Best and Worst Gaming Moments of 2008
Submitted by Bill Flanigan on Fri, 2008-12-19 18:01
2008 was one helluva year for gamers. The sheer quantity of quality titles should have kept most gamers happy and their wallets empty. Of course, not every one of these games managed to live up to the hype, with some turning out to be major duds (cough cough Turok).
These "moments" are in no way indicative of my overall opinions of the games. Even bad games can flirt with moments of greatness, and even great games can stumble into the toilet now and then. Also, I do not own a PS3 (yet), which is why you won't see any PS3 exclusives on this list, although many of the titles listed are multi-platform.
I'm pretty sure there are tons of bad gaming moments not on this list, especially from games that are garbage overall. Almost all of the moments listed are from relatively good games. I like to think that I research my game purchases and avoid most of those calamities.
Best Gaming Moments of 2008
Spoilers ahead!
Liberty Prime - Fallout 3 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
Santa, I want to amend my Christmas list. There's only one thing I want, just one thing. I want a 50 foot tall robot (think retro 1950's style, a la the Iron Giant) that yells anti-communist slogans while tossing mini-nukes like footballs. Oh, and it has laser guns...big laser guns that make things blow up. Yeah, that would be ace. Well since I probably wasn't a good enough kid this year, I'll just have to take Fallout 3's Liberty Prime as consolation. Fighting alongside this awesome machine of destruction is one of the highlights from one of the best games of the year.
The Chase - Mirror's Edge (PS3, Xbox 360)
Mirror's Edge is one of those games that you love one second and hate the next (kinda like eating at Chipotle). Regardless of its problems and shortcomings, Mirror's Edge has some of the most memorable pursuit scenes in gaming history. In fact, the whole game is practically one 7 hour chase. It's absolutely thrilling to escape groups of armed officers as their bullets pepper the walls around you. Two-thirds of the way into the game, a huge curve ball is thrown at you when police runners are introduced. These bastards can go anywhere you can (running up walls, leaping between skyscrapers, etc...). The best part is hearing them running behind you; it's tempting to turn around and see how close they are, but can you afford those precious seconds? Chances are, you can't....
The Pipe Bomb - Left 4 Dead (PC, Xbox 360)
The undead horde in Left 4 Dead loves noisy things and I love explosions. This is where the pipe bomb comes into play. Toss a pipe bomb and watch as two dozen zombies swarm towards it; then marvel at the massive explosion, flying limbs and copious amounts of blood. It's basically a win-win situation: the zombies get their noise, and I get my kaboom. Can't get much better than that. Click here to read Dane101's full review of Left 4 Dead.
Africa Intro - Far Cry 2(PC, , PS3)
Back in 1998, Half Life redefined how immersive video games (specifically shooters) could be. I have fond memories of the famous intro tram ride that introduces you to the game world (so you can conveniently destroy it minutes later). Ever since Half Life (has it really been 10 years?) game developers have been trying to create their own version of the intro tram ride. Far Cry 2 instantly captures your attention with a decidedly more mature presentation. This is not your grandpa's Far Cry. Gone are the monkey mutants and Jean Claude Van Damme quality dialogue ("I'm gonna shoot you in the face!"). What you get instead is a taxi ride (in an open air Jeep) through a war torn African country. Your talkative taxi driver explains the situation to you as you drive through shanty towns, ruined autos, and unusually large amounts of armed locals. I know it still barely approaches the gravity of reality but in a medium that often avoids this type of subject matter, Far Cry 2's intro was immediately refreshing.
The Leviathan - Gears of War 2 (Spoiler Alert!) (Xbox 360)
There are quite a few large critters in Gears of War 2. In fact, the game relentlessly drops you in front of gargantuan beasts of all types. Giant worms, flying atrocities, lumbering giants, and last, but not least, the Leviathan. What makes the Leviathan so memorable isn't just the insanely cool monster design (it is rather bad ass, if I might say so) it's how you defeat it that makes it stand out. Here's the gist...you're on a small boat in the middle of nowhere and this Leviathan begins chomping on your ride. It's almost awe inspiring as his giant maw opens up engulfing half of your boat. So how do you send this guy packing? Get inside his mouth before his massive teeth clamp down on the boat deck. And that's only the first step...
