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The top 10 games of 2008
It's been a grand 2008. One of the finest years I've had in a long time. As evidence, I present to you the following list of honorable mentions: GRID, Bejeweled Twist, Space Invaders Extreme, Fable 2, Grand Theft Auto 4, Boom Blox, de Blob, Lost Winds, Age of Booty, Looney Tunes Cartoon Conductor, Civilization IV: Colonization, Left 4 Dead, Frontlines: Fuel of War, Sins of a Solar Empire, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, The World Ends with You, and Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise. All of these games get a hearty thumbs up from me. It speaks volumes that they didn't make the cut for my ten favorites.
It's worth mentioning that there were a few games I didn't get around to trying: Mirror's Edge, Persona 4, the SimCity: Societies expansion, Army of Two, the racing games Baja and Pure, Gauntlet for the Nintendo DS, Monster Lab, Mortal Kombat vs. DC, Mount & Blade, the Clear Sky expansion for STALKER, Vampyre Story, and World of Goo. Also, Rise of the Argonauts, for which I have high hopes, will be out next week.
That said, read the top ten games of 2008 after the jump.
10) The Club
As a commercially successful game, The Club was doomed. A shooter based on replaying the same levels to see if you can improve your score? But consider that it was from a developer known for the Project Gotham Batman-less racing games (a game based on driving the same route to see if you can improve your time?). And consider it's also the developer of the maddeningly addictive score-based compulsion of Geometry Wars (it's all in the multiplier, baby!). Now it clicks. And by "clicks", I mean it slides into place with the decisive ka-thunk of chambering a new shell in a shotgun. Bizarre Creations has taken what they know and managed to create something I haven't seen in a very long time: a shooter that's unlike any other shooter I've ever played.
9) Sacred 2
Probably the most perfect embodiment of the mindless joy of a good action RPG. It's all about the loot and the leveling. The wild battles along the way and the lovely graphics are fine, too. But it's all about the loot and the leveling. Mostly the leveling. 200 levels of leveling, every one of them a lovely dilemma for how to spend your skill points. Still, the loot is pretty nice. It wasn't a good year for action RPGs. Space Siege and Too Human, both showed up by the no-budget indie Depths of Peril? Then Sacred 2 came out and showed us how it's done.
8) Multiwinia
Multiwinia is one of the year's most subversive real time strategy games (the more subversive one is later in the list). It's also the most visually stunning, but not for the reason that real time strategy games are usually visually stunning (see Red Alert 3 for the worst case example of that). As they did with Defcon, developer Introversion demonstrates game design at its most economical, with muscular gameplay, perfect pacing, and ice-cool haunting production design.
7) Midnight Club Los Angeles
It's not a good year for videogaming without an almost perfect racing game lighting up the room. Midnight Club Los Angeles is this year's belle of the ball, with its crowded and evocative Los Angeles-a-like serving as a shrewdly crafted rumpus room for the same great driving physics that graced Grand Theft Auto IV, this time with better AI in the other cars. No one does traffic like Rockstar, bless their city-building hearts. But this next-gen Midnight Club will really ruin other racing game for you once you see how well it plays by actually looking at the world instead of a minimap. Not since Forza's color-coded gravity indicator has a driving game so successfully put you in the driver's seat instead of behind a TV screen.
6) Patapon
No game this year that had me grinning as consistently as I grin when playing Patapon. I love these little guys, and in return, they love me. They dance and sing for me. They talk to me. As I drum them their rhythm, which is really all the gameplay there is here, their little eyes roll around. They jump and sway. They charge forward. The colorful sky fills with their arrows. I feel terrible as they're stamped into the ground or stabbed by evil patapons. I consider which one gets which hat and which sword. I dole out horses carefully. Did I mention that I love these little guys? The simple fact about Patapon is that it makes me happy. Not since Katamari Damacy has a game been so purely and simply joyous.
