Australian Gamer presents - The Best of 2008

Feature from Phil - Wednesday, 31 December 2008 @ 10:30am

With all three consoles well and truly hitting their stride this year, there were no shortages of amazing games. If someone was to claim that 2008 was the best year for games in the history of the planet, we wouldn't have much evidence to argue. The list of AAA titles stretches endlessly, and with an absolute barrage of quality releases over the last couple of months, every Australian Gamer staff member has been logging hundreds of hours on the couch (hard at work, naturally) to try and keep up. It's a pretty daunting task, but if your biggest problem is trying to decide which phenomenal video game to play, well, there's not much to complain about.

To finish up 2008 and not acknowledge the best of the best would be a tremendous disservice to the AG community. Every staff member works hard ontheir own time to bring this website up to speed, and we're thankful that the loyal readers are happy to provide their own unique contributions to complement our work. Every AG team member has provided their own "expert" opinions on the year that was 2008, and while we will always disagree on the finer points, we have also compiled a list which best represents our selections for the absolute Best of 2008.

Enjoy!

Starting my own business and building a new house has meant little time left for gaming. So this year, for me, was the year of the downloadable game. These bite-sized gems have kept me going in a year that really should have meant no gaming at all. Fortunately, 2008 saw a raft of top-notch games released on Xbox Live Arcade, the PSN Store and surprisingly even WiiWare. If you consider that the average retail game sells for around $100 these days, and you can pick up seven or eight downloadable games for the same price, then to me that is damned good value for money. If you love gaming, but you’re trying to rollback (kaaaa-ching!! yeeeee haaaaw!) the spending, downloadable games are definitely your saviour.

Whilst previous years have seen nothing but old school rehashes and low budget shovelware, this year we had dozens of top class games to download. In fact, Metacritic shows six out of the top 20 Xbox 360 games for 2008 were Live Arcade games. Perhaps more surprisingly, five out of the top 10 games on the Wii this year were actually WiiWare games. This year has seen the release of some fantastic games like Braid, World of Goo, Rez HD, Ikaruga, N+, PixelJunk Monsters and Castle Crashers. If none of those games ring a bell, it’s definitely time to get online and check out the back catalogue. If there was ever any doubt that buying online is the future of gaming, I think 2008 has made it pretty clear.

AJ's Best of 2008

1. Fallout 3

2. Fable 2

3. Super Smash Bros Brawl

4. Braid

5. LittleBigPlanet

2008 is the Chinese Zodiac year of the Rat. For me, a water pig, I was foretold to have successes in romance and marriage in the following year. So far the wasabi-flavoured constellation hasn't failed me yet. I tried to read in between the lines for some horoscope reading into games. No luck; I flew blind throughout the year. Luckily it only let me down once in the name of Too Human. That was the biggest waste of a week this year. My message to all is to stay well away from that one!

I've noticed four of my top five games are multiplayer based. More than ever before, with the ease of online play, multiplayer is becoming a very large feature in games. You'll probably see games like Gears of War 2, COD4 and GTA IV appear in the other team member's lists. Multiplayer modes are forever expanding with the likes of Cops and Robbers, Horde and even co-op mode in Resistance 2. If you're a multiplayer lover, Santa had some great offerings for you this year. There are some games I have stacking up waiting for their turn (MGS4, Dead Space, Infinite Undiscovery and Lost Odyssey). Usually I plan to play these in the first quarter of the new year but I fear the January/February release schedule will get in the way in 2009. Too many games, too little time!

The one thing I'm seeing increase each year is the importance of gaming-related Australian expos. Game On, Supernova and eGames have all had success this year. Gaming is getting bigger and better each year, at the risk of sounding too corny, its an exciting time in a growing Australian gaming community.

Jae's Best of 2008

1. Fallout 3

2. Rock Band

3. Left 4 Dead

4. Boom Blox

5. LittleBigPlanet

Fuck your one or two paragraphs. (He actually wrote this, even after I painted those cool stripes all over his car. I hope someone stabs him in the eye -- Phil)

Another year down and another Australian Gamer end of year feature to take part in. If you've skipped everyone else's comments to come straight to mine prepare to be very disappointed. I didn't find two thousand and eight (strange when spelt out, huh) to be such a fantastic year of gaming. I feel very satisfied with my top five games but it seemed to me that something very special was missing throughout the year.

