The Second Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2008 - Part 3: The Top Fifteen!

As requested, due to long load times, we're moving the top fifteen to yet another new thread.

You can get the rules for the poll, some background and see the complete info/videos/comments and so forth for #44 through #70 here:
The Second Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2008
and #16 through #44 (along with the year's biggest disappointments) here:
The Second Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2008 - Part 2: The Top Forty!

Here's the previous winners list:

#70: Penny Arcade: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness (XBLA) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: Civilization IV: Colonization (PC) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: Spore Creature Creator (PC) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: KORG DS-10 Synthesizer (DS) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: LEGO Batman (36) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: Persona 4 (PS2) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: Condemned 2: Bloodshot (360) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: Dokapon Kingdom (Wii) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: You Found the Grappling Hook! – PC – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: NHL 2009 (PS3) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: Valkyria Chronicles (PS3) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: A Kingdom for Keflings – (XBLA) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: Pack Rat (Online) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: Deadly Rooms Of Death RPG (PC) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (DS) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS) – 5 points – 1 vote
#70: Aurora Feint (iPhone) – 5 points – 1 vote
#68: Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (DS) – 6 points – 1 vote
#68: Iji (PC) – 6 points – 1 vote – FREE GAME
#67: Dyson – (PC) – 8 points – 1 vote – FREE GAME
#66: Guitar Hero: World Tour (360/Wii) – 9 points – 2 votes
#55: Buzz! Quiz TV (PS3) – 10 points – 1 vote
#55: You Have to Burn the Rope (Internet/PC) – 10 points - 1 vote
#55: Nancy Drew: White Wolf of Icicle Creek (Wii) – 10 points - 1 vote
#55: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) – 10 points - 1 vote
#55: Chrono Trigger DS (DS) – 10 points - 1 vote
#55: Gears of War 2 (360 ) – 10 points - 1 vote
#55: Peggle Nights (PC) – 10 points - 1 vote
#55: Trackmania United Forever (PC) – 10 points - 1 vote[/
#55: Karoshi 2.0 (PC) – 10 points - 1 vote – FREE GAME
#55: Boom Blox (Wii) – 10 points - 1 vote
#55: Space Invaders Extreme (PSP) – 10 points - 1 vote
#53: Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard (DS) – 10 points – 2 votes
#53: World of Goo (MAC OSX/Wii) – 10 points – 2 votes
#51: Trauma Center 2: Under the Knife (DS) – 11 points – 2 votes
#51: Resistance 2 (PS3) – 11 points – 2 votes
#50: Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii) – 12 points – 2 votes
#49: FIFA ’09 (XBLA/PS3) – 14 point – 2 votes
#44: Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble (PC)– 15 points – 1 vote
#44: Singstar (PS3) – 15 points – 1 vote
#44: Crash Commando (PSN) – 15 points – 1 vote
#44: Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift (DS) – 15 points – 1 vote
#44: Barkley: Shut Up and Jam Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa (PC) – 15 points – 1 vote – FREE GAME
#40: No More Heroes (Wii) – 15 points – 2 votes
#40: Pixeljunk Monsters (PSN) – 15 points – 2 votes
#40: Violet: A Distraction (MAC OSX) – 15 points – 2 votes – FREE GAME
#40: REZ HD (XBLA) - 15 points – 2 votes
#39: Prince of Persia (PS3) – 17 points – 2 votes
#38: Castle Crashers (XBLA) – 19 points – 2 votes
#36: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS) – 20 points - 2 votes
#36: NBA 2K9 (PS3) – 20 points – 2 votes
#35: Saint’s Row 2 (360/PS3) – 22 points – 2 votes
#34: Wii Fit (Wii) – 24 points – 3 votes
#33: Bioshock (PS3) – 25 points – 1 vote
#32: Sam and Max Season 2 (PC) – 25 points – 1 vote – 1 GAME OF THE YEAR vote
#31: Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (DS) – 25 points – 2 votes
#30: PixelJunkEden (PSN) – 25 points – 3 votes
#28: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) – 27 points – 3 votes
#28: The World Ends With You (DS) – 27 points – 3 votes
#25: Pro Evolution Soccer 08 (Wii) – 30 points – 1 vote – 1 GAME OF THE YEAR vote
#25: Mother 3: Translated (GBA) – 30 points – 1 vote – 1 GAME OF THE YEAR vote – Top GBA Game
#25: Drone Tactics (DS) – 30 points – 1 vote – 1 GAME OF THE YEAR vote
#23: Mega Man 9 (XBLA) – 30 points – 2 votes
#23: Pure (360) - 30 points – 2 votes
#21: Ketsui Death Label (DS) – 30 points – 2 votes – 1 GAME OF THE YEAR vote
#21: Audiosurf (PC) - 30 points – 2 votes – 1 GAME OF THE YEAR vote– Top PC Exclusive Game
#20: Soul Calibur IV (360) – 30 points – 3 votes
#19: Yakuza 2 (PS2) – 30 points – 3 votes – 1 GAME OF THE YEAR vote – TOP PS2 GAME
#18: GRID (PS3) – 30 points – 4 votes – 1 GAME OF THE YEAR vote
#17: Far Cry 2 (PS3) – 31 points – 3 votes
#16: Civilization: Revolution (PS3/360/DS) – 37 points – 5 votes

Let's get at it!

I'm guessing:

3. LittleBigPlanet
2. GTA IV
1. Fallout 3

And maybe...

6. L4D
5. Braid
4. Fable II

#15: Geometry Wars 2: Retro Evolved (XBLA) – 40 points – 4 votes -1 GAME OF THE YEAR vote
Official game site

http://static.videogamer.com/videogamer/images/xbox360/geometry_wars_2/screens/geometry_wars_2_5.jpg

John Justen: It's well done and I enjoy it but I don't really see what all the fuss is about. We've all played Asteroids before.