5) EndWar
Okay, I'm going to get wonky here. EndWar is not your normal real time strategy game, and not just because it finally cracks the code for how to play an RTS on a console system (The key? Voice commands!). EndWar is a gamble. In fact, I think it misreads the appeal of the genre. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if this turned out to be a commercial fiasco for Ubisoft. That's what you get when you cannily rework how real time strategy games play. EndWar is about moving pieces on a board and psyching out your opponent. It's about knowing when to push and when to give. It's about carefully upgrading your units over the course of a perhaps too dynamic campaign. This is one of the most subversive game designs of the year for how it takes the fussy action movie motif of a typical RTS and recasts it as an elegant European board game. If Reiner Knizia made RTSs, this is the one he'd make. See, I told you I was going to get wonky.
4) Fallout 3
I didn't do this intentionally, but once I'd arranged my list I realized that my top four games of 2008 are all powerfully imagined and skillfully created open worlds, with rock-solid infrastructures of good gameplay and an unwavering emphasis on freedom. Here are almost unprecedented juxtapositions of developer creativity and player freedom (Grand Theft Auto IV would have belonged among this rare company if Rockstar had either written a better story or designed a better game). Fallout 3 is the most contrived of the four, proceeding apace along the usual RPG trappings like dialogue trees, fussy interface muckery, and occasionally clunky world building. But it's an unforgettably bleak and epic experience, brave enough to be barren and gray, but crammed with stories, vignettes, characters, and sights. Oblivion with guns? Oblivion should be so lucky.
3) Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Forget Lego [Insert Popular License With Geek Appeal]. This is the best Lego game I've ever played. Never mind that it doesn't have the Lego license. That's Lego's loss. As I explore this colorful world built for exploring, gathering bits and parts along the way, Nuts & Bolts appeals to a unique compulsion that most games can't touch: the desire to engineer stuff. Not just make stuff. Lots of games are doing a great job letting me make stuff. The Boom Blox toy box, the map maker in Far Cry 2, and the video editor in the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV are all wonderfully accessible studios in which I can build something, consider it, and then ask myself, "Um, now what?" But the things I create in Nuts & Bolts, the cars and airplanes and submersible attack ships, have immediate gameplay value in this colorful world. These are the vehicles I use to tackle various challenges: go this fast, jump this high, carry this doo-dad there, run this course, and so on. And I'm even free to break many of these challenges by outbuilding them instead of outplaying them. That's freedom: the ability to foil the developers themselves.
2) Saints Row 2
This is the paragon of open-world city-havoc sandboxes. It's a pitch-perfect example of a game that accomplishes exactly what it intends to accomplish. It's crass and generous and spectacular, stuffed with stuff to do, usually involving the liberal application of chaos. Like the first Saints Row, it out-Grand Theft Autos the best of them: Mercenaries, The Godfather, Scarface, Bully, Grand Theft Auto itself, and even Crackdown. If there is a better realized vision of a city as a massive free-wheeling incendiary playground, I haven't seen it. And the fact that I can play almost every corner of Saints Row 2 cooperatively is almost obscene. Really, Volition? You're going to go that far above the competition? That's just showboating.
1) Far Cry 2
Of all the places I went this year without leaving my house, Far Cry 2's lush African countryside was my favorite, and not just because these are currently the best graphics I've ever seen. Here is a game that breathes without breathing down my neck. It's not afraid to let me roam without making the gameplay equivalent of idle chit-chat. It does a tremendous job of getting out of my way (in this respect, it is the anti-Fallout 3) and letting me just be here. If Terence Malick were to make a videogame, it would be Far Cry 2. And when things happen, they happen dramatically and dynamically. There's a glorious sense of spontaneity in the way the shooting erupts, unfolds, progresses. I almost never feel that these firefights were built by the developers. In fact, I almost never feel that about any of the moments in Far Cry 2. These moments are mine. Some games unfold. Others are revealed. Some are like thrill rides. Others are like playgrounds. But Far Cry 2 is a beautiful place where things simply happen.
