Top 10 Games of 2008

what's on your list??

sorry to not start this thread with my own pre-compiled, haha. i just realized i have no idea what came out this year. and YES obv there is a lot more to come. but let's get le ball rolling!

1. Pure
2. Civilization: Revolution
3. GTA4

I mostly play older games b/c I can get them cheaper, so this is as deep as I can get into 2008. But Pure is absolutely incredible.

1. Wipeout HD

others TBD

Megaman 9
Castle Crashers
GTA IV
Braid
FIFA 09
Rock Band 2
Soul Calibur 4
Geometry Wars 2
Little Big Planet

Not actually having a current generation console or a PC with enough horsepower means that I'm probably not eligable to post in this thread, but these caught my eye: Little Big Planet, Wipeout HD, Castle Crashers.

I started thinking about this recently and am somewhat stumped. Been a LOT of good stuff this year. I think N+ will be #1, though.

SC4, yes! I just bought Yoda ^_^

I gotta wait for Fallout 3 to come out, but so far:

GTA IV
Soul Caliber IV
Braid
Fairway Solitaire
On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness
PackRat

Hrm. It's kinda embarrassing how few games I've played. Hopefully the next few months will remedy that.

and by "a lot of good stuff this year" i CLEARLY mean a lot of good old stuff got re-released/updated this year. n is pre-2008 flash game, and also in my top 10 maybe is rez hd, which is just an hd update of an old game :/

I mostly play older games b/c I can get them cheaper, so this is as deep as I can get into 2008. But Pure is absolutely incredible.

― Euler, Friday, October 24, 2008 6:24 PM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

pure, eh? the demo was really fun. you're telling me the whole thing holds up?

1. cod 4: goty edn (totally cheating here, but I've put 16 days of my life into this game this year so it would be a bit silly to leave it off; the most balanced and addictive FPS I've ever played: fast, meaty, fun)

2. braid (notwithstanding all the silly rhetoric and posturing [on behalf of the press, forums, & jon blow] this game was great; really freshened up puzzle and platforming games for me)

3. FIFA 09 (I was brought up on football games; first off was ISS on the snes which I played to death with my big cousin, then onto an x-copied vn of swos on the amiga which me and my best friend burned out 5 copies of; most recently instead of completing my dissertation to any standard I ploughed hours into PES4 with my final year flatmates. I must've played 80-90% of all football games released in the UK, and a fair portion of japanese ones. I don't say this lightly then and it may just be topical joie de vivre - this is the best football game I have ever played. it is incredibly realistic, there's little that can be done on a football field that can't be done in this game, the ball weight is perfect, the animation is impeccable. srsly I can't praise it enough)

4. mother 3 (english translation) (obv)

5. REZ HD

man, so many games I've missed out... advance wars 2 ds, saints row 2, swos xbla, GRID, etc

Pure is so beautiful to play, and the customization of your bike-thing turns out to be fun: as you win races you can get new parts. So it has that Forza-like aspect to it (your bike starts as a class D, but you continue to upgrade it). And there are multiple upgrade paths: do you want a bike with better tricks but worse handling? or better acceleration? and so on. The AI is surprisingly decent, and the multi works great too. I've been pulling out races at the last second, and it's such a rush. I have a special thing for this sort of crazy racer: from Hydro Thunder to SSX to Burnout to this. But each track has a bunch of different paths; and you can do full races or mini races, called sprints, that are much shorter. And the engine is so gorgeous...

too soon

so far GTA4, Madden, Dead Space, Wipeout HD and Civ Rev in some order. there are a couple more releases i am hoping will at least impinge on those.

for the top 5 that is.

Okay so i fucked around with my nerdy xls and uh i realized i have playhed a LOT of different games this year. i managed to tag about 40 games, 25 of which i had played (and 15 of which i intend to play before the year is through). that's not even counting games i played and didn't care ot include (there were many) or games i played that didn't come out in 2008 (also many). i think my top 10 as of right now is...

N+
Ikaruga
Rez HD
The World Ends With You
Space Invaders Extreme
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
Braid
NHL 09

...the top 3 are basically "enhanced" ports. LAME.