Polyphonic: My favorite game of 2008. Does that mean it's the best? Probably not. I'm sure there are bigger, better games out there to be played, but none of those that I played provided the immediate satisfaction of this game. Bizarre took everything that was great about GW1 and improved it, added five new game modes (which all are outstanding in their own ways, improved the graphics, and put all your friends' infuriatingly high scores on the launch screen. And as with most of the best arcade-style games, this game has infinite replayability and is hard as shit. I will play this game forever.

Mitch Krpata: I got so addicted to this game that I had to uninstall it before my marriage suffered.

Critical reception

JeffLevine: Pacifism Mode + high score competition made this one for me.

http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/08/01/geometrywars2.jpeg

JimD: Jeff has sucked the fun out of Geometry Wars 2 for me, by racking up a bunch of scores I'll never even come close to beating, all within the first 24 hours. Seven million plus in evolved? Twelve plus in sequence?? Dude! Boo!

Geometry Wars makes my eyes hurt.

#14: Professor Layton and The Curious Village (DS)– 41 points – 6 votes – TOP DS GAME
Official game site

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/849/849873/ProfessorLayton_PR_Screens_03_1202260944.jpg

Nhex: Layton is a top quality DS title: great production, lots and lots and lots of puzzles of varying quality, lovely art design and characters - just a really pleasant time and the best game I had the chance to play in this great year for the DS.

CraigG: This one’s a bit of an anomaly: it's just a bunch of crappy logic puzzles but the animation sequences and storyline tied it together surprisingly well.

Deleted Scenes

JimD: I've been playing this for the last week or so, I guess I'm about two thirds of the way through now and it's completely adorable! Cute story, lovely atmosphere, fun puzzles at just the right level of difficulty and a very broad range of appeal: I can totally imagine Nintendo's target DS audience of fifty-somethings digging it and yet I keep thinking about how perfect it would've been for me when I was a precocious 9 year old too. I totally recommend it.

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/Professor-Layton.jpg

Abbott: I solved half these puzzles from '2347 Classic Riddles' type books as a child but I forgot most of them, so… The moving blocks around puzzles are so satisfying. I kind of have a crush on Layton.

http://www.myds.com.au/img/game/large/Professor-Layton-and-the-Curious-Village-6.jpg

ZS: I like this game a lot, but why is the first "hint" you get always so useless?
Puzzle about numbers: 'Try thinking about the relationships of the numbers to their surroundings'
Oooooooh, THAT's it.

http://www.digitalbattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/layton1.jpg

#13: Little Big Planet (PS3) – 42 points – 5 votes– Top PS3 Exclusive
Official game site

http://bulk.destructoid.com/ul/user/5/5541-68896-sackboyknit1jpg-550x.jpg

JeffLevine: Best story mode in a platformer in years (decades?), still not sold on the community stuff though.

http://macinblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/little-big-planet.jpg

Polyphonic: I find the gameplay of LBP a little boring. If not for that, this would easily be the game of the year for me. I find this game impressive, and it deserves to be mentioned.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/LXrDKhaXZ/LittleBigPlanet_Pics_49.jpg

Jamescobo: Of course it was a disappointment - how could it not be a disappointment? You're kidding yourself if you can't see the brilliance of what it actually turned out to be, though. Thanks to the occasionally frustrating controls, LBP is, if not a Mario-slaying classic platformer in its own right, at least a studied, well-executed tour of the genre's most reliable conventions, right down to the deity-invokingly infuriating final level before the boss (that wheel can go fuck itself for real). Besides, I'm tempted to cut Media Molecule some slack out of respect for their sheer corniness; the only way they could ever hope to release a sequel to this neverending game would be to promise to get the jumping exactly right.

Why LittleBigPlanet Is Web 2.0 For Games, Fulfilled

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2390/2218799362_390731a174.jpg

Forksclovetofu: Gawd, if this makes me buy a PS3, I'm gonna be so pissed.

ZS: It's too bad that I'll probably never own a PS3 and my friends don't have one either. I'll never see this in action, other than Youtube clips, likely.

EZ Snappin: It's a beautiful concept with striking art direction wrapped around a floaty turd of a platformer.

#12: N+ (XBLA) – 45 points – 3 votes – 1 GAME OF THE YEAR vote
Official game site

http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1909/1203358655.jpg

Brilliam: There's a lot to be said for a game that just feels right. N+, more than any game I can remember in the recent past, feels right. Its physics are neither floaty, nor overly frictional and oppressive; the game is as airy and precise as a monofilament whip and, as such, is as difficult to master. There's also a lot to be said for a game that comes in bite-sized but satisfying chunks. Minimalist but clean graphics are, in my opinion, both a lovely use of HD technology and a striking contrast to it. A perfect game morsel and my favorite of the year.

JeffLevine: No-nonsense. Endlessly challenging. One of the greatest games of all time.

http://www.quarterplay.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/nplus.jpg

Gamasutra creator interview

Forksclovetofu: Effortlessly transports me back to being a twelve year old. Easy to learn and a major pain in the ass to master.

WillM: I love the slidy-glidy-grey-on-grey action. I went back the other night to top all of my friend's scores on levels 1-10 because I am a DICK.

http://trykt.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/img_4.jpg

GM: My ninja blows up way too much.

#11: Fable II (360) – 47 points – 5 votes – TOP XBOX 360 Exclusive
Official game site

http://alteredconfusion.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/fable2combat.jpg

Polyphonic: This game is pure popcorn. It doesn't have the best combat, it feels very short and it sometimes doesn't work right, but it hits a pleasure center that is pretty primal for me.

