From blockbusters like Super Mario Galaxy to innovative
titles like Rock Band, there was no shortage of great stuff to
play in 2007. Here are our picks for the most notable games,
characters, and creepy Ayn Rand references.
Most Controversial Game: Manhunt 2
(Wii,
PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable)—Between being banned in
Europe and adding new levels of interactivity to removing a penis (with
a set of pliers, via the motion-sensitive Wiimote), Manhunt 2 is
controversy in disc form.
Most Endearing Inanimate Object: Portal‘s
Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube
(Xbox 360, PlayStation 3,
PC)—Though it only survives for a few minutes, the Cube attains
the sort of symbolic relevance usually reserved for religious prophets
and Jim Morrison.
Best Interspecies Sex Scene: Mass Effect
(Xbox
360)—While the nightmarish sodomy of Silent Hill: Origins almost locked down this category, we have to give the nod to Mass
Effect—if only because tender lovin’ between a man and a blue
alien (or a woman and a blue alien) is generally more romantic than
being raped by knives.
Most Compelling Use of Ayn Rand’s Objectivist Philosophy: BioShock
(Xbox 360, PC)—BioShock‘s
terrifying Art Deco corridors would have been frightening enough by
themselves, but when you realize they’re all merely the extrapolated
reality of a society built on the ideas posited in Atlas
Shrugged, not only do you gain a valuable piece of mental
ammunition you can impress cute girls with, you also begin to think
that Rand’s book would have been WAY better if it had had
flamethrowers.
Game of the Year: Portal
(Xbox 360, PlayStation
3, PC)—What Portal lacks in pyrotechnics or length, it
makes up for in absolutely everything else. From the moment you begin
your tests in the Aperture Science Lab to the end credits—which
are soundtracked by internet-darling Jonathan Coulton’s “Still
Alive”—the story is as shocking, hilarious, and moving as any
film or novel.