Your Year in Review

[Rman]

Thought this might be a fun thread to writeup your year in review for games you played this year.  You make it as long or short as you want.

The Good:

The 4's

Devli May Cry 4: Picked up this game for the PS3 and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Loved the new character and I only wish it has better level design.  The arena mode made up for lack luster game level design as it was pure combat.  I made it to the DMD difficulty before moving to other games. 

MGS4: In regards to the series this game is probably my third favorite.  Act 3, which is almost universally hated, was a nice change of pace.  Yes, I actually enjoyed that act.  In terms of delivering high production values, KojiPro delivered in spades.  I haven't seen a game with better in character models on console.  Yes, the ending was a copout, but I was nice to finally have closure.

The Fighters

SSBB: I know. I know.  It's not a fighter.  It sucks. yadda yadda yadda.  While I hated melee, I enjoyed this installment for some reason.  The single player campaign, while not the most polished, reminded me of old 2d style scrollers of old.  And I had some fun with online play, although it was borked from the start.

SCIV: I was truly surprised at this installment.  I was playing on skipping this title until I played the demo, which sold me on the game.  I hated SC3.  It lacked balance and seemed graphically handicapped, compared to its predecessors.  Say what you will about the addition of the Star Wars character, but that announcement breathed some life and generated mind share for this series. 

SSF2THDR: Super Turbo finally with decent netcode.  Bought for both consoles.  Safe to say I adore this game and the series.  I really hope Capcom gives a redone version of Third Strike with similar netcode enhancements.

Other games I enjoyed this year:
DQ IV
Tales of Vesperia
Braid
TWENTY--Need to finish this
Mega Man 9
Bionic Commmando: Rearmed
Motorstorm: PR
WipeOut HD
Little Big Planet
Mirror's Edge
Space Invaders Extreme--Portable Game of the Year

Disappointments:
GTAIV-Tried to get into this--just couldn't
Etrian Odyssey 2--I really wanted to love this game, but I love the whole town ->dungeon->boss.  wash, rinse, repeat formula in traditional JRPGS to keep me focused.
Price of Persia:
Mario Kart Wii: I can't believe I bought this.
Ninja Gaiden 2: NG1 is my favorite game last generation.  This game really didn't add anything new to the formula. 

[demi]

The Good:

Xbox 360 and everything about it

The Bad:

The Wii, PS3, PC and everything about them

[tiesto]

Loved:
-360 - lots of great games got released this year, a sweet new interface
-DS - continues with the awesomeness
-Brawl - of course, even though it seems me, Beezy, Rman, and BrandNew are the only fans on here. Online was disappointing tho
-Suikoden 2 - first time playing this game, absolutely amazing
-Mother 3 - so glad this was translated finally, the translation team did a great job too, memorable characters, great story, an actual bit of challenge, much better balanced than Earthbound too
-The World Ends With You - wasn't too crazy about the touchscreen/dualscreen combat, but some of the new gameplay systems introduced (levelling down to increase drops, linking battles together), the whole style, and the AWESOME music won me over bigtime
-Lost Odyssey - this is the true followup to the PS1 FF games. Thousand Years of Dreams = best storytelling in gaming.
-Chrono Trigger DS - I haven't played this version yet, but it's motherfucking Chrono Trigger, how could you go wrong?
-Wipeout HD - One of the best looking games out now
-Braid - Thought the story was real creative, I love how a lot of it was open to interpretation
-MGS4 - I'm a big fan of the MGS series and its mythos, so of course I loved the game... although some of the last few parts of the game got a bit tiring and were kinda lame
-Cubello - Fun pick-up-and-play Wii puzzler, reminds me of Tetrisphere or something
-Dragon Warrior 3 GBC - First time playing the GBC port, loved the original. This game, now that I look back, is definitely better than DQ4 DS. More interesting dungeons, more challenging, less shitty accents.

Surprised by:
-Fallout 3 - not really too big a fan of super open-ended games, but even after an extremely overwhelming start, got really into it.
-Mirror's Edge - I didn't really know much about this, apart from the graphic style looking awesome and a theme song remixed by , ended up loving it
-Kirby Super Star Ultra - always thought the Kirby games were a bit too simple but this game is extremely playable, great controls and a touch of challenge, LOTS of content

Disappointed by:
-Wii - Where did all the games go? Stuff seems to trickle in, we get the occasional fun WiiWare or VC game, but the last actual console game that was anywhere near decent was Wario Land: Shake It. Should have a much better '09, at least, and there will inevitably be a lot more RPG goodness after the DQX announcement.
-Infinite Undiscovery - Worst tri-Ace made game ever, just became such a chore to play after a while. If I had to run through that fucking forest one more time... Some of the later areas in the game looked incredible, and Capell was a funny lead character.
-Mario Kart Wii - I'd say the DS version is my favorite, but this one had too many shitty items that ruined things, turned it from a game of skill to something everyone can win
-DQ IV's translation - accents were horribly lame
-Brawl's online - I was really hoping I'd get to have matches online with some of my former college friends who I used to play Melee with, but the online implementation sucks and it lags to high heavens
-Bangai-O Spirits - Loved the DC one, but this one is extremely confusing, most of these levels seem like strange gimmicks where I'll die in 2 seconds. I need to put more time into this and try to make sense out of what I'm doing, I think.
-World of Goo - Everybody talks this one up, but I find it pretty dull, with the little I've played of it. Reminds me of those bridge-building games I used to play in tech-ed. Maybe it gets better.
-Left 4 Dead - I love Valve's other games, but this one... just looked ugly and I'm not that big a fan of straight up co-op gaming/online play with random people.
-LittleBigPlanet - physics were a bit too floaty and I didn't like the plane-switching aspect of it. The level design aspect is lost on me, too... haven't really been bitten by the make-my-own-game bug in a while. Was hoping for a nimble, tightly-controlled platformer like some of the 16 bit classics.
-FF7 Crisis Core - gameplay was button mashing on overdrive, the fanservice made the game possible to trudge through, though.