If could blame someone for this mess it would definitely be Nintendo. C'mon guys. Where are those magic games you're world famous for? I wouldn't mind a new Zelda adventure or a new Mario platform. You guys are rich enough from your Wii sales to do something daring. Don't be afraid to try something new.

The PSP is another dud that I feel should be mentioned. If it wasn't for God of War: Chains of Olympus the handheld would have been a total paperweight all year round. Let's go Sony! Make 2009 year of the PSP! It's just a shame there won't be another God of War title on the PSP again.

If you haven't noticed Dead Space is the only game in my list that isn't a sequel. My hat goes off to EA for sticking their neck out into the survival horror world, competing with the champions (Capcom) and developing a game worth playing just to freak your girlfriend out.

Guitar Hero: World Tour gets a special mention for being released in Australia roughly the same time as America and Europe. A fantastic party title with unbelievably fun to play drums (shame about the cymbals). Gears of War 2 continues on the true action of stop'n pop gameplay. Great single player matched with intense online multiplayer. It'll be interesting to see how GoW3 turns out in 2010.

Finally, GTA IV. What more could be said other than a completely fucking awesome blockbuster video game. Watch and play as Niko Bellic - the coolest Eastern European dude ever. Get your revenge, piss off some cops and fly a helicopter in style.

Oracle's Best of 2008

1. Grand Theft Auto IV

2. Gears of War 2

3. God of War: Chains of Olympus

4. Guitar Hero: World Tour

5. Dead Space

2008 has been the most important year of gaming for me, not just because of the amount of wonderful titles, but because it was the year that truly solidified what I want to do with the rest of my life. One year ago I hadn’t even considered writing about games as a hobby or trying to review them. I wasn’t part of any community and didn’t have any industry contacts. 2008 was the year that I have learnt to truly appreciate games and to embrace them fully.

To be honest, I’m having trouble remembering what happened this year… I know I played a hell of a lot of good games, but I think since we are all still trying to recover from the November awesome game landslide, it's hard to remember what happened earlier on. I think my fondest 2008 gaming memory would have to be going to get GTA IV at midnight. My housemate and I had just moved to Brisbane, first time out of home. There was electricity in the air that night we walked down to our local EB at 11pm. I hadn’t felt that kind of child like excitement over a game in a very long time. Then, I sat on the floor of our lounge room and played it, basking in my TVs glow at 2am. My housemate simultaneously playing it in his room as every 15 minutes we would meet up halfway and excitedly tell each other what we had just experienced trying not to wake our other two housemates. That is why I play games.

Simon's Best of 2008

1. Grand Theft Auto IV

2. Fallout 3

3. Left 4 Dead

4. Fable 2

5. LittleBigPlanet

2008 looked to be a slow year from the start with only a few big titles to look forward to, most of which had all been pushed back a horrendous three months later than the rest of the world. It wasn't until October when things really got people excited.

It first spiced up with Spore and then we had the three Fs come strolling into town, stealing everyone's thunder and generally making a mess of any sort of meticulously planned social life us gamers strain desperately to have (OK, so only some of us did). Fallout 3, Far Cry 2 and Fable. All of them sequels and all of them delivered. Original IPs also did well this year with zombies proving to be the new ninjas, online content such as Braid and Mirror's Edge, while disappointing to some, still proved to be a decent showing. And of course, how could anyone forget LittleBigPlanet, singlehandedly turning PS3 naysayers towards the checkout queue, new 80GB model in hand.

Anna's Best of 2008

1. LittleBigPlanet -- Only until I played it could I realise what a joy this game truly was. Never have I bought a console purely based on one game either.

2. Fable 2 -- For the sheer amount of hours I have sunk into this game and the many I will continue to sink.

3. Fallout 3 -- For restoring my faith in Bethesda as well as the sheer amount of gameplay this world has to offer.

4. AudioSurf -- $US10 of pure gold.

5. Patapon -- Spank their bottoms!

When Phil first asked the AG Team to compile a list of their favourite video games from 1978, I thought it somewhat a strange idea for a feature article. I'm not normally a fan of embracing the unusual, but on this occasion I decided it would be best to go ahead with the request, if only in the vain hope that by co-operating I too might ride on the back of the Game Damage TV Show Cash Cow.

