Last month, I had a plan of doing a series of posts revolving around my best of 2008 with the Then and Now feature, but I got lazy in doing them. Instead I'll just do a good old fashioned top 10 of 2008 megapost. My Then and Now thoughts do apply here in some form in terms of which games I loved at the time they were out and whether or not they're still that good. Plus, it does feel a little lame now talking about last year now that 2009 is off a crazy start with the whole 1up/EGM situation and perhaps my favorite first quarter of a year in terms of game releases. The PS3 Experience posts also do not factor into this top 10 I have listed because it is just too late to consider them in the list. Anyway, here's my top 10 and you may be surprised.
10) Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
So Brawl is my only Wii game in this top 10 and the best game on that system for the year personally (Mega Man 9 and Mario Kart are the runner-ups). Other than Mario Kart, Brawl was basically the only hardcore game out for Wii in 2008 as Nintendo continued their casual direction selling millions of Wii consoles (Wii Sports is now the #1 selling game beating the original Super Mario Bros.) along with Wii Fit and even Mario Kart was casually focused with the wheel. Anyway back to Brawl, even though it was a disappointment to the Smash community with the gameplay changes, I still enjoyed it during its first month back in March. It is filled with so much Nintendo goodness from the crazy roster to all those cameo appearances. Sure, the Subspace Emissary could have been better and the online didn't turn out the way Nintendo fanboys wanted to be, but Brawl is still a brilliantly packaged game with tons of replay value. This game is the reason why I have four Classic Controllers, four Nunchuks, four Wiimotes because I don't have GameCube controllers anymore. I like to also mention the soundtrack, which is like some Now Music compilation but filled with Nintendo tunes past and present making me go nuts. After the awesome year that was 2007 with the Wii because of Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3, Brawl in 2008 was good enough to fill the Wii void in my top 10 despite its shortcomings.
9) Bionic Commando Rearmed (XBLA)
I never played the original Bionic Commando on the NES as Rearmed was the start of the franchise's return to the gaming world. If I had to give a best video game company of 2008 (publisher or developer) award, it would be to Capcom for appreciating the old-school and bringing it back to the current generation in awesome ways (more on that later). The developer Grin did a great job with this HD remake by keeping it faithful to the original game in terms of gameplay and brutal difficulty (Yes, it is still a hard game, but definitely beatable). Rearmed also sets the bar for HD remakes for classic games in terms of satisfying both fans of the original and new fans to the franchise trying something different and unique. After playing the 3D Bionic Commando at Comic-Con last year, I still have high hopes for that game to be pretty good considering how amazing Rearmed was and the mutliplayer could be as good as Capcom's last third person shooter, Lost Planet, which some people loved.
8) Burnout Paradise (360)
Burnout Paradise was the only racing game I bought in 2008 even though I wanted to play Midnight Club LA and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift. Anyway, Criterion gambled with Paradise by taking Burnout from a structured racer to an open-ended experience and it worked out in the end setting the bar for how you handle seamless online play and keeping it playable even after a year of its release. Yeah, people complained about the lack of race restart and the franchise going to a new direction, but is there any other racing game out now that still feels fresh with all the updates and downloadable content out during the year and the re-release next month? Paradise proved that the racing genre can still be improved upon and there's still more room for innovation.
7) Gears of War 2 (360)
Gears 2 is surprisingly not as high on the list as some may hoped. I still enjoyed the game a lot, especially the single player. I guess it was the problems with multiplayer and my lack of playtime of versus and Horde hampered its position in the list. Also after playing Gears 2, I started to get shooter fatigue even though I didn't play all the good shooters that came out in the fall season. As the genre that gets oversaturated like fighting games and platformers were in the 90s, I have to say I'm getting tired of them and I rather play other types of games that don't feel oversaturated. Other than that rant, Gears 2 did provide some great moments like the cutscene above and it still one of the better games I played last year beating it on the first night.