"the world ends with you" was intense; I only played it for like an hour but trying to juggle the fighting on the top and bottom screens was quite a labour! might give that another run after fallout 3's done

I personally really, really enjoyed it. Basically, once you get good pins that allow you to absently paw at the bottom screen you can really excel in paying att'n to both at once.

strictly PS3 games below - sorry old PC - can't keep up with all the Vid requirements and can't abide by DMCA/DRM and crap installed (though I'd love some good linux game suggestions for Pentium M class Dell Craptop running OpenSuse 11)

* - GRID - this game rules for just plain fun racing action - I absolutely love it - I have a hard time deciding to play online or the many racing league challenges
* - PixelJunk Eden - please rename to Crack
* - GTA IV - The PS3 is my first modern game console and after playing the GTA series on friends xboxes and ps2s, this did not disappoint - killing pidgeons and running from the law and stealing cars is so frikkin' fun - what a big city! I find myself walking outside and thinking of game textures and subconsciously placing the game in Chicago
* - MLB 08 - The Show - great pitching, batting mechanics and fun to play with others
* - Dead Space - I just picked this up at lunch today and I can tell it may knock GRID outta my most played spot.
* - Pre-ordered copy of LittleBigPlanet on same lunch trip - I'm going to have to move some sleeping time for this one - the youtube vids I'm seeing are blowing me away.
* - WipeOut HD - exhausting but fun

Not new to 08, but new to me and got plenty of play - Super Stardust HD (my wife's Crack), Ratchet and Clank Tools of Destruction, The Simpsons Game, High Velocity Bowling, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Fight Night Round 3, Virtua Tennis, Echochrome, Orange Box, PAIN, Piyotoma, PixelJunk Monsters

I need some two+ player action suggestions for PS3 - Kung Fu Panda might fit the bill, or maybe BUZZ

I never play any games the year they come out.

I'll get mine up soon, i'm still recovering from my mind being blown from just being reminded that GTAIV was only released this year.

okay so far i'm thinking :

GRID, GTAiv, WipeoutHD, at a push Dead Space perhaps.

Struggling to think of any more.

i didn't play any games this year :(

non at all, or just games released this year ?

too soon

― Jeff LeVine, Friday, October 24, 2008 2:26 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

yup, way too much drops these last 3 months.

ps I fully expect WotLK to be in my top games list

Yeah, there are plenty of games that might climb up my top 10 there (which, disgustingly, is only the top of a top 26-so-far)

I regret leaving El Emigrante off my list, but then again, not sure if it's 2008:

http://www.transience.com.au/el/elgameo.html

non at all, or just games released this year ?

― Ant Attack |=| (Ste), Friday, October 24, 2008 4:15 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the latter. these are all the gaming experiences i can remember this year:

-wake up at friend's house, play resident evil 4 on hard for awhile (don't get past the second stage)
-get high and watch same friend play super monkey ball for awhile
-lots of drunk Rock Band a+
-a few games of ROM Check Fail and Tower Defense
-find some SNES games on the sidewalk, play Donkey Kong Country and F-Zero for a few days
-get a flash card for my DS, mess around with downloading ROMs, play Base Wars and Contra for a few days, get frustrated/bored

Seems a little early for this topic, doesn't it? I'll be curious to hear everyone's picks in January, though.

One sleeper pick for me is Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! It's this really neat pack of minigames set in a 1920s boarding school. It's very Dorothy Parker'esque.

That actually sounds like the worst game ever.

Might be. Give the demo a try.

hahahah

I can't get the demo to download. :/

Try using this page to download the demos:
http://jayisgames.com/archives/2008/07/dangerous_high_school_girls_in_trouble.php

(This is the website I first found out about the game from.)

2008 games I've played:
Metal Gear Solid 4
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
The World Ends With You
Wipeout HD
Mega Man 9
Linger in Shadows
Sam & Max Season 2
DROD RPG

I played TWEWY the most, but I dislike the Gantz-ish horror plot. I'm going with Sam & Max as my #1.

whats up wiht linger in shadows, worth a peek?

It's really weird. I've only played it once but I feel it was worth the $3.

