"...nothing really stood out as “amazing” to me.."
I had an extremely difficult time picking a game of the year for 2008. There were several good large budget titles, but nothing really stood out as “amazing” to me. It also seemed like there were a lack of good releases in genres such as adventure and strategy, which was disappointing to me. The following are brief conclusions about what I would consider the top titles of 08:
Far Cry 2 was good in terms of graphics and openness but it just got repetitive after a while. I was hoping for a more involved storyline and was let down. Check out my Far Cry 2 review for a full analysis.
I recently purchased Fallout 3, which many people seem to think is fantastic, but it just doesn’t leave that impression on me. Our reviewer, Kyle, gave it a 7, which I thought was a little on the low side, but at this point (I’ve put in a little over 12 hours so I’m just starting off) I wouldn’t have given it a score outside of the 8 range – probably a low eight. They didn’t even fix the horrible Oblivion animations! I enjoy the post-apocalyptic setting but the game just isn’t doing it for me. Good but not great.
Call of Duty 4: World at War has great multiplayer but the single-player is definitely lacking. I could really see this game taking over as a new WWII multiplayer leader over games such as DoD: Source and Red Orchestra but if you’re looking for an overall experience both on an offline, you won’t find it here. Check out My World at War Review, which was just recently posted.
I tried out the Left 4 Dead demo, and usually love everything Valve does, but it actually convinced me not to buy the game. I appreciate the underlying homage to films like 28 Days Later, which of course pay tribute to George Romero’s work and earlier films and stories, but I’m not sure that I really enjoy this kind of game. If I do end up playing it I think I’m going to get carpel tunnel.
I also just started playing Grand Theft Auto IV to review and actually only ran into one issue while starting up the game for the first time (my firewall was blocking Windows LIVE but I wasn’t getting the normal allow access message). So many people have had issues with this game that I think that alone leaves it out of the top tier of this year’s games. I have put a few hours into it and the environment and graphics seem great. Rockstar always likes to push controversial themes and that’s just not working for me this time around. Political satire has really been ramped up and it just gets annoying after a while, no mater what your political opinions might be. It’s amazing to see how far this series has come but on the other hand, it also seems so repetitive. Yes, there is a new storyline but missions don’t seem all that entirely different from previous installments.
I’ m not an MMO fan so I really have no opinion on titles such as Lich King and Age of Conan. There’s something about this genre that I just can’t appreciate, even though I do enjoy a good RPG. People always get so crazy hooked on the things that I’m actually glad I don’t have an interest. “Evercrack” and similar nicknames don’t just come about for any reason.
When it comes down to selecting the year’s top game I really don’t have one. My favorite game from the list above is Far Cry 2, so that is what I ended up voting for. Great graphics, a completely original environment, open gameplay, and huge maps make it seem better than the rest. However, this choice leaves me with a bitter aftertaste. It's Ubisoft, afterall, and they're definitely not my favorite publisher. I looked at a list of games for a long time before coming to this decision but that's what I came up with.
2008 won’t really be memorable for me. I’m really looking for that game that scores in my 9 range but couldn’t find it this time around. I have a feeling that some of it has to do with consoles but I’m not really concerned with the health of PC gaming. This industry is huge and personal computers aren’t going away anytime soon. With advances in large flat screens, media PCs and Ethernet jacks being added to DVRs and TVs themselves, it could shift around a bit and I wouldn’t be surprised if at least part of PC gaming moved to the living room.
I believe that one of the next steps in the advancements of the platform needs to take place at the input level. A keyboard and mouse can only go so far and I think we’re well overdue for something new. New gamepads are obviously not the answer either. The NOVINT Falcon is a step in the right direction (not a paid link btw). Better input hardware could completely transform the platform and the sooner the better, in my opinion. If I was to push for something new in 2009, this would be it.
The first couple of quarters of 2009 look like they’re going to be slow for PC gaming but I’m hoping that we’ll see a few big announcement at the revived E3 show in June. We still have games such as Half-Life 2: Episode Three, Alan Wake, Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor, and StarCraft II (to name a few) to look forward to. I wouldn’t doubt that there are giants lurking in the shadows, it’s only a matter of time.