6) Rock Band 2 (360)
I think 2008 is the last good year for the Guitar Hero/Rock Band phenomenon. Despite saying that, Rock Band 2 is still the best rhythm game of the year beating out the competition like Guitar Hero World Tour. It improved everything the first game didn't have like making Band World Tour online and playable alone, the best soundtrack on a disc to rock out to. And yes, this game still has the best legs with its never-ending replay value due to the weekly downloadable content (whether good or bad). Harmonix made the right decision after all by not continuing the Guitar Hero franchise and taking things to the next level with the Rock Band franchise. Let's just hope they continue making it as a platform instead of milking it like Activision is doing with Guitar Hero in 2009.
Video note: The video I posted is a full band run of Disturbed's "Down with the Sickness" featuring the "Queen of Vocals" Vixenita. Don't mind the overhits with the drummer as it is still a FC run of the song.
5) Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
SSF2T HD Remix is the definition of how to make a 14-year old fighting game better and fresh again. The new rebalanced gameplay feels natural now with easier move inputs and change in priorities. Those new changes made Street Fighter more fun than it used to be in the 90s. The online play has the best netcode for a fighting game (at least on XBLA). It attracted veterans and tournament level players as a "new" game to learn as well for newcomers with the remixed gameplay. All of this in a downloadable game is pretty crazy, but it is and proven to be one of the most successful downloadable titles for Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network in terms of sales.
4) Tekken 6 (ARC)
While Tekken 6 is not a significant leap for the franchise like from 4 to 5, the new gameplay additions and a balanced roster are good enough for me to be happy. Namco usually do not make stupid decisions with the Tekken franchise compared to Soul Calibur. The bound and rage systems make the core fighting more intense compared to last time around. Even the new animations to certain moves make the experience a little more fresh, so the same new animations are not appearing in this one unlike the last 5 games. Even though vanilla Tekken 6 is at the end of its heyday due to Bloodline Rebellion out at Japanese arcades and hopefully SoCal in the coming month, it keeps the 3D fighting game genre alive being more fun and pick-up/play than Dead or Alive 4 and even Virtua Fighter 5.
3) Grand Theft Auto IV (360)
Despite all the backlash with Grand Theft Auto IV being the "perfect" game (Even I regret giving the game a 10), it is still pretty awesome. I appreciated the realistic direction with the storyline with Niko and the American Dream, while I can understand why others are disappointed expecting more of the same insanity like San Andreas (that's Saint's Row 2). The gameplay is better with the shooting mechanics and the cover system while the game is long enough for people to breeze through the story or even 100% the game getting the key to Liberty City. While the multiplayer could have been better, it is a good attempt by Rockstar trying to emulate the open-ended experience into competitive aspects. GTA IV naturally feels more like a mature experience than some fantasy in which other games like Crackdown and Saint's Row 2 mastered).
2) Rez HD (XBLA)
Rez HD is unlike anything else today even though the original Rez was out earlier in the decade on Dreamcast and PS2. It is about time that Rez is experienced in true HD quality and it is truly amazing. I also never played the original as playing this in HD felt new and unique in addition to now being a Q Entertainment supporter thanks to this and Lumines. Area 5 (the video above) is perhaps one of my favorite gaming moments of all-time and I still play it every now and again till I got my rid of my 360. I wished more people played this and experienced true greatness being an example of the "games as art" argument (along with Braid).
1) Street Fighter IV (ARC)
I'm counting this one as my #1 game even though it is coming to consoles next month. I just can't stop playing this game and I feel like going to an arcade like Super or Arcade Infinity and play this right now. When Street Fighter IV came out at SoCal arcades in the late Summer, it almost felt like the 90s arcade scene all over again (in its first two weeks of release) of people waiting in line putting quarters up just to play Street Fighter. For now, IV is doing everything right. It is bringing back the fans that skipped the III series of games (3rd Strike for example) by making the core gameplay like Street Fighter II. It is also deep enough for veterans and tournament level players with focus attacks and Ultras. Plus, it flat out looks beautiful in action (don't let the screens or YouTube quality fool you - it looks damn good in person) with the crazy facial animations applying more personality to the characters. Even the music is awesome from the Snowy Rail Yard and Drive-In at Night to remixed character themes during rival battles. Street Fighter IV is truly something special and I don't mind it being 2009's game of the year as well either.
Well that's it for my top 10 games of 2008... With that out of the way I don't want to talk about 2008 anymore in terms of games.