01 Braid
02 Civilzation Revolution
03 Dokapon Kingdom
04 Drone Tactics
05 Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard
06 Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
07 Soulcaliber IV
08 Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2
09 The World Ends With You
10 Ys II

this has been a disappointing year so far. three and ten are kind of a cheat. also haven't played dead space yet will probably get it as soon as i finish twilight princess plus white knight chronicles among others are coming out later this year. still, pretty blah overall.

why don't I have a DS

haha ive been trying to talk myself out of buying a PS3 knowing i will be a poor student in like nine months but surely you can rationalize a DS

I really want to get a DS too - if just for The World Ends for You. But I can't justify buying Fallout 3 AND a DS. If for whatever reason Fallout 3 ends up getting trashed in the reviews, maybe I'll skip it for the DS.

I think the only games from 08 I've played are xbox live games, of those geometry wars 2 was teh best.

err live arcade obv

I really did not dig The World Ends With You. The art direction, storyline, armor system, were all just immensely unappealing to me. The combat is a mess too. Try as I might to maintain some sort of order and finesse, it always devolves into mindlessly scratching the screen and banging on the directional pad. Bleh.

Not to mention that I really want to get Fables II, too. And I can really only afford 1 thing right now.

A DS is totally worth it! I'm not sure the DSi will be worth waiting 6 months+ for. But of course you will also spend money on the many great games there are for the system (or you can always R4, I guess).

Fallout 3 may or may not be good, but like most AAA titles on the PC it will probably drop to $20 within 6 months, if you can wait.

R4 saved my life

explain R4?

http://www.gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=41279

free ds games only cost YOUR SOUL

Wow. Is this R4 thing easy to do?

I'm seriously amazed it hasn't destroyed the DS, Dreamcast-style (let alone the system blossoming and being wildly successful). This article on Korea is pretty interesting, and of course many many people everywhere else have figured it out by now. Despite Nintendo doing a crackdown earlier this year it's still pretty available - prices just went up a tad. I still intend to eventually get one (for homebrew, honestly!), but never got around to it.

I can't figure out where to buy one! :/

One sleeper pick for me is Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! It's this really neat pack of minigames set in a 1920s boarding school. It's very Dorothy Parker'esque.

I actually really enjoyed this, although I didn't play past the demo.

I don't think there's any way I could vote against Bionic Commando Rearmed without destroying the video-game world-view I've built up for myself over the last two decades.

still, LittleBigPlanet is pretty damn awesome.

XP I don't lead my friends astray!

Mordy:
http://www.nxpgame.com/r4ds-r4-ds.html?gclid=COXV2s-MyJYCFQ0xawod82c5yw

oh wow. cheap too. if i already had a DS, i'd pick that up in a heartbeat.

Dead Space may sneak into my top ten; Fable II probably will not; have yet to play Mirror's Edge, Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead still to be tried.

need to add fallout 3 to my list but seriously fuck an xbox with this glitch shit. keep wanting to take the disc out and blow on it.

lol, i think i said the same thing on my couch two days ago.
Let me tell you that the r4 is all that and a bag of chips.

1. fallout 3
2. left 4 dead
3. braid
4. FIFA 09
5. cod 4: goty edn

new york times list:

fallout 3
de blob
the world ends with you
littlebigplanet
mirror's edge
spore
gta IV
god of war: some bullshit
advance wars: days of ruin
the experiment

also i think that list sux

i keep having trouble getting past 4 ;_;

At least 40% of that Times list is totally acceptable.

It won't make mine, but glad to see de Blob continue to get press. That's a really good game.

seeing De Blob keep showing up on lists has definitely put the game on my radar - I was always ignoring it because the name, I think. I even watched a video review of it yesterday, but I'm still a little undecided. So it's actually fun?

for about twenty minutes

i owned de blob for 2 months now. still haven't tried it.

Yeah, I like de Blob. It's fun, weird, genuinely funny in parts, but also pretty repetitive. It could really use some in-level save-points; you have to complete a level to save, and even at the minimum percentage that can take a good half-hour or more. It's like a less inscrutable and addictive Katamari, but still enjoyable.

