Top 10 Video Games of 2006 Revised

After careful consideration and a revisit to all of the games that should be considered the best of '06, I've come to the conclusion that my original list of the top ten games of 2006 are in desperate need of reevaluation. A healthy discussion with other gamers and certain content producers along with going back and playing numerous games have led to me to more or less axe a third of what my list originally was.

The games that are not being removed from the list are as follows: Gears of War, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Final Fantasy XII, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Kingdom Hearts II, and New Super Mario Bros. These new titles, even after heavy evaluation all deserve to be considered within the top ten of 2006, while Metroid Prime: Hunters, Hitman: Blood Money, Splinter Cell: Double Agent and Madden NFL 2007 were all surpassed by other games.

The following four games are more deserving of Top 10 Honors:

Okami
The most unique visual style, innovative game play, and perhaps the best storytelling every done in a video game, there is nothing left to say about Okami that hasn't already been said. While all other titles will be duplicated or have sequels to reiterate their greatness, we will never see another game quite like Okami. As sad as that may be, it is impossible to ignore Okami as one of the greatest games of the past five years, if not in all of gaming history. It is almost blasphemy that this title was originally left off of my Top 10 and so here it is a huge competitor for game of the year no matter what the publication.
Platform: PlayStation 2