best-of-2008
Latest
Joystiq's Top 10 of 2008: Mirror's Edge
<< BACK COMMENT NEXT (9) >> Modern video games are incredibly complex creations, more so than we give them and their countless programmers, artists and exploding barrel technicians credit for. The feelings video games elicit, however, can be simple. Mirror's Edge is a complicated bundle of codes and clauses underneath its bold exterior, but its joys are immediate and primal. It's the game that made jumping exciting again.And jumped we did, breathlessly across, under and over an urban race course, our persecutors mere steps behind us. Mirror's Edge cuts to the chase, here a vertiginous sequence of elegant platforming and a ruthless hunt for efficiency. It's absolutely thrilling, presented in a perspective usually reserved for blundering man-tanks. Yes, there are cumbersome guns -- a literal throwaway element -- and yes, there's fist-to-face combat that's more than a little challenging. How many controllers would have been spared had the "Test of Faith" Achievement been removed?Mirror's Edge does stumble occasionally, but when it runs, it leaves most games in the dust. It's one of the most difficult, engaging, frustrating and satisfying experiences of the year. Chase it.%Gallery-17126% Next: Theworstthingtohappentoyourkeyboard. << BACK COMMENT NEXT (9) >>
Joystiq's Top 10 of 2008: Far Cry 2
<< BACK (9) COMMENT NEXT (7) >> Would you believe that Far Cry 2 is a lot like the original Star Wars trilogy? It's true! Before he took to bludgeoning audiences with obnoxious special effects, director George Lucas delivered a coherent, lived-in world that seemed more cobbled together than intentionally designed. The spaceships were old and busted, the bars were filthy and sometimes, the hyperdrives just didn't work. Far Cry 2's approximated Africa feels like just such a place -- dangerous, dirty and devoid of designer fingerprints. There's no level design here, no dynamic vegetation and no sophisticated radiosity. There's only a blistering sun creeping through the trees, their leaves shivering in fear of the approaching downpour.And then you shoot stuff!
Joystiq's Top 10 of 2008: Dead Space
<< BACK (10) COMMENT NEXT (8) >> Many of us found our hearts eviscerated by Electronic Arts' welcome, if financially maddening, newfound appreciation for original property. And while survival horror is hardly an unexplored genre, it's rare that any company, even a juggernaut like EA, gets everything right the first time. Dead Space nails it, and whether it's an eerie trek through the bowels of a derelict space ship, or surviving being cut to ribbons by aliens, cultists or former co-workers, staying alive has seldom felt as satisfying as it does aboard the USG Ishimura.
Joystiq's Top 10 of 2008: Fallout 3
<< BACK (5) COMMENT NEXT (3) >> There was a point -- maybe three hours in -- when we were half convinced that Fallout 3 was intentionally trying to make us not like it. Here we were, in what is probably one of the most stunningly realized game worlds ever designed, feeling like we'd been duped. The pace was plodding, the voice acting was dreadful, and we actually preferred engaging in face-to-face dialog with the ghouls than most of the human characters, who were, in a way, more ghoulish in appearance. Someone had us running fetch quests and the whole experience seemed nothing like the deeply engrossing adventure we'd imagined.
Joystiq's Top 10 of 2008: Left 4 Dead
<< BACK (4) COMMENT NEXT (2) >> "So there we were, just the four of us on the pier, the boat nowhere in sight and a tank charging at us through the trees..."You've probably heard plenty of variations on this story over the past few weeks. But what's more surprising: That Left 4 Dead's horrifying scenarios seem so unique game-to-game that players think stories about them would be entertaining, or that we've heard so many of them and still can't get enough?It's simple, both in plot -- four survivors try to escape the zombie apocalypse -- and in gameplay. But through its simplicity, L4D is able to address some multiplayer problems that might have seemed unsolvable just a few months ago.
Joystiq's Top 10 of 2008: Metal Gear Solid 4
<< BACK (3) COMMENT NEXT (1) >> Is it a cliché to call Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots the gamer's game? Of course it is. But that's the thing with clichés, they're just so perfect at explaining what we're too unimaginative to express in fantastic detail. Fitting then, that MGS4 is a near-impossible amalgamation of cliché and creativeness. A spawn of convoluted histories and a bold vision of gaming's future.If it was up to creator Hideo Kojima to expound the merits of his masterpiece you'd be in for a verbose, probably boring -- and most certainly unplayable -- account. Thankfully, we will do our best to provide a terse study of Joystiq's runner-up to Game of the Year 2008. So then, what makes MGS4 so darn special?