1. Fallout 3
2. Burnout Paradise
3. Pure
4. GTA iv
5. UH

GTA4
Dead Space
Fallout 3
Valkyria Chronicles
Madden 09
PES 09
Wipeout HD
Civ: Rev
MGS4
Buzz Quiz TV

feel like i have to include Buzz somewhere as it continues to bring much joy. i've gotta pick something up for December tho so it might get bumped all the same.

dead space rapidly moving into spot 4 for me

I've got a much better idea of what my list is gonna be, but I still need to play Fables 2. I'll probably make the list next week.

Additions to my original list:

Left 4 Dead
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Mario Kart Wii

oh, and Fable 2.

moar games I've played:

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia was great fun. 9/10
Pixeljunk Eden -- so great looking and yet such annoying gameplay choices -- if they made the timer optional it would be a great game. 6/10
Space Invaders Extreme -- I got stuck early on and stopped playing.
Street Fighter ST HD - has the most promise but I haven't played it much yet. also, i kind of suck at it.

if they made the timer optional there would be no challenge!

lists coming out now

edge

27. Fallout 3

#27!

surprised it even charted that high for them, they hated on it in their review & scored it a 7.

27. Fallout 3

#27!

― Your heartbeat soun like sasquatch feet (polyphonic), Tuesday, December 16, 2008 5:59 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

hahaha one place below Tales of Vesperia O_O

lol they DID make the timer optional

27 not that surprising: though I've not played it yet, nothing about Fallout 3 that I've heard here or elsewhere makes me think of it as anything other than "Fallout crossed with Oblivion". Which I'm sure is a fine game, but Edge has always rated stuff that does something completely new, even if it's a little shaky. Hence big love for Fables II, Braid, LBP. Or the same old stuff if it's immaculately put together: GTAIV, Gears II. The review of the latter has really made me think "Wow, I must play this then, clearly my impressions of it are way off".

Also 3 1/3 of the games out of the top 5 being on a Microsoft console - this must be a record?

"Fallout crossed with Oblivion"

This is not true! I don't know how you can say that everything you've heard here makes you think that. The discussion on the Fallout thread makes the precisely opposite argument.

What is 'precisely the opposite argument' here? I'm actually not certain what you're saying. What I meant by my shorthand was that it had the plot structure (and lack-of-structure) of Fallout games and obviously the 3D look of Oblivion (also, its lousy voice acting, repeating locations). I'm just using Oblivion for the obvious reason, you can replace that with "Fallout made 3D and that's it" if you want.

I guess what I mean is that my complaint with Oblivion was that it wasn't thematically rich, the plot was fairly cliched, and after doing some of the side quests, I never even bothered to finish the game. Fallout 3, on the other hand, was the opposite in all these areas. Yes, they look similarly, but only as much as any game built on the Unreal engine looks similar. Aesthetically they are very different.

Listing Fallout 3 as 27th best game of the year is kind of laughably bullshit. Are they trying to prove a point? They don't honestly believe the new Tomb Raider's a superior game, right? Championing sequels that essentially just juiced up the graphics of their predecessors adding little to gameplay instead of a sequel that's actually kind of new and interesting and ambitious is not aligning with their supposed "we rate games that are new and interesting and ambitious" MO.

"Fallout 3 = Oblivion With Guns" is cheap and lazy. Shitty reason to write a game off.

