The Best of 2006

Here they are: the winners as picked by you. And since over 50,000 gamers can't possibly be wrong, these are the best games you played over the past year. They gave us bloodshot eyes, blisters on our fingers and robbed us of all sleep. And we loved them for it.

Best Adventure Game Dreamfall: The Longest Journey Although some complained about how the game ended, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey picked up where the original left off, which was something adventure gamers were really craving. Introducing the new character of Zoe Castillo was great, and old favorites like April Ryan also made appearances. Let's hope the series continues and gets the ending it really deserves. See our Review.

Best Family Game Pet Vet 3D Animal Hospital At one time or another, every child has probably wanted to be a veterinarian, and now they can. Pet Vet 3D Animal Hospital by Viva Media is an intriguing game that is a surprisingly comprehensive and fun simulation of the veterinary profession. It's a perfect family title with the right mix of cute animals and educational information. See our Review.

Best Online Only Game Final Fantasy XI Online Anyone who is familiar with the PS2 or PC versions of FFXI will feel quite at home with the 360 version. Of course with the series being so popular (and until now exclusive to Sony) the fact that it defected to the Xbox 360 made quite a stir. But the 360 had the network needed to drive an online-only game, and the solid gameplay made it a fan favorite. See our Review.

Best Peripheral Guitar Hero II Talk about an encore performance! Guitar Hero II picks up where the original left off with new songs, new on-screen characters and an amazing simulated guitar that feels great to play. The addition of cooperative mode allows two people (each with a guitar) to play together, which is like getting the band together for real. See our Review.

Best Puzzle Game Safecracker: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure What can you say about Safecracker: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure other than it lived up to its namesake, sweeping the category by being all about the puzzles. Set in a mansion filled with safes that need cracked in unique ways, the game blasts players with one puzzle after another so that all kinds of cognition skills are needed for success. Oh, and its fun to play as well. See our Review.

Best RPG The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Some of the categories were very close in votes, but not this one. Oblivion raised the bar so high that nobody could possibly compete. With a realistic 3D world, intelligent AI, a cool character generation system, great magic and special effects and hundreds of hours of gameplay, Oblivion just gets everything right. It may be a long time before anyone is able to trump this one. See our Review.

Best Shooter Gears of War For a lot of people, Gears of War really changed the way they thought about console shooters. The use of light and shadow were really ingenious in the game, and it demonstrated what a next generation console could do. Surprisingly, the game had a good plot as well, coupled with unique enemies and a smart AI. See our Review.

Best Simulation DarkStar One Continuing on the fine tradition of non-linear space exploration put forward by Privateer and Freelancer, DarkStar One gives you command of a ship and sets you off into a hostile world. The game is action packed with missions both in space and racing across the surface of a planet. There are even times when you will be flying inside a space station. Buckle up because this simulation is one wild ride! See our Review.

Best Sports Game Madden NFL 07 The Madden franchise is pretty much unstoppable in the sports category. The near total drop off of any football-related competition has not stopped the series from continuing to innovate, and Madden 07 raises the bar yet again. Good old Madden was with us at the dawn of computer games, and is still a dominant competitor today.

Best Strategy Game Company of Heroes We may not be heroes, but we have played a game with a company of them. Company of Heroes is probably the best WWII strategy game ever created, and one of the best real-time games as well. Extreme detail down to mud on the tires plus a capture the flag type of interface to keep players on their toes makes this the number one game in WWII, and also the winner of the strategy category. See our Review.

Best Environment THe Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion One of the best things about Oblivion is the environment, which ranges from crowded towns to snowy blizzard-prone mountains to steamy swamps. Every region in the game has its own look and feel that makes it unique, complete with a natural environment that is both believable and beautiful. Adding in environmental sounds and even minor details like bugs and swaying grass, and you have one of the coolest environments created for a computer game. See our Review.

Best Soundtrack Guitar Hero II It's no surprise that a game that is all about playing along with your favorite songs would win for best soundtrack. Guitar Hero II features 40 of some of the best rock music songs ever created including Free Bird, Message in a Bottle, Carry On Wayward Son, Rock This Town and Crazy On You. See our Review.

Best GameCube Game Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Zelda has been around forever, but just keeps getting better. In fact, a title like this one can and did serve to bring new life to the aging GameCube console.

Best PC Game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Oblivion continues to sweep the categories with yet another victory, this time for best PC game. Considering the number of high quality PC games that came out this year, to have one from the RPG genre win is a bit unusual, but so is the quality of Oblivion. See our Review.

Best PlayStation 2 Game Guitar Hero II Guitar Hero II picks up a surprise victory in the PS2 game category this year. It certainly was the most unique title to come out for that console, and the addition of a new multiplayer mode for the series helped the console shine using one of its biggest strengths: getting people together around the system to play together. See our Review.

Best PlayStation 3 Game Resistance: Fall of Man Resistance: Fall of Man is without a doubt the best game on the PS3. In fact, if it had not been for this high-quality shooter, the PS3 launch might not have been very successful. With a WWII alternate history theme and graphics that blow everything else out of the water, it's almost worth the high price of admission for the console just to play this one game. See our Review.

Best PSP Game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories People just can't get enough Grand Theft Auto, and Rockstar has found a way to keep everyone happy while we wait for the next huge sequel to the mega-franchise to be created. They produce, for a budget price, a new game set in an existing GTA city. Liberty City Stories was modeled after GTA 3 and Vice City Stories was set in Vice City. It's the most fun you can have on a PSP, and the titles also eventually get ported over to the PS2. See our Review.

Best Wii Game The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Not only do we have an incredible game in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but with the Wii controller it delivers an even better experience. The Wii Remote and the Nunchuk controller are used for a variety of game activities, including fishing and special sword attacks. Talk about getting into the game!

Best Xbox 360 Game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion This was an extremely tight race, but Oblivion managed to pull off another win. With over 50,000 ballots cast, the difference that put Oblivion over the top of Gears Of War was only a few votes. But that is enough to give Oblivion yet another well-deserved medal for capturing millions of collective hours of gamers' precious time. See our Review.

Best Xbox Game Hitman: Blood Money The sneaky Agent 47 assassinates this category, winning for best Xbox game of 2006. The combination of stealth gameplay and shooter action is a refreshing twist to the constant cookie-cutter shooters we always see. Whenever you can use your brains instead of brawn in a shooter environment, it's a recipe for success. So you could say that Hitman: Blood Money is a big hit! See our Review.

Overall Game of the Year The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Without a doubt, Oblivion was the most innovative, creative, unique and fun game of the year. It completely swept almost every category it was nominated in and raised the bar so high for RPGs and games in general, that it may be a very long time before anyone is able to catch up. Oblivion did things we did not think a game could, and entertained us for hours on end. As such, it earns the highest award we can give it: the best overall game of 2006. See our Review.

Back to current winners.