By Lh'owon at 5:53 AM ON 12/10/08
I just want to preempt wumpus, I would like to say you are totally and unequivocally right about Far Cry 2.
By wumpus at 7:56 AM ON 12/10/08
WHY CANT I MOVE???!!?!!!
By Sharp at 8:07 AM ON 12/10/08
Something about this list...I predict storms ahead. Also, King's Bounty forever!!!!
By Joshua at 9:17 AM ON 12/10/08
Good list, not as good as the 10 hottest asses in videogames.
By Cap'n Jack at 9:21 AM ON 12/10/08
Read a real video game blog, like Kotaku, 1Up or Joystiq. This guy doesn't know what a good video game is.
Saints Row 2 and Far Cry 2 are the best games of 2008? Please. Every other reputable game journalist disagrees with you. I think your blog is meant to be purposely inflammatory to get people to read it just so that they can post nasty comments, because you can't attract readers otherwise.
Some of the most critically-acclaimed games of 2008 didn't make this list, and instead are on your "most overrated" list. Do you even play video games, or do you just sample them for this job at SciFi?
This is the worst video game blog on the internet. Most of the commenters here have nothing but complaints. I implore SciFi to seek a reputable journalist who knows video games, and not this hack Tom Chick.
By Chijts at 9:43 AM ON 12/10/08
"He has contributed to Wired, Variety, Yahoo, IGN, Gamespot, Gamespy, 1up, Computer Games Magazine, and Computer Gaming World, as well as numerous other sites and publications, including textbooks and anthologies."
Oh look he's worked for one of your "real" gaming blogs, how amusing.
"...MY list I realized that MY top four games.. "
Opinion. Look it up some time.
I personally find it refreshing that he includes games which don't make every other reviewers top list of games. Makes me remember that once I didn't even read reviews of games and just picked them up because I liked the look of them, and usually had a good time playing them.
By Thadius at 9:45 AM ON 12/10/08
Guys like Cap'n Jack unfortunately have nothing better to do than complain about another journalists' view on video games.
Personally, I enjoy Tom's perspective on games and it's refreshing compared to the same drivel that every other reviewer tosses out. I find it odd that because he dares to actually give his own opinion he should be shunned for not following the well-worn path that every other blog writer follows of stamping the same games over and over as "best of the year"
This is one guy who's quite happy reading this blog, and I'd say if you're not, then you may promptly leave and sit on it
By Aeon221 at 10:10 AM ON 12/10/08
Tom Chick's lists are weak and inferior, much like his tribe!
You disgrace your ancestors by choosing these games!
By obonicus at 10:12 AM ON 12/10/08
Honestly, I realize that Far Cry 2 has been getting such bad press that it doesn't qualify as an 'overrated' game, but with all the issues it has, it's certainly a game you can't recommend without several caveats.
It's a polarizing game, like Assassin's Creed. And like Assassin's Creed, I suspect that Ubisoft Montreal is great at coming up with intriguing mechanics but doesn't know how to design a game around them. They desperately need a real designer up there.
This is an interesting list, but it'd be a much more successful list as '10 most underrated games (well, excluding the actual successes like FO3)' or '10 best games no one played' rather than the top 10 games, period.
By Elton at 10:17 AM ON 12/10/08
Tom's lists (and Fidgit in general) are extremely worthwhile reads. Thanks Tom!
By Joshua at 10:24 AM ON 12/10/08
Obonicus, taking your final point one step further, I'd actually argue that many of the "big" games of the year actually did not live up to expectations.
In 2007, the big games, Orange Box, Mario Galaxy, Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, and so forth, were all tremendous games, worthy of every bit of hype and acclaim, but this year, well I remember some of the most anticipated titles were GTA4, Too Human, Spore, Ninja Gaiden 2, Metal Gear Solid 4, GT5P, Resistance 2, etc. etc. I'd argue that each of those games was quite a let down. Even LBP and Gears of War 2 are not the invincible world-beaters they seemed to be 8 months ago. Fallout 3 and Fable 2 are the exceptions, it would seem.
