GS.com GOTY Overall Xbox360 PS3 PS2 PSP Wii NDS PC Genre Awards Special Awards Wii Game of the Year: Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros Treasure If you would have predicted that in 2007, the best use of the Wii's motion controls would come from a 3rd party game, you probably would have been laughed at. If you went even further to predict that the same game would revolve around a pirate boy and his amazing shape shifting, flying monkey, you would have ended up in the nut house. That's exactly what happened though, as Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros Treasure provided an incredibly fun and fiendishly clever puzzle experience, all hinging on dead-on motion controls and a full realization of Nintendo's vision for their little white box. Controls aren't everything though and Zack and Wiki has plenty of other tangibles to put above the other Wii releases of the year. Environments are bright and colorful with plenty of visual style. The characters are an odd, endearing mix and the puzzles, oh, the puzzles. You haven't seen puzzles this clever since you searched for the right word to type in Zork. The ability to ring Wiki and transform enemies into useful objects, and then back again, is a simple mechanic, but is used to such great effect in providing an incredible amount of puzzle devilry. Just when you think you've got a handle on a puzzle, the next one challenges you even further, but not to the point of frustration, only to the point of dogged determination. With so many third party efforts showing nothing but an interest on cashing in on the Wii's popularity, finding a 3rd party game that not only provides a fun, well designed, new experience, but breathes life into an old genre at the same time is like unearthing a chest full of pirate booty. Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros Treasure is not only one of the best adventure games in recent memory, but the best offering on the Nintendo Wii this year. - Brandon Cackowski-Schnell GameShark.com Review Runner-Up: Super Mario Galaxy It's been a while since we've seen a true Mario adventure, and boy was this game worth the wait. Super Mario Galaxy turned everything we know about the Super Mario universe upside-down - literally! Although the game mechanics haven't changed much; the locale has changed to a very creative world where you're running literally "around" planets. This game truly is a unique experience and really takes advantage of the Wii-mote. Graphically it's probably one of the best games we've seen on the console to date. Old time Mario fans as well as novices will definitely find something to enjoy in this Wii runner up. - Dan Clarke GameShark.com Review Runner-Up: MLB Power Pros Who's made the best baseball game of 2007? Sony? 2K Games? EA Sports? Nope, it's Konami and for the longest time you couldn't even play their games because they were based on the Japanese leagues and intended only for the Japanese market. MLB Power Pros was distributed by 2K here in the US but unfortunately not many people noticed. Released at the end of the season (rather than the beginning) and with box art geared to kids, it's no wonder the game didn't sell as well as it should have. This game is an action stat-lovers dream and one of the best baseball games of the year on any platform if you can get over the big head cartoony graphics. Some hiccups do exist from the Japanese to English translations and the rosters could have been updated better, but you still won't find a more enjoyable baseball game than MLB Power Pros for the Wii. You'll love it (and in some cases hate it) for its RPG elements which include passing college tests and dating. What other baseball game will give you a dating sim mini game? - Dan Clarke GameShark.com Review