PSXE's 2006 Game of the Year Awards

Platform Awards

PSP

Nominees

• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
• Daxter
• Tekken: Dark Resurrection
• Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
• LocoRoco

Winner: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

The PSP enjoyed a fantastic 2006, and therefore, we believe there are six games worthy of nomination. And while Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops fell to Okami in the Action/Adventure category, it easily secures the PSP Game of the Year award. Konami and Kojima never fail us, and it appears even the relative challenge of developing for a handheld can’t hold them back. Rather than giving us something like the somewhat watered-down Metal Gear experience we had with the Metal Gear Solid ACIDs, we get the first faithful franchise installment on a handheld...and it shines with typical MGS excellence.

PS2

Nominees

• Okami
• Guitar Hero II
• Final Fantasy XII
• Bully
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
• Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria

Winner: Final Fantasy XII

We still love all these games, and we reserve a special place in our hearts for Okami, but when everything is said and done, Final Fantasy XII squeezes out a close victory. When we looked at the nominees and began tallying all the good in each title, we just kept going and going and going when counting the "good" in FF XII. In some ways, it reinvented the franchise, but in many others, it gave all the hardcore series fans everything they recognized. It felt like no other FF, it felt like no other RPG, but somehow, it still felt wonderfully familiar. This dichotomy is one of the major reasons why we love the game, and ultimately what put it over the top.

PS3

Nominees

• Ridge Racer 7
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
• Call of Duty 3
• Resistance: Fall of Man
• Fight Night Round 3

Winner: Resistance: Fall of Man

The launch wasn’t overly impressive, and the system was only out for six weeks in 2006, but hey, the PS3 gave us one of the best games of the year. In a unanimous decision, Insomniac’s magnificent shooter, Resistance: Fall of Man, is the PS3’s Game of the Year. The fast-action mania, nearly flawless FPS engine, top-notch AI, and lengthy and satisfying single-player campaign are only highlights of the game; indeed, it has a ton going for it. Playing on the Network is a blast, and the two-player co-op mode is equally entertaining; all PS3 owners should have this game by now. How can you possibly own a PS3 without Resistance?

And now, the big moment...