maybe i am being a retard but i couldn't find an all-platform 2008 ranked list on metacritic, so i have hastily compiled one. i have willfully bundled cross-platform releases together, and i'm not sure about the 2008-ness of some of these games, but here it is anyway:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV (X360/PS3/PC)
2. LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
3. BioShock (PS3)
4. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
5. Braid (X360)
6. Chrono Trigger (DS)
7. Fallout 3 (X360/PC/PS3)
8. Gears of War 2 (X360)
9. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
10. World of Goo (Wii/PC)
11. Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor (PC)
12. Rock Band 2 (X360/PS3)
13. God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)
14. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (PC)
15. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (X360)
16. MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade (Wii)
17. Okami (Wii)
18. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (X360/PS3)
19. Dead Space (X360/PS3/PC)
20. Fable II (X360)
21. Left 4 Dead (PC/X360)
22. Mass Effect (PC)
23. NHL 09 (X360/PS3)
24. Portal: Still Alive (X360)
25. Rez HD (X360)
26. World Ends With You, The (DS)
27. Burnout Paradise (A)
28. Ikaruga (X360)
29. Sins of a Solar Empire (PC)
30. Bionic Commando Rearmed (PS3/PC/X360)
31. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
32. FIFA Soccer 09 (X360/PS3/PC/DS/PSP)
33. GRID (PC/X360/PS3/DS)
34. Resistance 2 (PS3)
35. Tetris Party (Wii)
36. WipEout HD (PS3)
37. Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (DS)
38. Bomberman Blast (Wii)
39. Far Cry 2 (PC/X360/PS3)
40. Guitar Hero World Tour (Wii/X360/PS3)
41. Patapon (PSP)
42. Prince of Persia (PS3/PC/X360)
43. Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
44. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)
45. Witcher: Enhanced Edition, The (PC)
46. Art Style: ORBIENT (Wii)
47. AudioSurf (PC)
48. Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3/X360)
49. Boom Blox (Wii)
50. Call of Duty: World at War (X360/PS3/PC/Wii/DS)
51. Civilization Revolution (PS3/X360/DS)
52. Final Fantasy IV (DS)
53. Madden NFL 09 (A)
54. MLB 08: The Show (PS3/PSP)
55. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)
56. Pure (X360/PC/PS3)
57. Sam & Max Season Two (PC)
58. Soulcalibur IV (X360/PS3)
59. Space Invaders Extreme (DS/PSP)
60. Crysis Warhead (PC)
61. Devil May Cry 4 (X360/PS3/PC)
62. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS)
63. Football Manager 2009 (PC)
64. KORG DS-10 Synthesizer (DS)
65. LocoRoco 2 (PSP)
66. Mega Man 9 (Wii/X360/PS3)
67. Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy (PC)
68. NBA 2K9 (X360/PS3)
69. Spore (PC)
70. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (X360/PS3)
71. TrackMania United Forever (PC)
72. Bangai-O Spirits (DS)
73. Bleach: Dark Souls (DS)
74. Bully: Scholarship Edition (Wii/X360)
75. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP)
76. N+ (X360/DS/PSP)
77. NCAA Football 09 (X360/PS3)
78. Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (DS)
79. No More Heroes (Wii)
80. PixelJunk Monsters (PS3)
81. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization (PC)
82. Spore Creature Creator (PC)
83. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People (PC/Wii)
84. Trials 2: Second Edition (PC)
85. Castle Crashers (X360)
86. Condemned 2: Bloodshot (A)
87. Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard (DS)
88. GTR Evolution (PC)
89. Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 (PSP)
90. King's Bounty: The Legend (PC)
91. Madden NFL 09 All-Play (Wii)
92. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
93. Metal Gear Online (PS3)
94. Midnight Club: Los Angeles (PS3/X360/PSP)
95. Ninjatown (DS)
96. Out of the Park Baseball 9 (PC)
97. Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection (Wii)
98. SingStar (PS3)
99. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (X360)
100. Unreal Tournament 3 (X360)

if it says A it means PS3+360. i fucked something up.

