Mike's Game of the Year Awards 2008

I'm sure some of the people from the e-mail days have been looking forward to this one since I started my blog. So, cue the drum roll, 'cause here comes my 2008 Game of the Year Awards!

By console:

Xbox 360 - Castle Crashers
PS3 - WipEout HD
Wii - Mario Kart Wii
PSP - God of War: Chains of Olympus
Nintendo DS - Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
PC - Luxor 4: Quest for the Afterlife
Multiplatform - Fallout 3

Mind you, no game that's mutiplatform can be considered the best game for a particular console, even if it's better than every other game available for that console. And for PC, almost every game I played this year was either not from 2008, or not PC exclusive. Maybe I'll write a review later, though, to at least explain how a casual game was good enough to end up on the list.


By genre

Action Adventure - God of War: Chains of Olympus
RPG - Fallout 3
First-person Shooter - Call of Duty: World at War
2D Platformer - Casltevania: Order of Ecclesia
3D Platformer - I didn't play any, but I'm going to say Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty
Sports - I don't think I played any, so I'll say Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2009
Racing - WipEout HD
Puzzle - Luxor 4
Fighter - Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Survival Horror - Left 4 Dead
Co-op - Castle Crashers

I also never play any kind of turn-based strategy, real-time strategy, or MMO, so I'm not even going to bother with those.

Console of the Year: PC. Yeah, I know that most of the games to come out on the PC were also released on the Xbox 360. I also know that I played most of them on my PC, because my PC has two advantages. For one, games are anywhere from $10-$30 cheaper on the PC versus their console counterparts. And two, my PC dominates the Xbox 360 in terms of raw power the way the 360 dominates the Wii.

And now, without further adieu... it's time for the Ultimate King Champion Game of the Year. This is the one game, above all others, that stood out to me as the single best game of the year. This game can be a multiplatform, or it could be an exclusive. It doesn't matter, because it's being compared to every other game released in 2008.

The 2008 Ultimate King Champion game of the Year is...

Fallout 3.

Fallout 3 isn't a flawless game, as I mentioned in my review. But those tiny flaws are easily overlooked when you've got a game with the detailed, atmospheric world layered with flexible character customization, solid gameplay, and the freedom to do what you want, when you want, however you choose to go about it. The end result was a game that had me totally absorbed into its world for weeks.

Well, I know that some of you might be hoping that I'll go off on a rant about the worst games this year, but luckily I was pretty fortunate (and poor), so while I'm sure that there were some turds this year, I didn't play any of them. I will give you this much, though...

Worst Console of the Year: Nintendo Wii.

Xbox fans, I sort of understand. Yeah, their hardware is terrible, but the 360 has the best selection of games out there. Sony fans, I sort of understand. They get the best Blu-ray player on the market, and it happens to play games, including a few very good exclusives. PC gamers, as I've already mentioned, get a great selection, hardware that's as powerful as you make it, and cheaper games. Nintendo fans? Sure, the DS is the most fun handheld on the market, but take the DS out of the equation, and you're left with Mario cosplayers clutching their Wiis to their bosoms and trying to hold back the tears every time Nintendo releases some casual game instead of a new Zelda. "But we got Mario Kart and the new Super Smash Bros!" they cry. Alright, two games back in the spring. But what was the Wii's big holiday hit?

I couldn't think of one either.