BOP's newest Calvin award goes just a bit outside our normal area of expertise. We noticed that we recommend videogames frequently in our Shiny Things columns, and that we are also asking you, the readers, to name your favorite games for the Reader Awards. So, we should probably come clean on the games that eat up the most of our free time when we should be writing.

How great a game is Resident Evil 4? Many of the columnists on staff expected this category to be a runaway. Ever since the GameCube release of Leon Kennedy's misadventures abroad, it had been a foregone conclusion that RE4 would win. We were shameless in our praise of it in a Shiny Things synopsis early last year. When the PS2 version was released with more features and the ability to play as Leon's nemesis/crush, Ada Wong, the vote became a no-brainer.

As most major videogame web sites have acknowledged, Resident Evil 4 is far and away the best game of the year. Arguments have been made that it is the best game ever, and this writer is inclined to agree. Never has a game done such a sublime job of drawing the player into the world immediately and keeping their focus in it throughout the immersive game experience. The first area finds an encounter with one enemy followed almost immediately by three. Before the player can catch their breath, they are thrust in the middle of a section where 20 villagers quite literally attack with torches and pitchforks. And a chainsaw. The first time a Resident Evil 4 player fails to target the humanoid with the chainsaw, they are in for a true shocker. Amazingly enough, all of this occurs in the first hour of the game. I haven't even touched on the troll, the swamp thing, knife-wielding maniac Krauser or the incomparable Robo-Salazar.

Prior Resident Evil games were rightfully criticized for their lack of action and infrequent boss fights. Capcom finally listened to their customers and offered up a game that took those aspects to their logical extremes. Resident Evil 4 is nothing but firefights, with the next big boss battle never more than 20 minutes away. The player has two things to rely upon: ammo and reflexes. If they are clever, though, they will make friends with a cowl-clad stranger with a cheery disposition and a weapons artillery that would make the Pentagon envious.

Simply put, if you own a GameCube or PS2 and have not played Resident Evil 4, you have not gotten your money's worth out of your console. There are few must-play videogames in the current generation, and the list of those starts with Resident Evil 4.

The videogame that almost upset Resident Evil 4 for game of the year is Guitar Hero. Our second place finisher is exactly what the title implies. For $79.99, a customer gets a PS2 game and a controller that looks just like a guitar. A few training sessions instruct the would-be Keith Richards in how to make his instrument sound like a real guitar player's. The early levels of the game contain an easy learning curve wherein the fledgling Guitar Hero may perform a reasonable facsimile of Thunderkiss '65, More Than a Feeling and Smoke on the Water. In no time, you'll be doing your best Beavis and Butthead da-da-da da-da dada as you wail on the Deep Purple. Then, the game gets hard as you are challenged to improve your technique, master harder skills, and become a much more efficient ax-man extraordinaire. The process is a blast and it's one of the best party-oriented games ever. In fact, you can even buy a second guitar and jam with a friend if so inclined. Whether players would be able to leverage this newfound skill into being able to play a real guitar is debatable, but even if you can't, you will still have a blast playing the song on the PS2 and making the fake crowds roar. Guitar Hero is easily the most inventive videogame of 2005.

Perhaps the title is self-fulfilling prophecy, but We Love Katamari earns third place in our vote. Those of you unfamiliar with the concept are never going to understand it from my description, but here goes. Your father is King of All Cosmos. He's a weird dude with the fashion sense of Liberace and the wit of a drunken Monty Python fan. As the son of deity, you have a special power. You can move a super-absorbent ball around by pushing it. That's it. That's your talent. Apollo got wings, Aphrodite got beauty and you get a magnetic nerf ball. Clearly, you're not daddy's favorite. Anyway, this spherical flypaper allows you to run over things and increase the size of your ball. You start by acquiring tiny objects like tacks and candy then move up to humans and trees and eventually yachts and sports stadiums. The premise is...unique. But the play is the thing as they say. And We Love Katamari plays like a throwback to the era of Galaga and Ms. Pac-man. It's a game where beating a level in the given time frame feels like cause for celebration. Additionally, there are fewer thrills in videogame-dom than the first time you mow down a neighbor and see them twitching spasmodically in your Big Ball of Elephant Glue Doom. The Katamari world is not for all gamers, but everyone should at least rent it once to see if it might be for them. Better yet, just buy it. The darn thing only costs $30.