1978 was a great year for gaming and a great year for Apple, with Chris Oberth's wonder-game "Phasor Zap" being one of my favourites that you could fit on a 30 minute cassette tape, while still having room for most of the better songs from Hotel California after it. On the back of the tape there was also room for "Depth Charge" which avoided the tricky copyright issues of being a direct copy of the arcade game "Depthcharge" by placing an empty space between the words Depth and Charge. Of course, Apple wasn't alone in all this great gaming, with Nintendo's arcade favourite "Computer Othello" also featuring some great "seat of your pants" action. My second favourite game of 1978 was "Cryptogram" for the Philips Magnavox, involving the excitement of having a friend secretly enter a word and you trying to guess what it is by unveiling one letter at a time. I like to think this is the game Phil Harrison was alluding to when he spoke of the concept of Game 3.0.

There can be only one winner though, so I'd like to announce my pick for Video Game of 1978 to be an obscure little game named "Space Invaders". Those of you interested in small selling niche titles would do well to check it out, I think it's a real cracker!

Brett's Best of 1978

1.Space Invaders - Taito - Arcade

2.Crytogram - Philips - Magnavox

3.Computer Othello - Nintendo - Arcade

4.Depth Charge - Chris Oberth - Apple II

5.Phasor Zap - Chris Oberth - Apple II

2008 has been a really funny year for games - for me anyway. I have seen thousands of dollars poured into advertising, telling me which games are the best, only to see the gaming public literally turn on them. When was the last time you actually heard someone mention Grand Theft Auto, except for saying “I’ll be fucked if I can get the PC version working”. GTA adorned the sides of buses, whole trams were painted up, billboards, and bus stops. I feel that it has just disappeared into the pre-owned bins of many a second hand dealer.

I really haven’t had any game this year grab me by the nads and say “Hey Cav, you’re my bitch.” Maybe I am just getting old and really fussy, or don’t manage to find the time required to fully submerse myself in games like I used to, but those I have nominated have at least sparked a little need or want inside me. Here’s hoping that 2009 sees a better year for gamers.... on both the product and R18+ front.

Cav's Best of 2008

1. LittleBigPlanet

2. Fable 2

3. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

4. Mario Kart Wii

5. Braid

It’s difficult for me to write what is the ‘Best Video Game’ of 2008 when, in reality, I haven’t played so many of the quality titles 2008 has given us. Games such as Assassin's Creed (Yes, I haven’t played it yet), LittleBigPlanet, Metal Gear Solid 4, Lego Indiana Jones, Unreal Tournament 3 and a host of other big name titles that have rocked the 8th year of the second millennium Anno Domini.

In any case, I’ve still had the chance to play some pretty unreal games and have compiled my personal top five. I have only listed titles I have played, and will no doubt piss off a lot of people with my selections, but then this is Australian Gamer and that’s the joy of being given a website to voice your opinion.

Starks' Best of 2008

1. Gears of War 2 – Built upon a winning formula. The game just wants to be played, and played, and played until I can satisfy my desire to curb stomp every gamer that logs into the Xbox Live.

2. Grand Theft Auto IV – The series that ages like a fine wine. Honestly, anyone who hasn’t played this at least once is either living under a rock in North East Iraq hiding from American troops or is in a coma after being hit by two busses and a milk truck.

3. Super Smash Bros Brawl – Smooth, glitch free, built upon a solid base of enjoyment and competitively sound, the game appeals to both the casual and the hardcore gamer; A recipe that is not easy to concoct. When playing this game, just remember the words of Rick James, ‘Enjoy yourself, bitch!’

4. Sins of a Solar Empire – Probably one of the most unknown titles of 2008, and I have no doubt people will look at me and go ‘Why isn’t X there instead?’ Frankly, I really, really enjoyed this game. It appealed to me and did exactly what a game should do -- allow me to escape reality for a period of hours, keep me thinking, and make me want to play it when I’m away from my computer. At the end of the day, very few games released this year did that for me.