But there are some really, really, REALLY good games just below the surface, and a list like Tom's reflects that. It's a bit of a quirky list but it's been a bit of a quirky year.
By Podunk at 10:28 AM ON 12/10/08
Far Cry 2 is absolutely my GOTY, for exactly the reasons you mention. For all of its flaws, I still find myself wanting to return to it again and again.
By obonicus at 10:50 AM ON 12/10/08
Joshua,
I agree with your initial premise, but I'd go one further and say that most games last year were huge disappointments as well. Well, I haven't played Mario Galaxy. The very games you mentioned were much-lauded but I think they were mostly ho-hum, uninspired games that really don't stand up to deeper scrutiny or even multiple playthroughs.
As to Far Cry 2, I don't doubt it's people's GOTY. But I think that given its obvious flaws you need to put a big red flag over it. I haven't seen a game get pure, utter HATE like Far Cry 2 in a long, long time.
And I get quirky. Hell, my GOTY is probably Saint's Row 2, I think the game gets a lot less love than it deserves.
By ANONYMOUS at 11:12 AM ON 12/10/08
Wow. Do you even play games? What's wrong with you? Saints Row 2 at number two... my God. That game is atrocious.
By Persona7 at 11:29 AM ON 12/10/08
Great list, only thing I disagree with is Midnight club.
By the server at 11:37 AM ON 12/10/08
As Hedorko Kogina is my master, you will pay Tom Chick! You will pay!
By Aeon221 at 12:15 PM ON 12/10/08
Tom Chick betrayed humanity to the Cylons with this list!
By obonicus at 12:40 PM ON 12/10/08
I wonder which thread will send Kotaku and GAF into bigger tailspins. Maybe the worst games list? 100,000 uniques, baby!
By budgethero at 1:23 PM ON 12/10/08
if u ask me Too Human got quite alot of pure unadulterated hate. (i think its a good game but) more, i think, then even a bad game should get.
kinda like what tom's getting now. even if this is a bad list(i dont think so, though premature), betraying humanity, weak and inferior, "do you even play games"? i dont think tom is writing to simply be read. i think simple minded comments like these are.
By thislistbedumb at 1:35 PM ON 12/10/08
This list is retarded.
LBP, MGS4, GTAIV, didn't even make this list? Please...
NEXT!
By PSIstarstorm at 2:17 PM ON 12/10/08
This list is full of epic fail. Actually, let me take that back.
Tom, YOU are full of epic fail. Seriously, how the hell did you get this job?
By trey27 at 2:41 PM ON 12/10/08
worst list ever no gears 2 fable 2 and fallout at 4 a complete and utter joke ur a complete and total idiot
By vasaints12 at 3:05 PM ON 12/10/08
Who made this list, no gears of war 2 no red alert 3 ,no metal gear soild 4. You just cant pick a few games out of a hat.
By PeterD at 4:04 PM ON 12/10/08
I disagree with most of this list, but hey, that's what opinions are for.
By LudwigK at 4:48 PM ON 12/10/08
Some interesting choices! I have to throw my support behind the choice of Far Cry 2 in particular. Glad you appreciated it as much as I did, Tom.
By SteelFox at 5:10 PM ON 12/10/08
Wow! The comments were as much fun as the article! I rather like that you stepped outside the box and created a list that is other than "mainstream". I have played three of the games on the list and will now purchase three others that I would have otherwise skipped.
By Evan Lahti at 5:12 PM ON 12/10/08
"Read a real video game blog, like Kotaku, 1Up or Joystiq."
hahahahahahahahahhahaaha
By jcbvortex at 5:24 PM ON 12/10/08
Interesting list Mr.Chick,
The thing about lists like this is that no one ever agree's with the author's choices. I think you should have put Mercs2 on the list for most overrated games. I also feel that Fallout 3 should have been 3,but I didn't play your choice for #3 so I don't really know. I had heard that Saints Row 2 was better than GTA4 in stict gameplay regards. I was let down by GTA4's scope (less side missions and no planes!!!) compared to GTA:SA and the focus on relationships that felt generic and shallow.
