Yahoo! Games: Best of 2006 Awards

• Best Action-Adventure Game
• Best Online Multiplayer Game
• Best Parlor Game
• Best Racing Game
• Best Role-Playing Game
• Best Shooter Game
• Best Sports Game
• Best Strategy Game
• Best Original Game
• Best Video Game of Year

• Best Casual Game
• Most Innovative Casual Game

WINNER:

Gears of War

Unlike so many formulaic Hollywood hits, Gears genuinely deserved its success. The single-player game crammed together enough memorable set pieces to make three or four lesser games, and although it was short, we're still going back over favorite segments. Epic hasn't rested on its laurels either, adding two new multiplayer maps just a week or two ago. Thanks to its phenomenal polish, masterful balance, and superb gameplay both on and offline, Gears of War is the deserved best game of 2006.

• Get more on this game

Editor Notes

Gears is tense, brutal, cutting-edge, and captivating. It's the game that made the technological and atmospheric leap ahead we all know is going to inspire techniques in countless games to follow. There was nothing scientific about picking this game over the year's phenomenal candidates, each excelling in other ways -- but Gears of War was the only game in this list that everyone with a vote was passionate about. --Rich Greenhill

I was slightly surprised to see Gears tip out the others, because it's not the most creative or novel of the nominations, but it speaks volumes to its universal blockbuster appeal that we all rated it so highly. --Mike Smith

Gears of War is the embodiment of the philosophy, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." It's the video-game equivalent of the tough, cool kid in school. You just want to be around it, to see what it's going to do next. Whether you're taking on massive bosses or turning a room to rubble, there's no shortage of water-cooler moments. This was a year where a half-dozen games could've realistically won the title of Game of the Year, but a chainsaw to the face is as convincing an argument as any other. --Justin Leeper

>>Best Casual Game