5. Guitar Hero: World Tour – I have spent more hours playing this ‘early Christmas present’ than I probably have spent being constructive at work in the past two weeks. Enjoyable, easy for nongamers to join in and even better with a beer under your belt, World Tour is the type of title that introduces people to gaming and makes them want more. Plus it has Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi, so it is automatically 10 times better than Rock Band.

Let me preface this with a point. Absolutely nobody is going to agree with my top five.

There are some pretty big AAA titles I’ve overlooked completely, however, how does one rate a game on overall awesomeness? I’ve completely based my votes on how much fun I had with a game. There’s no technical achievement taken into account at all after all, who plays a game for any other reason than to have some fun?

DeBlob for instance was far from the most technically advanced or thoroughly complete game of 2008 but its character and charm was more than enough to see it overcome a minor dynamic flaw or two and well and truly secure its place as one of the best games of this year that was.

Guitar Hero World Tour is a selection that is likely to draw some ire and yeah I know, at the end of the day it’s pretty much a copycat of Rock Band. With Australian release dates so close together you have to call them on face value and in my view GH:WT out-Rock Bands Rock Band while delivering the highest gaming + mates + beer = awesomeness equation yet.

Mirror's Edge is a very love or hate game judging by the reaction to it around the traps and I fall very strongly into the love camp. Not much more to say about that, I know the story wasn’t fully resolved but that’s half the point. It adds mystery. You discrete analytical types need to use your imagination more.

I’m the token racing fan around here so it’s only natural that I selected Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, the greatest iteration of the greatest racing series ever and it is without doubt the game that has consumed the most of my game playing hours in 2008. Some say it’s a demo and not worth purchasing. Others say it’s a stepping stone to even more greatness. All I know is, it’s bloody fantastic.

For me Grand Theft Auto IV is a shoe-in for the best game of 2008. It’s technically brilliant with great gameplay, great scale and a fantastic story. It’s the whole package and more.

So that was 2008, with all consoles in full swing now we’re seeing some truly mind blowing releases. Now is a great time to be a gamer, may 2009 be just as great. I think that’s already a dead cert though, I just saw the trailers for Mafia II....

Samo's Best of 2008

1. Grand Theft Auto IV

2. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue

3. Mirrors Edge

4. de Blob

5. Guitar Hero World Tour

Apart from the public realisation of a failing economy, Australia being blamed for ruining Fallout 3 for the world, and me somehow losing a shoe in broad daylight ... this year has been OK. So the year in gaming? The titles that blessed my consoles this year both disappointed and greatly pleased me. 2008, particularly the month of November, seemed to be the selected month of holy game releases. Australia's censorship war was once again flaming on. Although ... the debate did gain publicity, and therefore becomes a social issue. Which means a lot of "politically-minded" citizens will be discussing it over their pear and lilly flavoured tea.

The cost of a cone at McDonalds has miraculously not increased, and Nintendo Wiis are still on the EB Games most endangered consoles list. The big titles hit the shelves and delivered what was expected

If there is indeed a heaven, I will be taking my receipt for Too Human with me, and demanding my 80 hours of time back.

George's Best of 2008

1. Super Smash Bros Brawl

2. Dead Space

3. Braid

4. Gears of War 2

5. Megaman (all) on Nintendo Virtual Console

Fuck 2008.

Not for the lack of quality or quantity, but for exactly the opposite reason. November saw the release of sequels to almost every currently popular franchise available, and that annoys me. How can we possibly make a choice when there is SO MUCH to choose from. Hell, between GameDamage, eGames, and our Gaming Bar, I had enough trouble finishing the few games I had picked to review.

2008 is giving me the largest back catalogue of games I not just want to play, but NEED to play if I’m to continue calling myself a serious gamer. And to be honest with you, this is even BEFORE November hit. I almost WISH I was a Nintendo fanboy so I could simply take a breather!

Because of this, my list of favourites perhaps isn’t as conventional as other websites. I’m not going to sing the praises of Fallout 3 for example, since I haven’t played enough to really know how I feel about it yet. The best gaming moments were provided by the games I really sunk my teeth into, and if you take away the flood November titles, I’d like to give special mention to a few unsung heroes of the year.

