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I loved everything in Mass Effect 1, apart from the Mako driving sections. The world of Mass Effect really grabbed me, I was so in love with the fiction that I brought pretty much all the books, and other forms of media. Mass Effect 2 does everything a squeal should improve on the original without being afraid to change what was broken. The combat controls are tighter, there no more cluttered inventory screens and more importantly no more Mako. Although without the Mako there isn't anyway to travel around distance worlds (well until the DLC).
The story is epic, there a few twists and turns that make this one of my favorite stories in the genre. All the characters are fleshed out and like-able. All the DLC is worth playing, especially 'The Lair of The Shadow Broker' and 'Overlord' which are some of the best story DLC I've seen in a long time. Overall Mass Effect 2 is an amazing package, and is brilliant from start to finish. If you haven't played it go now and play it, also this month it's coming to the PS3 so there no excuse to not play it.
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I never played Red Dead Revolver when it was released back on the original Xbox so I didn't know what to expect from Redemption. Red Dead Redemption was often pitched to me as GTA on horses, and while that statement isn't entirely wrong you would be underrating the one of the most original games this year. The writing is amazing, all the characters (that you have time to get to know) are fleshed out and like-able. The story follows John Marston as he's on a quest to get his family back from the government, by hunting down members of his old gang. The story hooked me right from the start and keep me through all the way to its brilliant ending.
While Red Dead plays like GTA and there aren't that many features that change up the combat in Redemption from GTA, other-than Dead Eye mode. Dead Eye is basically pick which enemy you don't like the look of and than John Marston will fill him full of lead, at first this mode was fun but by the end of the game I never touch it. The multiplayer is only worth mentioning, it's fun for about two weeks before you stop playing it. I wish Rockstar would just change one thing for there next game tho, NO more having to repeatably tap 'A' to run, there is never a situation in GTA or Red Dead where you can just walk into cover.
I would talk about Undead Nightmares DLC but sadly I haven't had the chance to play it.
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To any Pokemon fan they would know that Pokemon Black & White haven't been released yet in the west but I love Pokemon so much that I imported Pokemon Black. Pokemon Black & White is as close to a full reboot as the series is going to get. In Black & White Gamefreak chosen to start again to try and capture that feeling we got when we all played Red & Blue (& Green), to make Pokemon feel alien again, and did it work? Yes, on your first play-through of the game there is not one single Pokemon from the previous four generation making you have pick from the new 156 pokemon. Although some of the Pokemon look like tribute acts to other Pokemon but that only a small percent of them.
The are loads of new changes to formula, including new multiplayer modes like Triple-Battles, and Rotation Battles, Season, and the 3D surroundings have been taken to a whole new level. But the biggest change (well to me) is when your battling, the Pokemon are no longer static sprites they're always in motion and the camera will move according to the battle showing you close ups of the attacks and some on and so forth. You're still a new Pokemon trainer who battles all the gym leaders and then goes on to fight the Elite Four but with all the other changes to the formula it doesn't matter. Overall Pokemon Black & White is a fresh breath of air to an otherwise prefect series.
There are load of new features but because I've imported it and haven't had the time I haven't used them. The big one being Dream World and High Link, which are big gameplay changing features. Look at Serebii.net for details on those modes.
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O'Assassin's Creed. I love Assassin's Creed but Brotherhood isn't the game I hope it to be, it lacks something that Assassin's Creed II had and I can't put my finger on it. The first half of the game is Assassin's Creed II with a few interesting game-play modes, but at the third or fourth chapter in Ezio gets to recruit Assassins. Which makes the game a little easier if you have them on you. All Ezio does is wave to them and the unlucky enemy you so happened to be looking at is dead, but I keep sending them on missions just to level them all up so I never used them until I completed the game. That said it's funny to watch a group of guards just drop dead from a swarm of arrows.
I've played a little of the multi-player and it's fun. In past I have said "that Assassin's Creed multiplayer wouldn't work" (Well a team death match type Assassin's Creed) but I was wrong. Assassin's Creed multiplayer is original, and again fun. Everyone picks a character and then the world is populated with NPCs of that of those characters. Each player gets a target and a poseur, and everyone tries to kill there target with being kill themselves.
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Mario Galaxy was the peak of the platforming genre with it's gravity controlling game mechanic. Super Mario Galaxy is more of Mario Galaxy with the inclusion of Yoshi but want more do you want? Mario Galaxy 2 is awesome.
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I respect Bungie for stopping there franchise before the series is driven into the ground, I don't trust Mircosoft keep this one dead for long, and with the last Halo game comes the big question. Does it live to the rest of the series? Yes it does. Halo Reach is a great campaign experience with the some of the funnest game-play this year. There isn't much to say on the multiplayer because if you where a Halo you know what to expect with a few changes.
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A brilliant experience from start to finish. The puzzle are just the right level of difficulty that I didn't need to look up a walk-through (well only on the eggs). I love how the art direction comes into the game-play. Since 73% of the screen is black or grey you don't know if an object will kill you until you've activated it.
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Battlefield Bad Company was one of my big surprises of 2008, being that I never played a Battlefield game before Bad Company I didn't know what to expect. Bad Company was amazing with is characters, somewhat humours campaign and addictive multiplayer. After they announced Battlefield Bad Company 2 I couldn't wait to see Haggard, Sweetwater & Co again. Bad Company 2's campaign is still awesome but all the characters feel like they had a big fight after BC 1, they never wise-crack never talk other then shouting mission objectives and doesn't stick as well as the first one. I know that one of the biggest complaints of Bad Company was its lack of seriousness on the subject matter, war. I felt so disconnected from the campaign this around that I only played it once, while I played Bad Company's three times. Anyway that said heres a game I (almost) played all year, with it's fantastic multiplayer and expansions.
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While Alan Wake wasn't the horror game it promised to be, it still hooked me with some interesting game-play mechanics and kept me playing from start to finish.
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Singularity is one of the biggest surprises this year with its interesting story and game-play machanics. While the multiplayer won't stand the test of time, it's still ten times better then Wolfinstein's last adventure.
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