BC Magazine 2006 Game of the Year - Page 6

At some point, you have to take a chance to break the mold and re-invent the wheel, hopefully for the better. They've stumbled in the past with the Virtual Boy, the R.O.B., and the (more or less required-to-play for the system's best games) RAM Expansion for the N64, proving that some ideas are better on paper than in execution.

However, with the runaway success of the DS in both Japan and the United States, it seemed the timing was right to revamping how people play games yet again. I couldn't agree more. Excite Truck, Wii Sports, Call of Duty 3, and all the other Wii games so far would all be run-of-the-mill if not for this new interface.

Runner Up: Unreal Engine 3

Best Sleeper Hit
Winner: Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (360)
Synopses: Sean Dwyer

When Rockstar Games announced early in 2006 that they would be releasing a ping-pong game, a lot of people thought it was a joke. Surely the people behind such hyper-violent games as Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt and The Warriors wouldn't go soft on us and turn to something so basic and inoffensive... would they?

Is there even a market for a game like this? But this is Rockstar we're talking about, who has the freedom to do just about anything they want, and do it well. As a result, Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis ended up being one of the most underrated and overlooked Xbox 360 games to be released in 2006.

Table tennis is a game known for its speed and precision, and the folks at Rockstar San Diego took that to heart in designing this title. There's nothing cartoony or exaggerated about it; the controls are tight, the game play intense.

It's easy to learn the basics, but there's also a lot more depth than you might expect. It takes some practice if you want to counter spins or catch the corners. The use of the rumble to indicate the power of a shot that is about to be unleashed also gave players valuable tactile feedback allowing them to feel their way around the table.

Sure it would have been nice to have an option for doubles, and maybe a career mode too, but in the end Rockstar's Table Tennis delivered great value for its budget price. I guess it also goes without saying that this is probably the best ping-pong video game ever made!

Runner Up: Drill Dozer (GBA)

Article Author: Ken Edwards

Ken Edwards is the Gaming Editor at Blogcritics, and calls Breaking Windows home. Ken works part time for Student Publications at BGSU as the Webmaster and System Administrator. He is also a freelance web developer.

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