A title that not many people latched on to, and yet has remained infinitely replayable for single or multiplayer, and even worked at one of my gamer meetups was Boom Blox on the Wii. A fiendishly simple puzzle game – part Jenga, part baseball – it has only gotten better as the months have soldiered on.

I’m also a big advocate for the local Australian gaming industry, and although the local studios churned out the usual amount of pretty average titles, the country mile stand-out was DeBlob from Melbourne THQ studio Blue Tongue. Another Wii game, it proved to be a whole heap of fun and displayed a game worthy of international praise – which it got. If you have a Wii, you should buy this game, at the very least to support the achievements of the local industry.

At the end of the year though, it was Rockstar that won me over not once, but twice. Grand Theft Auto IV was everything I expected it to be and more, drawing me back to the GTA family after losing me in the ghettos of San Andreas. This time providing different characters, a well paced story, and a next gen world that was as gritty and well realised in a way that was deserving to the franchise. The other surprise for me was Midnight Club: Los Angeles, a game which I enjoyed way more than I ever should have, and which I’m still playing to this day thanks to my love/hate relationship with the difficulty level and spot on driving mechanics.

It’s a sign of the times when I can honestly say I’m not looking forward to any games in 2009 ... I’m looking forward to playing all the games I missed in 2008!

Yug's Best of 2008

1. Grand Theft Auto IV

2. LittleBigPlanet

3. Rock Band

4. Midnight Club: Los Angeles

5. Boom Blox

It's been a strange year. Some of the biggest and most enthusiastically awaited exclusives have come out. November in particular was a general high water mark for gaming releases. Some games came out that ultimately disappointed what they could have or should have been (Spore and Mirror's Edge come to mind) but some of the games we did see really did new and exciting things.

I'm not going to bother justifying the position of my number 1 (best game EVAR) but I think 3 and 5 deserve more mention. Wrath may not count as it's an expansion not a full game, but I really think they raised the bar for this one, providing a depth of content and story that improves on the "just more stuff" provided by the previous.

Metal Gear Solid 4 will be a controversial addition considering I didn't rate it that highly in my review. I stand by everything I said, yet for some reason I feel oddly positive towards it now... almost nostalgic? Maybe I've caught fanboy off the forums, I'm not sure, but I find myself thinking more positively on its graphics and scope and being able to let the fact that it's a pretentious bunch of twaddle slide.

Matt's Best of 2008

1. LittleBigPlanet

2. Grand Theft Auto IV

3. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

4. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

5. Metal Gear Solid 4

I organised this year's Australian Gamer's Best of 2008 presentation with such vigour that I completely forgot to think about my own choices for the awards. I sat down in the biggest, fluffiest chair I could find and began pondering, Pooh-style. After a short while, it dawned on me.

The best game of 2008 was Gears of War 2.

I would never normally associate in any worthwhile capacity with the new generation of loudmouth boom-fest fucktards who populate the communities of Halo and Gears of War, but Epic has created a game which transcends the douchebaggery of its followers. I enjoyed the first game well enough, yet never thought it deserved the rich accolades it received. I realise now that this wasn't because of the combat engine or cover system, it was a simple matter of overall atmosphere. The first game felt a little claustrophobic and depressing at times as the Gears ran through ruined buildings and struggled to stay on top of their tasks. This time, the team takes the fight right to the Locust and the single player campaign becomes the epic experience I longed for.

A combination of near flawless level design and stunning set pieces allowed the technical prowess of the engine to truly flourish. I'm on my third playthrough already, and it certainly won't be the last.

Honourable mention goes to Professor Layton and the Curious Village. I love brain teasers, and there has never been a better way to present them within a software package. For what it aimed to be, Professor Layton was a perfect game.

Phil's Best of 2008

1. Gears of War 2

2. Fallout 3

3. Professor Layton and the Curious Village

4. Grand Theft Auto IV

5. Valkyria Chronicles

Before we get to the overall Australian Gamer choices for the Best of 2008, I have one more award to present. This is the Australian Gamer Wooden Spoon award, dedicated to celebrating the laziness and overall gayness of whoever pisses me off the most at the last minute. What better receipient of the first annual Wooden Spoon award than Matt, who submitted his contribution after everyone else, after incessant nagging, and after extreme profanity through the phone, generously passed on by Yug. We love you, Matt. Don't ever change.