Microsoft’s machine had a great year, overcoming the bad press from the RROD fiasco to continue to outsell the PS3, and seeing a whole slew of stellar titles. XBOX Live continued to be the leading online service, and the XBOX Live Arcade saw some great, affordable downloadable titles go toe-to-toe with the heavy hitters in terms of quality.
The runners-up
BRAID
One of the surprise packets of 2008, Jonathan Blow’s masterpiece featured ingenious time-manipulation mechanics, challenging puzzles, fantastic presentation, and possibly the greatest ending in any game ever. And paved the way for downloadable games on every platform holding their own against the big names in terms of quality and gamer praise.
FALLOUT 3
When Bethesda Softworks announced that they’d be taking over Interplay’s legendary Fallout franchise, the true faithful weren’t entirely convinced. They needn’t have worried — Fallout 3 emerged as a stellar role-playing experience for the hardcore, featuring a post-nuclear wasteland that was amazing to explore and live in, an engaging storyline, great combat and all the trademark Fallout regulars — such as Radiation, Brahmin, Bottle Caps, and Booze.
XBOX 360 Game of The Year
GRAND THEFT AUTO IV
Any game that has a character like Brucie Kibbutz deserves to win GOTY on that alone — but GTA IV went beyond any game before it. Here was a title that featured the most believable, consistent and engaging gameworld we’ve seen so far. GTA IV takes the proven GTA formula and raises it to another level altogether — this is the future of gaming, and we like what we see. And did we mention it has Brucie Kibbutz?
XBOX 360 Honourable mentions
Gears of War 2. Race Driver : GRID. Castle Crashers.
Fable 2.
XBOX 360 Everybody’s favourite little white box had an unusual year — featuring some big-name Nintendo licenses as well as a number of innovative third party titles. This is the year third-party developers really took to the Wii, rivalling Nintendo in the quality of games they delivered — no mean task. It continued to be the largest selling console.
The runners-up
SUPER SMASH BROS BRAWL
This is the ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ of the Nintendo universe.
Featuring every conceivable character, and then some, fighting out in an assortment of zany arenas using the usual Smash Bros arsenal of insane moves, Brawl was the top fighter of the year by some margin.
Watching Wario fart on Solid Snake and then run over him with his bike is counted as one of the greatest gaming moments ever.
WORLD OF GOO
World of Goo was another delightful example of an independent developer hitting the big-time with a top quality, original and imaginative game. 2D Boy delivered a mind-boggling physics-based puzzler featuring sticky goo-balls, balloons, spikes and all manner of challenges that are too bizarre to describe in a short paragraph.
The first truly must-have WiiWare download that isn’t a remake, World of Goo is a pointer to the kind of amazing games we can look forward to from smaller developers in the coming years.
Wii Game of The Year
BOOM BLOX
Whether he’s creating terrifying monsters, telling touching stories, or showing us how the Wiimote can be used to create an intuitive and addictive puzzle-based game for the Wii, Steven Spielberg is, to put it mildly, teh_pWnzor. Boom Blox is the best, most natural-feeling use of the Wiimote yet. As you throw balls at towers of stacked blocks, making them tumble this way and that, and rack up combos to score points, you’ll realise that this is what the Wiimote was invented for — games where the interface is so intuitive that it practically disappears, leaving just you and the game. Plus, Boom Blox is not only about technology — it’s addictive, charming and challenging, and great fun to play with friends and family. And, importantly, it wouldn’t be possible on any other console.
Wii Honourable mentions
Mario Kart Wii, No More Heroes, Warioland : Shake It, Wii The PC is still the platform for strategy games, and we did see some pretty good ones come out in 2008.
There was quite a bit of action on the MMO front as well, with the release of the much awaited expansion pack to World of Warcraft, appropriately titled ‘Wrath of the Lich King’. We also saw the best games come out only towards the end of the year. So, a considerable amount of shuffling had to take place very late in order for us to come up with our final list.
The runners-up
LEFT 4 DEAD L4D
is not a platform exclusive (there’s an Xbox360 version as well), but it is best played on the PC. The game can be downloaded directly from Valve Software’s brilliant content delivery system, Steam, which we think is the Xbox Live equivalent for the PC, being far superior to Games For Windows. L4D provides the only complete co-operative multiplayer experience on the PC, thanks to its strong emphasis on teamwork.
