Christmas Picks - part one

A virtual list for Santa...

With 2007 rapidly slipping out the door (and off to the pub), it's high time to reflect on what has been a truly wonderful festive release schedule, delivering not only some of the best game's of the year - but even a number of bona fide classics. In part one of our 'festive picks' article, the play™ team will be delivering their personal picks - and arguing for their number one choice as the definitive release of what's been a very merry season for gaming indeed. On with the show, then...

Paul Govan's pick: Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360, PS3)

Games can make odd connections to real life, whether it is the emotional familiarity of a certain story, or the evocative recreation of grand moments in history. But my game this year achieves this in a much more subtle and seemingly mundane way. As I make my way through a busy high street packed with shoppers, my eye is drawn up the architecture of the buildings. I find myself noticing beams and grills almost within reach, window ledges ideal for traversing and voids that invite a leap of faith.

Assassin's Creed has infected my psyche so much so that the world I live in has now become an imaginary playground. It makes me wonder how much of a leap (if you'll excuse the pun) it would be to square the circle and try my hand at free-running for real. Either way, this game has exquisitely achieved what I believe it set out to do: to imbue its player with a greater awareness, connection and playfulness with their environment. The rest of the game serves its narratological purpose, but is essentially a container for this grand aim.

I admit that it is a flawed creation. Sometimes the console groans under the weight of what it is being asked to achieve. Sometimes the low clip rate of the samples starts to break the suspension of disbelief. Sometimes the arbitrary nature of your pursuers and hide points breaks in on the fun. But by and large, you simply want to play with this wonderful new toy. As you stand on the cliff overlooking Damascus, you survey the city and marvel at its overwhelming level of detail and innumerable possibilities for free-running fun. It really is that most sought after of creations, a real grownup playground.

It is this simple joy of play that means Assassin's Creed is the game for me this year. Drawing on the sandbox environment exploration of Crackdown and the joyous thrill of scaling Colossi, Ubisoft have created something new and unique, something that for me really delivers a truly next gen experience.

Paul Newcombe's pick: Eternal Sonata (Xbox 360)

Eternal Sonata may not be the most obvious of gaming picks for the festive season but in some ways it’s a perfect game for this, the busiest time for the year. Come Boxing Day when you'll be suffering the effects of far too much food and drink there'll be a part of you yearning to be able to escape into the beauty of Sonata's musical dream world full of bright blue skies, lush green pastures and characters with barely a cynical bone in their body.

As the gaming equivalent of a hangover cure it boasts an undemanding yet enjoyable story, the simplicity of its linear structure and the gentle pace of things, not to mention the game's fantastic twist on turn based combat, make Eternal Sonata the perfect game to relax into while you await the onslaught of turkey sarnies.

Even The slightly moralistic tone the game strikes that may have got on your nerves a bit at any other time of the year seems somehow appropriate at Christmas when a little extra care for the rest of the world and its people seems an ideal message to be giving. It may not have been the first game on your Christmas list but give it a chance and you'll discover the perfect antidote to all the festive hustle and bustle.

Stevie Smith's pick: BioShock (PC, Xbox 360)

Having already secured its first high-profile ‘Game of the Year’ gong at the recent Spike TV VGA awards, the safe money for a sure-fire seasonal sizzler lies firmly with 2K Games’ underwater epic BioShock.

Rapture: A submerged utopian city built for the evolution of mankind’s best scientific minds, hidden away from the parasitic influences of government as a haven for the talented and a home for the gifted.

Yet, when a plane crash brings the player and Rapture together, its vast corridors and hallways have been ravished by madness, and what remains of its population have been driven insane with a lust for Adam, a gene-engineering drug that bestows its users with in-human powers.

To survive, the player must evolve by embracing Adam, seeking it out from the city’s ‘Little Sisters,’ the wretched experiments that prowl Rapture harvesting Adam from the dead while protected at all times by the lumbering powerhouse ‘Big Daddies.’

Defeat the Big Daddies and kill the Little Sisters to enjoy the full benefits of the Adam they are carrying, or free them from their tragic torment and receive but a fraction of their harvest? The choice is yours as BioShock’s fabulous narrative twists and turns and its in-game choices directly influence the game’s final outcome.

In a year that has seen masses of new first-person shooters, the majority of which have been predictable paint-by-numbers distractions offering nothing remotely new, BioShock’s release marked the arrival of an evolutionary gem that not only reinvigorated gaming’s most overpopulated genre, but damn near redefined it.

Packed to the rafters with top-draw quality, and boasting scrumptious visuals, an intriguing storyline, compelling character evolution, and genuinely emotive in-game decision making, BioShock and its pseudo-RPG delivery sent shock waves through the industry before rightly basking in the hugely positive critical glow that followed.

The Spike TV award will not be BioShock’s only ‘Game of the Year’ honour, and no self-respecting gamer should miss out on experiencing the only release of 2007 that truly deserves the title.

By Luke Guttridge