Molyneux interview

Matt D: The insipid villagers ended up driving me down the evil path. A crowd of children and onlookers were alternately praising, jeering and begging at me while I was trying to get at a vendor to buy/sell some gear, and I may have set them on fire, a little. Repeatedly.

http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/853/853504/fable-2-20080220003915773_640w.jpg

Forksclovetofu: It's... okay? I might like this more if I trusted it to take me further into the story. It's not as immersive as I want it to be, that's for sure. I actually quit playing Oblivion for this, cause I figured my girl would be more into it cause you can get married and have a dog and the graphics are better, but I'm starting to question that decision. Honestly, the Oblivion minigame is more complex than Fable's vaunted character interaction. Here, it's mostly fart till you can't fart no more and then somebody wants to marry you. Apparently renaissance RPG land is a little like the seedier corners of the internet.
‘Animal Crossing + Murder’ is weirdly accurate.

http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/kotaku/2008/05/fable2screen.jpg

MPX4A: This game is Bully to Oblivion's GTA.

http://media.giantbomb.com/fable2/fable2-01.jpg

JimD: Got married and had a baby and regretted it almost instantly. I’m going to find it hard to resist slaughtering her and setting the baby on fire.

Salsa Shark: I'm getting more annoyed each time I go into Bowerstone. Everyone flocks to me and asks me why I'm too cheap to buy them gifts or too non-committal to buy them rings and then when I go to a dig spot in an alleyway a bunch of kids follow and corner me for five incredibly frustrating minutes, demanding autographs and then getting angry when I ignore them because I'm too busy button-mashing the controller to try to push them out of the way. This game would be a lot better if villagers didn't stalk me every time I have stuff to do.
I'm having trouble reconciling my intention of remaining good/pure/vegetarian with my OCD about completing everything in a game. I can't shoot all the gargoyles and get all the treasure chests unless I get into the Temple of Shadows, but I can't get into the Temple unless I abandon my non-meat non-evil ways. Also my second ‘accidentally’ ate two of the five crunchy chicks.

Will M: I played Fable II last night for like 2 hours and got NOWHERE. There's no grinding per se but there's a lot of EXCRUCIATINGLY BORING foot travel punctuated by menus that take over thirty seconds to LOAD and a dog occasionally barking and a thought bubble popping up over his head saying there is a treasure or something is buried… meaning you have to go about fifteen feet off the beaten path, watch an awful animation, get an item which takes three seconds to load, and then go back to the trail, making you wonder why they even bother making you leave the beaten path because it's not like you get in a fight-- it's just a massive waste of time. Why not make the dog bark and then I HAVE THE ITEM? Then a shitload of people start following you around with hearts over their heads because once you thought it'd be a good idea to do "victory arm pump" in this city 15 times, and they're all talking, and talking, and talking and saying the same things. So to escape them you get behind the counter at a bar and for the next ten minutes you start earning money and you WANNA STOP because it's so boring but you CAN'T because this is the first time in a while you've earned money and you LOSE YOUR MULTIPLIER IF YOU STOP but you have to deal with repetitive button-pressing and EVEN worse repetitive people saying ‘you're good at pouring beer’ or whatever they say and fuck that game fuck that game fuck that game.

Top Ten on the way!

On its way tonight??

Negatory, papi.

These take about twenty minutes a pop to knock out!

Sobs.

The goal is to post five more per day and get this in the ground on Monday.
In the meantime: Watch the videos! Click the links! Debate the picks! Play some games!

forks, why is Fable 2 listed as top XBOX 360 exclusive? Presumably Braid still has to place and that's a 360 exclusive, isn't it? Or is XBLA considered a different system?

presuming Braid made it into the top ten, it would have to be the latter, right?

I guess. I'm just a little surprised. I don't consider XBLA isn't own system. Maybe I should!

I kinda look at PSN and XBLA as separate game delivery systems.

i think its kind of fascinating that fable ii seems to have produced the same ranting frustration in others that it did in me. when i sent in my disappointment of the year vote, i thought i might be the only one. linguistically it seems to have produced the same venting blargh in several other people, which conveys some sort of psychological underlying quality of dashed hopes or something maybe?

Braid is getting PC release. Not in 2008, but still, its' not exclusive.

and re: fable ii the only reason i didn't make it my disappointment of the year is because it didn't follow 3 of my fave games of the decade in mgs 1, 2, 3. to be honest i even liked mgs4 more than fable ii, all things considered. it jsut disappointed me more because of the legacy.

i BEAT mgs4; i still have yet to beat fable ii, which i fucking BOUGHT. ugh. the very idea of booting it up again is excruciating. THOSE MENU LOAD TIMES. that's how you make a miserable game.

braid was the ultimate one night stand of last year's video games i'm kinda hoping its not even in the top ten. but i guess it probably is.

other guesses:

01 Fallout 3
02 GTAIV
03 Left 4 Dead
04 Wipeout
05 SSFTIIHD ~REMIX~

with braid, dead space, wii fit and madden also placing

I didn't post a disappointment of the year, but it would have been either NBA 2K9 or Madden 09, both of which I bought and almost never play.

Lamp, Wii Fit was #34

Loved Madden 09. On the fly roster updates ftw.

Hated the gameplay compared to the older versions. Also, it had a habit of crapping out on me. Now that I've started copying games to my hard drive (best thing ever), maybe I'll give it another try.

Forks, the anticipation is driving me CRAZY, especially knowing that you have the results, and you're busy starting Schef gmail status update threads! ;)

Now that I've started copying games to my hard drive (best thing ever)

really? i thought the concensus on this was that it's useless.

really? i thought the concensus on this was that it's useless.

I've often had games freeze on me in the past, or run slowly, and it never happens anymore. Plus, it runs much quieter from the HD.

This is true. I was only able to play Fable 2 by copying it to the harddrive. And it IS much quieter.

#10: Wipeout HD (PSN) – 51 points – 5 votes – TOP PSN Exclusive
Official game site

http://www.threespeech.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/WipEout-HD--4.jpg

S1ocki: Guys this game is aweeeoeiwoeiwososome. JUST ONE MORE GAME JUST ONE MORE GAME

JeffLevine: ZONE ZONE ZONE ZONE
It's seems like it's a better game than I thought it would be and I thought it was going to be really good. So far, I'm amazed. Maybe the best looking game I've ever seen.

http://www.myps3.com.au/img/game/large/Wipeout-HD--3.jpg

HI DERE: I did one race and I am already in love.