OK, this was a terrible idea. revised version:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV (X360/PS3/PC)
2. LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
3. BioShock (PS3)
3. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
5. Braid (X360)
5. Chrono Trigger (DS)
5. Fallout 3 (X360/PC/PS3)
5. Gears of War 2 (X360)
5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
5. World of Goo (Wii/PC)
11. Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor (PC)
11. Rock Band 2 (X360/PS3)
13. God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)
13. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (PC)
15. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (X360)
15. MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade (Wii)
15. Okami (Wii)
15. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (X360/PS3)
19. Dead Space (X360/PS3/PC)
19. Fable II (X360)
19. Left 4 Dead (PC/X360)
19. Mass Effect (PC)
19. NHL 09 (X360/PS3)
19. Portal: Still Alive (X360)
19. Rez HD (X360)
19. World Ends With You, The (DS)
27. Burnout Paradise (PS3/X360)
27. Ikaruga (X360)
27. Sins of a Solar Empire (PC)
30. Bionic Commando Rearmed (PS3/PC/X360)
30. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
30. FIFA Soccer 09 (X360/PS3/PC/DS/PSP)
30. GRID (PC/X360/PS3/DS)
30. Resistance 2 (PS3)
30. Tetris Party (Wii)
30. WipEout HD (PS3)
37. Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (DS)
37. Bomberman Blast (Wii)
37. Far Cry 2 (PC/X360/PS3)
37. Guitar Hero World Tour (Wii/X360/PS3)
37. Patapon (PSP)
37. Prince of Persia (PS3/PC/X360)
37. Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
37. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)
37. Witcher: Enhanced Edition, The (PC)
46. Art Style: ORBIENT (Wii)
46. AudioSurf (PC)
46. Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3/X360)
46. Boom Blox (Wii)
46. Call of Duty: World at War (X360/PS3/PC/Wii/DS)
46. Civilization Revolution (PS3/X360/DS)
46. Final Fantasy IV (DS)
46. Madden NFL 09 (PS3/X360)
46. MLB 08: The Show (PS3/PSP)
46. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)
46. Pure (X360/PC/PS3)
46. Sam & Max Season Two (PC)
46. Soulcalibur IV (X360/PS3)
46. Space Invaders Extreme (DS/PSP)
60. Crysis Warhead (PC)
60. Devil May Cry 4 (X360/PS3/PC)
60. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS)
60. Football Manager 2009 (PC)
60. KORG DS-10 Synthesizer (DS)
60. LocoRoco 2 (PSP)
60. Mega Man 9 (Wii/X360/PS3)
60. Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy (PC)
60. NBA 2K9 (X360/PS3)
60. Spore (PC)
60. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (X360/PS3)
60. TrackMania United Forever (PC)
72. Bangai-O Spirits (DS)
72. Bleach: Dark Souls (DS)
72. Bully: Scholarship Edition (Wii/X360)
72. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP)
72. N+ (X360/DS/PSP)
72. NCAA Football 09 (X360/PS3)
72. Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (DS)
72. No More Heroes (Wii)
72. PixelJunk Monsters (PS3)
72. Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization (PC)
72. Spore Creature Creator (PC)
72. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People (PC/Wii)
72. Trials 2: Second Edition (PC)
85. Castle Crashers (X360)
85. Condemned 2: Bloodshot (PS3/X360)
85. Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard (DS)
85. GTR Evolution (PC)
85. Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 (PSP)
85. King's Bounty: The Legend (PC)
85. Madden NFL 09 All-Play (Wii)
85. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
85. Metal Gear Online (PS3)
85. Midnight Club: Los Angeles (PS3/X360/PSP)
85. Ninjatown (DS)
85. Out of the Park Baseball 9 (PC)
85. Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection (Wii)
85. SingStar (PS3)
85. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (X360)
85. Unreal Tournament 3 (X360)
85. Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise (DS)
85. Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (X360)
85. WipEout Pulse (PSP)

Which I'm sure is a fine game, but Edge has always rated stuff that does something completely new, even if it's a little shaky. Hence big love for Fables II, Braid, LBP. Or the same old stuff if it's immaculately put together: GTAIV, Gears II.

doesn't the second sentence completely contradict the first?

smash bros was 08? huh. it's been a long year.
and listen, i'm gonna be roundly mocked here, but wii fit is totally worth including in this list; it's at least as interesting and worthwhile as say, singstar... and i certainly enjoyed it more than spore this year.

i'd agree with that, drunken skiing & roll ball-around-maze thing was very fun. the only mistake they made was not having a feature where you could string some activities together in a menu, so you didn't have to go back to the menu every time.

Too many games - these are just the games from your metacritic list that I haven't played, but would like to. Maybe enough stuff already to last all of 2009

5. World of Goo (Wii/PC)
19. World Ends With You, The (DS)
27. Sins of a Solar Empire (PC)
37. Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (DS)
37. Prince of Persia (PS3/PC/X360)
37. Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
46. Civilization Revolution (PS3/X360/DS)
46. Final Fantasy IV (DS)
85. Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard (DS)
85. Ninjatown (DS)
85. Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection (Wii)
85. WipEout Pulse (PSP)

doesn't the second sentence completely contradict the first?

