Favourite games of 2008?

[Cherrim]

Alright, so we're all gamers here and I'm curious to hear what everyone's top games of the last year were. You can give your absolute favourite, or the best games you played on each system, or a top ten... anything. Just let me know what your favourite games were and why. :D (Preferably, guys, only list games that actually came out in 2008.)

My tops?

Playstation 2
I really only have two choices here and since I don't have Persona 4, the title's gotta go to Kingdom Hearts - Re:Chain of Memories. I've already played the game in its entirety in Japanese years ago, but it was nice to see it released in English. :D

Playstation 3
Little Big Planet. I didnt' get all that many games for PS3 this year and I'm missing one of the other huge titles (MGS4) because I have yet to play through most of its prequels so LBP takes it. It's honestly one of the best games I've played. It's easy for friends to pick up and play when they come over, and it's got great multiplayer. My brother and I spent so much time going through plot levels collecting all we could. And that's not even touching the amazing user-creation capabilities. It's crazy to see what some people manage to create. I've played a lot of levels that were even better than some of the official ones. I just love this game.

Playstation Portable
I only got mine this year and have only played a handful of games, but one of my top games of '08 is Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII so it'd be my top PSP game. The game was gorgeous in its visuals. The cutscenes were on par with any PS2 cutscene I've seen and whether it was FMV, cutscene or actual gameplay, I thought the graphics were excellent. The story was good too, albeit really short, but I still got a lot of hours out of this. I still listen to a lot of the soundtrack on a near daily basis. :B

Xbox 360
To be honest, most of what I played on 360 this year was moreso catching up on games I'd missed out on before obtaining one rather than playing new games. I think the only new game I got was Tales of Vesperia. It was good but not great. So I'm going to cheat and say Bioshock because I honestly adore the game even if it scared me. :[ I'm going to say it counts because it came out for PS3 this year. *cheater* XD

Nintendo DS
The World Ends With You. I adored this game and still have fun playing it after pouring... 100ish hours into it? Probably more. :] The graphics aren't bad (albeit sprites and it's hard to mess that up these days XD), the soundtrack is great, and the dialogue is just hilarious. The plot was decent and the gameplay was just so much fun for me. It's not often I'll bother completing a game with such an annoying completion task (getting all those pins aaaaaaaaugh) but I'd probably gladly do it all over again. I recommend this to everyone.

Nintendo Wii
I'm... gonna have to go with Super Smash Bros. Brawl. No other game I picked up for Wii (ever, let alone '08) captured my interest. I played it a lot over the summer and it was just so much fun to play with friends. It's... well, it's SSB. I looked forward to it so much and, while it wasn't everything I wanted, I still have a lot of fun with it. :D

I think that's about it for me... so how about you guys?

 

[Xebelleon]

Xbox 360
-Fable II, the first game I got for mine, is the only title worth mentioning and Live-ing...

Nintendo Wii
-LEGO Batman (because no game for The Dark Knight (prolly a good thing), I like Batman and LEGO's so this robbed my pockets)
-LEGO Indiana Jones (Again with my LEGO interest, Willie (Temple of Doom woman) has the ever useful ability of screaming herself hoarse)
-those Homestar 'episodes' (Teen Girl Squad! The Ugly One!)

Having been about five years since I had even thought of Homestar, I found this a worthy download from the Shop Channel

Nintendo DS
-Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia

Though my Darkrai has 23 atk IV and 31 speed IV, the Careful nature is disappointing. So is the 4 SpAtk IV...

 

[Fenrir Reki]

My top favorites are,

PS3:
Dead Space: One of the most best games ever. It's not even scary even though it tries to be, and yet it's so fun to play!
Cod4/Cod:WaW. The best fps games i've ever played, and still play.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Playing online never gets old. Even playing in Single Player, It's usually almost always fun.

Wii:
Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse. Almost like the other ones, but a little more fun to play. (and yes this is the japanese version)

XBOX 360:
Left 4 Dead. One of the best survival horror FPS games i've ever played before. Playing online gets real addicting.
Fable 2. So many things to do, such fun to play.
Rock Band 2. Real fun to play, and has a lot of songs to choose from/play.

