by Joe Louis
Staff Writer

With 2007 down the drain (thankfully in some regards), looking back seems appropriate. The year was absolutely amazing for games, and far too expensive to try to get to all of the good stuff. But, alas, I’ve sacrificed and/or sleep to try to get through everything in one form or another. Thus, without further ado, here are my picks for the top 10 games of 2007.

10. “Peggle” – for PC and soon for Xbox Live. NBC voted this game as one of the top five most addictive computer games ever. “Peggle” brings home a strange version of “Pachinko,” with sickeningly cute graphics and physics bending game play. If you have a lot of spare time or you want to lose more time than you have, go ahead and spring the $20 for this. You’ll only regret it at 4 a.m., after you sat down to “play for a few minutes” after dinner.

9. “The Legend of Zelda: the Phantom Hourglass” – Nintendo DS. Perhaps overall, I’m jaded. I’m a Zelda fanboy.Phantom Hourglass is a bite-sized sequel to “Wind Waker,” with a control scheme that uses the stylus exclusively. It’s fun and you’ll have plenty of time to ponder while you wind your way through the world in your boat.

8. “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” – PS3. This is the first good, solid game for the system that I’ve seen. Formulaic, and amusingly written, it fills a gap that Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider have left in my heart. Eidos should take a look at this and start pointing Lara Croft in a similar direction. If you’re one of the 15 people that have the system, go for it.

7. “Call of Duty 4” – Xbox 360, PS3 and DS. A very well thought out and well designed first-person shooter. Overall an realistic game, and multiplayer format that is fun and entertaining. You’ll most likely be splitting your time between this and “Halo 3” for your fix.

6. “Mass Effect” – Xbox 360. A fine model of a sci-fi RPG that occasionally gets confused as a shooter. Strong writing supports 40% of the game, coupled with beautiful graphics and a wellmade set of consistent interplanetary missions. There’s a lot to do on the sides, but make sure you finish everything before you beat it because the game closes its doors for what a fairly sandbox gameplay style.

5. “Halo 3” – Xbox 360. Yep, there it is.

4. “Bioshock” – Xbox 360. It’s about here that the order is almost arbitrary. All of these games are fantastic, but for different reasons. “Bioshock” was scary, beautiful and well developed. It had an awesome soundtrack (available for free download), and really fun to play. It was original and had some decent moralistic choices that needed to be made.

3. “Mario Galaxy”— Wii. One of the finest examples of game design I’ve seen. Miyamoto has brought original levels, friendly graphics and innovative game play once again to Nintendo. Probably not the most addictive game you’ll play, but you’ll love every minute that you spend with it. If you have a friend playing with you, it’s like cheating.

2. “Rock Band: Xbox 360 and PS3. The most fun I’ve had with a party game…ever. You can get people who refuse to play a Wii to play “Rock Band.” Just disregard the grotesquely complicated character creation bits.

1. “Portal” (As part of the Orange Box) – PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. Yep, all by it’s lonesome, “Portal” stands out to me above everything else I’ve played this year. Good writing, innovative game play and no fat whatsoever. No time is wasted grinding levels or moving from one puzzle to the next, and the story unfolds as your playing in an unobtrusive way. I don’t care if it’s short. It’s actually kind of nice to finish a game in one sitting and feel that I’ve accomplished something worthwhile.