Best Games of 2006
Ranked by our critic's grades, best first.
Wii SportsFive minigames that put a controller in more hands than any game before or since.Read the review
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight PrincessThe best dungeon design in the series, inside the most conventional Zelda ever made.
BullyRockstar at its warmest, which turns out to be its best register: a boarding school sandbox with real affection for its horrible little cast.
Final Fantasy XIIYou program the party and watch it fight, and the political drama around it is the most adult story the series has told.
OkamiThe most beautiful game on the PlayStation 2, and the one that talks the most.
Gears of WarOne cover button, one chainsaw, and a decade of third-person shooters that followed the template.
The Elder Scrolls IV: OblivionA landmark held together by its detours, with a main quest that pastes the same orange quarry across forty hours.
Guitar Hero IIHarmonix adds a third note to the chords and turns a novelty controller into a real instrument you cannot actually play.
Call of Duty 3Treyarch's first swing at the series arrives a year too soon and shows every hour it did not get.
Resistance: Fall of ManA launch shooter with better guns than it had a world, and a forty player online mode that was quietly ahead of its time.