Big Plot Twist - Bioshock(Spoiler Alert!) (PS3)
Bioshock made this list because it was finally released on Sony's big black box this year. Even though it's been out for over a year on Microsoft's baby, Bioshock remains one of the best games of the current generation (or any). 2/3 of the way through, Bioshock delivers a twist worthy of M. Night Shyamalan (when he made decent movies). Most games (especially shooters) struggle with how to combine a driven narrative with the inherent corridor A-to-B progression. Why am I killing all these people? Why do I have to go forward? What's my character's motivation? Most games don't address this at all and if they do, they try to build up a character history to provide context for the carnage. This approach rarely works because it's hard to project character onto someone you never see for most of the game. Bioshock eschews both of these approaches. This twist is too important to reveal here, but needless to say it almost solves the inherent narrative flaw in action games. Well done!
Worst Gaming Moments of 2008
Lame Guns - Turok (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
Remember the Nintendo 64? Remember a game called Turok: Dinosaur Hunter? Yeah, today the game looks laughable by modern standards, but one thing this game had that no other game had at the time were crazy, gory weapons. For example, the cerebral bore drilled holes in your opponents skull, while the chronoceptor was like Harry Potter's wand infused with a nuke. Fast forward to 2008 and the new Turok hits the shelves. No chronoceptor. No cerebral bore. More like the other type of bore. At least fighting dinosaurs was still fun. Too bad the rest of the game was a by-the-numbers shooter with no identity of its own.
Sex-Fable 2 (Xbox 360)
Anyone who's been paying attention to all the pre-release hype surrounding Fable 2 knew that you would be able to wed anyone of your choosing (What does it mean when a video game is more progressive than our most liberal state?), get married, have orgies, and have safe (or unsafe) sex. In fact, there are even achievements for doing the naughty deed, group sex, and having babies. So imagine my disappointment upon playing the game to find out that sex involves a black screen and a few humorous quips and moans. I'm not saying I want some polygonal genitals on screen, but something a little more substantive would have been nice. Mass Effect's controversial sex scene (Fox News, FTL) was pretty mild by modern standards but at least went somewhere where few games have gone before (1 point for me and my Star Trek reference).
The Cell Phone-GTA 4 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
I applaud GTA 4's recreation of a virtual New York City. I loved the semi realistic portrayal of people, vehicles, and the overall environmental polish put into Rockstar's latest effort. It cracks me up every time I hit the horn to get a pedestrian out of my way and they just flip me off. I play games to blow shit up, drive fast and dangerous, fight aliens, and slay hordes of zombies. I do not play games to scoop up virtual puppy poo, tend gardens, and most of all, answer annoying cell phone calls. In addition to their annoying nature and frequency, the fact that not answering the phone can make certain characters dislike you means that you're basically left with no choice.
Bringing Down the Star Destroyer-The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360, PS3)
If Starkiller can bring down a star destroyer by himself it makes you wonder how the hell Yoda could be so highly respected and revered (on second thought, his crazy-ass speaking syntax is worthy of my respect). You Star Wars nerds can try and rationalize it however you want (and that crappy Clone Wars movie, while you're at it). And to top it off, the sequence was needlessly difficult, arduous and time consuming. Maybe some more time should have been invested in a couple of more levels or better yet, an explanation of how Starkiller falls in love with Juno. One second she barely knows the guy, and suddenly we're supposed to believe they have strong feelings for each other (at least it's better than the "chemistry" between the leads in the last 3 Star Wars flicks).
