With the New Year right around the corner, you're probably starting to think about 2008 and all the games you played. It has, without question, been a phenomenal year for gaming, with solid releases throughout the entire calendar year. So, this month I want to recap the six must-rent games of 2008. Whether you have a PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii, you'll find something on this list worth playing over the holidays...or worth replaying!
Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the best Wii game of 2008 for hardcore gamers.
If you're looking for a great value, check out Fallout 3, which easily takes 50 hours to complete.
GTAIV expands in February with the release of a new downloadable episode, The Lost and Damned.
Although there's a lot of excitement over the big holiday releases, you shouldn't forget Grand Theft Auto IV. It came out back in April for the PS3 and Xbox 360, but GTAIV is still perhaps the most impressive achievement in game design of the entire year. Rockstar had the weight of the world on its shoulders in trying to live up to the hype and success of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. By all accounts, GTAIV delivered across the board. Set in Liberty City, you play as Eastern European immigrant Niko Bellic. With a richly-detailed open world, killer dialogue and story, plus an unrivaled soundtrack, GTAIV perfects the open world sandbox formula that Rockstar pioneered. Also, coming in February will be "The Lost and Damned," a new downloadable episode on Xbox Live that requires the full game to play. Instead of playing as Niko, you play as Johnny Klebitz, a member of the Liberty City biker gang called The Lost. Now there's a reason to re-rent it!
GTAIV is still perhaps the most impressive achievement in game design of the entire year...
Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid games have always been known for their unrivaled production values. Metal Gear Solid 4 is no different, with perhaps the best cinematic presentation of any game to date. It's also the exclusive PlayStation 3 game that Sony has long been searching for to give the platform a much needed boost. While the series' stealth gameplay has limited its mainstream appeal in the past, MGS4 takes on more of an action focus, with refined controls that more closely mirror Splinter Cell. Solid Snake's "final adventure" is an epic story with political undertones and five distinct locations that Metal Gear fans will love to see realized on next-generation hardware. If you want a game that shows off the power of the PS3, you can't go wrong with MGS4.
It's fair to say that the Nintendo Wii hasn't been home to many games for hardcore gamers during the second half of 2008. But if you are the proud owner of a new Wii, don't forget to turn the clock back to earlier this year when two huge releases hit the GameFly warehouse. There was Mario Kart Wii but my favorite Wii game of the year is the beat-em-up fighter Super Smash Bros. Brawl. With all your favorite Nintendo characters fighting against each other, as well as the inclusion of online play, Smash Bros. is exactly what hardcore gamers ordered. Now the bad news: Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until at least next year for a new Mario or Zelda.
Bethesda Game Studios only puts out a game every couple of years, but Todd Howard and his team always deliver. Oblivion was a powerful RPG, but it still stuck to the familiar swords and sorcery style of combat. Fallout 3, on the other hand, takes everything you love about an RPG and wraps it in a more accessible post-apocalyptic world. Fallout 3 is set in a nuked-out Washington, D.C. You begin the game as a baby in an underground vault with Liam Neeson playing your father. Soon, however, you escape to the wasteland for hours upon hours of intense combat and brilliant storytelling. Fallout 3 breaks new ground with its VATS combat system (which blends together real-time and turn-based combat) and its malleable story which molds itself to the player's choices. Rent the game, and then have your friend rent it - I promise that you'll both have completely different experiences.
The original Gears of War is still one of the best-looking games on the Xbox 360. So what does Epic Games do for the sequel? Up the ante, of course. The visuals are jaw-dropping, and Epic has created a game that feels like you're playing in the middle of a Lord of the Rings-style battlefield. The story pits Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad up against the Locusts again. The gameplay is similar to the first game, but the cover system has been improved, and there are meaningful tweaks like moveable cover (such as shields or downed Locusts that you can use as meat shields). Multiplayer is also a big focus, and the Horde Mode, which has you trying to survive against waves of oncoming Locusts, is already a fan favorite. Halo may still be close to the hearts of Xbox fans, but Gears of War 2 is doing all it can to steal Master Chief's thunder.
While a lot of mainstream attention was paid to Will Wright's inventive PC game Spore, I'd argue that a game with just as much innovation is LittleBigPlanet from Media Molecule. This PlayStation 3 exclusive is part game and part construction set. You build your own cute little burlap-sack character and then run through 2D side-scrolling game levels created by the designers or other gamers. And that's the rub: You too can build and upload levels using the game's create mode. The options are spellbinding, allowing you to create objects, animations, physics, puzzles and even dialogue. Already I've seen one amazing re-creation of the Nintendo classic Duck Hunt using the LittleBigPlanet game engine. If you've ever thought about designing your own game, LittleBigPlanet is a great place to start - and a game that is unlike anything else out there.
That's it for 2008, but I'll be back in January with a look forward to some of the biggest releases of 2009.
Share This Page