There is not long left until we make that lasting ass print on the sofa, watching endless TV re-runs and Christmas editions of our favourite shows, stuffing our faces with bottomless bags of chocolates and dusting off the Wii for its annual bout of family gaming. That’s right, Christmas is fast approaching and what better time to bring you our Top Five games of the year and hand out a couple of Monster Awards to the games that deserve them this year. So if you have yet to pop into town and do that last minute shopping spree, let us indulge you with the games you should be buying your sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, or even husbands and wives this festive holiday.
Console Monster’s Top Five Games of 2008
This year has seen an array of gaming delights for console gamers, with all genres fully covered. From Gears of War 2 to Call of Duty World at War, LittleBigPlanet to Mirror’s Edge, it has been a tricky year to pick out our favourite five games of 2008.
Like last year, all the Console Monster staff voted their top five games of 2008. We then collected these up and gave each points, #1 getting 5 points and #5 getting 1 point. This then gave our overall total, which has lead to some interesting results, so in reverse order lets crack on with number five…
In at number 5 is Fallout 3. A fun fuelled futuristic fairground ride of a game. It has its flaws, as does any game, but it is extremely immersive and can give you a heck of a lot of entertainment for your money that it’s worth the price tag. If you liked Oblivion, you will no doubt fall in love with this game as we did. Fallout 3 is definitely worthy of being one of the best games of this year.
We gave Fallout 3 an excellent 94% in our review – Click here to read Chris’ review of the Xbox 360 version.
You can support the site and purchase this game from Play.com.
In joint fifth place is Valve’s Zombie Marathon – Left 4 Dead, a fantastic game, and whilst it’s not exactly flawless it can still be tremendous fun. And by tremendous fun, we mean the equivalent of riding the best roller-coaster in the world, whilst eating the best piece of cake in the world, whilst the most beautiful woman in the world does unspeakable things to you (Ed – Throw rocks at you?). In essence, an orgasmic thrill ride….with cake…made from brains.
We gave Left 4 Dead game 90% in our Xbox 360 review – Click here to read Chris’ review.
You can support the site and purchase this game from Play.com.
In fourth place is the fourth and final (for now) instalment of Solid Snake. There are moments of absolute genius that make this game probably the best video game we’ve played. Sure, the game has some rather long cut-scenes, has probably the longest ending we’ve ever seen, but the sheer creative direction of this title make these otherwise annoying elements add to the games genius rather than hinder it. We’ve never agreed with a perfect score, as we’ve felt that a game always has something it could work on, but we couldn’t see any reason not to give this game full marks. MGS4 is quite simply the greatest way to finish off an immense journey – with perfection.
We gave Metal Gear Solid 4 a controversial 100% in our review – Click here to read Russ’ review.
You can support the site and purchase this game from Play.com.
To define ‘fable’ you would be describing a short and simple story that teaches a lesson. To define Fable II, you are looking at more of an enveloping adventure, which takes hold and won’t let go, taking you on an emotional rollercoaster of enjoyment. There are many buzz words that can be used to describe the game, most of which following the trend of ‘amazing’, ‘fantastic’ and ‘superb’; but instead of that just trust our advice and see for yourself.
We gave Fable 2 an excellent 96% in our review – Click here to read Reece’s review.
You can support the site and purchase this game from Play.com.
While Gears of War 2 might not include the epic changes we were all waiting for, like 4 player co-op and a larger storyline, it certainly provides us with a fun and enjoyable experience that we will all remember. Wasting hours on Horde is thrilling and with the new additions to the game, new and old fans will be content with their purchase. Let’s just hope Epic were keeping all the ‘epic’ changes for the third instalment of Gears of War.
We gave Gears of War 2 an excellent 90% in our review – Click here to read Craig’s review.
You can support the site and purchase this game from Play.com.
Our crowned Game of the Year for 2008 goes to Grand Theft Auto IV. If you have had the chance to play GTA IV yourself, you should have no doubt in your mind that it offers depth of experience unlike any other. GTA IV should not be missed and whilst the game does have its flaws and room for improvement, they are heavily outweighed by the sheer number of positives. From GTA3, Rockstar created the critically acclaimed Vice City. We can only wonder and anticipate where they will go next with the series. Rest assured that whichever direction is taken, the result is sure to be spectacular.
We gave Grand Theft Auto IV an excellent 98% in our review – Click here to read Reece’s review.
You can support the site and purchase this game from Play.com.
- Gears of War 2
- FIFA 09 / Fable 2
- Rock Band
- GTA IV / MGS4 / Fallout 3
- LittleBigPlanet / Left 4 Dead / Mirror’s Edge
Continue to cast your votes in our forums
Console Monster’s Awards of 2008
Best First-Person Shooter Game
Winner: Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) / Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360)
Runner-up: Call of Duty: World at War (PS3 & Xbox 360)
Best Action/Adventure Game
Winner: LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
Runner-up: GTA IV (Xbox 360 & PS3) / Prince of Persia (Xbox 360 & PS3)
Best RPG Game
Winner: Fable 2 (Xbox 360)
Runner-up: Fallout 3 (Xbox 360 & PS3)
Best Racing Game
Winner: Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360 & PS3)
Runner-up: Race Driver: GRID (Xbox 360 & PS3)
Best Sports Game
Winner: FIFA 09 (Xbox 360 & PS3)
Best Graphics in a Game
Winner: Mirror’s Edge (Xbox 360 & PS3)
Runner-up: Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)
Best Audio in a Game
Winner: Dead Space (Xbox 360 & PS3)
Runner-up: Guitar Hero: World Tour (Xbox 360 & PS3)
Most Unique Game
Winner: Mirror’s Edge (Xbox 360 & PS3)
Runner-up: LittleBigPlanet (PS3) / Braid (XBLA)
Best Online Multiplayer Game
Winner: Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360)
Runner-up: Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)
Best Downloadable Game
Winner: Braid (XBLA)
Runner-up: WipeoutHD (PSN)
