With the end of the year in sight, one cannot help but give in to tradition and present some kind of look back on all that has gone on over the last twelve months.  2008 was a year that hit some really high highs, and some really low lows, and I’m not just talking about in gaming.  Fortunately, we’re only here to talk about the games, so that makes things a little easier.  With that in mind, let’s see what our Spectacle Rock team thought about the year that was…

Joel Haddock

Best of the Year – Mother 3

Some may call this a technicality, but 2008 was the first year that I, as someone who can not fluently read Japanese, got a chance to finally play Mother 3.  This game is impressive in two ways: First of all, it’s an amazing game. Darker than Earthbound, but still holding on to that strange humor that makes it so unique, Mother 3 is a masterful piece of storytelling.  Secondly, the fact that a dedicated group of fans kept working and working to finally bring this to so many who would otherwise never get to play it is a fantastic testament to the industriousness of gamers when it comes to love of their games.  Hats off to the group that got this out, and should they ever produce something I can legally purchase, I’ll be sure to throw some cash their way.

Fail of the Year – Red Alert 3

This was a little tough, because I played a lot of lousy games this year.  So, in the end, I decided to go with the game that was the biggest let-down for me on a personal level.  I loved Red Alert 2, and I still hold it up as one of the best RTSes I’ve ever played.  Red Alert 3 captures half of the RA formula, with wonderfully over-the-top acting in the cut scenes.  On the actual gameplay front, however, RA3 falls into what I call the “RTS Glut” trap that seems to afflict all RTSes as of late.  The game wants you to manage too many units, deal with too many special functions for each unit, and be able to track a hundred different things that the AI is doing at the same time.  I really wanted to love RA3, but it’s weeks later, and I’ve not even bothered to play it enough to beat the first campaign.

Community Supported Game of the Year - Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 has been out since the fall of 2007, and it is still very much alive and kicking. I credit most of this continued life to the communities that have built up around it, and most especially to the dedicated and continuing content being generated for it by so, so many players.  I myself have done mapping for it, making it the first time I’ve loaded up a map editor since Doom 2.  New maps come out on a literal daily basis, and the real key here is that an awful lot of them are pretty damn good.  New maps and new game modes, along with “official” content from Valve every few months helps keep the game fresh, and it’s what keeps me loading it up as often as I can, even over a year later.

Michael Damato

Best of the Year - Mother 3 Translation

Its finally here, after all the waiting and praying that Nintendo didn’t send them a cease and desist letter, the English translation of the third installment of the Mother series went up for download mid-October. I’ve always been a big fan of the Mother series after playing Earthbound (Mother 2) on the SNES, so this was really special for me, and the wait was definitely worth it. A finely crafted and touching story woven around one of the most uniquely designed RPGs you will ever have the pleasure of playing. If you still have not had the chance to play Mother 3, or either of the other two games in the series, I highly recommend them.

Fail of the Year - Left 4 Dead Server Debacle

“Valve making a zombie game?”, I thought, “What could possibly go wrong?”. How about setting up PC users with a horrible console match-making system and nearly completely killing the custom content Valve games are famous for right off the bat. Now before you strangle me, yes, I own Left4dead, and I love the game and the mechanics; it’s the dedicated server hosting that I have a problem with. Almost all PC games have a server browser that lets users pick and choose what server they want to play on. In the first beta release you couldn’t do that – if I payed for a server for my community to play on, there was no way of ‘guaranteeing’ that I would ever play on it. The dedicated server emailer erupted in flames of angry admins and eventually Valve unlocked the browser…which you must access through the console. They are not even a quarter of the way to fixing the way this game’s servers run, and if they don’t do something constructive about this in 2009 most of the private hosting will dry up, along with any hope of seeing the Dawn of the Dead Mall or the Pub from Shawn of the Dead recreated by mappers.

Mixed Bag of the Year - Fallout 3

Simultaneously Fail and Win: I am a huge fan of the old fallout games and awaited the release of 3 with a foreboding dread that the game would be a horribly watered-down addition to one of the greatest PC franchises, as well as a slight sense of hope that it just might create a revival. In the end, some moments in the game show true genius that stays true to the originals, but other parts were just absolutely god awful. On the whole, the good outweighed the bad and this is a ‘recommended buy’ for anyone with a PC powerful enough to handle it, and I have high hopes for people modding the game with the GECK SDK.