Powered by the source engine, L4D is anything but a resource hog — looking great, while being highly playable even on budget PCs. The game’s setting and atmosphere might have been something out of a B-grade horror movie, but you can’t deny the fact that it was unique. L4D’s simple, no-nonsense, yet brilliant gameplay, fantastic atmosphere, in-your-face sound effects, level design and emphasis on co-op gameplay help it make the cut.
FAR CRY 2
What do you do if you take GTA IV to Africa, combine it with the elements that made the first Mercenaries game so great, and throw in a heavy dose of the first Far Cry? You get Far Cry 2, which could’ve very easily won GoTY on any other year. The sheer size of the environment, lack of loading times, attention to the smallest detail and freedom to do pretty much anything you want, make this game stand out. It also sports the best looking graphics we saw in any game, on any platform this year.
The lighting and fire effects alone deserve an award — I don’t think ‘spectacular’ is a strong enough word to describe them.
PC Game of The Year
SPORE
Could Will Wright be any more of a genius? Probably not. Spore will take you on a journey from the origin and evolution of life through the development of civilisation and technology and eventually all the way into the deepest reaches of outer space. It might ‘just’ seem like Age of Empires or Civilization plus 5.5 billion years, but it’s not about time, strategy or action... or even about gaming.
It’s just the sheer vastness of what actually is in Spore that will amaze, educate and potentially move people to tears. Just imagine playing through billions of years in a matter of hours — that alone will give you a sense of accomplishment like no other game out there.
Most Innovative? Check. Biggest scope? Check. MSOG? Check. Game of the year? Check. ’Nuff said.
PC Honourable mentions
Sins of a Solar Empire, Fallout 3, GTA IV, Race Driver PC 2008 ended on a dismal note for Sony and the Playstation3, with dipping hardware sales and worse-thanexpected sales of big first-party titles. It was particularly disappointing because this was the year in which the PS3 would finally ‘pwn the 360’. But sales aside, the PS3 did have a pretty good gaming year in 2008. Some decent first-party titles were released, and Home was finally launched. The DualShock3 finally made it's way into non-Japanese markets, killing the “it’s impossible to have SixAxis and vibration” myth. I guess it’s fair to say that there will be more entries in the “lessons learned” book for Sony, but the year wasn’t all bad.
The runners-up
METAL GEAR SOLID 4
Hideo Kojima’s masterpiece is everything it was made out to be, and then some. It had the most gripping (and confusing) story, best cutscenes, some of the best graphics, most memorable characters this side of GTA IV, and without doubt, delivered the most cinematic gaming experience of 2008. It was also supported by flawless gameplay and a multiplayer component that could hold it’s own. Add to that Kojima-san’s bizarre sense of humour and you've got a recipe for kvlt-ness.
GRAND THEFT AUTO IV
GTA IV has already won our Xbox360 GoTY and our prestigious ‘Best Walk Animation Ever’ award. And now, it has carjacked it’s way into our PS3 list as well. It’s virtually identical to the Xbox360 version, so, there’s nothing to complain about. Liberty City has been our favourite game-world of 2008, and could possibly be our favourite till GTA V hits. And did we mention it has Brucie Kibbutz?
LITTLEBIGPLANET
Who would’ve thought that Sorridu Sunakeu and Niko Bellic would get their backsides handed to them by a bunch of, er, sackboys. LBP is the definitive PS3 game. It’s everything the console stands for, and it’s something the folks at Media Molecule should pat themselves on the back for as well. Players in LBP meet on a blue and green planet scattered with individual plots, and have to use their character’s abilities to play, create and share what they build with other gamers throughout the world via the Playstation Network.
This platformer relies on online interactions between players for content. The game’s uncomplicated approach to virtually everything, and it’s pick-up-and-play nature was a big hit with gamers everywhere. There isn’t anything like it on any other platform. Sony, don’t feel bad for selling a few million copies less than you expected, because you’ve created a timeless masterpiece.
PS3 Honourable mentions
Bioshock, Fallout 3, Super Street Fighter II HD Remix.