No, it's an either-or: Either it's a great new influential (or should-be-influential) idea, or it's a really coherent game that does everything it does well. I get the impression they'd have preferred Fallout 3 to have text-dialogue trees! But if you're going to have voice acting, make it GTA standard or go home. The stuff that they're criticising FO3 for is stuff that seems to be checkbox features, that the developers think "has to" be in the game, but they don't do any thing new or polished with it.

Mordy and circa: Okay, my bad, I know you know I didn't actually say "Oblivion with guns", but I know that those three words are what a lot of people were worried about. What I meant was that the things that it changed from Oblivion are the things (interesting plot/themes/sidequests) that Fallout has generally done well, and so you'd expect a best-of-breed, and you'd get it, but Edge's position is that you didn't get anything more than that, and some bits don't work.

I should add that I don't intend to use the Edge ratings as a buyers guide, I'm perfectly happy to sit down with some same-old same-old that they'd turn their noses up at, but I do like the fact that there's a magazine that values innovation in the medium rather than "will I enjoy this game?"

As far as I understand it, the new Tomb Raider has more contextual actions and better animation, which expands the amount of stuff it can do (because it's a running and jumping game). What my internal Edge reviewer would like to know is: Fallout is involving and deep and all that, fine. Is there anything in there that needed to be 3D?

Isn't Bioshock also Xbox?

Xbox Bioshock came out in 2007.

XXP And I understand that. I guess that I value narrative and theme in video games over novelty. The games I loved the most this year tended to be the ones with the best/most interesting narratives. Of course, there were some casual games that I loved, but even those tended to have interesting narratives. So that's why I don't understand any low ranking of Fallout 3, which is one of the most impressive narrative games I played this year. (Still forming my top 10 list. At the moment, it has one IF game, one casual game and four 360 games on it.)

yeah, novelty and innovation is A factor not THE factor. that Edge list makes me think i should never trust their opinion on anything.

Is there anything in there that needed to be 3D?

well, if we're talking game mechanic here, the combat changes pretty dramatically when you are using ranged weapons on a 3d instead of 2d space. so yes. also converting the available visual tile aspects of the original game to the perception radar bar doesn't get enough credit.

What do we feel about non-video games on this board? Not that I would place it on a list, but would DnD 4e be fair game? Or a board game? Or a Steven Jackson card game?

Spore Creature Creator was more of a demo... and it still was one of the games I enjoyed most this year!

Still, a demo fits the general category of video game. How about fantasy football? Or actual football? What if the best game you played this year was a company softball game?

"And the #1 game of the year is 'Playing with Myself'"

Fallout is involving and deep and all that, fine. Is there anything in there that needed to be 3D?

― Andrew Farrell, Wednesday, December 17, 2008 4:40 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what john said, but also... totally. there are plenty of moments when you're making your way thru a bombed-out apartment block--spotting enemies floors above through holes in the ceilings, etc. and a lot of that kind of architecture. and just that feeling of not knowing what's over the next hill and something crazy comes into view as you're cresting it... totally needs 3d to work

What is all this nonsense about fable 2 doing something new? What's new about it? It's a nice game, but I don't think its innovations are any more pronounced than GTA's innovations.

ok the fact that "no more heroes", a game i tried desperately to like more than i did got #9 on that list means that those dudes over at edge are over-reaching on this whole innovation thing.

also, if that is their aim WTF at no mention of Mirrors Edge?

yah its true that game innovated whole new world of sucking

Last Chance to Nominate: Best Video Games of 2008

Rolando wins my best of 2008 mobile game

eurogamer rundown has begun

pretty vanilla/boring so far but maybe that's just a testament to my total gaming saturation this year

need an overlooked/cult classics top 10 pls

funny tht they're repping for condemned 2 tho

i feel like my complete lack of utilizing the wii virtual console/xbox arcade has made my list really really dull.

no dead space, no valkyria chronicles, no world ends with you, world of goo in the top 10

i hate sites that makes me click through like 5 pages to read that much text. fucking eurogamer.

after having played a shitload of both rb2 and gh:wt over the last two weeks I think I agree with what eurogamer writes (esp. re. instruments), except for the relative ranking: rb2 is more fun b/c challenges + tour mode is better than the silly sets in gh:wt, plus the character is creation is better in rb2 (it was hard to get my gh:wt singer not to look like a mutant, though maybe I missed the point). Also I like the rb2 song list better but I guess that's a subjective thing.

i hate sites that makes me click through like 5 pages to read that much text. fucking eurogamer.

