The Finest Moments in 2007 Gaming

Stephen Totilo, as he did last year and the year before, has put together a piece looking at the finest gaming moments to be had in 2007. From the high-jumps of Portal to the Colossus battle in God of War 2, he's got a lot of gaming goodness packed into this one article. My favorite moment (the end of Mass Effect) isn't on there, but this is a close second: "Late in the much-praised first-person shooter BioShock, the player is required to don the outfit of another character in the game. Saying much more about this moment would ruin the effect. But rest assured, this transformative sequence changes the way every character in the world reacts to the player's presence. Plus, it might just give a BioShock player some pause about what they had been doing for the dozen hours that preceded the moment. Saying anything more would be a spoiler."

Are you crazy?

[Anonymous Coward]

The part he is talking about in Bioshock has got to be the dumbest part of that entire game. It was an excuse to fit in some fetch quests and an escort mission into the game because it was too damn short.

Great year

[Pojut]

Overall, many great memories from this year of gaming...nothing will compare to the summer of 2004 for gaming memories for me (closed beta of WoW, 15 friends, an empty house, a lot of water pipes, and half the summer taken off from work), but I would have to say these were my top 5 from the year (in no particular order):

1. Opening 15 minutes of BioShock. This was done with 5 friends around the couch, all of us huddled close together...home theater setup was turned way up high, my Tannoy PS 110-B sub rattling the floor, a gorgeous image on my HDTV...honestly, one of the most tense 15 minutes of gaming I have ever experienced.

2. First time I played a Wii. This was at a friends house way back in February. There were a total of 7 of us taking turns playing Wii sports...considering how often we host gaming parties or LAN parties, I knew the instant I started watching and playing that I had to get one.

3. Experiencing the story of Mass Effect. In my opinion, the greatest sci-fi universe ever conceived...buy the art book, amazing! I was actually a little frustrated when it ended primarily because I wasn't ready to finish it yet! Cannot wait for the second one...

4. Rainbow Six: Vegas on Live. Spent 16 straight hours (taking breaks every 4-5 hours to get food and goto the bathroom, of course) playing it the weekend I get my HDTV. I likely gained 20 pounds that weekend, but it was definitely a weekend to remember.

5. Playing through the Orange Box...Half-Life 2 is one of my all time favourite games, and I hadn't played it since early 2005. Seeing it on a big HDTV with an awesome surround system, coupled together with playing through Episode 1 and 2 to further the storyline (and yes, of course, playing Portal) was amazing. Ravenholm is absolutely terrifying at night with all the lights out and the system cranked!

So there they are, my top 5 gaming moments of 2007. There were plenty other great ones, to be sure, but these were the most memorable for me. A man chooses, a slave eats cake!

Little Sister

[Infinite Wave]

For me it has to be the little scene when I first saved a Little Sister. It was a beautiful moment in my opinion. The Swell of the music, the brilliant light, her vain struggle and finally ending with a simple Thank you. One of the few moments in gaming I felt like a real hero.

Re:Great year

[solar_blitz]

Sadly I was too overworked to play too many games this season - what with learning Operating Systems, animating a robot in Maya and working in Washington DC (I'm not bragging, these are just excuses)... the only games I bought and played were .hack//G.U. Vol. 2: Reminisce and Super Mario Galaxy. But dear God, Super Mario Galaxy reminded me why I love video games so much. It was... just... without the graphics of the XBox 360 or PS3 or PCs, all you really need for a good, amazing experience are good controls, level designs, and game mechanics. Polishing the presentation of the game helps, but this is good.

Oh yeah, totally forgot. Most of the games I did buy were for the Virtual Console.