Happy new year everyone. With this new year beginning I would like to take a moment and look back at what I consider to be the 5 best games of 2008 that I have played. These are what I consider to be the best of the best that had released during the last year. If you have a system that one of these titles are on and have not given the title a try, do yourself a favor and try it out. Without further ado:

 

5. Prince Of Persia (PC, PlayStation 3, and XBOX 360)

This POP game doesn't involve the same prince as the last three titles on the last generation systems; this is a new prince with new abilities, powers, and a new attitude. Two things that I enjoy most about this game is the new battle system and the graphics. Battles in this game are always 1 on 1 (well technically 1 on 2 if you include your partner Elika) and the way that battles become harder is by the difficulty of an individual opponent unlike past games in the series that just increased the number of adversaries. This game is also beautiful; the cell shaded graphics in this game make this one of the best looking games of the year to me.

 

4. Patapon (PlayStation Portable)

This is one of the underdogs of 2008, this game released on an unfortunately slowly dying system with a budget price tag. This music game has the player acting as a god to the Patapon leading them into battle by keeping rhythm with the Patapon. During the game the player will learn 4 different drums during the course of the game and playing these drums in different order will make the Patapon do different actions: attack, retreat, block, ect. Throughout the game different types of Patapon can be unlocked during game play including special hero Patapon. This game doesn't push the system in any way, the game uses a minimal amount of buttons, the sound is nothing special outside of the interesting sounds of the Patapon, and the graphics are basic 2 dimensional sprites. What really makes this game a stand out hit is the fresh game play.

 

3. Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii)

This is the multiplayer game of the year. With over 30 playable characters there is a character for every kind of play style out there. Brawl also brings with it the first time inclusion of third party characters, Konami's Solid Snake from the Metal Gear series and Sega's Sonic from the Sonic the Hedgehog series are unlock able during game play. The inclusion of dozens of levels and a level creator allows for tons or replay ability. This is one of those games that can still feel fresh after hours of play. Recently my friends and I just received the in game message that we had completed out 1000 battle we looked at each other laughed and then continued playing. As soon as you believe you have mastered a character you will always find some other character that counters yours in a way that you hadn't seen before. Either single player or multiplayer this game can keep you entertained for hundreds of hours.

 

2. Fallout 3 (PC, PlayStation 3, and XBOX 360)

Bethesda Studios follow up to their 2005 Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion takes the formula perfected throughout the Elders Scrolls series and adopts it for the Fallout universe. Fallout 3 takes place in a post apocalyptic Washington D.C. were you are a survivor who has escaped from Vault 101 and are searching for your father. The game play is a hybrid of the real time RPG elements of Elder Scrolls and the point based system of Fallout. In fact you can play through the game in real time or you can use the V.A.T.S. system to selective aim at individual body parts or weapons. Although the main storyline does leave some to be desired the side quests are where the meat of this game lies; the quests range from funny and strange like purposely breaking your limbs and purposely attaining severe radiation poisoning to game changing quests such as setting off nuclear bomb in the center of a city. The items, gear, weapons, and interactions that you can have during this game make it one of the best of the year.

 

1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PlayStation 3)

My game of the year is Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. This game wraps up the story of Solid Snake, a clone of the greatest soldier of all time. While his body is slowly falling apart he is thrown into the middle of a war in order to kill his only remaining brother Liquid Snake. The game play in this title is second to none. The camera used in this title is the same as in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence an over the shoulder player controlled camera. With a gun equipped there are two different ways to aim with a zoomed in third person perspective (a la Resident Evil 4) or a first person perspective (a la Halo), allowing the player to use whichever they prefer. The story that has been built since 1988 has finally been wrapped up in MGS4, allowing both old and new fans of the series to understand and enjoy the deep story telling one last time. The online multiplayer plays just like the single player experience, just you get to shoot at other instead of AI opponents. The only thing that is left to be desired from the online game is that the Konami has made getting online into a rather lengthy process, but once you are on it is a lot of fun. While this may be Solid Snakes last battle in his life, this has definitely been his shining moment.

What where your top games this year?