Game Of The Year Picks: Gamasutra's Nich Maragos

As part of Gamasutra's end of year round-up, we've asked our readers to submit their choices for top three games of 2005, which we will publish over the next 10 days alongside picks from the Gamasutra staff. Today's continuing picks come from Gamasutra news editor Nich Maragos, whose top titles are as follows: "Three games I loved in 2005 were Shadow of the Colossus, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Psychonauts. I’m pretty sure they were my favorite games of the year, and if not, we’ll just say they were the ones I remember liking most and leave it at that. - In addition to everything that’s obviously great about Shadow of the Colossus, such as the intense mixture of feelings you get when you bring home the final sword-blow on a colossi’s vital spot, it also makes heavy use of one of my favorite storytelling tricks that’s only possible in games. In linear media, you have the “Chekhov effect” of knowing that the explicitly-referenced gun on the mantelpiece must go off later. But games can introduce plot elements without bringing your attention to them at all, leading to exquisitely eerie moments. The sinking feeling you get when you realize what those points of light in the distance represent, or when you count just how many doves are clustered around the altar, is all the more powerful due to the quiet, unobtrusive way those elements of the mystery are worked into the game. - I started the year thinking the DS would be a ridiculous paperweight representing Nintendo’s fatal misstep, and ended it with the plucky little thing becoming one of my favorite platforms. To pick just one of the system’s sterling games: I love Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney for its humor and great script, but I love it more for its bringing back the beloved point-and-click adventure game to a new format. - Double Fine’s debut project Psychonauts, that most excellent game, had such a hold on me that I played it start to finish twice in the same month, and then spent two more months thinking about little else as I embarked on a harebrained scheme to produce glorified fanfiction. Luckily for us all, I failed, and super double lucky for us all, the game exists and is still available on store shelves for prices way, way less than it ought to be commanding." Anyone else interested in answering this question should use the official Question Of The Week page until January 2, 2006. Respondents should ideally keep their answers under 500 words.