It’s the most

That’s right folks, it’s list season again. The time of the year when every website and publication under the sun has a best-of, year-end wrap up. There is nothing wrong with these lists; they just get…boring.

Our industry loves assembling yearly lists to tell you what games you should play because they are “the best.” There are two major problems with these lists. The first is that they are nearly identical. The other, and more glaring, problem with these lists is that, more often than not, you have already played the games on them. So I have come to your rescue. It’s a new year, and you have a few days before the next game comes out (damn you Q1, damn you), so why not go back and play the best games from last year that you didn’t yet.

10) Canabalt (iPhone/iPod Touch)

It’s a simple enough premise. You are running; running across rooftops and billboards trying to put as much distance between you and whatever force is laying waste to the nameless city you are traversing. Your only defense is your ability to jump, which is something you must utilize to avoid the many obstacles the game throws at you. When you screw up, you die, and the distance you ran is recorded. You can run again to see if you can beat that distance. I won’t get into the politics that surround this game (hint: they are dumb), but I will state the facts: It costs $2.99 on Apple’s App Store, but is available for free in flash form on the web (www.canabalt.com). If you cannot see that paying 3 dollars to play this on the toilet is a tremendous value, then I cannot help you.

9) Dead Space: Extraction (Wii)

This is a game that will probably end up on a few Wii specific lists but really deserves a place on a multiplatform list. It exists here because the game’s sales numbers were so bad that I think media outlets were the only people who played it. This needs to change. Forget the buzzwords, forget the spin, forget everything you have heard about this game, and listen to what I have to say. The game feels like you exist inside the head of whatever character you are currently playing. You are their eyes and hands. While you don’t control the movement, you still, thanks in large part to the level design, don’t feel like you are traveling along a predetermined path; you are traveling along a path of necessity. This isn’t a rail shooter. It’s a game that parlayed the Wii’s weaknesses into strengths and then used those strengths to create a truly immersive first person experience. Companies have long struggled with what they can do on the Wii. Visceral figured out not only how to make the game they wanted to make on the Wii, but also how to make one of the best Wii games of the year period.

8) FEAR 2 (PC/PS3/X360)

I’m glad we didn’t have to review Fear this year in any official sense because it would have been a difficult task justifying this game’s worth. The game is extremely mediocre. Like Killzone 2, it is a cookie cutter first person shooter, but, unlike Killzone 2, it manages to elevate itself in enough ways that it is worth your time. Forget about Modern Warfare 2, MAG, or any other first person shooter; FEAR 2 has the most visceral gun based combat in any game yet released. Every single combat encounter feels like an action movie, and the aftermath of all of them looks realistic. I cannot stress that idea enough. When you are done shooting up 5 or 10 replicant soldiers, the room looks like you just got done shooting up 5 or 10 replicant soldiers. It adds this level of tangibility that immerses you a little bit deeper into the ridiculous fiction of the game. Speaking of the fiction, how many games can you think of that give you access to any firearm you can imagine, with enough ammo to feed it for days, yet still manages to frighten you? Taking or leaving the overarching storyline, the game still has the ability to elicit its namesake even though you have more guns than the NRA.

7) Demon’s Souls (PS3)

This is the answer to the “They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To” argument. You probably know someone who, for years, has gone on and on about how hard games used to be. Give them this game for their next birthday. Most people confuse difficulty and forgiveness. Those old retro games weren’t difficult as much as they punished you for screwing up. Demon’s Souls is the same way. It’s an action RPG that punishes you for messing up. The reward for not messing up is an intense feeling of satisfaction. I have spoken at some length about the difficulties of difficulty in games, and one thing that absolutely must be nailed is the feeling of accomplishment. It makes the experience less frustrating. The great thing about Demon’s Souls is you never get frustrated at the game, only yourself…after all, it was you who messed up.

6) Plants Vs. Zombies (PC/OSX)

Yes, I understand that this was one of Popcap Games’ biggest sellers ever. Yes, I realize there are millions of copies in the wild. Yes, I can see why you are puzzled that this exists on a list of the games you didn’t play but should. Let me help you out: You didn’t play this game; and should. Let’s face it, Plants Vs. Zombies is a casual game made for Grandmas and Stupids. It’s a crippled tower defense game with a humorous spin. That’s all true, except that it is also awesome. One of the paradigms of good game design is being able to ease the player into a situation, get them comfortable, and then ramp up the difficulty without them knowing it. Popcap has so many best sellers because they are masters of this. It wasn’t until hour three or four of Plants Vs. Zombies that I realized I was literally micromanaging an army of different plants, all of which serve a completely separate but equal portion of the PvZ ecosystem, while defending myself from hordes of different zombie archetypes. I couldn’t tell you if it’s any better or worse than other tower defense games because I don’t play them (Grandmas and Stupids, remember), but I can tell you that Plants Vs. Zombies is a great game that you should play irregardless of your tower defense experience.