TNL's GotM: November 2007

Previous entries:
October 2007: The Orange Box [360, PC]
September 2007: Halo 3 [360]
August 2007: Bioshock [360, PC]
July 2007: Bomberman Live [XBLA]
June 2007: Pac-Man Championship Edition [XBLA]
May 2007: Odin Sphere [PS2]
April 2007: Super Paper Mario [Wii]
March 2007: God of War II [PS2]
February 2007: Crackdown [360]
January 2007: Hotel Dusk: Room 215 [DS]
TNL's Games of the Month 2006

[ As usual, straight ports, retro compilations, and retro XBLA, Virtual Console, and PSN titles are ineligible. Exceptions can be made for ports if they have not otherwise been released domestically, and noteworthy remakes. ]

Orange Box did indeed win to another resounding TNL consensus. This month was even more difficult than last in narrowing down the top ten, but even with so many strong contenders, it would be naive to not consider Super Mario Galaxy the favorite. Will it prove as unanimous a verdict as the previous few winners have been?

There were many noteworthy releases that didn't quite make the cut this month, including: Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, FFXII: Revenant Wings, Silent Hill Origins, Kane & Lynch, Geometry Wars: Galaxies, Trauma Center: New Blood, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, and (sorry Schlep) The Witcher.

My vote is still pending, having just put my first hour or two into Galaxy, and not having played Mass Effect. I'm fairly confident it's going to Mario, though. I do like playing games that put a constant shit-eating grin on my face.

Uncharted. Amazing game, all around.

I can hear the stampede of "zomg sony fanboy" incoming.

It's a great game.

Mario hands down..but Call of Duty 4 is in a respectable second place.

What a crazy month. Most of those games could easily be GOTM any other time of the year, just so much good stuff in a single month.

My vote goes to COD4. The single player campaign may be short, but this game is impressive all around, with outstanding online play and a cool arcade mode.

Mario Galaxy may be the shit, but I refuse to pay $250 for a Wii (cough, glorified Gamecube) that will more than likely fail to bring enough worthwhile games, worthy of the price.

Assassin's Creed. I bought that, Contra 4, Mario Galaxy, Mass Effect, and Call of Duty 4 this month (holy jesus, my wallet is crying). Assassin's Creed is the only game I finished out of all of those. I played it pretty much nonstop from when I bought it. No other game this month, not even Mario Galaxy, has commanded my attention like that.

This is the hardest decision ever.

Mass Effect is amazing, but I feel I can't vote until I play Mario Galaxy, and I can't play AC until Christmas. And Crysis!

hayzeus christ.

Just like the last two months there's a lot of good choices, but SMG is just hands down the game of the year.

I've put some time in with SMG and Mass Effect, and they're both great games I want to get further in... but every time I sit down to play, in fades the siren song of Rock Band and my hands grasp the guitar almost of their own accord. I'm almost afraid of what will happen when I can get a drum kit.

Mass Effect hands down.

Now that I've really gotten into it (just since yesterday) I have the hardest god damned time putting it down. Which is why I'm posting this at 4:50 AM. I meant to go to bed 3 hours ago but I totally lost track of time playing this. I'm only about 10 hours in and I'm already excited to play through it again and see what happens if I do things differently.