Jamescobo: Plays as pretty as it looks, which I mean: come the fuck on.

http://ve3dmedia.ign.com/images/02/66/26692_WipeoutHD-05_normal.jpg

Ste: I really like it; I must admit I didn't right away as I was a bit rusty with the trigger turning and that first track was pretty tricky, but it didn't take long to get addicted to unlocking stuff. I just realized we're now playing Wipeout with better graphics than from the original PS Wipeout FMV that everyone creamed over at the beginning of the first game.

John Justen: This game is my first actual moment of PS3 envy right here.

Two way tie for #8.

#8: Dead Space (360/PS3) – 60 points – 6 votes
Official game site

http://thegamereviews.com/images/uploads/20080829_Dead_Space_01.jpg

John Justen: Really creepy. Like, convincingly and intensely and upsettingly creepy. Fantastic AI, great implementation of versatility in replay and Jesus Christ: can every other developer in the universe please pay attention to the HUD design in this plz plz plz
I think the shitty shitty demo probably did more to keep people from buying this than it did to enhance sales as it is totally unrepresentative of what makes this game great.

Roberto Spiralli: i QUITE METAPHORICALLY shit my pants playing it. Can't remember last time I was this creeped out by a game; kudos to the makers. I thought this was really superb. It became more of a shooter at the end with the game throwing more monsters your way to keep it tough, but I didn't mind so much. I’ll definitely play through again.

http://www.primotechnology.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/deadspace.jpg

David R: What I want:
1) Ammo
2) A character that will STOMP on the fucking thing I want STOMPED
3) A character that will SWING at the fucking thing I want SWUNG AT
What Dead Space offers: NONE OF THE FUCKING ABOVE

http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/files/2008/02/dead_space_11.jpg

Will M: This is officially the first thing I've ever booted up on my new 5.1 and OMG THE SOUND

http://www.dasgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/deadspace1.jpg

Latebloomer: Seriously never thought a game about monsters in space would appeal to me on any level.

Cozwn: I haven't been this tense crossing an empty room since MGS1.

PostMortem

S1ocki: Not that the game's story isn't the most derivative Alien/Aliens/Event Horizon bite to begin with, but man does it go to shit in the end. Are you supposed to have read the comic book or watched the straight-to-DVD movie to figure out what the deal is with the climax?

Mordy: I finished the first two chapters and then decided I needed a break; it is very intense. I love the interface; it really raises the level of the stress when you can't jump out of the game to check your inventory. I hate using the store or a mod machine and wondering whether something is creeping behind my back. Especially because something often is.
I do feel like it suffers in comparison to Fallout 3. Obviously they are doing different things, but it still pales.

#8: Mario Kart (Wii) – 60 points – 6 votes – Top Wii Exclusive Game
Official game site

http://www.wii-games-wii.com/images/mario-kart-wii2.jpg

CraigG: Aside from Pro Evolution Soccer, this is the best fun to have with a bunch of friends round. It outdoes Pro Ev in that I can get my girlfriend to play this with me and my friends without ending up shouting at her for not knowing the controls. :)

http://www.trustedreviews.com/images/article/inline/7374-MKart2.jpg

Webber: I find it very difficult to use the wheel and prefer to use a gamecube controller. The only problem with the gamecube controller is that it is almost impossible to do tricks/wheelies.

http://www.dabbledoo.com/ee/images/uploads/gamertell/mariokart_wii_wheel.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2377/2437432579_86cda5a78d.jpg

Zappi: After the initial disappointment, I really got into this. The single player is kinda useless and annoying inthat you have to play through it to unlock some stuff, but the online works really well. Downloading ghost data that other people have posted to race against is a great idea. I think the biggest change is the addition of trick jumps and ledges which you can get a boost from if you time it right - some are worth it and some aren't, so you really start thinking about different routes around the track. Oh and, yet again, fuck a blue shell… though the new thundercloud item is genius.

Forksclovetofu: Nintendo’s notion that giving the public what they want means reissuing the same game a zillion times over the course of a decade has rarely paid off better than with Mario Kart Wii. The minor improvements add up. To have more fun with a group of four people, you need to be high or naked. It’s good times.

#7: Burnout Paradise (360/PS3) – 64 points – 5 votes – 1 GAME OF THE YEAR vote
Official game site

http://ngnews.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/img_5916_burnout-paradise-11.jpg

Brilliam: More games need to steal this idea: make an engine that is SO GOOD that nothing feels like a chore.

http://endsights.com/wp-admin/images/burnout.jpg

John Justin: Seems like it's getting kind of slept on because ‘yawn another Burnout game’ but the open architecture is a great idea and all the free DLC makes it feel like Christmas all the time. Other game devs should wise up and realize that free DLC is the way to build continual sales into your product and to maintain your user base.

http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1629/1197582996.jpg

S1ocki: There are some serious problems with this game--free-roaming racing just don’t make much sense-- but it's still fun to grab for an hour here and there.

Jamescobo: If Little Big Planet gives you a complete set of tools, Burnout Paradise gives you a closed system with nigh-unto-endless variables - a single city which can instantly be populated by other human players at the press of a single button. It's SimAnt at 200mph. It's great. Also big ups to the developers who keep supporting this game with free new content to this day; I just wish I could have been a fly on the wall when they pitched it to EA (for god's sakes). Also: LCD Soundsystem on the soundtrack!

http://www.g4g.it/g4g/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/burnout_paradise_ost_01.jpg

Jeff Le Vine: I love the graphics, especially now that they added a day night cycle, but the racing just sucks.