ScottyG

Best of the Year - Metal Gear Solid 4

By far, the title of the year for me was Metal Gear Solid 4. It was just a brilliant end to a truly memorable series. I was very skeptical going into it, especially considering the history of the series. Sons of Liberty raised more questions than answers, and while it provided lots of back story to the world and the characters, Snake Eater did very little to answer them. Guns of the Patriots actually managed to wrap everything up, while delivering one of the most intense and emotional experiences I have ever experienced in gaming. Everything about it, from the jaw dropping (and ungodly long) cinematics to one of the greatest soundtracks in gaming is superbly done.

Can’t wait for the 360 port! ;)

Fail of the Year – Mirrors Edge

If you’ve read my review you’ll know how I loved the mechanics of the game, but was incredibly disappointed by the execution, not to mention the blatant stretching out of the story to allow for sequels. Hopefully the developers can make the sequel into everything the original should have been, or someone else can work with the idea to make what very well may be the next step in the evolution of the platformer.

Most Awesome Game With Dinosaurs In It of the Year - Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs

My “Most Awesome Game With Dinosaurs In It” of the year is going to Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs. Haven’t heard of it? Not surprised, to be honest. I randomly stumbled across the trailer shortly before the game’s release. Having recently played the much more simple rock/paper/scissors rpg (rps rpg?) Dinosaur King, I found a more “realistic” depiction of dinosaurs rather intriguing. Stay tuned for my review (unless it is already done and up by the time you read this), but needless to say I’ve found the concept simple but
unique and very fun.

Plus it has dinosaurs in it, which automatically makes it a winner in my book.

Jeff Feeser

Game of the year – Rock Band 2 / Harmonix delivering on their DLC promises

There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that this was going in my Game of the Year column.  I am a self-professed Rock Band obsessive, and the sequel, while not truly innovative, kicked the game into high gear not only as an individual experience as well as a party experience, but as a new platform that has the full weight of EA/Harmonix/MTV.  I was initially skeptical when, over the summer, Harmonix promised that there would be at least 3 songs per week available for DLC, and a truly massive library of songs available by year’s end.  They delivered on this promise and then some – not only did we get 3 songs a week, we got an entire album every month.  I’m also a huge fan of how they’re starting to broaden the scope of their included music.  Say what you will about adding a country pack or a 3-song set from the Jonas Brothers, but it’s quickly becoming apparent that Harmonix is building a song library in which there’s something for everyone.

Fail of the Year – Castle Crashers‘ Bugginess

Now that i’ve gotten all of my Harmonix fanboyism out of the way, let’s talk about a company that didn’t deliver on their DLC promises.  The Behemoth, I’m looking at you here.  I will count myself among the legions of fans that slavered in front of their gaming RSS feeds, eager to lap up any new information about Castle Crashers, your glorious sophomore effort, following up the insanely difficult yet immensely satisfying Alien Hominid.  A 4-player game in the vein of the X-Men and TMNT arcade fighters of old?  Playable on Xbox Live?  Count me in.  Alas, on release day, like a kid on Christmas morning opening his gifts only to find a Meat Loaf discography, my rage could not be contained. The game itself didn’t have anywhere close to the thumb-breaking difficulty of Alien Hominid, and, in fact, could be played through pretty much in an afternoon.  By yourself.  I say “by yourself” because the multiplayer matching was a giant pile of fail.  If you actually managed to connect with your friend to play a game (a feat that happened only if the stars aligned), you would be lucky to get through one level before the game took a giant dump on your internet connection.  A patch was immediately promised when the game was released in August, but was delivered, in this writer’s opinion, too little, too late.  The patch came out 3 days ago at the time of this writing, and while it delivered on its promise, I have long since moved on.

Best Out of Nowhere Awesome Party Game of the Year – Boom Blox

Congratulations, Mr. Speilberg.  How you got involved with the creation of this game (and I’m fully aware it was probably just you writing an e-mail to EA saying “hey, I want to put my name on a game”) I’ll never know.  But i’m glad you did.  This game is basically the Wii version of the same favorite game I played throughout my childhood, a game which I lovingly called “Wait For My Brother to Build Something Out of Lincoln Logs and Then Throw a Baseball At It”.  The only thing missing is the second throw of the baseball at my brother himself, and EA even made an effort there with the little chipmunks circling the Boom Blox stack.  While the single player game serves basically just to unlock editor pieces and multiplayer modes, the multiplayer itself is where the game really shines.  Games ranging from simply knocking Blox down for points, to launching balls at an opponents castle, to a Boom Blox reproduction of Bocce Ball are all represented, and all executed flawlessly.  Congratulations, EA, you finally made a game that will get Rock Band off my TV at a party.