iTWire games of 2008

Mike Bantick
Friday, 12 December 2008 08:06

Opinion and Analysis

On the PC exclusive front, the most played game of the year was Crysis Warhead.   Which, once it had had its way with my hardware, left little for other titles.  Spore scored well, but the reality was that it just isn’t my cup of tea.

Exclusives are one thing, but now let us throw them all into the great melting pot of video gaming 2008 and see what crawls from the cauldron.

Radioactive IT took to scoring each game this year, giving a rating that indicated the quality of the product more than any other measure.  But to really indicate that intangible ‘fun’ factor I have based this article simply on time-of-play, or to be more accurate, time-of-enjoyable-play.

How often did I fire up these titles, either simply for the fun of gaming, rather than the grind of a review deadline?  How often, especially post review publication did this happen.

For example, Grand Theft Auto IV achieved a perfect 10 rating, and is an ongoing game fired up on the PS3 from time to time, but did not win this year’s game of the year.  GTA IV does indeed sit high on the pantheon of almost flawless games however, and is highly recommended for all mature gamers out there.  The RockStar opus will not disappoint on flavour, storyline, game-play and longevity.

Other honourable mentions for 2008 include, Fable 2 , Army of two , Lost Odyssey , Boom Blox ,  LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures ,  MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Mirror’s Edge , de Blob and the yet to be reviewed Call of Duty: World at War.

A special commendation to Ubisoft’s cross platform WWII epic , Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway .  Like the Call Of Duty franchise, BiA:HH leaves a player with the kind of finger cramps achieved through a complete involvement in the game.  Intensity levels set to stun and with an added layer of strategy to please jaded shooter fans and foes alike.

In Second place for replayability and general family fulfilment of fun it is Guitar Hero: World Tour .  For the first time (oh okay, second to Wii Sports, third if you count Monopoly) the whole family, from 7 to 70 is involved in the one game at the one time.

Of course it all ends in tears, as we turn on the lead singer or the dopy drummer or simply smash the guitars in rock frenzy at the end of a particularly tight version of ‘Band on the Run’.

Once the smoke clears I return to what I consider to be game of the year for 2008.  Despite its flaws, such as the odd dodgy AI, disconnected story line and horrible vehicle missions, Gears of War 2 manages to out-do its predecessor in epicness.

It is just stonkin good fun, pushing Marcus through the single player adult cartoon world of the Gears battle against the alien Locust or grabbing a buddy for co-op or some multiplayer mayhem is simply shout-out-loud fun.

And I cannot help myself, if the aim of gaming is simply to entertain, and bring joy to ones inner being, then Cliffy B and his team at Epic are pushing all the emotional buttons with their Xbox 360 exclusive sequel.

Of course all this subjective, and what one gamer hopes to achieve from a title, will not be what a further gamer is looking for.  And, there will always be a bias when it comes to hardware ownership or preference – making an exclusive choice like GoW 2 such a tough decision. 

2008 did not produce as many memorable titles as did 2007, but with even companies such as EA forging new IP such as Mirror’s Edge, and with the ever widening definition of who a ‘gamer’ is, 2008 was still a great year for interactive entertainment in a world gripped by financial fear.

The horizon is a difficult place to watch, and in many ways we approach 2009 with trepidation of which path interactive entertainment may take.  If you are a traditional hard-core gamer, the future may be one of having to put up with more and more ‘ordinary’ folk encroaching on your hobby.  How you handle that may define you as a person.