The Bennett Cross
"... most conspicuous gameplay, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to entertainment in the presence of the enemy"
The Witcher
A game that might have been highly anticipated by the three people who knew it existed, The Witcher appeared to me out of nowhere and quickly established itself as my game of the year by a considerable margin.
Fast and furious swordplay that gets more impressive as you progress and which shits all over Oblivion's clumsy button-mashing, combined with some beautifully crafted narrative and characterisation. The gameplay might be more linear (in a very loose sense) than Oblivion but that only serves to deliver a richer, more rewarding storyline. And it's nice to play a game which isn't afraid to feature a well-defined, strong lead character rather than the anonymous everyman that's becoming increasingly common in games like Half-Life.
The characters are great, the voice acting mostly excellent, the graphics are excellent, the design is superb. There's lots of shagging, lots of swearing, and even bare breasts if you secure an uncensored, non-US version. What's not to like?
The Bennett Service Order
"... acts of the greatest gameplay or of the most conspicuous entertainment in circumstances of extreme danger"
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Having played the original CoD, and half of CoD2, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from the latest installment. That was until I got stuck into the full game which turned out to be much greater than the sum of it's parts. As the story kicked in I became remarkably immersed in the action, wanting to push on to help power our lads to victory against the filthy terrorist scum. The cutscenes are exceptionally cinematic, there are some typically big, loud firefights. There are some nice distractions like the airborne, night-vision section and the game is very pretty while still running impressively quickly. While not exactly coming out of nowhere, CoD4 was still a surprise hit of 2007.
The Bennett Medal
"... acts of gallantry and devotion to gameplay under fire"
Crysis
Sadly it has become fashionable to bash Crysis in the weeks since it's release, usually by people who feel "ripped off" because their PC can't run it at a million frames a second.
Admittedly the story is a let down, possibly worse than Far Cry's which is saying something. But the gameplay itself is very solid, and of course the graphics are staggering. It's a very good game, even if it could never live up to the absurd hype that has surrounded it for that last couple of years and even if you're too poor to be able to afford a PC that's capable of running it.
Honourable Mentions
Bioshock was beautifully-designed and essentially an underwater System Shock 2, but I haven't actually got around to completing it. Unreal Tournament 3 is basically a shiny UT for 2007 and is good for quick blast now and then. Portal was innovative and nice, even if it lacks longevity (for me at least). I still haven't got around to Half-Life 2: Episode 2, thanks to my ongoing Witcher fixation, but it's supposed to be the strongest episode yet. Gears of War was ok in a sort of one-dimensional console-y sort of way.
Dishonourable Mentions
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes was highly anticipated as the next-gen MMO but has so far failed to deliver despite it's enormous potential. You never know, it could miraculously become good, but it's nearly a year old and the game is still plagued by many of the same problems it has suffered since day one, not to mention crippled by one of the most infuriatingly smug and self-righteous communities of self-styled MMO veterans of any game in existence. A great shame.
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