Games of the Year

TOP 10 GAMES

I had two criteria(if criteria is plural, is it criterias? That doesn't sound right. Great, my lack of grammar knowledge really reinforces my credibility/rant) for this list. One, the game was released in 2008. Two, I had finished the game. I did make one exception for that last rule, but I'll explain when I get there.

Honorable Mention: Professor Layon and the Curious Village

Level 5, the developer of this game, is poised for a big year whenever they release the PS3 exclusive White Knight Chronicles, but meanwhile they fucking killed with this puzzle, point and click adventure. The art is wonderful, with drawing obvious references to Miyazaki. I haven't had that much experience with brain teasers so I could really feel the IQ points going into my head after I would successfully solve a puzzle. I can't wait for the sequels.


Honorable Mention: Castle Crashers

We all played those quarter munching beat-em-up's back when we were kids. Final Fight, The Simpsons, TMNT Arcade. This is what Castle Crashers is. Move through levels, punch people in the face, eat food for health, but the game has added RPG elements like leveling up, magic spells, and collecting gear. Very good, very funny, but damn I wish the multiplayer wasn't broken at launch. I would have played it a lot more(They recently fixed multiplayer last week). If you don't enjoy beating numerous enemies senseless...you're wrong.

10: Space Invaders Extreme

What the hell...it's just Space Invaders...with fluorescent colors, multiple enemy types that require strategy to defeat,techno beats that react to your shooting, upgradable weapons, stage bosses, multiplayer(that no one really played), and online leaderboards. It's just Space Invaders...but EXTREME!

9: Mirror's Edge

Oh, how I wanted to love you Faith. And I do. Enough to put you in my Top 10. I don't mind the abuse. It's okay. Maybe I just like being frustrated because I died 20 times on the same jump, and then another 30 times during some stupid combat scenario. Man, you...I mean the game is just so beautiful and the world is interesting to look at. DICE did a good job of capturing the feeling of movement, sliding and flying through levels. I just wish you could fucking run away from cops.

8: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

I fucking hate you so much Nintendo. This should have been number one. Really. You had me in the palm of your hand, but you had to fuck up the online play. Here's a tip: People don't want to play two minute matches when looking for random matches. I can't deny that this is a really fun game, but I don't have game friends here. I can only imagine the sick matches we would have everyone still lived near Don's. I can't really say anything else. It's Smash Bros. With new characters and new maps. It's slower, not as frantic as Melee. It's really good, but fuck Nintendo. They don't need more smoke blown up their ass.

7: Audiosurf

YOU DIDN'T BUY THIS WHEN IT WAS TWO BUCKS FOOL. I CAN PLAY TO BARRY MANILOW SON

No, wait I will say that this game is great if you want to interact with your music collection. You can use any song that you have, so the replayability is endless. That is, until you get sick of it, which so far I am not.

6: Mario Kart Wii

I was sort of surprised that I put Mario Kart here. To be honest it's just feels like a mash up of all the Mario Kart games with few additions. I couldn't stop playing it though, and it was a godsend when my 360 broke. This is the only game on Wii that maintains an online community because the online play/matchmaking actually works. I can play a full race with strangers on my Wii. What a crazy thought.

PS - Fuck Nintendo.

5: Gears of War 2

There are so many ridiculous choice lines in this game. "Eat shit and die." "More like ten shitloads." My personal favorite is "THEY'RE SINKING CITIES WITH A GIIIIANT WORM!" They tried to make the story serious, but it was laughable, but I got some entertainment out of how bad it was, so that was good. The most fun you'll have is playing Horde mode though, but everyone knows/says that. Perhaps I should have ranked it lower because the multiplayer sorta broken at the moment, like Smash Bros. The difference is this isn't a Nintendo game, so obviously I love it. I really need to stop Nintendo bashing. Anyway, play this game.


4: Geometry Wars 2

This game fills my need to score big points. Online leaderboards kept me hungry to play. I think that this game caused me to lose the most sleep because it's so easy to just spam the start button every time you die and boom you're back to shooting those fucking Six different ways to play, pretty shiny 80's style vector graphics, it's the best arcade style game right now.

3: Rock Band 2

I can't stop messing with the plastic instruments. It's a serious problem. It's the same game with new songs, but I still close my eyes and lose myself in the moment when I'm banging on the plastic toy drums. It also doesn't help that Harmonix releases new songs every week. My most recent addition to my library has fulfilled my fantasy of being Gwen Stefani. I have a problem.

2: Grand Theft Auto IV

Ooooh man. If there was a hardcore gamer base reading this blog I would get so much shit from them right now. Blah blah blah overrated blah blah blah. I have to put it up here though because I spent the most time this year playing this game. I don't care what people say, but Rockstar fucking killed it. Liberty City hasn't looked this good, and there's so much to do. For the most part the story was an intriguing crime story, but honestly it really fell flat at the end. It just started feeling like every other GTA game, but the first half was awesome. This is the one game that I still have not finished though. I still feel like it's okay to put it on my list because I just need to do the last mission, but I don't think I'll ever do it because I just got too frustrated. I've been around town enough though to say that this game is worthy of Games of the Year lists.

1: Left 4 Dead

I don't feel right having this at the top of my list. I mean it just came out, and I might be blinded by that fact. It's so shiny. I already knew this was going to be my most favorite game this year after I played the demo and I team killed someone, then pretended to help them up like 6 times, and then finally ending their lives with a couple of shotgun rounds to the face. That's what it's about. You share these unique experiences with people that you enjoy playing with, and because of that sole reason I feel that you can't get any better than that. People who don't want to buy it because there isn't enough content, I can understand that. It's hard to really justify 60 bucks for only four maps, but if you're like me and you just make fun with what you got, then you'll think that this is a really good fucking game. This will be like my Team Fortress 2 of 2007, which is to say I'm going to be playing this well into 2009, every weekend, with the same people, until the next big profile game comes out.