Overuse of Quicktime Events-The Bourne Conspiracy (Xbox 360, PS3) and The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360, PS3)
When God of War made Simon-says button presses popular, I was fine with it. It turned non-interactive cut-scenes into something a little more engaging. When used sparingly, these events can make the gamer feel like they're performing some kick-ass moves not possible in normal gameplay. Instead of realizing that these types of sequences are made to enhance gameplay, developers decided that they should use these sequences to replace gameplay. If one Quicktime event is good, 100 must be the ultimate awesomeness, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. Instead of allowing me to actually do cool things, I end up watching cool things. The Bourne Conspiracy is the main offender here. Nearly every fight involves at least 1 of them. Many brawls involve dozens (I'm exaggerating, but it sure feels like a dozen). To make matters worse, In Lucasarts' The Force Unleashed, the buttons show up at the bottom of the screen which is adding insult to injury. If you're going to make me sit there and watch some cool scripted scene, at least make it so I can see what the hell is going on instead of forcing me to watch the bottom of the screen to see which inane button press comes next. Fail. If I really wanted to watch an interactive movie, I"ll rent "The Happening" or "Lady in the Water" and use the fast forward button.
2008 was one helluva year for gamers. The sheer quantity of quality titles should have kept most gamers happy and their wallets empty. Of course, not every one of these games managed to live up to the hype, with some turning out to be major duds (cough cough Turok).
These "moments" are in no way indicative of my overall opinions of the games. Even bad games can flirt with moments of greatness, and even great games can stumble into the toilet now and then. Also, I do not own a PS3 (yet), which is why you won't see any PS3 exclusives on this list, although many of the titles listed are multi-platform.
I'm pretty sure there are tons of bad gaming moments not on this list, especially from games that are garbage overall. Almost all of the moments listed are from relatively good games. I like to think that I research my game purchases and avoid most of those calamities.
Best Gaming Moments of 2008
Spoilers ahead!
Liberty Prime - Fallout 3 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
Santa, I want to amend my Christmas list. There's only one thing I want, just one thing. I want a 50 foot tall robot (think retro 1950's style, a la the Iron Giant) that yells anti-communist slogans while tossing mini-nukes like footballs. Oh, and it has laser guns...big laser guns that make things blow up. Yeah, that would be ace. Well since I probably wasn't a good enough kid this year, I'll just have to take Fallout 3's Liberty Prime as consolation. Fighting alongside this awesome machine of destruction is one of the highlights from one of the best games of the year.
The Chase - Mirror's Edge (PS3, Xbox 360)
Mirror's Edge is one of those games that you love one second and hate the next (kinda like eating at Chipotle). Regardless of its problems and shortcomings, Mirror's Edge has some of the most memorable pursuit scenes in gaming history. In fact, the whole game is practically one 7 hour chase. It's absolutely thrilling to escape groups of armed officers as their bullets pepper the walls around you. Two-thirds of the way into the game, a huge curve ball is thrown at you when police runners are introduced. These bastards can go anywhere you can (running up walls, leaping between skyscrapers, etc...). The best part is hearing them running behind you; it's tempting to turn around and see how close they are, but can you afford those precious seconds? Chances are, you can't....
The Pipe Bomb - Left 4 Dead (PC, Xbox 360)
The undead horde in Left 4 Dead loves noisy things and I love explosions. This is where the pipe bomb comes into play. Toss a pipe bomb and watch as two dozen zombies swarm towards it; then marvel at the massive explosion, flying limbs and copious amounts of blood. It's basically a win-win situation: the zombies get their noise, and I get my kaboom. Can't get much better than that. Click here to read Dane101's full review of Left 4 Dead.
Africa Intro - Far Cry 2(PC, , PS3)
Back in 1998, Half Life redefined how immersive video games (specifically shooters) could be. I have fond memories of the famous intro tram ride that introduces you to the game world (so you can conveniently destroy it minutes later). Ever since Half Life (has it really been 10 years?) game developers have been trying to create their own version of the intro tram ride. Far Cry 2 instantly captures your attention with a decidedly more mature presentation. This is not your grandpa's Far Cry. Gone are the monkey mutants and Jean Claude Van Damme quality dialogue ("I'm gonna shoot you in the face!"). What you get instead is a taxi ride (in an open air Jeep) through a war torn African country. Your talkative taxi driver explains the situation to you as you drive through shanty towns, ruined autos, and unusually large amounts of armed locals. I know it still barely approaches the gravity of reality but in a medium that often avoids this type of subject matter, Far Cry 2's intro was immediately refreshing.