Joystiq's Top 10 of 2008: Gears of War 2
<< BACK (7) COMMENT NEXT (5) >> When a game has you sitting on the edge of your seat, your heart pounding out of your chest, and the feeling that you might have a stroke any second, then you know the developer did something right. Even if that something might result in a nervous breakdown, or your eventual death.That's what the Gears of War 2 Horde mode does. In fact, Epic could have just released this as a standalone game called Gears of War: The Hordening, and we'd still have picked it up. It trumps the regular multiplayer modes – broken matchmaking complaints aside – because you know that no matter how great the match is, or how skilled your teammates are, it'll all be over in a few rounds. Horde mode gives you fifty (50!) waves of enemies who grow more skilled and more difficult to down as you play. That's pure adrenaline-fueled addictive gamecrack right there.
Joystiq's Top 10 of 2008: Braid
<< BACK (6) COMMENT NEXT (4) >> People exhibit different reactions upon playing Braid. Some, like Soulja Boy, show a child-like appreciation for the unique implementations of time manipulation in the game. It's hard not to smile, or let out a laugh, when your character gets hit by a demented Goomba and you rewind -- only to repeat the same mistake. The gameplay is incredibly accessible, and does a great job of teaching players new tricks as they progress forward. Slight alterations of the time mechanic make Braid feel consistently new and fresh.There are others, though, that delve much deeper into the tale that Braid weaves. There are numerous interpretations on various forums, all with different answers to some of the game's most challenging questions: What is the princess running away from? What is the main character's fatal mistake? What is the true meaning of the princess?
Joystiq's Top 10 of 2008: LittleBigPlanet
<< BACK (8) COMMENT NEXT (6) >> Upon further reflection, choosing LittleBigPlanet as one of our ten favorite games of the year is the ludological equivalent of Oprah adding an empty journal to her revered list of "must-buy" literature, or the Art Institute of Chicago proudly adding a coloring book to one of its exhibits. Actually, that analogy isn't completely sound -- said journal would have a wildly entertaining, oftentimes hilarious foreword, and the first few pages of said coloring book would have been filled in by Georgia O' Keeffe.What we mean to say is that the common elements present in the other nine titles on this enumerated list of honors are absent -- or at the very least, extremely faint -- in LBP. The plot for the story mode is Super Mario Bros.-esque in its simplicity, the gameplay hearkens back to an era where providing the player with three commands (run, jump and grab) for their on-screen representation was commonplace, and the visual aesthetic is devoid of amber hues and eye-searing bloom lighting.
Joystiq's Top 10 of 2008: Fable 2
<< BACK (2) COMMENT AGAIN! In many ways, Peter Molyneux and friends at Lionhead had a steeper hill to climb than most of the games on this list. Fable 2 is, after all, the sequel to 2004's Fable – one of gaming's great "disappointments." It went something like this: the delta between what was promised and what was delivered was so great, that the press – roped in by the charming Molyneux – and by proxy the players, retaliated. The result: what really wasn't a terrible game is still now, years later, remembered as a disappointment.Enter: Fable 2. Like Nintendo's illustrious Zelda series, Fable 2 is more of an aesthetic, as opposed to a narrative, sequel. You'll spot familiar gameplay elements, familiar narrative themes, and even some familiar places – this is definitely a Fable game. But it's also something entirely new: a new Albion, with a new Hero, new quests, a new enemy and, most importantly, the newfound ability to marry execution with ambition.
Encrypted Text: From brute to assassin, 2008 in review
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. In this special edition, we cover the top 10 changes of 2008.We've been through a lot in 2008. I hit 70 on my current Rogue last January, and so I have paid keen attention to the patch notes and blue posts right alongside many of you. I was excited to reach the level cap on my blood elf; Rogues were at the height of their power. Season 3 and Season 4 of the arena season saw us demolishing every non-healing class in representation. None even dared to consider rivaling a Rogue with a pair of Glaives in any DPS contest.However, due to Blizzard's hesitance to drastically change any balance issues before WotLK's release, we essentially had one PvE spec (20/41/0 Combat) and one PvP spec (20/0/41 Shadowstep). While there were always Rogues experimenting on the fringe with new specs, 90% of Rogues fell into one of these two buckets. Both were brute force builds, designed to smash things with very slow maces or swords; and not even very creatively with that. We excelled in the arena due to our mobility and infinite energy pool, we ruled in PvE due to the overbudgeted weapons and leather in the Tier 6 dungeons. There was no finesse, no grace, no elegance outside of flashy moves (like vanishing a Death Coil). We were around to spam Sinister Strike until the boss died and spam Hemorrhage until the Druid finally ran out of mana.WotLK has fixed all that. Read on as we cover the top 10 changes that helped us move from mindless button smashers into the deadly swans we have become.
