Frank

As most of you know (you freaking should if you don't… I mean come on, it's like all I talk about) I play a bunch of video games. What you may not know is that I purchased an Xbox 360 console not so many months ago. Since then I've acquired some killer software to go along with Microsoft's king of consoles, ranging from the latest first person shooter to a fairly expensive piece of group gaming goodness.

Now I'm a connoisseur of games, and am very discerning about what I buy. Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway, damn it) my collection is short but distinguished. As for picking the order of which is best out of the great material I have, I might have a hard time. But I'll give it a shot.

The last game on my list is also the first game I got with the system. Gears of War is arguably the first of the modern day shooters, and introduced a gritty, visceral feel to the game that had previously not been fleshed out in the genre. It also used an intuitive camera that followed the actions of your character. Hide behind a wall and the camera skirts to the side a bit so you can see around the corner. Hunker down and sprint and the camera lowers as well, shaking as you run for cover. And who could forget the splashes of blood hitting the screen as you chainsaw an enemy in half?

One of the cooler features of Gears was the re-introduction of co-op play. Sure Doom 3 had co-op, but it wasn't this badass. Gears co-op lets you play two player split-screen blah blah. Standard stuff. But the interesting part is the dynamic between the players. If your teammate is injured you can run over and revive him. Dying actually seems to matter when you don't respawn after 30 seconds. There's some incentive to play better personally as well as with a teammate.

Gears also featured some amazing graphical detail using the Unreal 3 engine, which makes sense because Epic, the games developer, created it. The models are incredibly detailed and lifelike while the environments feel completely natural. Really, one of the only things that I would criticize heavily is that the ride is way too short. But of course, a sequel is planned and I'll have to pay another $60 to experience it. Fucking Microsoft.

And speaking of Microsoft, the long-awaited, third entry in the Halo series comes in as the fourth game on my list. All the way back in 1999 Halo was announced for the PC and, if you can believe, I was ecstatic. [rant] But then that corporate motherfucker Microsoft came in, bought Bungie (the development studio in charge of production), and shit on the PC by making Halo an Xbox exclusive and delaying the PC version for a further three years. [/rant]

My gripes of corporate antics aside, Halo is simply a lot of fun. With two Halo titles under their belt, Bungie has further refined their baby into the most user-friendly and easy to play version yet. The second game introduced many things, such as dual-wielding weapons, and the third simply improves upon the formula and makes it all smoother. In addition to the badass new Covenant weapons, the detachable turret makes for some interesting gameplay.

Halo 3 also uses the Unreal 3 graphics engine to great effect if not quite as well as Gears. But the first level is inspiring as you battle your way through a lush jungle setting. The Master Chief (main character) also has never looked better, his SPARTAN suit now scarred and beaten from the previous encounters of the first two games.

Pretty graphics don't necessarily make the game, however, and my third game is placed so because of its stellar gameplay mechanics. The Orange Box is also here because it's actually FIVE GAMES for the price of one. It's not often you find value like this in the oh-so-expensive hobby of gaming.

I could go on about the first three games offered in this set, Half Life 2 and the two episodic installments that follow, with their moving storyline, great physics, and so on. But the real gem here is the pseudo side-project called Portal that breaks all the rules of time/space.

Portal introduces an interesting element into the first person shooter genre, aside from the fact that you don't actually kill anybody. Portal has you step into the augmented legs of a research participant using a portal gun to solve puzzles, always involving finding your way to the exit. The portal gun eventually allows you to shoot two portals, one orange and one blue, onto certain surfaces of the room. Walk through one, come out the other. It seems simple enough, but then other factors like conservation of momentum come into play. And sometimes just figuring out what the hell you're supposed to do can be a rewarding challenge.

The gameplay is good enough on it's own to stand tall, but it's the presentation as a whole that makes the game. As you progress through the levels, each harder than the next, you're guided and given hints by a weird, female voice. "If you become lightheaded from thirst, feel free to pass out," says the voice at one point. The sense of humor adds so much character to the game and makes it one of the funniest games I've ever played. Even the credits are funny, as the computer sings you a touching song about your trials throughout the test.

Ok, so all of the games on my list so far have been in the first person shooter genre… sort of. The second game on my list is a bit of a departure from that crowd, and is by far the most expensive game I've ever bought. At roughly $185 Rock Band is three times as expensive as a regular game, but those regular games don't come with a plastic guitar thing, microphone, and digital drum set, do they?

Rock Band is the latest adaptation of group/party games that use other peripherals in addition to the normal game controllers. In the same vein as Guitar Hero, Rock Band takes the next step from solo shredding to the battle of the bands. You can play with up to four people in this game; one on lead guitar, one on bass, one drummer, and the singer. Bringing four players together to play one game makes for a great group dynamic and an incredibly unique experience that hasn't really been attempted before.

While the song set isn't as extensive as the new Guitar Hero game, the multiplayer element more than makes up for it. You simply can't get this feeling from any other game. And with song packs (including sets from Black Sabbath, Queens of the Stone Age, and Metallica) already in the pipeline, available for download, you can expect Rock Band to be very long lived and the centerpiece of a gamer's collection.

And now, the moment of truth. The number one game of my collection is: Mass Effect, the new role-playing game from BioWare studios. This game is said to be the most immersive, intriguing, and enjoyable game that has come out in recent history. Maybe even Ever. But here's the problem: I uh… don't quite have it yet. My brother got it for me for Christmas, so it'll be a few weeks until I actually have it. So why do you have it as your number one game if you haven't even played it yet? you might ask. Well, I'd just have to say "here's hoping." I mean, it's BioWare we're talking about.