― Everyone is a Jedi (Will M.), Tuesday, December 30, 2008 9:51 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

QFT!!!!

For some reason GH:WT didn't even interest me at all, and I was a passionate GH advocate from the day it was released. I never even thought about buying it.

i hate sites that makes me click through like 5 pages to read that much text. fucking eurogamer.

esp when most of the comments are insider baseballery or backdoor brags about having a girlfriend

What's going to happen to nerd culture in like 20 years when they realize everyone games. Even people with <gasp!> significant others!

1. Ketsui Death Label
A bullet hell shmup boss run that works on the DS. A miniature miracle. Short, mini-levels that are completely fun, addicting, maddening.

2. Geometry Wars 2
The first game was one of my favorite games of all time & this one probably improves on it - keeping the same feel, but adding more content and variety.

3. N+
Puzzle platforming, simplified and perfected.

4. GTA IV
The open world Rockstar created is an amazing technical achievement & I've seen so much weird stuff just driving around the city.

5. Mario Kart Wii
Online mode that works perfectly, for the first time making the game endlessly fun even when friends aren't around.

6. Left 4 Dead
Best mutiplayer zombie killing game ever, and it's only going to get better in 2009. In Valve we trust.

7. Little Big Planet
Wonderful story mode, fun alone, great fun with friends. Beautiful art.

8. WipeOut HD
WipeOut racing perfected.

9. Pixel Junk Eden
Sublimely, beautiful game. A perfect marriage or art, music and gameplay.

10. Year of the remake... Rez HD / Ikaruga
If either of these games were really new, they would be number one.

60. Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy (PC)
60. Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy (PC)
60. Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy (PC)
60. Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy (PC)
60. Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy (PC)

nancy drew game is pretty dope imo

― delicate mouse tune, crash of cat chords (Lamp), Saturday, December 27, 2008 10:33 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark

not saying anything new here, but the frustrating thing about gaming lists is that you have to blow well over 1200 bucks just to have this gens full set of machines; most of us can only afford to justify, at best, two and more likely one. I'd love to try pixeljunk and wipeout hd and lbp, but it's onlikely that I will until after 2010.

That's the magic of a wide network of local geeks; lending consoles. When they make it so we can't do that the terrorists have won.

not saying anything new here, but the frustrating thing about gaming lists is that you have to blow well over 1200 bucks just to have this gens full set of machines; most of us can only afford to justify, at best, two and more likely one. I'd love to try pixeljunk and wipeout hd and lbp, but it's onlikely that I will until after 2010.

― plastic toy shark (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, December 31, 2008 5:26 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

well technically it's kinda the same for any best-of list, imagine how many albums you'd have to buy or download to make a truly comprehensive "BEST OF MUSIC" list for 2008!

S1OCKI IF YOU EVER WANNA HOOK UP A LOCAL PS3/360 TEMPORARY SWITCH YOU JUST LET ME KNOW AIGHT?

the great thing about being so deliberate and slow with my gameplaying is that i never run out of gamez - i probably wont get around to the current generation until, like, 2015

s1ocks, tru; but at least you COULD sample all that action on youtube/imeem etc. If I wanna testrun a PS3 for an hour or two, I either have to shoulder aside some teenagers at the local target/gamestop or have a friend that wants to show it off.

S1OCKI IF YOU EVER WANNA HOOK UP A LOCAL PS3/360 TEMPORARY SWITCH YOU JUST LET ME KNOW AIGHT?

― Everyone is a Jedi (Will M.), Wednesday, December 31, 2008 5:59 PM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

we should do this... or at least you can come over sometime and sample the wares

but ya, i would love to be able to play left 4 dead or fable 2 or GOW2 even.