 

[Alistair]

Here are some of my favorites:

Xbox 360: Mirror's Edge - Though the main story was a bit short (only 11 hours for me, but I did goof off a bit), the pure gameplay that it offered was just amazing. I actually felt like I was Faith, running around a sterile city, delivering messages. It was just exilerating.

Wii: Super Smash Bros. Brawl - The first thing I liked about it was the Subspace Emissary. It was actually enjoyable, campared to Adventure Mode from Melee. Of course, they added in a couple of new characters and got rid of some useless ones (like Dr. Mario), one character of which is my favorite, Olimar. The online play is a lot of fun, too (though I do not go on that often). The last thing that draws me in is the Level Editor. I have made at least 50 different levels.

DS: Pocket Monsters Platinum - I know this choice is a bit... predictable, but it is none-the-less my choice for DS. Nintendo essentialy took Pearl/Diamond and built upon it, as they usually do with the third game, but actually did it well. The Torn World is a wonderful addition, although short-lived. The new WiFi enhancements are also awesome. The new graphics are real eye-candy when compared to the graphics of D/P. The ability to catch both Dialga and Palkia is another bonus, and I can actually access the WiFi events!

Playstation 2: NiGHTS: Into Dreams... - This remake is the same old NiGHTS on a new console. Being able to play the original masterpiece in stunning new graphics (or the original Saturn graphics, if you choose) is nothing less than awesome. Flying around as NiGHTS in Nightopia was fun in the age of the Saturn, and is still fun today.

 

[Eon-Rider]

Nintendo DS: My favourite NDS game that came out this year is easily The World Ends with You. I actually started playing this purely because it was on GameFAQs' top 10 DS games at the time and I'm really glad I did play it. The game has probably the most original battle system in any game I've known about. The plot was pretty nice and it messed with my emotions quite a bit. I still sometimes play it even though I've gone through the whole game twice.

Nintendo Wii: Since SSB64 (even though I didn't own a copy of it) I've always had an interest in the series. Melee was great fun and when I found out Super Smash Bros. Brawl was to come out on Wii, I knew I had to get a Wii just for it. When I got Brawl, I was slightly disappointed by the massive lag everywhere you go throughout the game but I think I've become used to it, excluding the times where it takes almost half a minute to load something. I still play the game at least 4 times a week since the Australian release.

Yeah, those are the only two gaming consoles I play. =\

 

[Gummy]

Nintendo DS: I'm going to follow the trend and say The World Ends With You was my favorite NDS game of 2008. There are so many awesome thing about that game: the dialogue, the personalities, the gameplay, the soundtrack, the story - all top notch. It was a game that broke away from the army of Final Fantasy that were being released at the time (although those were pretty fun too). Even though I beat it a while ago, I still find myself popping in that cartridge and knocking around a few Noise while listening to good game music. I recommend this game to anyone who owns a Nintendo DS.

Xbox 360: Oh, this is going to a hard one. This could go to Tales of Vesperia, which didn't match ToS' greatness, but was still satisfying. Then there's Gears of War 2, which I recently completed and had a wonderful storyline and characters. And the award goes to... Tales of Vesperia! GoW2 had awesome online play, but the short length of the campaign has left me with only slow paced games to play for the rest of this vacation. I remember ToV lasting me WEEKS, just like all the 'Tales of' games. The FOIL between Yuri and Flynn made me fall in love with the characters, although Estelle's level of kindness got on my nerves a few times. The ending wasn't too "happily ever after," just how a 'Tales of' game should be. I can only pray that they choose to release their next title on the 360.

PSP: Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, and NOT jut because that's the only game I have for the portable xD. Seriously, the game may at first seem like another smack to the face of the almighty FFVII, the this title is actually good. The battling system got on my nerves a little, but that's really the only problem I saw. The graphics really put the PSP to the test and they pass with perfect scores. I can almost GUARANTEE the ending will make you cry.

 

[Legobricks]

Windows 32
Battleships Forever (v0.88) — Relatively small freeware 2-D space RTS I found when looking for a download link to Warning Forever, which BF is inspired by, although for the most part vastly different to. It's still in development, as the version number being under 1.0 would imply. It's nonetheless a very nice game, especially for a free one; with an excellent degree if customisability, which is the aspect of it that makes BF stand out. It's very much a sandbox game — there needs to be more of these.

