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Reader Top 50 of 2005: The Aftermath

Notable absentees, honourable mentions, stats.

Tom Bramwell avatar
Feature by Tom Bramwell Former Editor-in-Chief
Updated on
35 comments

You guuuuuuys. You didn't half get into that whole Reader Top 50 thing. Loads of you submitted top-fives. Loads of you wrote things down to justify your number-ones. In fact, so many of you wrote things about Resident Evil 4 that it confused the hell out of my spreadsheet application, broke the scrolling and I missed over two hundred votes on the first pass. Fortunately I spotted that. Not that it would have mattered - Resident Evil 4 was far, far and away your most popular game of the year. It was almost as popular with you as Psychonauts was with our panel.

As we said when we kicked off the Reader Top 50, this is your list, and your choices would almost certainly disagree with ours. After all, there are about a million of you passing through here every month, and there were 12 people contributing to our list. But what were the key differences?

Reader Top 50: Notable absentees

Lego Star Wars - The fun and frolics of 2005's most unlikely critical success weren't quite good enough to break into your top 50. But they weren't far off - Lego Star Wars was your 51st favourite game of the year.

Kirby: Canvas Curse - Kirby didn't quite manage it either. Drawing platforms always struck us as a good idea for a DS game, and apparently plenty of you felt the same way. Not enough though. 53rd.

Everybody's Golf - Golf makes for some funny games and some old games (hello Tiger Woods everything-after-2002), but football's still the funny old game, presumably. Rubbish comments aside, you liked Sony's almost Nintendo-esque golfing affair, but only enough to put it at 56.

If I had a sword that was on fire, I'd call it Norah.

Soulcalibur 3 - The soul still burns bright enough to make it to number 58, but you didn't like it that much. Would the story have been different if it was released on Cube and Xbox as well? We'll never know.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth - This one divided opinion around the office. Well, around MSN anyway. Kristan loved it though, and his enthusiasm got it into our top 50. Not yours though. 60th.

City of Villains - Easily the biggest disparity in the whole setup. City of Villains' (and Heroes') popularity with our panel put it inside our top ten, and it's certainly been a success. It wasn't good enough for you though - it only managed 64th in your list.

Peter Jackson's King Kong - Another surprise from our perspective. Perhaps the stigma attached to film licenses was a problem; perhaps the 360 brightness "issue" weighed in your minds; perhaps you just didn't like Michel Ancel's stuff as much as you all claimed. Well, we doubt that last one. But you only liked Kong enough to rank it 66th.

Virtua Tennis: World Tour - If Kristan were not otherwise engaged, he'd probably have a right go at you for only making this number 71. I won't though - I'd had quite enough fun with the Dreamcast versions when this turned up on PSP, to be honest. Which has nothing to do with the fact it's the only game ever that Kristan can consistently beat me at.

Singstar 80s - The lure of Duran Duran wasn't enough. 85th. If you are into Singstar though, you might want to consider getting hold of the Norwegian version. If it's possible for Singstar to be hardcore, that's where it is.

SWAT 4 - 93rd. So I'll use its inclusion as an excuse to link to this again.

The Warriors - Clearly didn't come out to play often enough. 94th.

That's Japanese for '99? SCUM!'

Warioware Twisted - 99th. City of Villains' relative positions in the two lists was probably the most significant disparity in terms of stature, but we're getting to the point of the biggest statistical dips now. Were there really 98 better games than this in 2005?

Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time - This probably came out in the US too late for most of you. Hence 104th.

Brothers In Arms: Earned In Blood - But perhaps not in sales. 106th.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure - Admittedly, getting four people together with four GBAs and four connector cables was a bit of an ask. In fact, 124th was quite impressive given that. Okay it isn't. Never mind.

The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 202nd. Ouch.

Boiling Point: The Road to Hell - Kieron's review managed to convince a few of you - as well it should have - but sadly not enough. The road to hell was one of the roads least travelled. In with a whimper at 267th.

Outside your Top 50: Honourable mentions

Beyond Good & Evil - Steven Wittens: "Awesome find in the bargain bin. It sucks you in from the first second with its excellent intro. The gameplay is varied and fun, the graphical style is charming and the characters are lovable."

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness - Robert Labrum: "I played it in 2005. A lot of 2005, and having eventually sold the PS2, this is the only game I really miss."

Electroplankton - William Curtis: "Musical fishies!"

GTR: FIA GT Racing - James Malone: "Attention to detail. Joined a league and spent ages tinkering with setups etc. Lost my Tuesday nights for most of the year!"

Do we really need an excuse to reference this? Still brilliant.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Stephen Crowley: "A dungeon a day is my advent for Christmas."

Live For Speed - Mark Marsh: "It's like Chuck Norris bathed in honey - a careful touch is required but oh so rewarding when you get it right. Easily the best online racing experience you can find. The fact it is developed by three blokes in a potting shed only adds to how amazing this game is. Go buy! Now!"

Makai Kingdom - Matthew: "Took all the best bits from the great Phantom Brave and added them to the superb Disgea. Nippon Ichi deserve recognition for what they have done for the Turn Based RPG. They have revolutionised the genre before and now have perfected it with Makai Kingdom. Best game I've played this year."

Tomb Raider - Sean Ramsey: "Norks."

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines - Alan Martin: "Wonderful story, hugely imersive and beautifully crafted."

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved - Tom Bramwell: "Because I'm better than Kristan at it." [You're expecting a predictable Ed-retort, but Kristan's not here! I can write things like that all day! Hahaha! Kristan's rubbish! - Ed]

With all of that then, we're just about done with 2005. With any luck, you can find something in amongst your Top 50, our Top 50, and the various games we've listed today to keep you occupied during this horrible rubbish January we've got. All done.

No? Oh go on then, let's have some fun Reader Top 50-related facts:

  • Number of games voted for: 301
  • Number of games not in Eurogamer Top 50: 17
  • Lowest-scoring game: Kameo Elements of Power (5/10)
  • Highest-scoring game: Shadow of the Colossus (10/10)
  • Number of PC/Mac exclusives: 10 (WoW, BF2, Civ 4, FEAR, Trackmania Sunrise, FM 2006, Darwinia, Guild Wars, CS: Source, Space Rangers 2)
  • Number of DS exclusives: 9 (Mario Kart, Advance Wars, Ouendan, Meteos, Zoo Keeper, Phoenix Wright, Nintendogs, Animal Crossing, Castlevania)
  • Number of PS2 exclusives: 5 (God of War, MGS3, Gran Turismo 4, We Love Katamari, Devil May Cry 3)
  • Number of Xbox exclusives: 5 (Jade Empire, Ninja Gaiden Black, Halo 2, Oddworld Stranger)
  • Number of PSP exclusives: 4 (Lumines, GTA: LCS, Wipeout, Ridge Racer)
  • Number of Xbox 360 exclusives: 2 (PGR3, Kameo)
  • Number of Cube exclusives: 1 (Fire Emblem)
  • Biggest gap between places: 1 and 2 (Resi Evil 4 and God of War - Resi actually had three times as many votes as GoW)
  • Closest gap between places: 22 and 23 (Ouendan and The Movies - a single vote)
  • Most common phrase in reader commentary: "What's not to love?"
  • Most impressive spelling error: God of Wart
  • Least legal game: Lumines for GBA/DS. "Totally addictive," says one reader.
  • Most words written about a single game: 3,932 (Resident Evil 4, obviously)
  • Game of the year: Psychonauts

Giggle.

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