#6: Rock Band 2 (360/PS3/Wii) – 73 points – 6 votes – 1.5 GAME OF THE YEAR votes– TOP WII GAME
Official game site

Nhex: I don't own a current generation console besides the DS, so my picks reflect that for the most part - my time with next-gen games comes mostly from playing friends' machines during visits. That's why Rock Band 2 scores so highly, and the two Wii games that were quite fun but played less score lower down the list.

http://ps3.rocktheconsole.com/posters/rock-band-2.jpg

Mitch Krpata: The most purely fun game I played in 2008. Alone or with friends, for five minutes or five hours, it always leaves me smiling. The gameplay is just terrific. My drum skills are at the point where medium difficulty is a little too easy and hard difficulty is just about within my range. It seems like Harmonix has calibrated the difficulty levels exactly -- the toughest songs on medium seem about equal to the easiest songs on hard. It's a simple and logical progression for the low-talent drummer.

http://fidgit.com/rock_band_2_fees.jpg

HI DERE: I got my wife to start a band with me! She's playing bass and every now and then gets mad at me because on easy, the guitar parts are way easier most of the time.

Mr. Snrub: WHY DOES THE WII VERSION SUCK SO FUCKING BAD??? Screw it. I'm getting an 360 and buying that version. I don't care if it costs $550 or whatever.

http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/rock_band2.jpg

Polyphonic: Disappointing. It's like they just released the first game with new songs, and even made it harder to unlock songs. Maybe it's better if you have the $300 drum kit but the regular new kit isn't much better than the old one and a lot of the early songs in the playlist kinda suck. Too easy even compared to the last one.

Ain't nothin' but the top five left!
Make your predictions here and I'll do the final reveal tomorrow night.

It has got to be Fallout 3, GTA IV, L4D, and Braid, but I can't imagine what the fifth is going to be. I'm probably missing something obvious.

SF2HD

Sounds about right, I think those must be the only ones left!

Sooo....

5. SF2HD
4. Braid
3. L4D
2. GTAIV
1. F3

Sound possible?

Lamp, Wii Fit was #34

im basically only crlt+f for my name tbh ````+_L but i was still pretty on-point imo who couldve predicted that ppl like fukkin rock band????

fuk braid imma get so enraged about this game btw u can all look forward to that

GRAH ALMOST DYING FROM WIPEOUT DESIRE

BUT i am getting xbox and dead space at the weekend probably, yay @ return to gaming!

i am glad i am aiding in facilitating you having less money

Braid was so excellent.

I don't think I ever made my mataphor about Rock Band on here, so I will give my two cents now: this game feels is like nachos.

You eat some, then you wanna eat more, and you eat and eat and eat until you realized you had too much... and you wasted precious stomach space on something that has no nutritional value and now you just have a stomachache.

My roomie and I split on RB and RB2 this holiday after Xmas, and while we played the SHIT out of it for a couple weeks, I haven't touched it since because I just feel liek I don't have THAT much time to play games, I'd rather play something that I feel isn't a massive (but fun) timesink. Like, I don't like listening to songs I don't particularly like and hitting buttons corresponding to those songs for hours on end. I mean, I DO like it, because it's fun, but I DON'T like it, because it REALLY gives me that "what the fuck am I doing with my life" gamer angst.

ha dude, if RB/RB@ makes you feel that way, never ever ever EVER start playing WoW

Also, do Mitch and Iroquois and all them actually read the site, or did they send in ballots? Or is it more that they just have good bites? I was gonna say "sound bites" but uh I guess they're not sound.

XP haha I DID play WoW for almost a year (pre-BC). At least in that game there was a sense of something lasting, which was making genuine friendships with some pretty cool people. Also, exploring new content is exciting when you play WoW. There's NOTHING in Rock Band. Not even that. I don't hate wasting time so much as I hate coming out of it with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING...

I can see how RB would seem that way if you didn't really dig the songs. I deleted a couple of songs that I hated from RB1 and now I'm pretty happy with what I have in RB2. I've been focusing just on lead guitar and so haven't really even begun to touch vocals or drums in RB2. It probably helps that I haven't binged on it b/c yeah I don't have much time to game either. Really I just put it on for a fun 30-45 minutes or so once or twice a week, and it's a great way to listen to a few songs I like. Plus I keep getting better at it so it gives that rush of improvement that a good RPG can give.

And, of course, it was really never even close.

#1: Fallout 3 (360/PS3/PC) – 266 points – 15 votes – 6.5 GAME OF THE YEAR votes– TOP 360/PS3/PC GAME
Official game site

Mordy: Somehow, Bethesda went from the quirky, though fairly generic world of Elders Scrolls, to the thematically rich, emotionally painful, and - fuck it - literary world of Fallout 3. No game ever moved me this year as much as Fallout 3 did. When I left Vault 101 for the last time, marching back into the wastes after reconnecting with the friends of my youth, I choked up. I found myself thinking back to the vault for the next hour or so, thinking back to what was forever lost, to what I'd never see again. Fallout 3 was full of these kind of gorgeous moments. An unexpected Town House excursion exposed beds full of skeletons and a still functioning robot. When turned on, he read a poem to the children's dead skeletons. The poem? Sara Teasdale's There Will Come Soft Rains. The Town House had no connection to any quest, no goods worth salvaging. But it was my most amazing moment of gaming in 2008.

The unofficial Forks Fallout 3 Soundtrack

http://thegamereviews.com/images/uploads/20081105_fallout3.jpg

John Justen: Absolutely no question that this is the best, most involving RPG I have ever played. This is the way to get people who don't like RPG's to take a second look. I really hope there is an achievement for obsessively turning on ham radios and opening toilet stall doors, because I’m pretty sure that I’m in the lead on that one. There really isn't anything that this game does wrong, music included.

http://savetherobot.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/fallout-3-2.jpg

CraigG: It's both exciting and daunting in terms of how big this game seems; I’ve barely made a dent in this after ten hours of play. It’s part of what really got me into gaming as a hobby.

