This Is NOT A Top Five Games List
Consider this a “I have some gift cards left over and want to get some games” post.
Since GTA4 stormed the charts earlier in the year, I left that of the list, though it’s worth mentioning off the top. This is mainly for the games I’ve been playing lately, and think everyone should try, regardless of what system they’re playing on.
It should be noted that I don’t mention any PS3 exclusives, because it’s the only console I haven’t played anything on this past year. I don’t HATE-hate the PS3, though I was ticked off at some of their design choices. I already had an Xbox 360, and the PS3s exclusive content isn’t compelling enough to make me plunk down the cash. If you have a PS3, any of the games I mention here that are available for it are worthy.
So, in no particular order:
Rock Band 2 (for the Wii – Also for 360 and PS3.):
The sequel has already been out for a while on the other consoles, and we’ve discussed that an the lackluster port of the original to the Wii in the past. The Wii version of Rock Band 2 is new though, and I’ve had a chance to play it, and it’s a much better experience, even using the instruments from the original. Other than the lack of download store, which is due any minute now, and screen resolution, Rock Band 2 feels just like its big brother on the 360 and PS3. Instead of pre-rendered videos, you get actual animation, using the characters you designed (or pick from a list).
So Rock Band 2 deserves to be mentioned for being a HUGE improvement over its predecessor, and for being, well, Rock Band. It’s now worthy of the name on the Wii.
Fallout 3 (Xbox 360 – Also for Windows and PS3):
This game has a LOT of problems. Dialogue selection is horribly dated. The visual presentation of conversations is dull because of the straight on view of the NPCs. If you do too many side quests, you can reach the maximum level well before the end of the main story. The population density vs. world scale seems a bit out of whack. Exploding nuclear cars = WTF???
The only other RPG I’ve actually enjoyed enough to finish in a LONG while is Mass Effect. Some of the problems with Fallout 3 would have been resolved with a more naturalistic dialogue setup like that game. All that being said, I’ve spent more time this year in the world of Fallout 3 than I have with any other game. Now that I’ve finished it, I can’t wait to go back in there and take a different approach with my character.
Dead Space (Xbox 360 – Also for Windows and PS3.):
Shades of everything from 2001: A Space Odyssey to the Alien franchise, you play a lowly engineer as part of a crew sent to check out why communication has been lost with a mining ship orbiting a distant planet. The game play is much more in the survival-horror genre than the shoot-em-up type one would expect, though it’s got a good balance of action as well.
It’s the creepiest thing to play lights out to come along in quite a while, and although horror and space have gone together swimmingly in the theatres, it’s a refreshing change over the more earth bound trappings of most horror video games. Special mention to the handling of the music and ambient sound, which are effective in building the suspense and delivering the willies on cue.
There’s a whole new universe built around the Dead Space game, with an animated movie and comic books that show back story to the game, as well as fleshing out of the Dead Space universe in general.
Play it alone in the dark, because it’s much better than the latest Alone In The Dark.
Left 4 Dead (PC – Also for 360):
After seeing the amount of modding going on for Fallout 3, mainly from Alex, I decided to dip into the PC gaming pool again after being a console guy for a few years, and a (more or less) multi-player only game like L4D sounded like the right game to try it with.
It’s no secret that PC gaming has taken quite the nose dive in popularity with the advent of consoles that can handle complex rendering challenges, and you don’t have to worry about upgrading a graphics card every time a new game comes out.
That being said, L4D runs quite well on a my 2 year old system, which is a low end Core 2 Duo with an older Nvidia 7950 GT. By no means a cutting edge system, yet L4D handled it flawlessly at either 1680×1050 resolution with no anti-aliasing or 1440×900 with 2x anti-aliasing.
As for the game itself, you and 3 other players fight through 4 different scenarios filled with fast moving zombies, plus some ‘special ability’ undead, with the ultimate goal of reaching a rescue point. Even though each scenario is relatively short, and there’s only four (not counting the growing user mods of course), every game plays differently, with an ‘AI director’ choosing new locations for the baddies to come from.