To me nextgen games have mostly been pretty to look at graphically speaking and this is all that really separates them from previous generation consoles.
By Pogo at 5:56 PM ON 12/10/08
"worst list ever no gears 2 fable 2 and fallout at 4 a complete and utter joke ur a complete and total idiot"
Comments like this lead me to believe that people with zero authority or credibility to post about gaming are people who buy only 3 top rated games a year, and then cling to those games as if they have to defend their purchase decision from every dissenting opinion on the internet. It's pathetic. Stop.
By markgreyam at 6:23 PM ON 12/10/08
Yet again I'm reminded to feel bad for the Bizarre guys. The Club is right on the money with pretty much it's entire package, and yet was so completely ignored it's just depressing. A perfectly crafted high score based arcade-style FPS. But lets face it; the [old-school definition of the] 'hardcore' gaming scene of requiring high skill and good memory against a steep difficulty level is such a small niche nowadays that this was destined to fast track to the bargain bin to sit along side titles like God Hand and Stuntman Ignition. Speaking of which, I was wondering if anyone would be brave enough to put Midnight Club LA in a top 10 list, given it, like the second iteration, is a game for a simliar crowd.
And I'm also in agreeance with a top 10 list that includes Saint's Row 2 and excludes GTA4.
Can't agree with Far Cry 2 though. As a PC FPS snob, it was quite clunky and flawed.
The mystery continues as to how your site got the attention of places that honestly consider Gears of War 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4 to be GOTY contenders.
By Scuzzmuggler at 4:00 AM ON 12/11/08
I've been reading Tom Chick's stuff for some 8 years now. Not only is he a brilliant writer, but a sexy devil as well.
A great list Tom, GTA IV had no place on it to be certain.
Oh, and just a little love for Dead Space, I guess I was in the lucky demographic that found it both spooky and awesome.
By peter at 12:19 AM ON 12/14/08
hahahahaha The Club I'm done. I'm out of here forever
By Player1 at 8:30 PM ON 12/14/08
"By obonicus at 10:12 AM ON 12/10/08
(snip, re: Far Cry2)
It's a polarizing game, like Assassin's Creed. And like Assassin's Creed, I suspect that Ubisoft Montreal is great at coming up with intriguing mechanics but doesn't know how to design a game around them. They desperately need a real designer up there."
I think you've nailed it there. I finally got around to Far Cry 2, partly because of its place at the top of Mr Chick's list, however the design decisions work against the game for me. I haven't let it wash over me for as long or in the same way as Tom, as the flaws stopped me from wanting to play it for that long.
To pick the nits: in this most beautiful engine, why does my character not have a shadow, why do bullet holes disappear after 5 seconds or not appear at all from turrets, why are there no animations for gear changes and accelerating and braking (including handbrake) in vehicles and why is the voice acting and lip syncing so poor? In a game that tries so hard for immersion (the phone and map are great), these omissions stand out and ripped me out of the game world before I was able to get hooked. They are a direct result of design decisions (or production priorities I guess), which undercut the global goal of the game (I'll go out on a limb and say immersion in an Africa where things simply happen). It is so close to being a place I would want to hang out in, as Tom has enjoyed, but a few poor but fundamental decisions ruined it for me.
I loved your lists Tom, subjective and backed up by the last few months of blogging for us regular readers. Good idea to post link backs to the key articles of yours to provide the backstory for newer visitors.
By Rb at 5:11 AM ON 12/21/08
Wow all i can i can say is wow at this list right now.... Dead space should be on there man. Fallout should be in the top two. But i guess we all have our opinions bro.
By mikegoes101 at 3:15 AM ON 12/23/08
I'd just have to say that your List is freaking ridiculous. To avoid Red Alert 3 Fable 2. You must have been locked in a closet somewhere. Fallout 3 should have dominated your list to put it in third behind that crap is a flat out embarasment. I'm suprised that no one from Bethesda has hunted you down yet.