Mitch Krpata: The most fully realized game world since Crackdown, at least. I've yet to play it for less than three hours at a time.

http://osmoothie.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/fallout-3.jpg

Hack Boy

http://fallout3.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/screen20b.jpg

Interactive map

http://ve3dmedia.ign.com/images/03/10/31053_Fallout3-01.jpg

Circa 1916: Awesome so far, despite weird little things. Animation is awkward and comical sometimes. Combat can get a little wonky. I killed a guard with one bb to the chest (?) and enemies don't really react to getting shot. Only 3 hours in. Spent most of my time wandering around a town chatting with people and I can't wait to get back to it. Scarily addictive and ridiculously fucking awesome so far. I've already logged 20 hours and I haven't even really touched the main quest yet. The sidequests are mostly excellent and feature a surprising amount of different outcomes. The game feels huge but not stretched thin. The replay value is ridiculous. I'm super impressed overall, it's worthy of the Fallout name. Every time I fire this up I become more and more enamored. This has got to be the best RPG of the 00's. Eh?

Forksclovetofu: Now that I just got past my first (wounded) deathclaw and marauded the shopping center, I got to say this is so addictive and fun and engaging. Improved Oblivion basically with a much more agoraphobic and nihilistic setting. I've been real happy with the pirate radio on the PIPboy. The further I get into this game the more vast it feels. Just got a house with requisite robot butler and am on the third chapter of Moira's crazy book and am ready to take some time off from that particular quest batch. I can't walk out the door without some oddball thing happening: robot firing lasers at me, three man merc hitsquad after my bounty, giant crab men chasing me down the street, fire ants that breathe actual fire, mine infested bridges... it's always something new! I am regularly struck by how uncomfortable I am killing folks who've set up little shelters under bridges or in utility sheds; they see me running up the hill with an assault rifle and of course they're going to start firing. Then I kill them and take all their stuff. And _I_ get the good karma?
I ran into a shitload of freezes getting by some mirelurks and then more when I was going to rivet city. Weird music/sound hitches. A spot where the world geometry came apart and threw me into a black hole. At least five cases where I've run into divots of rough terrain that I simply couldn't extricate myself from. Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason and it comes and goes. But I can't stop playing! The carrot for me now is to visit all the places on the map that the wanderer perk opened up. I'm going through by quadrant and the main hassle is fear of running out of ammo; the alien blaster has been a real consistent life saver and I don't think there's any more ammo to be found for that weapon. As soon as that starts to wear, I'll certainly head to the end. I'm expecting to be done with this game in the first week of the year and then put it in lukewarm storage in anticipation of the DLC. Still finding surprises round every corner tho! Button Gwinnett robot! Nukalurks!

Fallout Hacks galore

Roberto Spiralli: i definitely agree with the scarily addictive tag. First time in a long time that I've done that thing where i thought 10 minutes had past and it was an hour. When I first arrived at Megaton and did my early exploring it really did feel like I was just back playing Oblivion, but the more I play, the less I find I can rely on the tactics and the approach I used playing that game. I am also going the ponderous/exploratory route. I lack the self-discipline to stop myself being distracted by everything I wander across so the main quest hasn't seen much love.

Jim: OK, I have killed so many people already. This is a buggy piece of shit. Just jumped off the bridge that goes over the river in the south-east going across to DC and the second I hit the water it crashed. Jesus Jones. There's plenty of games I've enjoyed playing more, but I've notched up 37 hours in a week and despite now having it crashed eleven times and corrupting a save game I'm still persisting at it. Actually if I was to enumerate all the lame things in this game that pissed me off, it would sound like I disliked it, but that couldn't be further from the case.

Kingfish: Found Hubris Comics last night, and the text adventure in the basement. I like having the Explorer perk, as it reveals every single place; I feel like I'm cheating but I'm not! Huzzah! The guys at Obsidian and Bioware would have probably done a better job of strengthening and filling out the story bits for the quest, but for a big-budget/blockbuster title, I'm happy with what we got. Needs more funny, but it does wonders in expanding the world and backstory. Not only do you get to see more of their ruined society, you get to investigate museums to see how their ruined society spun off.

http://static.bethsoft.com/blog/DSCN2607.JPG

Cozwn: The water mechanic doesn't feel properly developed enough for it to have any significant or meaningful impact on the way you play the game and so the way you interpret its meaning - however I do agree that the end of the game does undermine a lot of what's gone before (inasmuch as its somewhat redemptive)... for me, it's the finality that jars (I know, right? the game has to end) as so much of the game is about the world and its inhabitants scratching through but for the most part slowly wasting - memories wasting, and bodies wasting physically (psychologically, and emotionally)... I would have preferred something a little more elliptical, less obvious, more elision less bang.

http://kaiju.net/junk/fallout3kulture.jpg

S1ocki: It's kinda crazy how much I THINK I've done, but you guys are all talking about weapons and techniques and shit I've never even heard of yet!!

Zero Punctuation Review

http://static.clanbase.com/CB/images/news/2008/fallout3.jpg

Goole: i don't really have much to say except this game is awesome and it's taken over my life.

Whew! Finally done! I'll do a few parting words on this monster in a day or two. In the meantime, discussion?

Even more than when I first played it, F3 stands out as the game of the year (and as Circa 1916 suggests, maybe the decade). I remember things from it in incredibly powerful ways -- as vivid as a stunning passage of literature, but with the phenomonological element of having played it rather than just read it. I remember what it feels like to stamp through tunnels, or to fight supermutants in the planetarium, or when I first came up to the Capital and the soldiers were there with a Deathclaw in a transport cage. At this point, if someone asked me why I play video games (a question that, to be satisfaction, has been decreasing over the last few years), I'd have to point to F3. It conveys an artistic experience that can't be found in another medium. And unlike, say, Braid, the ludic and narrative elements actually work together to create the experience. It's not like you have to sift through the mechanics to get at the story. The mechanics are the story. It's a story about walking through a vast wasteland with only some amazing music to keep you company.

