Choice. As gamers, we’re frequently pre-
sented with choices, both good and bad.
And generally, choice is a good thing
for gamers. But some games eschew
the whole choice thing, instead creat-
ing intensity the old-fashioned way, with
scripted events. Call of Duty 4 represents
the pinnacle of choiceless gameplay,
building one experience upon the pre-
vious one until you reach a climax so
unbelievable, you really have to play the
game to appreciate it.
http://www.callofduty.com, ESRB: MTHE HOBSON’S CHOICE AWARDCall of Duty 4
The concept is simple, really. Peggle is digital
pachinko, with crazy powerups, a trippy cast
of characters, and an unrelentingly cheer-
ful theme that would be pure saccharine if it
weren’t executed with such unrelenting ear-
nestness. With hours played soaring into the
thousands, we blame Peggle for more lost
productivity at Maximum PC HQ than anything
else this year. http://www.popcap.com, ESRB: E* The Top of the Mountain Award for Extreme Dewness is in
no way affi liated with Mountain Dew or Spike TV.We’ll admit that by the time Gears of
War fi nally arrived on the PC, we’d
already beaten it twice on Insane dif-
fi culty and unlocked most of the multi-
player achievements on the Xbox 360.
And can you really blame us for caving?
With so much hype surrounding the vis-
ceral shooter, we crossed the PC fanboy
picket lines and drank the sweet console Kool-
Aid. But more steadfast PC gamers needn’t
fret—the PC version’s extended campaignPeggle Gears of War
*THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN AWARD
FOR EXTREME DEWNESSWE WOULD HAVE BEEN EVEN MORE EXCITED
IF IT HAD COME OUT LAST YEARWE LOVE THE SMELL OF NAPALM IN THE... WELL, ANYTIMEWe’ll say it: There’s nothing more fun than calling
down airstrike after unholy airstrike while playing
World in Confl ict. Although “playing” is perhaps
the wrong word to use. Fighting to retake the
upper chunk of the United States is more a mat-
ter of “turtling” than anything else. And we can’t
get enough of it.
Light artillery, heavy artillery, napalm, fuel air
bombs, laser-guided missiles: This game drips
chaos with its massive amounts of targetable
air ordnance. You can’t help but smile the fi rst
time you toss a nuclear missile in a multiplayer
match. We cackled with glee.
http://www.worldinconflict.com, ESRB: TWorld in Confl ict
50 MAXIMUMPC | MAR 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com
and additional multiplayer maps are a worthy
consolation for your admirable resolve.
http://gearsofwar.com/, ESRB: MGAMING AWARDS 2007