The Leviathan - Gears of War 2 (Spoiler Alert!) (Xbox 360)
There are quite a few large critters in Gears of War 2. In fact, the game relentlessly drops you in front of gargantuan beasts of all types. Giant worms, flying atrocities, lumbering giants, and last, but not least, the Leviathan. What makes the Leviathan so memorable isn't just the insanely cool monster design (it is rather bad ass, if I might say so) it's how you defeat it that makes it stand out. Here's the gist...you're on a small boat in the middle of nowhere and this Leviathan begins chomping on your ride. It's almost awe inspiring as his giant maw opens up engulfing half of your boat. So how do you send this guy packing? Get inside his mouth before his massive teeth clamp down on the boat deck. And that's only the first step...
Big Plot Twist - Bioshock(Spoiler Alert!) (PS3)
Bioshock made this list because it was finally released on Sony's big black box this year. Even though it's been out for over a year on Microsoft's baby, Bioshock remains one of the best games of the current generation (or any). 2/3 of the way through, Bioshock delivers a twist worthy of M. Night Shyamalan (when he made decent movies). Most games (especially shooters) struggle with how to combine a driven narrative with the inherent corridor A-to-B progression. Why am I killing all these people? Why do I have to go forward? What's my character's motivation? Most games don't address this at all and if they do, they try to build up a character history to provide context for the carnage. This approach rarely works because it's hard to project character onto someone you never see for most of the game. Bioshock eschews both of these approaches. This twist is too important to reveal here, but needless to say it almost solves the inherent narrative flaw in action games. Well done!
Worst Gaming Moments of 2008
Lame Guns - Turok (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
Remember the Nintendo 64? Remember a game called Turok: Dinosaur Hunter? Yeah, today the game looks laughable by modern standards, but one thing this game had that no other game had at the time were crazy, gory weapons. For example, the cerebral bore drilled holes in your opponents skull, while the chronoceptor was like Harry Potter's wand infused with a nuke. Fast forward to 2008 and the new Turok hits the shelves. No chronoceptor. No cerebral bore. More like the other type of bore. At least fighting dinosaurs was still fun. Too bad the rest of the game was a by-the-numbers shooter with no identity of its own.
Sex-Fable 2 (Xbox 360)
Anyone who's been paying attention to all the pre-release hype surrounding Fable 2 knew that you would be able to wed anyone of your choosing (What does it mean when a video game is more progressive than our most liberal state?), get married, have orgies, and have safe (or unsafe) sex. In fact, there are even achievements for doing the naughty deed, group sex, and having babies. So imagine my disappointment upon playing the game to find out that sex involves a black screen and a few humorous quips and moans. I'm not saying I want some polygonal genitals on screen, but something a little more substantive would have been nice. Mass Effect's controversial sex scene (Fox News, FTL) was pretty mild by modern standards but at least went somewhere where few games have gone before (1 point for me and my Star Trek reference).
The Cell Phone-GTA 4 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
I applaud GTA 4's recreation of a virtual New York City. I loved the semi realistic portrayal of people, vehicles, and the overall environmental polish put into Rockstar's latest effort. It cracks me up every time I hit the horn to get a pedestrian out of my way and they just flip me off. I play games to blow shit up, drive fast and dangerous, fight aliens, and slay hordes of zombies. I do not play games to scoop up virtual puppy poo, tend gardens, and most of all, answer annoying cell phone calls. In addition to their annoying nature and frequency, the fact that not answering the phone can make certain characters dislike you means that you're basically left with no choice.
Bringing Down the Star Destroyer-The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360, PS3)
If Starkiller can bring down a star destroyer by himself it makes you wonder how the hell Yoda could be so highly respected and revered (on second thought, his crazy-ass speaking syntax is worthy of my respect). You Star Wars nerds can try and rationalize it however you want (and that crappy Clone Wars movie, while you're at it). And to top it off, the sequence was needlessly difficult, arduous and time consuming. Maybe some more time should have been invested in a couple of more levels or better yet, an explanation of how Starkiller falls in love with Juno. One second she barely knows the guy, and suddenly we're supposed to believe they have strong feelings for each other (at least it's better than the "chemistry" between the leads in the last 3 Star Wars flicks).
