These are what I think were the best games of ‘08, of the games I have played.

LittleBigPlanet. I think this will have the longest legacy of any game this year. The simplicity, beautiful design, and endless scope of this platform game cum worldwide sandbox is just unlike any other game this year, or perhaps ever. The seamless integration online is so easy and pleasant, it also makes the game an MMO in style. No other game has ever been so wholeheartedly encouraging to the creative minds of its players - it’s almost an artistic medium on its own. It’s a thing of wonder and I will always love it.

Braid. Probably my favourite game of the year, simply because it has a kind of integrity - it is perfectly formed from the sum of its parts, not artificially extended or developed - it grows with its story and ends when there is nothing more to say. It is the best puzzler I have ever played bar none - it is ingenious on an entirely different scale to any other game I have ever played. Add in the expressive watercolour graphics, the charming score, and the platform mechanics, and you have a wonderful, original whole that suggests that games can and will go arthouse one day.

Left 4 Dead. I wouldn’t expect any less of Valve - they only make wonderfully original, utterly fresh games, and this is no different. The AI director gives a game experience that never gets tired, the co-op gameplay is like nothing before (with a nod to the zombie counter-strike mods), and as usual with Valve every last corner of the game is beautifully and intelligently designed for the perfect gameplay experience. Killing zombies rocks in co-op - a new universal truth!

Fable II. I don’t think there’s anything genuinely great about Fable II, but it is more than the sum of its parts. Easy to pick up, simple combat system, a deep world to explore, all the usual RPG tweaks, and just that feeling of control - the idea that whatever you do is changing your world. It’s something that games rarely manage to express, but with Fable II it forever presses those buttons that make you feel like an individual playing your own unique game in your own unique way. Humour, design, gameplay - all top notch and un-put-downable.

Geometry Wars 2. I’m surprised not to see this show up in more end-of-year lists, because you can be damn sure that everyone who knew about it was playing this game relentlessly when it came out. It has become the new standard for dual-joystick shooters, is hugely addictive, and I just can’t imagine a day when I won’t want to pick this up and give it a blast for 20 minutes. I don’t know why that sort of quality has gone out of style - this game absolutely rocks, and nobody who has ever played it would disagree.

World Of Goo. This is simply a wonderful puzzler, with cute and clear presentation and a game mechanic that just intrinsically works brilliantly. Like Braid, there’s a real feeling that this is a perfectly formed game - there is little familiarity from one screen to the next, and you always feel like the next challenge is fresh. An absolute joy to play.

Grand Theft Auto IV. Like the rest of the gaming world (it seems), I’ve gone through a sort of love-hate relationship with this game. At its best I felt it was the best game of all time, at its worst it felt like a pale shadow of the past excesses of GTA, but having distilled it for a few months now, I think I can say with some sense of certainty that Niko Bellic is the character we will remember from this year, and that his story in this game is still one of the most affecting and memorable in the history of the genre. Yes the shooting mechanic is still poor in this game, and the driving is okay at best, and the cityscape isn’t as pretty as Burnout Paradise, but somehow put together the game manages to be utterly compelling. I can’t think of a better satire of modern city life in any medium.