I agree with everyone who said the main story isn't as good as the rest of the game (tho the simulation vault is an A++ unforgettable experience), but maybe that's important. Trying to ascribe teleology to the post-apocalypse is inevitably meaningless and vapid. Beckett had it right in Endgame. There is no story when the world ends, just the waiting. That fact that F3 evoked Endgame for me says it all there -- no other game in history has ever had this effect on me.

Excellent job, Forks, this was enjoyable!

for real. i didn't vote and i don't think i played any games this year, but i really enjoyed the rundown!

Yeah forks, great work you've done here, awesome stuff! Definitely drove some interest towards a lot of stuff I hadn't considered much of that I'm going to try to catch up with some during this year.

Lemmi ask Street Fighter voters a question; Do you recommend the game to someone who played the original, but doesn't have a ton of nostalgia for it? Does it work as its own game?

yeah this was great, thanks! I just bought Braid last night (yay sale) and already I can see why it's rated so highly. And I have Fallout 3 waiting when I'm ready to take on another monster, soon. I will be playing catchup for a while.

good stuff forks

and i'll only play fallout again if someone can honestly tell me that they've patched the bugs on the ps3 version !!

yah this was great forx thanks for taking the time do this up.

its funny if i had been making my list in the fall i wouldve had braid in my top ten but i tried replaying it at some point and the game has no depth... once you finish each puzzle piece thats it. and i tried paying attention to the story the last time and hated it.

@ mordy: ummm of course??? sf2 was one of the greatest games pretty much ever of course its still wicked even if youve never played before. the only reason it didnt top my list was because i felt bad putting something that wasnt wholly new as GAME OF THE YEAR and also i knew it wouldnt need my vote. imo it has the best gameplay of any game on this list that ive played

my list fyi:

30 - 01 drone tactics - DS
20 - 02 soulcalibur IV - XBOX360
10 - 03 nancy drew: white wolf of icicle creek - Wii
08 - 04 trauma centre 2: under the knife - DS
07 - 05 civilization: revolution - DS
05 - 06 professor layton and the curious village - DS
05 - 07 fallout 3 - XBOX360
05 - 08 SFII turbo hd remixxx - XBOX360
05 - 09 dokapon kingdom - Wii
05 - 10 etrian odyssey ii: subtitle - DS

once again, awesome work putting this together. didn't expect Fallout 3 to end THAT far ahead, but then again it is one of the games i slept on last year.

Great job! No surprises in the end, but loved the comments.

My ballot:

1. Pro Evolution Soccer 08 (Wii): 30
2. Burnout Paradise (PS30): 15
3. Fallout 3 (PS3):15
4. Prince Of Persia:10
5. Civilization Revolution (PS3): 5
6. GRID (PS3): 5
7. KORG DS-10 Synthesizer (DS): 5
8. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3): 5
9. NHL 09 (PS3): 5
10. WipEout HD (PS3): 5

Mine were:

20/ N+ (XBLA)
15/ The World Ends With You (DS)
15/ Left 4 Dead (PC)
10/ Space Invaders Extreme (PSP)
10/ Audiosurf (PC)
10/ Rez HD (XBLA)
5/ Fire Emblem - Shadow Dragon (DS)
5/ Braid (XBLA)
5/ Burnout Paradise (360)
5/ Persona 4 (PS2)

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT:
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots

In retrospect, Fallout 3 would probably have made it on here (it'd squeak out one of the 5-pointers, either Persona or Fire Emblem) if I had played it before a coupel of weeks ago. Also, MGS4, in retrospect, not as big a disappointment as Fable II.

haha i wondered if you were the persona/fire emblem voter its also kinda making me lol that i think of u as having pretty similar taste but our top tens have no overlap :D

im actually kinda surprised by how many of my picks other ppl voted for -i only have three single votes on there.

it cant be said enough times, forks, great great job with this.

suprised at how glad i am to see such a runaway victory for F3. i normally lean towards skepticism when something is so far ahead in a poll, but this result (even given some of my frustrations) still feels really right.

oh yeah, my list btw:
1. Fallout 3 (360) 20 points
2. Burnout Paradise (360) 15 points
2. Pure (360) 15 points
2. Dead Space (360) 15 points
3. No More Heroes (Wii) 10 points
4. Condemned 2: Bloodshot (360) 5 points
4. Left 4 Dead (360) 5 points
4. Rez HD (360) 5 points
4. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (X360) 5 points
4. Fable II (360) 5 points

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Fable II

Geometry Wars 2 (20)
Left 4 Dead (15)
Braid (15)
Megaman 9 (15)
Castle Crashers (10)
GTA IV (5)
FIFA 09 (5)
Soul Calibur 4 (5)
Little Big Planet (5)
Fable 2 (5)

Disappointment: Madden

Forks, you are a marvel. Thank you.

1. Forks is the king

2. guess I need to play FO3 after all. FUCK.

Thanks for the laurels y'all.

I've beaten it before, but inspired by this poll I started Braid again, this time my wife played (she had never played before), and I just gave hints/advice. One weird thing is that I didn't notice how beautiful it was my first time around because I was concentrating so much on the puzzles. But now I could really appreciate how pretty a game it is, and how cohesive and interesting the gameworld aesthetics are.

all i could think about was how crappy the level design was

2. guess I need to play FO3 after all. FUCK.

OTM!

To be fair, the Fallout 3 patch appears to have addressed most of the bugs in the game. I never had another freeze after I installed it.

I did the Tranquility Lane section in fallout last night, it was beautiful and eerie. I thought it was very similar to the Perfect Day section in Fable 2 though - it seems like a strange coincidence that two big games released almost at the same time should both have come up with that kind of idea at once.

right i'm going to get fo3 again + patch and become fucking GOD at it, thanks ilg

after playing geometry wars a bunch more i want to rescind my snarky asteroids comment i made earlier. it is a really great game.

lol this took SO MUCH TIME

but c'mon, you gotta admit...you wish it was still happening!

i got fallout for christmas and still haven't opened it :(

OK Play Fallout 3 now.
couple tips for the beginning of the game.

