[COLOR=Silver]Go to the 2008 completed games thread. Look at everything you beat this year. Then rank and/or recount your memories of the games you played. Should be a good test of which games were honest-to-*** good this year. You don't have to copy what I'm doing, and you're free to include all your non-2008 released games too.
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[/COLOR][/SIZE][COLOR=Silver][SIZE=4]****ING AWESOME!!![/SIZE]
Fallout 3
oblivion with guns, obviously it owned. i often consider the number of times i made out-loud noises a good factor of how much i enjoyed a game, and this one got a bunch of 'HAHAHAH' and 'WHOOOOOA's outta me.
best moment of the game: taking on the brotherhood of steel complex single-handedly while out of my face on drugs and beer.
Grand Theft Auto IV
it all kinda fell apart towards the end, but this was still way better than most games i played this year.
best moment of the game: first time i hit a particularly hairy bump on a motorcycle. euphoria physics ****ing own.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
this is gonna fly under so many radars, but it owns. the building is slick as hell. the physics feel right. there's plenty to do. the dialogue is amusing. the music is freaking sweet. it's a finished product, unlike so many current-gen games that are released nowadays.
best moment of the game: arriving in next-gen spiral mountain for the first time.
Super Smash Bros Brawl
include the pre-game hype in this and you have GOTY. ultimately it kinda disappointed our infinitely high expectations but it was still brilliant fun with a ton of surprises and extras. the subspace emissary cutscenes had to be seen to be believed, they were every fanboy's dream come true.
best moment of the game: the mother****ing entrance to subspace cutscene. that's what smash bros is all about. every mother****ing nintendo mascot blasting the **** out of a huge spaceship. hell yeah. w00t. ownage. second place goes to falco's intro cutscene.
[SIZE=3][SIZE=4]REALLY GOOD[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Burnout Paradise
[/SIZE][/SIZE][/COLOR] [SIZE=3][COLOR=Silver][SIZE=2]despite being forever plagued by the memories of me playing this totally wasted and vomiting all of my carpet, it still owns like hell. this is one of the #1 examples of what an actual next generation game is. sick as hell DLC. slick as **** multiplayer. and an annoying DJ. hell yeah.
best moment of the game: doing an endurance race with wings and vamp on the figure-8 dirt track.
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[/SIZE]Mega Man 9
the music was awesome. the level design was great. the gameplay was still tight, 20 years later. beating it felt like a real accomplishment, even if i only got 5G!
best moment of the game: getting the award for beating a level without stopping while determinedly fighting my way through wily's castle 2 on the run that eventually won me the game.
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[SIZE=2]Ninja Gaiden 2
[/SIZE][/SIZE][/COLOR] [SIZE=3][COLOR=Silver][SIZE=2]STAIRCASE OF 1000 NINJAS.
best moment of the game: STAIRCASE OF 1000 NINJAS
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[/SIZE]Super Mario Galaxy
the music was awesome. the level design was great. the gameplay was tighter than super mario sunshine. it was easy as **** to beat but a lot of fun to do.
best moment of the game: touching down on good egg galaxy for the first time and hearing the orchestrated music. i teared up!
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[SIZE=2]Banjo-Kazooie
[/SIZE][/SIZE][/COLOR] [SIZE=3][COLOR=Silver][SIZE=2]this was the upgraded XBLA version. still plays great. total nostalgia trip and not as huge as i remember it, but it's a game that's stood up to the test of time.
best moment of the game: blasting through mumbo's mountain with all 10 jiggies and 100 notes in 11 minutes, realizing that the games i used to consider ****ing huge and epic are now just child's play.
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Street Fighter II: HD Remix
[/SIZE][/SIZE][/COLOR][SIZE=3][COLOR=Silver][SIZE=2]it's amazing to think this game was just gonna be a redrawn SF2. the gameplay is much more user-friendly, the music is ballin, and the sprites look great.
best moment in the game: playing ant on a relatively lagless online lobby and making up songs about vamp.
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[SIZE=2]Apollo Justice[/SIZE][/SIZE][/COLOR][SIZE=3][COLOR=Silver][SIZE=2]
one of the many reboots of this year, and it owned. the story seemed more mature and the new jury system seems intriguing. should own p. hard when AJ2 comes out.
best moment in the game: the time traveling case, specifically the part where you corner gavin in his cell and have a battle of the wits. w00t.
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[SIZE=4]P. GOOD[/SIZE][/SIZE]
Virtua Fighter 5
best 3D fighter ever, which i guess isn't saying all that much. however, the netcode was sick as hell and it was a blast to play, even against the AI, which just goes to show how fun the mechanics were.
best moment of the game: the final round of the final tournament in the game. i was literally shaking with anticipation, since it was a do-or-die round that would cost me an achievement. of course, i won.
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Prince of Persia
sands of time for babies, but not necessarily a bad thing. it's gorgeous, i never got frustrated with it, and the characters were still as likable as they were last gen.
best moment of the game: checking out the view a) under elika's dress b) on the game's highest point.
Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations
really wrapped up the trilogy well. ***ot owns. young maya would get ****ed. they even tried to involve us in a case that wasn't murder for once, which was great.
best moment of the game: objecting with the original music and the ghost of maya fey in the background. ownage.
Dead Rising
i think the key to enjoying this game is to unlock the real mega man buster and all the other overpowered goodies. it was cheesey fun and while i never really bothered getting more than 500G, there was definitely untapped replay value in there for me.
best moment of the game: learning how to do the zangief moves than trashing the parking tunnel with them.
