Game awards are being thrown out like crazy at this time of year, and everyone reading this has probably already seen or read several of them. Too keep from going overboard, I'm simply going to talk about the best game, worst game, and most under-appreciated game from 2008, in my opinion. I can't claim to have played every game that came out this year, but I sure as heck played a lot of them!
...and away we go...
Game of the Year 2008: FALLOUT 3
OXM gave it GOTY honors as well, and the game truly deserves it. The wastelands of DC have been incredibly well realized, and a joy to explore. The apocalypse has never been this much fun. Bethesda did a great job improving on Oblivion in every single way, offering a lot more choice in how events unfold. No game I've EVER played had me a immersed in the experience, where I would tell myself I'd only play for an hour, and the next time I would look at the clock, three hours had passed! It's easy to lose track of time while playing Fallout 3, and the staggering amount of content here means gamers get every penny's worth of entertainment from their purchase. If you want to know more about how I feel on this gem of a game, read the review I wrote for it for x360a (linked on the right side of this page)
Worst Game of 2008: Zoids Assault
I would much rather play Jumper: Griffin's story that try to slog through what has to be the worst strategy RPG ever made. The use of film-grain effects in incredible overdone to the point of almost being painful to the eyes, and to call the cutscenes You-Tube quality would be an insult to You-Tube. Character customization is extremely limited, and there are no side quests, so if you can't beat a mission, you're STUCK there until you manage to get it right. To my sorrow, I ignored reviews saying how bad it was, thinking my love of SRPGs would see me through to get the game's 1000 points. Now, I'm incredibly glad I punted that game back to Gamefly before scoring any points, so I could delete if off my card, and pretend Zoids Assault never happened. I implore you never to play that game.Most Criminally Under-appreciated Game: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
Sure, the critical reviews have been pretty good, but 2/3 of the player response I've heard has been "Waaaaaaaaaaaa.... It's not exactly like the original Banjo-Kazooie!!!!" I know people who mock the game and refuse to play it for that very reason. Give me a break! Rare has created an incredibly fun and creative game, and they get blasted for being original. Creating vehicles to solve challenges is a great way to get the brain going, and testing your creations against other humans in multiplayer is great... when people actually play online (there aren't many who do). The controls also aren't nearly as challenging as some claim them to be. If you build a crappy vehicle, it will handle like crap; it's that simple. While the game certainly isn't perfect, it's a wonderful game, worthy of more praise and less tears from people who can't handle the change. If you have not played Nuts and Bolts yet, I highly recommend doing so.And there you have it, my picks for best, worst, and most under-appreciated. I kept this relatively short as I didn't want to feel like I was trying to review three games at once.
BLOG NOTE: At the very bottom of the right column is a new feature, listing upcoming posts and what they will be about. While I would love it if people read everything I post, I know that's not too realistic an expectation, so the preview of topics makes it easier to know when you want to tune in. Unlike the blog, the preview text won't be updated daily, but will be changed often enough so you know what the topic will be at least 1 day in advance.
That's all for today folks!
*Images borrowed from xbox360achievements.org
On a bit of a comment role here but alas, I like to talk so hopefully you don't mind. ;)
ReplyDeleteIf I was to choose a Game Of The Year for thi..., er, last year (for Australians anyway) Fallout 3 would definitely be one of the nominations. That said, I don't think I can actually choose a GOTY for last year and was actually going to do a post detailing why. Since it is now '09, I figured that it is too late to finish the post and as such I won't do it but basically the basic gist of it was that the consistent quality for this year has been pretty damn good and I am thankful that the year has been spread out with games to play. Everyone complains about the October/November rush and hell, I have too because it was hectic, but I also feel that this year had quality games throughout with GTA IV being one obvious example and another, very early in the year example being Burnout Paradise. Put simply, I have always had something to play and that is a good thing as far as I am concerned so it's nice to see that '09 looks to be relatively similar.
With regards to Banjo: Nuts and Bolts, I completely agree that it copped more flack than it should have or otherwise was just overlooked. It is a downright shame because while I can understand some of the complaints, to me they don't hinder the experience that the game provides. In fact, I believe they are irrelevant to the game because what people say they want, Nuts and Bolts isn't and it doesn't have to be either. I do admit though that I have kind of delayed playing through it a bit to focus on some of my other games, with only 13 or Jiggies collected so far.
As an aside note, I have a post swirling around in my head (and I apologise for the indirect advertising) about Banjo: Nuts and Bolts and comparing it to LittleBigPlanet. Yes, LBP. What the? All shall be explained when I have the post up. ;)
I like the comments =) It's good to know someone is reading my post and thinking about them. 2008 was a great year for games, with a lot of excellent titles, but Fallout 3 blew away my already very high expectations, that I consider it clearly the best of what I played. GTA IV was good, but it didn't hold my attention the way Fallout 3 did, and I still haven't finished it.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing your post on N&B compared to LBP will have something to do with user generated content and the ability to be creative... that's the similarity that first comes to mind when I think of those 2 games. I look forward to reading it =)