Instead of doing another top 10 like so many of the "cool cats" are doing nowadays, I'm just gonna write my year in review. Plus, there's no point in making a Top 10 because, dude, I haven't played every game I've wanted to this year. I haven't beaten Professor Layton, Braid, Bionic Commando and did I mention that I don't wanna be the billionth person to say "Lol, here's my top 10!" I'm just gonna reflect on the year in games.
2008 was a huge year for games. While I'm going to assume that 2007 grossed more money I still can't think of too many games that just flat-out amazed me. While some people were saying "THIS IS THE BEST YEAR OF GAMING EVAAAAAA!!!!" I said "No...no...no it wasn't." 2008, although definitely not the best year for games EVAAAAA it's still a pretty friggin' good one.
Here is a list of most of the awesome games this year:
- Burnout Paradise (PS3/360)
- Sins of a Solar Empire (PC)
- Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)
- Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii)
- No More Heroes (Wii)
- PIxel Junk Monsters (PS3)
- Space Invaders Extreme (PSP/DS)
- Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP)
- God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)
- Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3/360/PC)
- Patapon (PSP)
- Boom Blox (Wii)
- The World Ends With You (DS)
- Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)
- Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3/360)
- Braid (360)
- Castle Crashers (360)
- Geometry Wars 2 (360)
- Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360)
- Crisis Warhead (PC)
- Rock Band 2 (PS3/360/Wii/PS2)
- Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)
- Dead Space (PS3/360/PC)
- Fable 2 (360)
- Farcry 2 (PS3/360/PC)
- Fallout 3 (PS3/360/PC)
- LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
- Resistance 2 (PS3)
- Gears of War 2 (360)
- World of Goo (PC/Wii)
- Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (360)
- Castlevania: Order of Ecclestia (DS)
- World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (PC)
- Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PS2)
- Left 4 Dead (360/PC)
- Prince of Persia (PS3/360/PC)
Wow. That's 37 friggin' awesome games. That's kinda hard to believe.
PS3
Number of Friggin Awesome Games: 14High Points: Metal Gear Solid 4, Hard Drive size increased, Trophies, In-Game XMB
Low Points: Poor Hardware and Software Sales, Haze, Home, Losing Final Fantasy XIII
The PS3 this year was most of what Sony promised. Was it the year of the PS3? Nope. 'Specially if we're going into sales. Resistance 2, LittleBigPlanet and MGS4 were awesome and we finally saw games looking as good (if not better) than 360 games. The fans got what they were asking for but is Sony better Microsoft with online? Nope. Home also bombed, proving to not be worth anything close to the hype it was getting. Sniffle. Good news is: I actually bought one.
PSP
Number of Friggin Awesome Games: 4High Points: Playstation Store Availlable from PSP, Some good games announced.
Low Points: Poor Hardware and Software Sales, practically no games, PSP 3000 is pointless
The PSP had a great start this year, God of War, Patapon, Crisis Core were all awesome.....kinda sucks that nothing else happened for it. If PC gaming is dead, then the PSP has decomposed already.
Xbox 360
Number of Friggin Awesome Games: 16
High Points: Dashboard Redesign, Software Sales are high, great online and downloadable offerings, price drop
Low Points: Still getting pulverized by the Wii
The 360 had a great year. With all the great games that came out for it, the redesign, price drops, the summer of arcade and high software sales the only problem is that the Wii is still totally killing it in sales. Even with games over a year old....kinda sad.
Wii
Number of Friggin Awesome Games: 5
High Points: Incredible Sales. WiiWare released some great games.
Low Points: They backhanded the hardcore, really, really hard.
Nintendo had two things to choose from: the money filled casual or the hardcore. They chose the casual. That pisses off some people. Namely me....kinda why I sold my Wii....
DS
Number of Friggin Awesome Games: 4...really?
High Points: Great sales, great ports, announcement of DSi, I hear the world ends with someone. I forget who.
Low Points: Not too many games that aren't ports
First off, let me just clear this up: Nintendo had more than 4 great games this year. Too bad from this list I exclude ports and games that IGN just decides to give a 9.0. Anyways, it had a solid year besides that. Punch me for not putting in FF4, Chrono Trigger or Advance Wars, but, I still think that it had a solid year. Nothing else to say.
My Game of the Year
I'm pretty sure one of you two people reading this would be all like: "What? THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU????" So let me just say: this is flat-out my favorite JRPG. It takes a unique concept, a unique setting, a unique combat system, unique music, fantastic characters, depth, a multiplayer mode and the best translation I think a game has EVER had and then calls it a game. No, it isn't breaking boundaries because guess what? It's a DS game. But I've played MGS4. That game is incredible. The thing is The World Ends With You is fun. The combat system is great, the dialog can get from philosophical to hilarious and the music will be eternally stuck in my head. That is gaming.
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