1) at the beginning you can change your test results (where you put your skill points)... so take the test anyways, for laughs
2) put your Charisma at 1. You don't need charisma in fallout 3 since you can save and reload whenever you have to convince someone in speech
3) don't put any of the 6 other things Endurance, Strength, Luck, Perception, Intelligence, Agility at 10. You can raise it to 10 late by collecting +1 bobbleheads.
4) get 35 skill points in explosives early on the game so you can disarm the bomb at Megaton.
5) for the quest Moira's Wasteland Survival guide at Megaton City, do all the optional subquests and when you return to her to give her your information... choose the speech options that say strength or endurance (given you have enough strength or endurance to choose those options). The reason for this is that once you complete her book you get a perk that is dependent on whether you did the optional subquests and what answers you tell her. (strength and endurance answers give you the best perk). The quest perks that are worth getting are all here

Really that is all there is to say. You should look in the Fallout 3 Manual at all the skill perks you can get whenever you level up so that you know what kind of character you want to build beforehand. My character is high in S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats and will have all the Damage Resistance points possible. I also specialize in V.A.T.S.

Other than all this there is no reason why you should feel overwhelmed to pick up and play this game.

6) if you don't want the people asking for water to die outside Megaton and Rivet City, be nice to them even if you don't have purified water.

7) there are 2 people in megaton who might accidentally kill themselves.. there is nothing you can do about it I believe (unless you have the pc version)

the great thing about this game is that you don't have to plan ANYTHING if you don't want to (I sure didn't!) and you'll still end up with a powerhouse by games end.

and yeah, i'm kind of excited for next year.
Decided that I'm going to leave it open to any game the voter personally PLAYED in 2009, not just the one's released this year. That should make it accessible to anyone who gamed in '09, not just the hardcore. It also means that Sewer Shark could win GotY 2009 and who can argue with that?

I still would like a list just for 2009 games, though, because I really like finding out about those games in the 70-40 range that I might otherwise not hear about.

well 2009 is beating 2008 with a bat so far (even the SUMMER has games coming out ffs) so I'm pretty sure even grandmas and people who actually leave the house should be spoiled for choices come voting time. maybe make it a special bonus question like the least-fun-game-experience question on last year's poll?

What's so hot this year?

that sounds like a thread actually.

"couple tips for the beginning of the game.

1) at the beginning you can change your test results (where you put your skill points)... so take the test anyways, for laughs
2) put your Charisma at 1. You don't need charisma in fallout 3 since you can save and reload whenever you have to convince someone in speech
3) don't put any of the 6 other things Endurance, Strength, Luck, Perception, Intelligence, Agility at 10. You can raise it to 10 late by collecting +1 bobbleheads.
4) get 35 skill points in explosives early on the game so you can disarm the bomb at Megaton."

5. jump out of window, smash face on concrete, spend several hours in emergency room considering error of your ways

I know some people just play the game to beat it. I play the game to slaughter it. And if you think my tips suck than maybe you blew up Megaton and don't have a house to live in and are taking it out on me.

I forgot one more important tip
8) Get the comprehension Perk as soon as you can. It lets you get twice the amount of skill points from skill books. Would be a waste to get it after you read a bunch of skill books.
If you print out a list of where all the skill books are, it would be good to cross them off. I never did this though.

9) Your like 30 and your spending you're time complaining about video games on a forum full of other 30 yr olds and sprinkled with the occasional gay teen. Guess what I'm gonna be doing when I'm 30. Let's just say first I'll get up out of a 5000$ bed in my waterside mansion on the east coast of japan, awoken by the light of the rising sun that glorious island is nicknamed after. I'll gently lift myself out of bed so as not to stir my beautiful eastern european pale skin dark hair small boobs wife and go to my huge walk in closet. I'll come back out moments later wearing a really expensive italian suit. Strolling down the corridor I come into a room with glass cases full of the trophies of my achievements. I proudly look at all of them and then move into the next room, it's the room with a wall-sized HD display and walls upon walls of DVDs, mostly Anime but with a few Western classics throuwn in there. Jealous yet? Next I move into the kitchen and have my servant make me a breakfast, its usually pancakes with chocolate chips and whipped cream, but today... lets go healthy. Just a few slices of apple, Servant. Thank you. How delicious. Now I'm strolling into the living room about to make for the door so I can go out and enjoy my day at Comiket, but in the corner there I see something. I walk over by the 5000 dollar gaming rig, its turned off for now but later tonight I'll be playing Prostitute Farm Online, max settings and DirectX12. I begin to turn and make for the door again but then i stop and look at the black monitor screen (no less than 40 inches, btw). I just laugh. And laugh and laugh. I'm laughing because the guy who was 30 when I was a 17 year old pathetic yix poster is still a yix poster, meanwhile, I'm living the literal dream. All because I shoot for the top. Deal with it, bitch. YCS.

naw, you're okay, just bustin' your balls.

10) pale skin dark hair 'big' boobs wife

Just a few slices of apple, Servant. Thank you.

What the hell is Yix

I've had a copy of fallout 3 just sitting and waiting for me for like 2 or 3 months now... but I'm a little scared of the commitment.

also, I've been playing crackdown, which is a little old hat but great! pretty sure I don't even need to bother w/gta 4 bc this ditches lots of the annoying stuff and let's you jump over buildings instead.

you know i think i like the annoying stuff in GTA4 but yes, how i would love to be able to jump buildings like in crackdown. would love a sequel...

oh man how sadly not true loving a crackdown sequel would turn out to be

i know :(((
my brother got a copy to review for his website and gave it to me once he was done. i played it for an hour and never went back.