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Both 2006 and 2007 were amazing for gamers. The new consoles provided us with gems. Just look at these titles:
Mass Effect – One of the finest RPGs ever made, crafting a space opera par excellence.
Bioshock – Those of us brought up on a healthy diet of narrative excellence in games missed Deus Ex and Fallout. Bioshock sated our appetite and more
Portal – I won’t even attempt to say how great this game is
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – COD 4 still regularly tops the charts on Xbox Live with its amazing multiplayer action
Gears of War – It single-handedly sold the Xbox 360 around the world and still remains one of the best games on the console
Rock Band – It took Guitar Hero’s supremacy in the music genre and drop-kicked it straight out of the window
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – Another brilliant RPG experience, it held us in awe with its wide open world, gorgeous visuals and 100+ hours of gameplay
Zelda Twilight Princess and Phantom Hourglass – Any title with the Zelda name sells, and there’s a reason for it – the games evolved to use the unique gameplay mechanics offered by the two platforms
There are so many more but this piece is about 2008.
After the line up above we were wondering how 2008 would fare. A large number of the premium titles are on existing IPs, and the expectations were riding high. The year promised to bring more goodness to the PS3 and titles were going multiplatform with a vengeance. And the best part – 2008 officially rocks! So here’s a snippet of the titles:
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots – If you have a PS3 and haven’t played this, go jump in a well; preferably a deep and dry well filled with radioactive frogs. The PS3 needed a system seller and this one sold systems galore. It also became universally acclaimed as a masterpiece. This is the one game which shuts up Xbox 360 fanboys
- Grand Theft Auto IV – Rockstar manages to come with a horde of controversy, and the news channels were ablaze with the amoral activities that a Balkan immigrant could perform in the Big Apple. But when the game released, jaws dropped everywhere. They managed to create a living, breathing replica of New York City, great gameplay, and a nice storyline as well. This is the definitive sandbox game
- LittleBigPlanet – just another platformer with pixelated plushies jumping around and making faces. How wrong can you be? The sheer charm of this game makes you want to possess it. And for the more strategically inclined, go freak out on the level editors. Everything you dream of and more can be done.
- Spore – This is the only video game to go on the Times Top 50 Invention list this year. Enough said.
- Fallout 3 – For the record, this is not Oblivion with Guns. There are some very vocal and influential rabid fanboys of the Fallout franchise on the web, and they have praised this game. Its critically acclaimed, its got a wide open world, it looks brilliant, and nothing is as satisfying as dropping a nuke on someone.
- Gears of War 2 – The Delta Squad returns bigger and badder than before; with feelings, and a flamethrower. Also, my prediction is that Horde mode is going to rewrite online multiplayer fun
- Super Smash Bros Brawl – Take your favourite Nintendo character, team up with some of the other lovable characters and ATTACK! This is pure unadulterated fun on the Wii
Those are the big titles to of 2008. There are so many more – Grid, The World Ends With You, Fable 2, Dead Space, Braid, Fifa 09; and there are so many to come – Mirror’s Edge, Prince of Persia come to mind. In any other year, these titles would’ve slapped around the competition. But this year seems to be the year of sequels.
What are you waiting for? Go play now.
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