[nomadsoul]

First fo all for me it was terriible year for gaming, majority games sucked, i am dissapointed with gears2, fallout3 and farcry2 not to mention PoP, every game was overly hyped and generic.

Without further rant and ado,here goes mine


Best music: Yakuza 2

Best gameplay: Mirrorsedge and Yakuza 2

Best visualdesign/graphics : Naruto ulimate ninja storm on PS3 ( This game has better animation than any anime out there, my dream come true and its ten times better than PoP).

Best action game: Deadspace

Best game : World of goo ( still one chapter left but i am already more than convinced and shocked at brilliance of this game) and it only 70 mb game but don't overlook it for your own sake.

[Giligan]

For me, it would be a tossup between Mirror's Edge and Braid. I'm not sure which I'd give it to. Both are incredibly unique and original. Too bad an independant game like Braid doesn't stand of chance of actually winning any GOTY awards.

Gears 2 and Dead Space are outstanding, but they're not GOTY material for me. Gears of War 2 is as technologically advanced and significant in the gaming world as any game could be, but being based on the summer blockbuster movie formula, it lacked creativity. And Dead Space's gameplay had a few too many problems, like extremely confined environments (I know it's a survival horror game, but come on. The Ishimura's a two mile long space ship.) and gameplay that wasn't quite on par.

I can't speak for Far Cry 2 or Fallout 3, though.

[UPtimist]

For me, Mirror's Edge. Fresh, great gameplay, totally addictive and stopped being a replacement for Totems for me long ago

Sure, the story isn't too original and it has some... rushing problems near the end but it's still so good those are minor troubles.

And frankly, it's very nice to see a game where you can choose not to kill anyone.

[DustyShinigami]

I'll probably go with GTA IV as my G.O.T.Y.

[MdaG]

Dead Space for me.

[MoriartyL]

I wouldn't hesitate to say Art Style: Orbient.

To be fair, I really didn't play many new games this year. But I doubt there was a better game.

[bandidoquest]

I'd choose GTA IV, with honorable mention to World of Goo.

[Lucien21]

Games played 2008

Metal Gear Solid 4 - Ignoring the overly loooooooong and pretentious storyline this had some fantastic set pieces, superb graphics and the gameplay was actually great. Too bad about the long cut scenes boring the pants off you and it having more endings than a Lord of the Rings movie.

Grand Theft Auto 4 - Was never the biggest fan of the other GTA games, but the tale of Nico totally captivated me for hours and hours (about 60 odd). Superb graphics, compelling gameplay and some fantastic characters. Best game of the year.

Dead Space - Surprise of the year for me. Part Resident Evil and part System Shock. Loved ever gory minute of it slicing limbs of aliens in the dark.

Fable 2 - An improvement on the original has some seriously great voice work (funny as hell at times). Great scope to advance your character, get married, have kids, kill them etc etc. Fun game.

Force Unleashed - Ok it wasn't the Jedi knight beater I was hoping for and more God of War with Lightsabres. However it was fun while it lasted.

Tomb Raider Underworld - Great graphics, middling game. Not the longest or most difficult game of the year. It was fun, but it's no "Uncharted"

Resistance 2 - Stupidly easy with some strange level design decisions (one hit kill predators and fish used to force you down the one track road.) The big set pieces were fun, but overall it was fairly average.

Little Big Planet - You just can't play this game without a big grin on your face. Endless fun to create and personalise your own levels, the narration by Stephen Fry is hilarious and Sack boy is so cute. This deserves to sell more than it will. Mind you some of the fun is taken out by dodgy online servers and overhanded moderation of users levels.

Far Cry 2 - 50 miles of Africa to explore and loads of things to shoot. Gives you some guns and you decide what to do next. Some really fun fire effects and gun damage is annoying, but fun game.

Gears of War 2 - Like the first one, but on steroids. Fantastic fun.

Fallout 3 - Fantastic soundtracks, a huge world to explore, plenty of customisation of the character and missions to embark on. Still playing this one and probably will be for a loong time to come. Superb.

Neverwinter Nights 2 + add on - Never really got into this game and the whole set up and defend castle part wa just plain annoying.

Mirrors Edge - It was a brave effort that nearly paid off. The first person Parkour levels are fun, the main character cute and the world refreshingly bright and primary coloured instead of brown. Unfortunatly the combat is naff and the levels can get a bit repetative.

Prince of Persia - Take a classic franchise, suck out ALL the challenge, make it impossible to die (it works in adventures not in action games) add in some annoying american voiced prince and a cute sidekick and you basically have PoP. The cell shaded graphics are nice, but that's about it.

Mario Kart Wii - In a year of wii mince titles Mario Kart Wii stands head and shoulders above the dross.

Boom Blox - Ok apart from this one. The Spielberg inspired Jenga game is hours of fun.

Lost Via Domus - It was Awright in a bad kinda way.

Lost Odyssey - JPRG from the people that made Final Fantasy. I had a lot of fun with this.

Top 5 Games of the Year

1. Grand Theft Auto 4
2. Fallout 3
3. Gears of War 2
4. Little Big Planet
5. Dead Space

[Vernon Schillinger]

Fallout 3 was Oblivion with guns rather than a continuation to fallout-saga, but still... Oblivion with guns! Plus I'm anxious to see what kind of mods users are able to generate.

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Because I missed the original Witcher. First half an hour was a bore, but after that really enjoyable RPG experience.

[kn0wl]

Braid

An exceptional game that will still be amazing ten or twenty years from now. On the surface it's a homage to Mario, but there's a lot more to it. Original visuals, atmospheric music, perfect controls and exceptional puzzles. I felt immense satisfaction upon completion. As an original, artistic and indie piece of work I like it even more.

A lot of sites picked GTA IV which was good, but in a few years the graphics will seem quite poor and I doubt it will have timeless appeal like the very best video games.

LittleBigPlanet was one of the best games this year and would be high on my list.

Multiplayer wise, Mario Kart and Smash Brothers have been a lot of fun this year. Mario Kart was a lot of fun unlocking everything 100%.

Have not played World of Goo yet... after yearing so many good things it's high on my games to play in 2009.

[bananasloth]

I've been waiting years for Fallout3 to come out, and I wasn't disappointed!