Well, I've only had time to try a select few games.
Most of them I could only play while I was in my hometown for a few days before going back to university.
Halo Reach (the first two levels at least) seemed like a fresh departure from the original Halo games in the sense that we're dealing with new characters (and some old), and a new world within the Halo universe that has its own unique background story. The combat system that classic Halo players are familiar with is still mostly present in this game, though it feels ever so slightly different in subtle ways (like all Halo games, though I can never really quite put those subtle differences into words
). It's a lot of fun though, which is really what most gamers-for-pleasure like myself look for.
Mass Effect 2 (was that this year?) was fairly good. Great story. :thumbsup: I liked some of the changes from Mass Effect 1 (more major locations, which are also more city/future-like, as well as what I thought was a deeper depth to the companion characters), but I also felt that MS1 had a bit more of an exploration feeling to it, especially with driving around for long periods of time on those generic planets (which I agree are pretty bland, but it was still enjoyable IMO so I kind of missed that). Overall was still awesome, I would recommend it to anyone who is into either RPG/shooters or both.
I played Final Fantasy Heroes of Light on my Nintendo DS. I liked the different style that the game had in general with its story and art, but I felt that the combat system was perhaps a bit too simple in some ways, and a bit restricting in others. I like being able to choose specific targets in combat so I can have greater control of strategy, which isn't quite doable in this game (only to an extent, you fight front or rear enemies
). That was also one of my problems with FF XIII (yet another game), since there were only really two attack patterns (plus several support/miscellaneous roles) that you could assign over three characters.
FF XIII was a bit of a disappointment in that I didn't get to explore any open game world until about 3/4 of the way through the game, and as a result it felt more like a long, long tunnel than it did like a fantasy world. Despite its combat system (which I am not a fan of, as mentioned above) and a more or less very linear game path, was a lot of fun. The soundtrack and story did make up in part for some of the game's shortcomings.
Well, all that being said, here would be my nominations:
Mass Effect 2
Final Fantasy 13
Halo Reach (I'm sure this will get quite a few nominations)