My Games of the Year
The year of 2008 is finally coming to a close, after a great year of gaming. Many great franchises have gotten their anticipated sequels, and some good, new IP has arisen. As most other gaming websites do, I'd like to present you with my personal Game of the Year picks. Note, these are my opinions, not VGToday as a whole. Kitsune will be posting his shortly. Now, without further adieu...
Age of Booty
Runner Up: Braid
Did he really...? Yes, I did. Braid did not win my top spot, as popular opinion has expected in most game of the year lists. The reason Age of Booty won was because it was actually fun, and complex enough to keep my attention past an hour or so (The problem with most XBLA titles). Braid was nice, "artsy", innovative, etc. But was it really fun? Did it pull you back to play time and time again? If you said no, then you're right. If you said yes, then just stop reading. In all seriousness, Braid is highly overrated due to its reliance of pulling users in by its art and innovation, rather than actual longevitable fun.
Best Studio
Valve Software
Runner Up: Bethesda Softworks
Valve gets the award for its game Left 4 Dead. Left 4 Dead, in my opinion, is one of the first games to actually make co-op, cooperative. Many games add co-op, but players normally do not stick together and just do their own thing. In Left 4 Dead, especially in the higher levels, players must stick together or the innovative AI Director will pick off the survivors, one by one. The AI Director is another reason for Valve's winning here. The Director makes the game fresh each play through, and challenges you. If it sees you surviving too easy, you will soon hear the noise signaling the dreaded Tank, or other special infected.
Biggest Letdown
Fable II
Runner Up: Fallout's Ending
What can I say except that this game has the typical Peter Molyneux problem. Too many promises, too little follow throughs. Molyneux once again promised that Fable II would be the hit game of the year, improving upon everything in Fable I. It fixed alot, but did not really "improve". The game still, to this date, has many game breaking bugs. Some include falling out of the map when jumping over certain objects. One major problem is the lack of main storyline, and the story it does have is "been there, done that". As for Fallout 3, when, and if, you reach the very end...you will understand why this made the list.
Best RPG
Fallout 3
Runner Up: Fable II
Fallout makes Best RPG of 2008 for obvious reasons. Some people call it "Oblivion with guns", I call it "Oblivion with guns, zombies, nukes, mutants, drinking out of toilets, etc." Fallout 3 is truly a landmark in RPGs, reaching to the ranks of such RPG giants as Final Fantasy. Fallout 3 does nearly everything right...except it's ending. Fable II was also fun to play, but did not make number one due to its lacking story and some gameplay elements that make it unenjoyable.
Best Shooter
Left 4 Dead
Runner Up: Gears of War 2
Left 4 Dead gets the rank of best shooter because of what I said above (See "Best Studio"). Gears of War 2 is held back from the number one for reasons I have already posted about. You can read the article here: Click Here. Since my picks have been mostly explained, that is all I am going to say for this section.
Best Strategy
Civilization Revolution
Runner Up: Age of Booty
It seems so long ago, when the big games coming out were Civilization Revolution and Battlefield: Bad Company. Not to be forgotten is Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution, the (by far) best strategy game of the year. Many people doubted whether a Turn Based Strategy could work on a console. CivRev proved everyone wrong, it worked magnificently. The game has numerous civilizations to play as, and keeps you coming back for more and more. In fact, I am planning on putting this disc in later in the week.
Game of the Year
Left 4 Dead
Runner Up: Fallout 3
Left 4 Dead received this title for obvious reasons that I have previously stated in this post. It is fun, innovative, has great longevity, great cooperative play, and much more. I was going to make my GotY Fallout 3, and the runner up be Gears of War 2, but I finally put my Left 4 Dead disc in, and was "wowed". This is quite possibly the game of the past few years. If you have an Xbox 360, or a decent PC, and do not have this game you should not consider yourself a gamer until you play it. This is a must play title. Fallout 3 really missed the mark for me after I saw the ending, it was horrible, compared the Left 4 Dead's near flawlessness.
Notice that I missed Best Fighting Games, Action/Adventure, etc? Well, the titles in those category I have most likely not played, so it was not fair for me to judge a whole category if I only played one or two of the titles within it. Hopefully you will see the categories you missed in Kistune's GotY picks. Hope you enjoyed by insight, AND GO BUY LEFT 4 DEAD!!
Enjoy!
The VGToday Crew
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