For four years now, I’ve kept a diary detailing the games I play. Part of the reason was to see how many games I buy (and to reduce this number), and how many I complete (and to increase this number). 2008 saw a drop in completed games – 33 compared to 61 in 2007.
I don’t think this is bad, when you look at the games I’ve been completing. In 2007, there were quite a few shorter games, including 5 or 6 that were completed in just one sitting. 2008 saw Fallout 3 take up almost two entire months of my gaming time, Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise stealing about 75 hours (and I didn’t even finish it), and Grand Theft Auto IV and Civilisation Revolution both were 65+ hours each. I’ve also spent more time on games that can’t be completed – things like Wii Fit, More Brain Training and Ticket to Ride.
Then there are all the other games I played for ages well after completing them. Aside from Fallout 3, there’s Beautiful Katamari, skate., Geometry Wars Galaxies (and Geometry Wars 2), Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground and Eternal Sonata.
And lets not forget the games I’ve ploughed hours into, but didn’t manage to finish for one reason or another: Halo, Tingle’s Freshly Picked Rosy Rupeeland, Patapon, Mega Man 9 and more. I’m sure I’ll return to most of them.
Best Games Last Year
So what were the best games I played this year? Note that I don’t necessarily mean the best games that came out last year – that’s something else entirely.
- Fallout 3 (360): What else? Immersive, engrossing, funny, clever, gripping, beautiful, believeable and huge. And actually, amazingly, better than Oblivion. Yes! I thought that was impossible too!
- Grand Theft Auto IV (360): It’s full of bugs, took a while to adjust to following the previous games, but amazing fun.
- World of Goo (Wii): Short, but original and frequently hilarious. Excellent use of the Wii, too.
- Mega Man 9 (Wii): OK, so I didn’t manage to complete the final level, but the old-but-new journey there was a lesson in 8-bit aceness. I got a real sense of achievement besting each boss.
- Geometry Wars 2 (360): Just pips the Wii Galaxies game by having more varied modes (although fewer of them) and much better realised online leaderboard. The pinnacle of score-attack gaming.
- Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People (Wii): The triumphant return of the point and click adventure game, and a perfect fit for the Wii’s remote.
- Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS): I only got this on Christmas Day, and only played it for a few hours last year, but it still deserves a mention. A blend of brain teasers, adventure and mystery all wrapped up in a beautifully put together game.
- skate. (360): I really expected this to be awful, since I’m actually in man-love with Tony Hawk. Thankfully, it’s a totally different game and so can happily co-exist with Tony! The video uploading feature is a work of genius too.
- de Blob (Wii): The great jazz soundtrack, OCD colouring gameplay, and puzzley-platformeyness all add up to a great game.
- Zack and Wiki (Wii): Um, the other point and click adventure game this year! It’s more “hands on” than Strong Bad, but this just makes it different and original. It’s a shame only 12 people bought it.
Bubbling under: Beautiful Katamari (360) – excellent, but less variety than the PS2 games, and expensive (and cheeky) DLC, Patapon (PSP) – addictive but difficult, Kingdom for Keflings (360) – a game you can’t really lose, but relaxing and great for gaming OCD sufferers like me, Duke Nukem 3D and Banjo Kazooie (360) – both ports of old games, but both excellent for it, Braid (360) – platforming like there never was, and Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360) – same as before, only twice as much of it.
Worst Games Last Year
There were plenty of terrible, terrible games last year. But, due to the nature of them being awful I didn’t buy them. However, the clear winner I did get the full version of – because it was free. That game? The Doritos-licenced Dash of Destruction (360). Oh my, what a terrible, terrible game. At least you could get all 200 gamerpoints out of it without trying in under 20 minutes. Phew!
Oh, and lets not forget Pit Crew Panic! (Wii). Who could resist big headed race track pit girls fixing up toilets, boats and JCBs? Not me. Sadly, it was boring, repetitive rubbish. At least it only cost me £3.50.
Awful demos of games last year included Sonic Unleashed (360), which played like a compilation of the Worst Bits From Sonic Games – and they didn’t even include a Werehog level in the demo, which could only make it worse. Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (360) was a huge disappointment. It’s not a Banjo Kazooie game in anything but name, and appears to be a crap car building game rather than a platformer. Nasty.
Surprises of 2008
Firstly, Fallout 3. I knew it was going to be good, but it was a total surprise as to how good. Better than Oblivion, probably by quite some way. Astounding.
Then there’s The Simpsons Game (360). As a platformer, it isn’t really anything special. There’s nothing wrong with it in this context, it’s just… average. However, the writing, the humour, and the skits and injokes are well worth playing for. And the final boss battle? Dance Dance Revolution versus God. Genius.
The iPod (click wheel, not Touch) collected an impressive array of games last year. In addition to Peggle (which is amazing, but came out in 2007), Square Enix’s Song Summoner was especially good, being a close approximation to Final Fantasy Tactics.
Finally, the biggest gaming surprise of 2008 was when I bought myself a PSP. I never really wanted one, but I had a bit of trade-in cash from my old Premium 360, and Patapon had just come out, and I had a funny five minutes and bought one. I kind of regret it, as I simply can’t get on with it. The game library is poor, the console is uncomfortable, and the loading times on some titles are dreadful. I also have to charge it virtually every time I want to use it, and up until recently I’ve been unable to use the PSP Store as it needed a PC to access it – which I don’t have. And Echochrome, one of the games I was looking forward to on it, is pants.
