That time of year again, end of the year 'best of' lists... well, this year is no exception for me.  I've gone back and forth on a lot of things on my list.  Some things (like Zelda) are probably getting short shrift by virtue of me simply having not played them yet, but I am an imperfect creature. 

So for the next few days I'll cover my top 10 bests of 2006.  A year full of incredible games...

10.  Civ City: Rome -- Winner of the 3-way "Roman City Builders of Summer" competition.  Of the three (against rivals Glory of the Roman Empire and Caesar IV) this was the only one I really found compelling enough to finish.  Caesar IV was more polished, but ultimately CCR had the Firefly magic that made it hard for me to put down despite its flaws.

9. Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday -- Ok, most of what I find so compelling about this game is the same core Hearts of Iron goodness that I enjoyed last year.  But the expansion does add some nice improvements and got me re-addicted to the grand strategy of WW2 again.

8. Gears of War -- An incredibly gorgeous and stylized game, with very solid multiplayer and fun, visceral gameplay.  Despite being "just" a shooter it innovated on some core gameplay and a few just plain nice touches (y-button to look at cool things going on).  This would've rated higher in a year not so chock full of awesomeness.

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Tomorrow I'll continue the list.  As for today's list... I know, Gears of War at merely #8 is heretical.  What can I say, there's just a ton of good games this year.