Games of the Year 2008

I don't remember most of what came out this year because it's very hard to, and I missed most of the ludicrously awesome titles that have come out in the holiday season due to money constraints, however this is a list of games I've played this year and fucking loved. Also brief comments on games I played and was underwhelmed by.

Crisis Core
Holy God, people kind of had to shut up about the PSP after this game, and I had to shut up about Final Fantasy 7 getting fucked by assholes who don't know what they're doing. I'm still of the mindset that 7 wasn't all it's cracked up to be, but even objectively this game is better in almost every way. The graphics are gorgeous, the writing, yes the writing in a Final Fantasy game is superb, and of the titles with rich characters this year, CC takes a very high spot on the chart. The gameplay is basic but perfectly fun, the cinematics aren't just awesome but move the story, and the story is actually more engaging and coherent than the source material. Best prequel ever? Yes. 5th best game out this year.

Dead Space
I heard about this game about a year ago, and like that it was released. When EA decided to make a new franchise and spend some of their mountains of gold on it to make it totally fucking awesome, I was skeptical, but throw in a prequel comic illustrated by Ben Templesmith, ridiculously good looking graphics, and better gameplay than RE4, and you get my 4th favorite game this year. Dead Space really does set a new standard for survival horror, and while they don't fuck with you in the same psychological ways that I like to be fucked with, the idea that you never trust anything on the ship, from elevators to boxes to lights, for the whole game, is honestly phenomenal. The art team of this game either loved it to death or were paid massive amounts, but the fact that it isn't obvious is very nice. Scary, fun, worthy of all the praise it's gotten and ten times the sales.

Little Big Planet
I'm not sure that there's another game this year that could be more unanimously hung up in an art gallery than Little Big Planet. It's the essence of modern art; exceptionally beautiful and participatory on every level. The tools they give you are astounding, the levels that they created themselves within the games are so polished they are hard to look at. It's pretty much everything good about video games, and anyone can play it. I'd like to know why this isn't bundled with every PS3. LBP gets the third spot.

Fallout 3
This is almost tied for first place, and things being different it would take it, but I'll get to that. When I heard Fallout 3 got handed to Bethesda I was still a little burned by Oblivion, but I never played the Fallouts before it, so the worst it could be was an entertaining, solid game, not a sacrilege to the series like so many thought it would be. Everything I heard and saw about it seemed more and more encouraging, and by God, this game is a phenomenon. It has everything, and the universe is so complete it stands as a kind of monument. The main plot is incredible, your father's character is irresistible to grow attached to, and the combat is addictive and fun as hell. Not one particle of this game was halfassed, any one part of it feels just as well done as any other part. They didn't just do a great job but they succeeded my expectations far and wide. There was a point where I almost said "stop, I believe you that you're great" but the game was unrelenting. From what I understand of Fallout 2, they did a better job with this sequel than the original developer did. Second place.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
One thing you should know about me if you don't is that I fucking love Metal Gear. It's my favorite series, and this is the best of them, so logically it's my favorite game of all time. Logically yes, but there are a couple asterisks I throw in there. Let's start with the good. This game is the best looking game ever made. Dead Space looks more uniformly realistic but MGS4 has a couple scenes with are unparalleled graphically, and the models look so good they look like actors. Metal Gear's psudo realism aesthetic is fully realized, I don't think it can ever look any better than it does. Gameplay is lightyears ahead of where the first one was, and while the control scheme takes some serious getting used to, it's pretty excellent. The multiplayer mode is just the gameplay engine and by God, it's a blast (also, Multiplayer mode, excellent move).
What propels you in Metal Gear though, isn't the gameplay or graphics it's the story, and this being its conclusion it shouldn't disappoint. Well it doesn't, because it exceeds your expectations, but at the very same time, while you can see the game reaching for a narrative that's grander than anything ever previously represented in a video game, teetering on the shoulders of giants, it then very very quickly catches itself doing this and recoils back into mediocrity. While for any other game this would mean the difference between good and bad, for Metal Gear it's the difference between the greatest fucking video game ever made and exceptional, so you at least get a good story from it. What I mean is that at one point in the game, I thought one of the character's died, and in the way he did, I immediately started what could only be aptly described as a screaming cry-gasm. I've never cried so hard in my life. This was very quickly removed as we find out that he's actually not dead. His death was so magnificent that I can't help but think there was a last minute script change or something. The fact that they didn't go all the way almost hits me harder than the ideas they didn't go all the way with.
It is the best Metal Gear, and it is a worthy end, and that's some very exceptional praise, but what it could have been is something I could hold as a shield to any of the "games aren't art" fuckers that still stick to their bullshit (yeah that's you Ebert, fuck you), but I guess that duty will just be upheld by Little Big Planet. It takes the number one spot not only for this year but all years previous, at least to me, but the silhouette left by what this game could have been is so massive it's almost disqualifying. It's also not without its faults, like clunky writing (Fallout has it totally beat in this regard) and occasionally underwhelming gameplay. Even with it's glaring flaws it still manages to come in first.

Underwhelming:

The Force Unleashed:
Not only was this game half assed, it obliterated some 30 canonized Star Wars books in the process. The least you could say was that it was worth it but no, the story is an insult to the series, and the gameplay is fun at best. Fuck you guys, I want my Star Wars back.
Mirror's Edge:
Granted I only played the demo, but if that doesn't get you hooked what can? I like the originality in the idea, but it doesn't work. If it were third person, completely sandbox, and a little less pretentious, (and flash cinematics, really guys? Not going to show off those incredible graphics?) I wouldn't have been able to let it go without buying it. As is: meh, good try guys.
Prince of Persia:
While this a gorgeous game, and I want more people to make things that look like it, it isn't Sands of Time. While SoT may not be the greatest game ever I don't think they can top it, and if they were trying they should try a lot fucking harder. While I like the characters, and dialogue, they seem like they're plucked right from Uncharted, and in the Prince's case, they didn't even change his accent or vocabulary. Uncharted is not how you make likable characters you assholes. It worked there but it's barely above tolerable here. If I see one more "charming American badass" archetype I will fucking kill someone. I'm glad I got this for Christmas but I honestly don't know if I'll even finish it.

That's about it kids, thanks for reading.

Video games!