10 Hot Games for 2006 -- Page 2

5. Bully
Welcome to Grand Theft Auto Middle School.
Platform(s): PS2, Xbox

Every school has a bully in one form or another, and this (already) controversial game from Rockstar puts you in his shoes. Playing as 15-year-old Jimmy Hopkins, your objective is to reach the top of the social scene within one year. Bully will use GTA's sandbox approach in the open campus of Bullworth Academy, and missions range from fighting to extracting information from fellow students. Let's just say we're intrigued.

4. Black
Your trigger finger will be black...and blue.
Platform(s): PS2, Xbox

Gun porn. That's the best way to describe Black, a single-player-only first-person shooter where the size of the gun really does matter. The point of Black is to literally blow as much stuff away as possible using explosive weaponry. And there's no such thing as limited ammo, either. Don't worry about the story, just worry about pumping gratuitous amounts of lead until your fingers get numb.

3. Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy just keeps rolling along.
Platform(s): PS2

Ear-pierced metrosexual heroes rally together and fight dictatorial oppressors in the latest Final Fantasy installment. In a move that'll surely be mimicked by other Japanese RPG developers, FFXII features a completely overhauled combat system that does away with random encounter battle sequences, taking cues from FFXI. In addition, the free-roaming 3D landscape is one of the best to come from any PlayStation 2 RPG. Here's one risk from Square Enix that might actually pay off.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Yet another reason to own a GameCube.
Platform(s): GameCube

The Legend of Zelda is one of those unique game series that dwells up in the rarified air of instant-classic gamedom. It doesn't matter when the next installment appears or for what Nintendo system is appears for, it never fails to register in the top ranks of the most wanted. This version features yet another new/old hero named Link as well as a dark, more "mature" visual style. The game was also pushed from 2005 into 2006 which just serves to make gamers everywhere want it even more badly than they did before.

1. Okami
A howling success in the making
Platform(s): PS2

This action/adventure title is a real grabber, not only for its vivid, fantastic imagery (the lush graphics give the impression of playing a Japanese watercolor painting). In the game you'll play a sun god who returns to earth in the form of a wolf in order to revive the land. One of the key play mechanics is truly innovative: you can pause the game, bring in a paintbrush, and then draw an object or attack an enemy; whatever you draw happens when you resume the game. A true original.

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