The Joystiq Network (except us) picks its GOTYs
While we at Joystiq like to be fashionably on time with our Game of the Year picks, our network of sites has already named some winners, and in case you've missed them: PS3 Fanboy Awards, now with one PSP category! More importantly, though, we've learned the staff is very good at making PSP and PS3 predictions. The Nintendo Fanboys couldn't play favorites, so they just chose their ten favorites for both Wii and DS and decided to put them in no certain order. The crew at X3F couldn't come to a consensus, either, so they did individual picks (Richard, Xav, Dustin) in addition to letting the readers choose for themselves. On the PC side of things, here's BigDownload and Massively's picks for the best of ought-eight. ... Oh, you want to see our GOTYs? Sorry, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow.
Best of 2008: The most delicious DS homebrew
Time to face some harsh facts, people: this time next year, none of us will have two pennies to rub together, and nobody will care anyway, because we'll all be fighting to the bloody death over scrap metal, rat carcasses, and clean drinking water. The good news? You can slow your inevitable descent into abject poverty by no longer paying for your DS games, and instead download totally free homebrew. Hurray! Not that you shouldn't be selective in what you download -- after all, for every StillAliveDS or Pocket Physics, the homebrew community churns out plenty of garbage. With this in mind, we decided to compile a list of the best homebrew we personally encountered this year. Have any recommendations that we missed? Tell us in the comments! And don't forget we dedicated a whole week to homebrew earlier this year -- you can head here for more recommendations!
GamerBytes picks top XNA Community Games
One of our New Year's resolutions is to do better at keeping up with all the XNA Community Games (it's a long-time-coming, we know). In the meanwhile, GamerBytes and XNPlay have picked up the slack, and have chosen the top games on the service from 2008.Taking the top slots are Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp, Ultratron and vertical ragdoll platformer CarneyVale: Showtime, which you really have to see to "get." Don't worry, we've put a video of it after the break.
Best of 2008: 10 games you should have downloaded
Even without consulting the weekly popularity charts found on the Nintendo Channel, it's pretty simple to know whether a Virtual Console game was successful in 2008. Success on the VC was reserved for Nintendo franchises and the very biggest names in third-party releases, like Sonic, Mega Man, and Pac-Man. One delightful exception to the super-famous franchise rule: Super Dodge Ball has been in the Top 20 since release. People are clearly buying what they already love rather than exploring.WiiWare, as well, is dominated by the same titles since release: World of Goo, Tetris Party, and (yes,) My Aquarium have been at the top of the charts since release. Other games that have had long stretches of success include, uh, Target Toss Pro: Bags, Pong Toss, Sudoku Challenge, and -- oh, good -- Mega Man 9. Some less popular games take a trip up and then back down the chart upon release. But some didn't even really do that, despite being totally worthwhile. Join us as we browse through five Virtual Console games and five WiiWare games that you guys passed over for more Mario games and The Incredible Maze. To simplify things, we considered North American sales and releases only. If you're from outside North America, go ahead and assume people missed good games in your region too. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; }
Wii Warm Up: 2008's best publisher?
Following up yesterday's conversation at DSF, we figured we'd bring the topic over to today's Wii Warm Up. So, who do you think is the publisher of the year on Wii? Is it Nintendo (that's too easy, though), or a third party? What about in 2009? Who do you think is going to publish the upcoming year's best?
PS Fanboy Best of 2008 Awards
PSP may not have had a lot of games this year, but it certainly had a lot of great games. But only ONE can be PSP Game of the Year. What is it? Well, find out here.
Nintendo dominates Amazon in 2008
The Nintendo Wii has been a hit since it released over two years ago. For popular retail site Amazon.com, Nintendo's latest console has been a big cash generator for Amazon during its time on the market, especially in 2008, as the site has released its 2008 best-of lists and guess what was the top-selling video game in 2008? You guess it: Wii.Aside from being the top video game, Wii Fit enjoyed the best reviews through 2008, as well as being the product most wished for by users. Last, but certainly not least, was Mario Kart Wii (with Wii Wheel), which was the item gifted the most by Amazon users throughout this year. In the end, Nintendo ended up being
Best of 2008: 10 best Wii games
Well folks, the year is coming to a close and we're all about nostalgia here, even if it's only short-term reminiscing. So, we've compiled our list for the 10 best gaming experiences that released on Wii this year. We're talking about the best commercial releases, as well as WiiWare (sorry, no Virtual Console picks). Care to join the discussion? Click here to continue >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; }
Nintendo dominates Amazon's 2008 game sales, wish lists
Nintendo commanded the top spot in every video game category of Amazon.com's "Best of 2008" list released today. The winners in each category were determined by Amazon sales figures and shoppers using various site features. The main "best of" list covers various departments, but we're obviously only interested in the gaming section.Video Games category: Best-selling Product -- Nintendo Wii Most-Loved Product -- Wii Fit Most-Wished-For Product -- Wii Fit Most Popular Gift Product -- Mario Kart Wii with Wii Wheel Now, if only there was a way to track the "most-used" products. We wonder if the world has been keeping up with its Wii Fit regimen once the most-wished-for item actually landed in the house.