Dual Screen
Advance Wars: Dark Conflict — The EU & AUS localisation bearing a more cheesy name than the US one, the game itself is far from that. Still, it seems remarkably average when I compare the good and bad points. Balancing is improved, but there are some new things about it that I don't agree with.
With three ideologies being pushed around, Ed just comes out being some kind of flat-as-a-pancake sort of character, working about to forge a world exactly the same as the one before. Sigismundo's "one ruler over the whole world" ideal is very much how I think, so it makes me want a campaign/story from both the 12th Legion and NLA sides. A lot of people call this an excellent game, but I call it just... good.

 

[Smarties-chan]

I haven't really played many 2008 games, but to be honest, not many games seemed that interesting to me, but here's my list anyway:

Nintendo DS: The World Ends With You.
Love it, love it, love it! The battle system is easily the best one on any game I've played, only matched by that of Kingdom Hearts (Re:) Chain of Memories. With all those pins and equipment, you can just do so much customization and an amazing story combined with great dialogue and Joshua characters that you can actually relate to makes the game that much better. Add in an awesome soundtrack and great graphics and you have one of the best titles for the DS so far. By far my favorite Nintedo DS game.

Final Fantasy IV deserves an honorary mention for being a remake of my second favorite FF game.

Wii: Super Smash Bros Brawl
I haven't played many Wii games at all and most of them don't even seem that interesting to me, but Brawl is just amazing. I always play it with my friends when I get the chance to and it's just so much fun. It can get a bit stale if you don't have someone to play with though.

Playstation 2: Kingdom Hearst Re: Chain of Memories
What can I say? It's a remake of my favorite GBA (and Kingdom Hearts-) game. I haven't played the English version, but I completed the Japanese version almost a year ago.

PSP: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
I got this game along with a PSP for Christmas and although I didn't have very high expectations for this game, it was still the most interesting game I found while browsing a list of PSP games. I was positively surprised how good this game actually was. The graphics were far better than I could ever have imagined based on the videos I've seen, and though the story could have been more detailed and the whole Nibelheim incident was a letdown, (come on, you didn't even get to steal Tifa's underwear like you could in the flashback in FF VII D= ) the ending alone is enough reason to play through this game. The battle system was good, but the fights were always just about putting up Wall and spamming your strongest attack, be it Blizzard, Quake or Costly Punch, but I still liked the battles overall. The soundtrack was mostly good, but the normal battle themes could have been better for a game that has so much emphasis on the battles. The remixes of original FF VII themes weren't too good, either. Don't get me wrong, they did sound good, but the originals are simply better. (apart from the Turks' theme)

 

[ソラ]

Playstation 2
Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories. I love the Voice acting, and the Game play seem easier than the GBA version.

Nintendo DS
Chrono Trigger: I never played the Original, or the Playstation Remake. But I love it so far. Just how the Animation, and how the story is.

The World Ends with You- Havent gotten far as of yet, But I LOVE IT. the music. and how the Battle System is.

PSP
Crisis Core- Final Fantasy VII: Good Series. Good Game, and how the Game play is its amazing. Obviouslly I am a SQUARE-ENIX Fan. All my Games was developed by Square.

 

[Razer302]

Playstation 3
MGS4. I completed MGS4 on Christmas Eve in preparation for my Christmas games and I thought the game was epic. The cut scenes were superbly put together and the story was fantastic.

COD:WAW is also worth a mention. I love this game online. It was lacking on the offline game but I can play for hours on end online.

DS
So many good games have been out on the DS this year. A few are Final Fantasy Revenant Wings, Chrono Trigger and Pokemon Platinum but I have to agree with everyone else and say The World Ends With You is my favourite game of the year. I love this game. It has an amazing fighting style and the style it is done in is great. It is the only game that really stood out to me over the year and provide a new way of playing an RPG.

PSP

Chrisi Core: Final Fantasy. The gameplay was done very well. There where a few things that I didn't like with it but I will let that slide. The Materia Fusion was a great idea and worked well giving the stat boosts. All the graphics were amazing. The story gave more inside into cloud and even though I don't like FFVII that much I enjoyed gettig a background on the cloud and zack story and added more depth to the PSX game.