Far Cry 2
the first time you see the fire effects on an open plain of grass, you'll **** yourself. the gameplay, graphics and physics were the absolute pinnacle of this generation. why isnt it a ****ING AWESOME game? they did **** all with these well-crafted tools. repetitive mission after repetitive mission and a lacklustre plot made this game fall short of what it could have been.
best moment of the game: blowing up the huge steel bridge that overlooked the river towards the end of the game and then driving off to torch an enemy camp with grenades and molotovs and marvel at the inferno.
Call of Duty 5
the game's veteran mode prevented it being a complete package of great times like COD4. the single player was still a lot of fun, and the flamethrower was a great addition to the experience.
best moment of the game: boxing day. four of my xbox-newbie friends watch in awe as i go 12 - 0 on upheaval by camping the flag like a little *****.
Rainbow Six Vegas 2
my custom character looked sexy as hell and i ended up getting really attached to him. it was just a retouched Vegas 1, but who gives a ****? vegas 1 owned.
best moment of the game: walking out of a room in the last mission and realizing i'd just been saved by myself from the first game. whoa.
Devil May Cry 4
one of the games with the most longevity for me this year. beat it four times on different difficulties, plus many runthroughs of individual levels. the dante cutscenes were ****ing awesome A++ material.
best moment of the game: getting an SSS rank for returning the angelo knight's ball of death to them with a well-timed blue rose bullet. and beating the game on Son of Sparda. and being #120 on the all-time rankings for mission 12 of the game.
Mega Man 2
Oldie but a goodie. Still has the best levels, bosses and music of the entire series, in my opinion.
best moment of the game: realizing i'd beaten flash man's stage without using the rewind feature of my NESDS emulator once.
[SIZE=3][SIZE=4]DECENT[/SIZE]
[/SIZE]Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
it felt vastly out of date compared to gears and other third-person shooters, but it definitely had its moments. the gadgets of tom clancy games always given you at least a couple moments of ownage.
best moment of the game: getting the 1000 kills achievement by building a fortress with angelwing.
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Metal Slug 7
nothing really distinguishing it from any other metal slug in the series, except a lack of co-op and that fact that its portable. still fun to play on the train to university on before bed, though.
best moment in the game: mission 2's music
The Force Unleashed
they really should have made the entire game based around Darth Vader, it was easily the best mission of the game. the story was a mess and offended every star wars sensibility, but i couldn't help but embrace starkiller as a pretty cool guy. the physics mechanics were easily the best fun of the game
best moment of the game: pushing hordes of wookiees out of their mid-air jumps to the imperial march, with star destroyers carpet bombing in the background. sick. as. ****.
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[SIZE=2]No More Heroes
[/SIZE][/SIZE][/COLOR] [SIZE=3][COLOR=Silver][SIZE=2]would have been in the really good or p. good categories if someone had shaved the open world bull**** from the game. the cutscenes and boss battles exuded humor and the combat was good fun, but nobody wants to mow lawns and ****, sorry son.
best moment of the game: travis screaming '****ER!' while my mom was casually walking by the door. ownage.
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[SIZE=2]Phoenix Wright: Justice for All
[/SIZE][/SIZE][/COLOR][SIZE=3][COLOR=Silver][SIZE=2]this would have been headed for the BAD category if the last trial hadnt become the absolute ultimate trial in the entire series. the other trials were relatively mediocre with poorer hooks and writing than its predecessor.
best moment of the game: matt engarde revealing his true identity.
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[/SIZE][/COLOR][COLOR=Silver] Advance Wars: Dark Conflict
like a lot of series this year, advance wars got a reboot. while the story wasn't half bad and the streamlined gameplay was a lot more fun than dual strike's mess, it was still just the same old advance wars for the most part.
best moment of the game: that ****ing mayor getting his comeuppance.
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[SIZE=4]BAD[/SIZE]
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Beautiful Katamari
this game lasted me A SINGLE DAY. holy ****. great gameplay, but wow. over in a flash.
best moment of the game: obviously the finale. sweeping up galaxies to that catchy j-pop track owned.
Doritos: Dash of Destruction
a lot better than undertow, that's for sure. but still a p. bad game.
best moment of the game: when the loading screen admitted that everyone was only playing the game for the achievements
Kirby Squeak Squad
there was nothing inherently wrong with the gameplay, but i don't generally regard games that you can beat across two train rides all that great value.
best moment of the game: fighting metaknight, as always.
Penny Arcade Episode 1
the writing was lacklustre, the combat was a drag and it was short as hell, even for an episodic game.
best moment of the game: every time i got that 9999 hairball attack.
Soul Calibur IV
spent more time making sexy girls and using a single move over and over again than i ever did playing the game
best moment of the game: hearing some kid cry down my headset when i kept using down+back+Y with astaroth in a teddy bear costume. and unlocking the dominatrix outfit which namco probably spent more time creating than they did their gameplay.
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit
this is what happens when you base a game off it's awesome demo. it wasn't horrible, but it got repetitve pretty fast and the ally powers removed and notion of skill from the game.
best moment of the game: using the mind-swap special move to **** over everyone in online play and get a bunch of hate mail.
[SIZE=3][SIZE=4]TERRIBAD[/SIZE]
[/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=Silver]Undertow
no wonder microsoft gave this **** away for free
best moment in the game: deleting that **** off my hard drive
holy **** i wrote a LOT[/COLOR]
you dont even have to write remotely as much as i did, just a couple of lines about some cool games you played this year will suffice, honest