Overuse of Quicktime Events-The Bourne Conspiracy (Xbox 360, PS3) and The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360, PS3)
When God of War made Simon-says button presses popular, I was fine with it. It turned non-interactive cut-scenes into something a little more engaging. When used sparingly, these events can make the gamer feel like they're performing some kick-ass moves not possible in normal gameplay. Instead of realizing that these types of sequences are made to enhance gameplay, developers decided that they should use these sequences to replace gameplay. If one Quicktime event is good, 100 must be the ultimate awesomeness, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. Instead of allowing me to actually do cool things, I end up watching cool things. The Bourne Conspiracy is the main offender here. Nearly every fight involves at least 1 of them. Many brawls involve dozens (I'm exaggerating, but it sure feels like a dozen). To make matters worse, In Lucasarts' The Force Unleashed, the buttons show up at the bottom of the screen which is adding insult to injury. If you're going to make me sit there and watch some cool scripted scene, at least make it so I can see what the hell is going on instead of forcing me to watch the bottom of the screen to see which inane button press comes next. Fail. If I really wanted to watch an interactive movie, I"ll rent "The Happening" or "Lady in the Water" and use the fast forward button.
Nice
Mentioning the Happening in the "Worse of" category, so appropriate.
Lol
I knew you loved that movie soooooooo much....
Did you ever finish mirror's edge?
Communism is the very definition of failure!!
Great, great article, Bill. I wanted to do something like this but you beat me to it, and with style!
Seriously, the ending of Fallout and the Bioshock twist are two of my favorite video game moments ever, not just this year.
-film101
Fallout Robot
I need to find someone with the PC version of fallout 3 so I can get the audio files for all of the crazy things that robot says.
I think I'm going to play Bioshock again soon...here's hoping that the sequel manages to be as good.
Sound files
I can probably hook you up with the sound files from Fallout 3. My friend showed me that ending when he played through, it was pretty good. He had to explain to me why it was so anti China.
I haven't finished Mirror's Edge. I actually haven't played it for awhile so I'll need to practice my moves before I get back into it. Half Life 2 has taken most of my video gaming time.
My friend really liked the game Crysis though I think it only came out for the computer. The graphics are mind blowing though. And don't forget about Klonoa 2. Classic.
Bioshock is in my opinion
Bioshock is in my opinion the best single player video game every made.
Another "worst" has to be
Another "worst" has to be the DRM on Spore. Quite honestly, this is the main reason I did not purchase the game.
My worst...
...would be the entire game Too Human. I was so psyched for it (combing Norse myth with cyberpunk? Combining Diablo-style loot addiction with Devil May Cry action?) Somehow they managed to screw up those awesome concepts.
The writing was god-awful, and the execution of the combat was an utter failure. It started cool, cutting through hordes of enemies like a god (you ARE a god, remember), but quickly became frustrating as every other enemy would explode, or have an area attack, or something else to ensure you spent the whole game knocked on your ass instead of cutting through baddies. Also, an unskippable, slow death animation in a game where you die every 2 minutes? Unforgivable.
-film101
Too Human
I'm still planning on picking up Too Human used. I played the demo for a few minutes and it seemed cool. It's too bad that it didn't turn out to be the game it could have been though. I wonder if any of the behind the scenes drama at Silicon Knights is responsible for the poor quality of the game?
That's the worst part, my friend
The demo was quite good. The action really rocked, and you got into their brilliant mechanic of making you faster and stronger the more guys you killed, so you were zipping around like a death-god on skates.
In the early game that cool mechanic holds up. But as the game goes on they make it more challenging. They do that by having guys explode or poison you when you hit them, killing you outright. Or having hordes of guys peppered with multiple trolls and their damn area attacks that knock you right out of your death trance. Those battles drove me nuts. I'd couldn't kill the little guys because the trolls' attacks kept knocking me down, and couldn't kill the big guys because the little guys shot me.
By the time you get to Hel you have guys just explode or unleash energy every time you strike them, so I was having a 1-1 ratio of bad guy deaths to my death (and remember, unskippable death scene).
Only buy it if it's well reduced in price.
-film101