Peace Out
mk-
By Madtrixr at 4:49 AM ON 12/23/08
Hey Tom, I just want to actually take time out to thank you for being brave enough to go out of your way and actually playing games that other wise wouldn't have gotten much attention(and exposing yourself to millions, or at least thousands of trolls.I'm sick of seeing sentances that are along the lines of "omg ur lst sux u r gay").I've never heard of Sacred 2 and Multiwinia, but thanks to your list, I am now interested in playing those two. I'm going to put on more trollbait right now by saying that I agree with your list 100 percent, even though I've only played 3 if them, and two of them were demos. Now i'm going to say why I agree about all ten(note: I can't vouch for the games I haven't played, but i'll do my best)
10:I liked The Club, even though i only played the demo,I'm sad that it's been turned into a punchline. I like the arcade feel a lot, so much in fact, that thats the reason why (More trollbait) I bet i would like it more than Gears 2.
(continues on)
By Madtrixr at 5:03 AM ON 12/23/08
I know I said I was going to continue, but I have to go to bed, but I'm not done, it's just not coming up right away.
By Marty at 4:54 PM ON 12/23/08
No Gears of War 2? No Call of Duty: World At War? Wow, do you game at all?
By gowfan at 5:10 PM ON 12/23/08
hey what about gow2 not even a mention? wtf mate?
By dijana at 10:35 AM ON 12/25/08
kull
By gundo at 6:49 PM ON 12/28/08
cool
By BobPerez at 11:33 PM ON 12/29/08
Anyone who has known Tom as long as I have known him can attest that he *is* the ultimate videogame journalist. He plays the games, he lives the culture, there simply is no issue of cred here. Period.
Now, whether you agree with him or not is another thing. And I won't deny that he has a healthy contrarian spirit that occasionally drives this kind of off the chart list. I disagree with most of the list, not because it lacks mainstream focus, but because I found more joy elsewhere. But I had to chime in when the attacks started launching against Tom's cred as a game journalist. Such a comment says far more about the accuser than the accused.
BP
By SARAH at 3:07 PM ON 12/30/08
looking for free game play
By YOGOSPLZ at 3:27 PM ON 12/30/08
meh, Fallout 3 shoulda been 3rd.
:\
Some reason I don't see Banjo Kazooie above it.
By bbildakid at 3:42 PM ON 12/31/08
is this a real list?
By neonMessiah at 10:47 PM ON 01/01/09
Really? Is this a list for gamers, or 14 year old girls?
By CryingTheAnnualKingo at 7:26 PM ON 01/09/09
Wow, someone else was actually smart and aware enough to realize that Far Cry 2 was far and away the most fun, mature and innovative game in 2008. I hereby forgive you for your insane "top 10 overrated games" list.
By boxybrown at 12:44 AM ON 01/13/09
As the 14 year old that this was obviously written for (we 14 year old girls play the SHIT out of Far Cry 2 when we're not watching Blossom.)
I'd jus like to say that Tom Chick is not in fact a hack.
He totally forgot to put that swat flash game that gives you a chance to win a million dollars as game of the year.
But otherwise this list has no major issues.
I mean it's not like he put that glorified filler they're calling World At War on there or something.
By KILLA at 4:03 AM ON 01/25/09
Yeaaaa! Far Cry 2 is so fun!
By meta at 6:09 PM ON 02/16/09
I have to recommend Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer for the DS. Yeah, it's a port of an SNES game, but it's an absolutely fantastic roguelike. It gets overlooked because of the generic name and terrible American cover-art, but it was far and away the best thing that I played in 2008.
By raja at 7:30 AM ON 04/01/09
sale tere ko malum hai game hota kya hai
mujahi sabse zhatura game lagta hai farcry 3
raja:
sale tere ko malum hai game hota kya hai mujahi sabse zhatura game lagta hai farcry 3...More »