What do we love? Pain! Lloyd Dobler saw the future of videogaming, and he accurately predicted the existence of our fourth place entry, God of War. Its antihero, Kratos, is a bitter, forcefully retired Spartan warrior. Even by that militant bunch's lofty standards, this dude is angry and violent. He must have had some cosmetic surgery done at some point, because he has these Blades of Chaos that come shooting out of nowhere. Their purpose is to slaughter the guilty and increase the amount of carnage in a highly centralized area. It's this violence that makes God of War special. The first time a player delivers a multi-hit combo which shreds a few limbs and ends with a body spike, it's a religious moment. God of War earns the fourth spot in our list of the Best Videogames of the year due to its celebration of wreaking havoc. When a player mashes buttons, they want to be rewarded for their actions. No game in recent memory has understood this better than God of War. Combos are orgiastic experiences. And we look forward to the inevitable face-off between Kratos and the King of All Cosmos's kid. Whips or a sticky ball? These are the types of decisions that drive the kinky Wachowski brother crazy.

Anyone who played Animal Crossing on the Nintendo GameCube understands how completely addicting the game is. So, when Nintendo made the wise move of making the game portable with an updated release on the Nintendo DS, many people who had fond memories of the crack-like game were natural targets. After all, what other videogame allows you to make little animal friends, build your home, fish for such rarities as the colecanth, catch butterflies, dig for fossils, and develop a distinct fashion sense? What makes Animal Crossing for the DS particularly fun is that in this iteration of the game, wireless play is an option. It's as simple as hooking up your DS to a wireless network and then finding people who either want to visit your town or who will allow you to visit their little suburb. Possibly the most amusing part about the whole thing is seeing people enter the gates of your city in their crazy clothes. You'll see geishas, army-looking types with camouflage and gas masks, King Tuts and Steve Irwins. While they're in your town, your guests can gather fruit from your trees (every city has only one of four fruits as its main type) and shop at your local supermarket (which in turn allows your store to grow in size). It's loads of fun and impossible to put down.

Taking the sixth spot is Dragon Quest VIII, an adorable and engaging RPG from Square Enix, the same people who are responsible for the Final Fantasy Series. While Dragon Quest VIII isn't perhaps as beautiful and awe-inspiring as the Final Fantasy games, it is incredibly, almost painfully cute. In fact, even the bad things are cute. When random battles crop up (and they do frequently), you'll be fighting "enemies" like kitty cats (though they're mean kitty cats) and smiling bells who might put you in mind of a character from Beauty and the Beast. The voice work is marvelous, though none of the actors are particularly well-known names. There is much to do in the world of Dragon Quest VIII, and big fans of the RPG genre will find themselves immersed with plenty to do, including immediate quests and side ventures. As for music and sound, the game is absolutely delightful and completely on a par with what one would expect from Square Enix. Since 2005 was a year where no truly new Final Fantasy games were released (though as you'll see in a moment, there was a noteworthy port to a new system), Dragon Quest VIII was able to fill that void nicely and stands out as one of the best games of the genre in some time.

Everything old is new again. That's been the mantra of Nintendo for a while as they utilize the ever-improving hardware of the Game Boy to re-release titles from the NES and SNES. This year's hallmark achievement was in translating one of the best Super Nintendo titles ever, Final Fantasy IV Advance, to the GBA. Even more impressively, they don't just stop at a pitch perfect portable adaptation. They even throw in some new content such as additional dungeons and improved graphics. This title was the first Final Fantasy game developed for the 16 bit console generation, so it holds a special place in the hearts of many gamers. That happens to hit the sweet spot of a lot of the BOP staff, helping Final Fantasy IV Advance secure a tie for sixth place in our vote.

The rest of our top ten shows how eclectic the group is. Another tie for sixth place is claimed by Call of Duty 2, the latest military first person shooter from Activision. This WWII title allows players to recreate any of four different story modes are play them all in succession. This title is all about realistic action, placing it in direct opposition to our ninth place selection, Civilization IV. As the name implies, it's the latest Sid Meier civilization-building sim. The first three entries in the series sold roughly six million copies, demonstrating the appeal of the concept. The fourth entry follows their lead but with deeper, more robust functionality. Also, your would-be settlers run the risk of getting mauled by bears. Apparently, it's beyond embarrassing to see civilization undone by bears. Obviously, Civ IV is not created by Philip Pullman fans.

Finally, just to show we're fans of all styles of gameplay, tenth place is a tie between the Xbox 360 franchise title Perfect Dark Zero and the PSP release, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. Perfect Dark Zero has been skewered for its single-player mode, which features some of the worst-conceived storyline since the original Resident Evil on the PS1. We don't care, though, because the multi-player rocks. We just grab our buddies and frag each other's brains out. GTA: Liberty City is exactly the sort of game that Jack Thompson blames for the breakdown of society, except it's smaller and more portable. Take a copy to Jack's house and play it right in front of him!

Videogames that just missed making the top ten are Madden 2006, Soul Calibur III, Ridge Racer PSP, Kameo: Elements of Power, Project Gotham Racing 3 and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. (David Mumpower/BOP)

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