Darren's 2005 Favourites

2:34pm UK, Wednesday December 21, 2005

Darren Turpin brings you the latest news and gossip from the world of games. This week he takes a look back at his favourite games from the past 12 months.

F.E.A.R

2005 was another exciting year for gamers, with the launch of three new consoles and a sack full of quality titles. 

Listed below (ordered by release date) are 10 of my favourite games released in the past 12 months - and at the bottom you'll find my game of the year for 2005. 

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Multiformat) 

Metal Gear Solid 3 may have run it close for the title of single-player stealth-em-up of the year, but it was Chaos Theory's perfectly balanced online multiplayer mode which made it one of my favourite games. 

Pitching sneaky Spies against first-person shooter style Mercenaries - and equipping both sides with a selection of funky gadgets - Chaos Theory online was tense and highly strategic: the perfect antidote to the Run 'n' Gun slugfests which dominate the multiplayer arena these days. 

New Star Soccer 3 (PC) 

(Free trial available from www.newstarsoccer.com) 

Though unimpressive to look at, this hugely addictive budget football game quickly became one of my most frequently played titles, thanks to its seamless blending of a fun match engine with an utterly engrossing player management simulator. 

Rather than a whole team, New Star Soccer saw you take charge of a single player; controlling his actions during matches, improving skills, and managing a career through International call-ups, spells on the bench, and even alcohol and gambling addictions. 

Sensible Soccer meets Championship manager was the lazy comparison, but on this occasion it was entirely justified. 

Ridge Racer (Playstation Portable) 

The perfect showcase for Sony's powerful handheld console, Ridge Racer offered little by way of innovation, but a great deal in terms of high-speed power-sliding fun - and it's still the best-looking portable game I've ever seen. 

Fahrenheit (Multiformat) 

After a thrilling opening, this ambitious adventure veered off the rails in the final third as a storyline which began as a tight detective thriller unravelled into supernatural nonsense. 

But for most of its 10-hour playing time, Fahrenheit was utterly engrossing, and hinted at a brighter future for this sadly overlooked genre. 

Far Cry Instincts (Xbox) 

Yet another first-person shooter to make the transition from PC to Xbox, but Instincts impressed by offering a totally new game, rather than merely imitating its source material. 

The most enjoyable aspect of Instincts was the shift in focus as your slowly mutating character transformed from hunted soldier to super-human jungle killer. An unusually thoughtful shooter. 

Advance Wars Dual Strike (Nintendo DS) 

Wireless multiplayer mode aside, there's actually little here that couldn't have been achieved on a Gameboy Advance. I'm not complaining though, because few gaming experiences are as addictive as Advance Wars - and the series' DS debut was perhaps the best version yet. Strategy war games have never been so much fun. 

Nintendogs (Nintendo DS) 

Typical: Nintendo DS owners waited months for a must-have title to play on their new console, and then two turned up in the space of a week, as Nintendogs followed Advance Wars onto shop shelves in October. 

This pet sim expertly utilised the DS's unique features; its touch screen and microphone providing a very real sense of interaction with your virtual dog. Unusual, innovative, and utterly adorable - this was the Nintendo DS finally fulfilling its potential. 

F.E.A.R (PC) 

A year after Half-Life 2, at last a first-person shooter gave Valve's masterpiece a run for its money - and F.E.A.R very nearly came out on top, too. 

Though the intended horror sections lacked Half-Life 2's vision and fluent storytelling, F.E.A.R's balletic slow-mo gunfights were in a league of their own thanks to the game's endlessly destructible environments and some frighteningly realistic enemy artificial intelligence. 

Project Gotham Racing 3 (Xbox 360) 

The best of the Xbox 360's launch titles, Gotham 3 was also the perfect tool to show off the new console's abilities. The recreation of cities such as London and New York was on a level never seen before, while the racing action itself was just fast, fast, fast. An essential purchase for 360 owners. 

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (Multiformat)

A return to form for a series which rather lost its way this time last year, when Warrior Within unwisely chose to focus on combat rather than the majestic platforming sections which made Sands of Time so special. 

This time the emphasis was (mostly) back where it should always have remained: on huge rooms full of pillars and yawning chasms, where you had the task of guiding the effortlessly lithe Prince from one side to another. 

Game Of The Year - Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube & PS2) 

The theory goes that as consoles get older, the standard of the games appearing on them improves thanks to developers' increased familiarity with the hardware they're working on. 

And to prove it, step forward Resident Evil 4 - not only the best game released this year, but also arguably the finest title to appear on either the Gamecube or PS2. 

Abandoning the fixed cameras and hamstrung controls which had become the series' trademark, this latest Resident Evil game instead transformed itself into a fluid, breathlessly intense action adventure. 

Controlling Leon S. Kennedy, you travelled to a remote Spanish village in search of the President's missing daughter, only to find the tourist board welcoming party populated by psychopathic maniacs. 

Things quickly descended into a series of memorable gunfights where your only defence against the endless waves of disturbingly intelligent enemies was the superb selection of weapons available to you. 

With heart-stopping set-pieces and astonishing boss battles at every turn, this was a stunning experience from start to finish. Game of the year by a long, long way. 

Contact Darren at darren.turpin@ntlworld.com