GamesRadar's potentially annual Platinum Chalice awards 2006
It's been a stupidly big year for games. Why don't we reduce it to a single glib article?
Winner: Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
LucasArts | GameCube, PC, PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360
Admit it: you didn't really play this game because you wanted to fight through Lego versions of old Star Wars sets. Nobody did. You played it because you wanted to watch a cute, officially sanctioned parody of the original three Star Wars films, and for that you can be forgiven. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy was a pretty cool game, but it wasn't as cool as watching a stumpy Darth Vader struggling to tell Luke who his father is when he can't talk.
That these sequences were actually clever and funny is the key. Between-level cinematics are usually either a cool distraction or a boring obstacle, but this is the only time we can remember caring more about the non-interactive bits than about playing the game itself.
Honorable mention: Mortal Kombat Armageddon
Midway | PlayStation 2, Xbox
Does anyone even watch the intros to fighting games? You should start with Armageddon - its series-spanning pyramid brawl is better than most martial arts movies we saw this year.
Winner: Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
LucasArts | GameCube,PC,PlayStation 2,PSP,Xbox,Xbox 360
Admit it: you didn't really play this game because you wanted to fight through Lego versions of old Star Wars sets. Nobody did. You played it because you wanted to watch a cute, officially sanctioned parody of the original three Star Wars films, and for that you can be forgiven. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy was a pretty cool game, but it wasn't as cool as watching a stumpy Darth Vader struggling to tell Luke who his father is when he can't talk.
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That these sequences were actually clever and funny is the key. Between-level cinematics are usually either a cool distraction or a boring obstacle, but this is the only time we can remember caring more about the non-interactive bits than about playing the game itself.
Honorable mention: Mortal Kombat Armageddon
Midway |PlayStation 2,Xbox
Does anyone even watch the intros to fighting games? You should start with Armageddon - its series-spanning pyramid brawl is better than most martial arts movies we saw this year.