Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Top Games Of 2008

Looking back it was probably the best year for releases in a decade, so many titles although most of them were released toward the end of the year. Here's my top 5 in no real order;

1. Grand Theft Auto IV
2. Fallout 3
3. Littlebigplanet
4. Portal (I only got around to playing it last spring)
5. Dead Space

Notable mentions to Gran Turismo 5: Prologue and Tekken 5: DR Online for making me shell out on ridiculous peripherals for the first time in years! At least i'll be able to use the wheel and arcade stick I made on other games, unlike that behemoth steel battalion stick....

Biggest disappointment of the year was Metal Gear Solid 4 becuase for me, it failed to deliver. Incredible graphics but after endless debate and two playthroughs, the length of cutscenes, having to install before every act and the all-over-the-shop plot just really grated on me rather than brought enjoyment.

All in all it's going to be a tough one to beat!

6 comments:

White Tar said...

Making my own arcade stick at the moment - but it's proving expensive, with me needing to pay for the software for it to work on the 360. Still, it'll be great when I can custom it and kick arse on SF4.

Also, really liked GTA4 that much? It was a huge let down to myself, too socio-realistic, not enough comedy that made the others fantastic.
Dead Space was a sleeper hit. Absolutely amazing game, can't believe it was made by EA :/

GTA4 was my let down for the year unfortunately.

Ash said...

I'm sure if you're making one you already know but make sure you get a decent stick (sanwa jlf) and if you're drilling the baseplate for buttons get the spacing right - there's some amazing tutorials out there and the people on places like srk and sdtekken were invaluable for me.

Imo, gta4 is the best in the series. It's a benchmark title for action/adventure titles - just everything about is incredibly polished and it's one of the only titles that had me hooked enough to play through it in one sitting.

EA published dead space though eh, redwood shores developed it. I think soon ea will start to lose their bad cred after taking a risk on investing in risky new ip's like dead space/mirrors edge.

White Tar said...

touche ash, you know more on gaming than I expected fella!

Aye I've researched about the arcade stick in quite a lot of detail. It's a good project - but time consuming, and hard when you're trying to hold down a job that helps to pay bills - while at uni full time as well.

Of course - it's each to their own. But were you as big a fan of the old GTA's? Part of what made them so special was the humour, and parodys. As well as the Radio stations. I enjoy how in IV the radio plays decent tunes, but the comedy that dominated the stations in Vice City has completely disappeared.

EA - in my mind - started out this year horribly, especially with the attempt of the hostile take over of Take Two, but have ended the year well - with Dead Space, Mirrors Edge and FIFA 09 all being great games (FIFA especially, as it was a good change in the franchise).

Anyway, I'm rambling. Check out my blog on the Credit Crunches' affect on the Games industry - it's fairly interesting.

Richard Wilkins said...

Grand Theft Auto IV was an insane game, i cannot begin to see how anyone would be disapointed by it! Fallout 3 is only £20 at game, ill have to get that.

need to play resistance 2 online with you that would be insane!

dexter

Anonymous said...

MGS4 a let down? Aw bummer, I've yet to play it, I played MGS3 in one sitting last year when I finally gave the series a chance, and when I heard that 4 was going to be ps3 exlusive I almost cried.

But you left out Left 4 Dead, and thats a shame. With 3 friends [that can actually play at least], the game is a total blast.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa said...

Wow this post makes me want to get a next-gen console so bad.

I did buy a DS this year though and even though its an older game I have to say Chrono Triggers re-release for DS was my game of the year, I missed out on the original as a kid as I owned a Sega Master System opposed to a SNES so the game was all new to me.

Its probably got the best storyline of any game i've ever played, once again Square Enix produce another cracking RPG :)