My overall game of the year has to be The World Ends With You for sheer enjoyment and the lovely battle style. Haven't seen anything like that before and it worked so well for never being done before.

 

[jasonresno]

I'm only going to touch on the 360--it's the only system I really play--and mention that my favorite games of the year were ones I hadn't played before (Assassins Creed) or more along the line of niche games. I found myself playing Rock Band 2 and Madden 09 for the most amount of time. I did get Fable 2 and enjoyed it for awhile but I got burnt out quick on it. I tried playing it online and it was so shoddy to the point of frustrating it sort of lost some of its charm for me.

 

[Jeremy]

Well let's see sweeties:

Nintendo Wii: Super Smash Bros Brawl - Well maybe it's because I'm a Nintendo fan boy and it has enough retro NES/SNES fan service to give me a heart attack, or maybe it's because of the decent attempt to balance the large roster, or maybe it's the first Super Smash Bros to go online, or maybe it's the SSE Adventure Mode that had me and my brother go through Super Nostalgia mode, or maybe it's because it's just fun! Whatever the reason is, I have yet to stop playing this game. =D

Nintendo DS I want to say Pocket Monsters Platinum, The World Ends With You, and Chrono Trigger DS, but those have been mentioned already. =P
For 2008 I would say Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. It was a fun and easy game, and probably one of my favorite Castlevania games out of all the handheld ones.
Edit:Wait, My fave 2008 has to be Kirby Super Star Ultra. x3 I forgot it was released 2008. XD

PC: Left 4 Dead - Finally a PC game that stopped me from only playing Team Fortress 2 and Counter Strike: Source. XD Once I played the demo I was hooked. It was simply fun. I chose the PC version because I like my free content free. =p Also modding the maps and everything else is also a plus. *Works on adding the Gravity Gun and Portal Gun.* XD

 

[▲]

DS: MegaMan Star Force 2: ZerkerxSaurian
PSP: Secret Agent Clank

What can I say? I like these franchises...

 

[Mitchman]

Wii:Ghost squad. I love cheap zapper games. Hell thats the only 08 wii game i bought.
DS: Oh goodie its a tie. Pokemon platinum(obviously) and Guitar Hero DS. The second one is driving me to addictville.

 

[Arcanine]

What's strange is, I got a ton of games this year and I don't remember but a handful. And I swear I didn't copy a single game from Erica... even if it looks like I did. XD
But anyway...

~ DS: The World Ends With You
Ok, so this is the only DS game I got this year... that matters not, it's a great game, I loved it, and I didn't want to finish it because once I did then... it'd be over. It might be the only DS game I got this year but even if it wasn't then it'd still make it as my fav DS game.


~ PSP: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Again this is the only game I got for this system this year. It's a good game, and I want to get back into it (my PSP is charging as I type this). But I've got such a large backlog... and then there's the 360... But none the less, I really do like this game and I do wish I could just sit down and play it.

~ PS2: Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories
Ok ok, so I'm only like... 2 or 3 hours (ok maybe 4 or 5) into the game. But it's CoM... I liked the game fairly well, and I really like the PS2 ver of it. It's KH... and it's on my fav system but I just can't sit down and play it. For some reason I can't play single player games anymore. When I do play it I love it, but it's just so hard for me.

~ Wii: Super Smash Bros Brawl
This one is really a no brainer for me. I mean sure I've went from Wii fanboy to "I hate the Wii...", but I still have a place in my heart for Brawl. I don't play the game anymore, but when I did it was really fun. Brawl is an awesome game, but I think it could have been better if the limitations of the Wii didn't hold it back.

~ PS3: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
5 words for this game... This Game Is Fricken Awesome. Really, the game is sooooooo good. I know when I talked about re:CoM I said I had probs playing single player games... for some odd reason I didn't when it came to this game. I couldn't stop playing, I had to stop myself so I wouldn't beat it so quickly. But it's just.... great. I mean the gameplay is spot on, the graphics are soooooooooooooooo sweet, and the story... not only does it tie everything up in MGS 1, 2, and 3 but it does it in a way that is just perfect. So many funny, sad, happy, and flat out shocking moments in the game. I just wish I got into MGS before this year (or last year... or whenever). And to think... I was going to get the PS3 bundle and sell my copy of MGS4 that came with it because I didn't care about MGS. XD
And if I had to pick a Game of the Year then it'd more then likely go to MGS4.

