Disney’s High School Musical: Sing it!) only a masochist could listen to Blink 182, Run DMC and Elvis songs re-done in — pass the codeine — those high, squeaky chipmunk voices. Related depressing fact: Since 1958 The Chipmunks have — we kid you not — won five Grammy awards. That’s five more than Led Zeppelin, 50 Cent, Queen, The Who, Neil Young, Diana Ross or Bob Marley.

The Cockroach of Consoles (In a Good Way!): PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 3 is the most powerful, well-rounded game system, but like its arch rival from Microsoft it still ain’t cheap. Next to a chess set or a box of sidewalk chalk, the best way to enjoy great gaming on a budget is still 1999’s unkillable PlayStation 2, now available for about $100 in a slim version that’s no bigger than this magazine folded in half. There are great games in bargain bins everywhere and the best — God of War, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and dozens of sports, racing, role-playing and fighting options — offer something even better than bleeding edge graphics and sound: fun.