The start of December marks the end of my first year with Action Media, and subsequently my first year coordinating Game Console, both in print and on this very website.

Thankfully, the end-of-year season makes it that little bit easier to come up with a blog topic. I present to you the first annual Leggetron awards. The following titles stood out to me, for one reason or another, in a variety of categories. Bear in mind that the list of games released this year that I’ve played is by no means exhaustive, so there may be some “obvious” choices missing from my list. Keep the pitchforks at bay!

Game of the Year – Assassin’s Creed II



Part two of Ubisoft’s free-running action franchise made a late showing to take out my best-of-the-year honours. It seems like designer Patrice Desilets took all the criticisms leveled at the first Assassin’s Creed to heart. This time around he’s rectified them and then some.

I couldn’t muster up the gusto to make a second play-through of the first Assassin’s Creed. As I approached the end of Assassin’s Creed II, I was already planning my next play-through. There is so much variety this time around – almost too much. I was torn between ploughing through the extremely engaging story or becoming sidetracked with the sheer volume of side missions and collectible-hunting to be had. The environments are much more vivid this time around, the characters much more real and relatable. Well, as far as you can relate to those from Renaissance Italy…

With the original Assassin’s Creed, it didn’t take long to realise that the mechanics and the foundations were in place for a killer app. But as amazing as the engine was, the game soon felt like a chore to play through. I rarely ever felt this way with the sequel, save for one or two trivial instances. Finally, the potential teased in the first Assassin’s Creed has been realised. Take a bow, Mr Desilets.

Honourable mentions: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Best Online Multiplayer – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2



Sure, I wasn’t entirely won over by the first Modern Warfare, be it the single-player or multiplayer components. I think Modern Warfare 2’s single-player campaign suffers many of the same problems as its predecessor, but the multiplayer offering has been tweaked considerably (in many cases borrowing some of the successful elements of other franchises) to propel it to the year’s best. Also, the Spec Ops component – a variety of special missions separate to the main storyline that can be played alone or with a friend – is an absolute trump card.

Honourable mentions: Halo 3: ODST (Firefight), Street Fighter IV

Best portable game – Scribblenauts



My time with Scribblenauts wasn’t nearly as long as I would have liked, but I certainly played enough to confidently cement it as the best game for a portable platform that I’ve played all year. I don’t think I’ve seen a game on any platform ever with such limitless replay value. I almost want to take a lengthy plane trip if only to have an excuse to spend a stupid amount of time playing this game.

Honourable mentions: Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box, Motorstorm: Arctic Edge

Downloadable game of the year – ‘Splosion Man




Judging by the critical acclaim showered upon Shadow Complex following its release as a downloadable title via Xbox Live, I’m sure you might be surprised that it hasn’t taken out top spot in this category. Truth is, I’m yet to play Shadow Complex. As such, it falls to the best downloadable game from this year that I have played: ‘Splosion Man. This is the game that made me fall in love with the platformer all over again; the concept so ingeniously simple, the puzzles so devilishly constructed, the artwork so lovingly crafted. The single-player adventure kept me coming back more than most of my fully fledged titles at the time, and there’s the brilliant co-operative two-player mode to boot. And if Portal’s end-credits song is universally held as the best video-game song ever, then I’m nominating ‘Splosion Man’s (not to mention the in-game “Everybody Loves Donuts” number!) as runner-up.

Honourable mentions: Fat Princess, Trials HD

Best DLC – Grand Theft Auto IV



I will never look at episodic DLC the same again after playing through both of Grand Theft Auto IV’s downloadable episodes. This is the way it should be done. Although some games have tacked on extra areas to great effect (most notably Fallout 3), Rockstar chose not to fill the bulk of the download with additional environments. Instead, they opted to utilise their existing asset base – the already vivid and bustling Liberty City – by cramming the download with new missions, content and characters. The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony made for absolutely compelling stories with more to offer than many full-length games, and at a price point that was more than reasonable. Add to this the clever way in which these episodes intertwined and complemented each other, presenting key moments from different perspectives, and you’ve got yourself some must-play gaming. Many publishers would do well to take a leaf from Rockstar’s book when it comes to the DLC proposition.

Honourable mentions: Fallout 3,
Dishonourable mentions: Resident Evil 5

And there we have it, folks. Now it’s time to stop looking back and enjoy the now before we return in the New Year to repeat the whole cycle yet again.

But before I bail for the week, today marks the 15th birthday of the original Sony PlayStation (well, in the US). The console hit retail on Decmber 3rd 1994. Of all the consoles I owned, none were more magical than the PlayStation. I had to sell off my beloved Sega Mega Drive, Mega CD and a tonne of games in order to afford it, but it was well worth it. I’ll never forget when I got the PlayStation and Tekken 2 home – it was the first time I truly felt that I had an arcade-quality machine in my living room. The CD-based PlayStation was a more significant leap forward than the transition from 8-bit to 16-bit ever was, establishing arguably many, many more memorable and classic titles than any generation to date. From Wipeout to Metal Gear Solid to Tomb Raider to Resident Evil to Final Fantasy VII, the PlayStation was indisputably an incredibly important stepping stone to where we are today. Respect. There’s a nifty little celebration site here, but it helps if you have a working knowledge of Japanese.