~ 360: Call of Duty: World at War
Even if CoD4 is better, I'd have to say I do think this game is my pick for fav 360 game in 08. I did have to sit back for a min and look at both WaW and Gears of War 2. I mean I love the co-op in Gears... I loved it in 1, and I loved it in 2. And Gears 2 has a lot of good new stuff in it. But when it comes right down to it I like 360 games for multiplayer. And I just like the multiplayer in CoD:WaW far better then what I can find in Gears 2. I didn't like the idea of going back to WWII in WaW, but I guess it all worked out once I got the hang of the game.


But yea, that's my games of 2008... even if I didn't finish all of them. XD

 

[True Reign]

.Playstation 3 ~ Resistance 2
This game has kept me on the edge of my seat ever since I got it two weeks ago. It's not only fun, but also horrifying if you didn't notice the Chimera Hybrid hiding behind the boxes waiting to eat you alive.

.Xbox 360 ~ Halo 3
Can't go wrong with this game. Last Feburary, my dad and I took turns blasting people to hell in the online gameplay. My dad and I have played with this game since the first Halo. He even took me out of school to finish the game! Tell me thats not awesome? I remember we would stay up late with soda and candy just to finish the second one. Sadly, I stopped playing the franchise. Maybe a fourth Halo could do the trick (this last sentenace was sarcasm.)? :P

.PC ~ Call of Duty: World at War
I just got this game for my computer this Christmas. It has amazing graphics, espeically the part where you and your friends see how screwed up your body can get after a blast from that tank straight in the head. I espeically love the dog feature even though it completely ruined my 30+ kill streak. Damn shotgun coulded pull off the agility of that dog... Don't even get me started on the Molotov Cocktail grenade!

.Nintendo DS ~ My Spanish Coach
I haven't gotten Pokemon Diamond or Pearl, not even Platinum, but I did, however, get this game called 'My Spanish Coach'. If you want to learn Spanish this is definitely the game for you. I'm currently on lesson 10 and I feel like I don't want to put it down. It makes the lessons fun and interesting. Not only that, but it includes a full dictionary with all the words in the English language in Spanish.
______________________________________________________________
My two cents of video games.

 

[awsomedude30]

Wii-super smash bros brawl
pretty obvious
i loved melee and so this was a great game
Ds-Kirby Super Star Ultra
im a kirby fan what more can i say

 

[Akeraz]

So many awesome games came out in 2008.
I'm not going to do one for each console, but ones I feel are worthy of my praise.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness:
Improved a hell of a lot on the original PMD, which was great as it was, and had the most gripping storyline of any Pokémon game to date. I thoroughly enjoyed the game.

Final Fantasy IV (DS):
Since I never really played FFIV when it was rereleased on gba, or when I had the chance to, I decided to pick this up. I found it to be a charming adventure, and the graphics are some of the best of any of the DS titles.

Fable II:
I cannot sing this game's praises enough. Excellent replay value, A gripping storyline and plot, an innovative style of play, and there's something for everyone in this game. I've thoroughly enjoyed this game, and still continue to do so.

Mother 3:
While this was actually released in Japan, An english fan-translation patch was released towards the end of the year by starmen.net. I find the game to be gripping, and it has an amazing storyline, and if an official translation of this game is ever released, I'll be buying it.

Animal Crossing: City Folk/Let's Go To The City
A Charming addition to the Animal Crossing series, and although it shares alot with it's predecessors, there's a nice mix n' match of both to make it an utterly charming game. If you liked the previous games, or just like games you can play at a relaxed pace, this one's for you.

And that's it, I guess.

 

[funny1always]

well the top games that i got were sonic unleashed, animal crossing city folk,kirby supah star, ssbb I LOVE SSBB IT'S SO FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8D

 

[Haza]

DS- Pocket Monsters Platinum
PS3- Socom 3, Call Of Duty: World At War
X Box 360- Left 4 Dead