It’s not just a case of “oh different respawn points”. What each individual play through of the game does is create unique experiences that you remember in a visceral way, which seems to be the real strong point of Valve multi-player games. Memories like when I managed to barely rescue a friend who was downed during a horde of zombies, or fearing that I was a goner, pinned to the ground as a Tank wailed on me, only to have the body collapse at the last moment, and seeing Bill crouched behind him.
I could tell you about more of these, but they’re all “You had to be there moments”.
If 28 Days Later and Snyders Dawn of the Dead remake couldn’t convince you that fast zombies can work, this should do it.
Gears Of War 2 (Xbox 360):
If you’ve played the original GoW, the sequel is the same, bigger, bolder and bloodier. It’s not afraid to get very messy at times. Let’s just say that if Jonah had a Lancer, he wouldn’t have been stuck in that big fish for three days. At the same time, Jonah didn’t have to worry about the same crap (literally) that the Delta Squad does in GoW 2.
The original GoW introduced the first REALLY good cover mechanism in a game (arguably still the best), and actually played as much like a platform game knocked on its side and pumped full of steroids and rage. You can’t just run into a scenario guns a-blazing in the GoW universe. Cover isn’t just a gimmick, it’s integral to survival. The sequel is instantly familiar in its mechanics, but the level designs actually bring some real innovation to ‘platforms as cover’ idea.
That, and it’s probably the first time in a game that I found a flamethrower both fun AND useful.
2009 and beyond
At the end of 2007, I wasn’t expecting that 2008 would be an even better year for gaming. In the end I think it was. There are a number of games from this year that I just haven’t gotten around to playing yet, so I hope that there’s a good long lull to play catch up. Somehow I doubt it though, as the gaming industry is growing by leaps and bounds. Globally, the video game industry surpassed the music industry in 2007, and it certainly grew significantly in 2008 (which is probably the REAL reason for dwindling music and movie sales – after all we only have so much disposable income).
Although I still love console gaming, I suspect that I’ll be looking a little bit more at PC gaming in 2009. The modding community for Fallout 3 makes wish I had picked up the game for the PC, and I’m looking forward to the custom maps for L4D.
its kinda too bad considering most top lists of the year consist of ps3 exclusives 😉
agreed with your summation of fallout 3 btw
ack i worded that wrong but alas this isnt a flame war
Out of curiosity, whose? Nothing wrong with a little flame war… 🙂
my wrong wording was the use of the word most
not as in most lists
but as to which consoles had the most exlusives, within a list
take cnet.com for example
it has 7 exclusive titles in their roundup
1 for the 360
1 for the wii
1 for the DS
1 for the PSP
and 3 for the PS3
http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-9995_7-10000079-1.html?s=0&o=10000079&tag=mncol;page
😀
Heheh. #1 is on 360, PS3 and PC. #2 is 360 exclusive (Gears 2). 🙂
I was looking at Joystiqs when your first post came in, and noticed that 8 of the 10 games were available on the 360, 6 on the PS3, 5 on PC and a 360 exclusive took the #1 spot. 🙂
1 Fable 2
2 MGS4
3 L4D
4 Fallout 3
5 Braid
6 Gears 2
7 LBP
8 Far Cry 2
8 Dead Space
10 Mirrors Edge
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/01/joystiqs-top-10-games-of-2008/
—
So, being a nerd now, I just googled “Top ten video games 2008” and looked at Times list which came out on the first page, along with CNets, where 6 of the top ten are on the 360, 5 on the PS3 and the PC, 2 on the Wii and 1 on the iPhone, with the top ranking exclusive being Braid for the 360.
1 GTA IV
2 Braid
3 LBP
4 Rock Band 2
5 Gears Of War 2
6 Dead Space
7 Star Wars Force Unleashed
8 Hunted Forever (Flash game)
9 Fieldrunners
10 Spore
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/article/0,30583,1855948_1863763_1863769,00.html
—
The next list I found in a search was Game Spy’s, which had the following: PC 5, 360 5, PS3 4, Wii 1, DS 1
If you want to talk console exclusives, the highest “exclusive” is GoW2. Although L4D ranked higher, it’s on the PC and 360, but not the PS3 (so quasi-exclusive).
1. Fallout 3 (PC/360/PS3)
2. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)
3. Left 4 Dead (PC/360)
4. Gears of War 2 (360)
5. LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
6. Grand Theft Auto IV (PC/360/PS3)
7. Rock Band 2 (360/PS3)
8. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
9. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
10. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (NDS)
http://goty.gamespy.com/2008/overall/11.html
—
There’s also Techtree, which I’ve never heard of, but what the hey. The PS3 has more titles in the top ten, but Fable 2 is the highest ranking one, and any list without Gears Of War 2 while including Resistance 2 is kind of suspicious to me, given the comparative reviews I’ve read. 😀
Techtree
http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Top_10_video_games_of_2008/551-96954-699.html
PS3 8, PC 6, 360 6
1 GTA 4
2 Fable 2
3 Fallout 3
4 MGS4
5 Crysis Warhead
6 Resistance 2
7 Dead Space
8 Mirrors Edge
9 LBP
10 Far Cry 2
In the end, we can burrow down into any number of lists to justify one console or the other, and the further down the list we go, the more bias we’ll find in them. I’d be surprised if there weren’t a bunch of DS and Wii games in the Kotaku list, for example.
[…] post by unknown […]
~In the end, we can burrow down into any number of lists to justify one console or the other, and the further down the list we go, the more bias we’ll find in them.~
Totally agreed, its just in odd to read a top game ranking list with no Resistance 2, MGS4 or LBP is all from someone who goes out of his way to say “I don’t HATE-hate the PS3”
can we get an edit feature [angry10]
HALF my post also wasnt included beyond the retarded post… christ i look like a total effing retard cant i like delete and rerite at least?
Hmmm… I’ll see what other options are available for the comments. 🙂
The list is meant more as a quick guide to some fairly recent stuff that I think others would like, not a ‘best of’. If I were in the business of actually ranking console games, I’d own all three systems.
And, of course, out of the five I mention, you can get four of them on the PS3. I encourage you to sing the praises of any of the PS3 exclusives you want. 🙂
What all this discussion really proves is that it sucks having exclusives in the first place. I’d at least give LBP a whirl on the 360, and if the two companies could make network gaming cross-platform a possibility, all the better.
A combined community of both PS3 and 360 players all able to play TF2 together would be teh awes0m3, not that it’s going to happen anytime soon.
People like their walled gardens too much.
but if you notice out of the 5 you mention, all 5 are available for the 360
get another console even if its a wii bro 😀
I never promised “Fair And Balanced”, just my opinion of what’s been good lately. 🙂
When others we’re digging Mario, Sonic and Solid Snake, I was more concerned with getting to the Quad Damage in Team Deathmatch. Wii games don’t appeal to me, and other than Heavy Rain, there’s not much from the PS3 camp either.
I suspect that I’ll probably be looking at more PC games in 2009 over any other console.
Hey im the first to admit bias so i get that its just “I don’t HATE-hate the PS3” “and the PS3s exclusive content isn’t compelling enough to make me plunk down the cash”
are two sentences that made my bullshit detector go off 😉
“though I was ticked off at some of their design choices” was another one as well, not that id argue with you its just you dont seem to share the same criticism when it comes to the “HDMI wont be necessary anywhoo 360!” (i know, it took em 3 or 4 revs to get it right and you use DVI anywhoo but still)
MGS4 and LBP solidly belong in any top 10, but not necessarily for gameplay. MGS4 deserves high marks for its technical prowess, and LBP deserves the same for its originality.
Re. the Walled Garden comment: It’s funny you say that; there’s a showdown coming up at CES between the best Street Fighter IV fighers: The best of the PS3 vs. the Best of the 360. At first I thought they were showing off a new server that allows PS3 and 360 players to play each other online…sadly, not the case. But how RAD would that be??
http://tinyurl.com/7575ae
Gotta say finally settled down with dead space over the weekend and… although i absolutely adore it i keep getting this feeling that they arent cutting RE4 a check… which they should…
Only to a certain extent, though. That’s kind of like saying that CoD4 should be cutting John Carmack a cheque. 🙂
It’s a good creepy game though, eh? My only gripe is that the variety of creatures could have been a little more diverse.
oh the creatures are beyond redundant for sure…
have you played RE4? cuz DS feels more like a skinned mod than anything else (no joke)
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