Hated:
-GTA IV - I wasn't expecting much, but the controls rendered it nearly unplayable

Haven't played yet:
-Star Ocean First Departure
-Vesperia
-Valkyria Chronicles
-Fable 2
-Saint's Row 2
-Persona 4
-FF Tactics Advance 2
-FF Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
-Etrian Odyssey 2

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Chronologically:

The Bad

Being a Wii only owner fucking sucks.  It takes a special kind of tolerance to miss all the several good games coming out on other systems for yet another helping of Smash Brothers.  Yet, you wait because you just bought this system and you need to play some fucking games on it.  By the start of the year, I was almost done with Galaxy.

Smash Brothers Brawl was shit.  It was one step forward and two steps back.  The upside is that you have even more shit to do but the downside is that the main point of the game is that it is a fighting game.  Someone at Nintendo missed this because they decided to fuck up the fighting completely.  The slow pace of the game almost is like swimming in water.  No real changes to the series other than cosmetic.  This one really did feel like a party game and a place to look at Nintendo figurines that you'd win instead of a budding legitimate franchise like Melee.  Plus getting online is pure hell and is an embarrassment to a company that five years ago used to brag about making sure things were perfect before implementing.

Mario Kart was better but still a far cry from the DS version, which fucking owned.  The Wii version is merely alright.  A lot of the courses (namely retro) were poorly designed and not designed for the Wii at all.  A lot of the SNES courses were hard to drive through and that is because of the crap job accommodating the different driving styles.  Online worked, which was a vast improvement over Brawl.  The biggest flaw was its excruciatingly cheap AI in the latter cups.  It was even worse than the DS version.  What the fuck?

Other games of note was House of the Dead 2 and 3 Returns.  It is a good game if you got the Nyko Perfect Shot to go with it.  Roommate and I had a lot of fun with it.  Too bad the Perfect Shots are discontinued now.  Also got Metal Slug Anthology and didn't really care for it.  Since I like the games but not this one, I'll just blame the Wii instead.  After this, I completed SMG, getting all 242 stars.  Great game but the only game on Wii that is worth owning or at least the hype.

I sold it off to my roommate in August and never looked back.  I loved SMG and would like to play it again but the truth is that I don't want to spend $300 for it again.

After that I played Mother 3 for Game Boy Advance and holy shit that sucked.  I didn't like Earthbound much but this one was far worse.  Aside from its novelty value, I can see why Nintendo decided not to bring it over for a US release. 

The Good

I got the 360 after my job offer and got Dynasty Warriors: Gundam with it.  Fun game.  Next game on tap was Ridge Racer 6, which is still fun after three years of its release.  I also picked up Blue Dragon at that time, which I'm really enjoying now (at the Mural Valley currently).  I got the previous two games for $15 total.  Next two games I bought were Banjo Kazooie and Lumines Live.  Banjo is a great game and had a lot of fun with it.  Same goes for Lumines Live.  I also got Sonic Unleashed but didn't get far into it.  I'll play it again for sure since it seems like it is the first Sonic since Sonic Adventure that isn't total ass.

2009

2009 for me will be mostly getting older 360 releases.  Games like PGR4, Fallout 3, Vesperia, etc.  No intentions of getting a PS3 or a Wii again next year.

[Positive Touch]

The Awesome -

Saint's Row 2 - it was basically a total rip-off of a seven-year-old game, but holy fuck was it refined to (near) perfection
Fallout 3 - I heard some other guys on the forum were playing this too


Pure Ass -

MGS4 - I don't think I've ever been let down this much by a game before.  Also made me get a PS3 over a 360 and boy did that suck


Meh -

everything else


Special Goddammit Award -

Mirror's Edge for making punch a hole in my door and lose my deposit.  WHY WOULD YOU MAKE COMBAT MANDATORY WHEN IT SUCKS SO BAD

[Bocsius]

Year summary:

I bought a 360 last week. Played and beat Halo 3, now playing online. The one other thing I bought gaming-related this year was Final Fantasy XII. I bought nothing for my DS, just kept playing Mario Kart.

The end.

[tiesto]

After that I played Mother 3 for Game Boy Advance and holy shit that sucked.  I didn't like Earthbound much but this one was far worse.  Aside from its novelty value, I can see why Nintendo decided not to bring it over for a US release. 

Really, what didn't you like about Mother 3? I liked it much more than Earthbound personally, thought the game was a bit better balanced and the combat actually required you to use buffs/debuffs and status ailments actually worked on bosses. Not to mention, liked the story and characters a great deal.

[Vizzys]

i like the system summary idea, I dont remember much of the beginning of the year however

360: good year, dmc4, ng2, gears 2, vesperia, castle crashers, lots more im forgetting

PS3: metal gear solid 4 was probably the most playable mgs to me, lbp was a fun time waster for a while and valkyria chronicles isnt bad(just started it), mostly used this to play blurays and persona 4

DS: etrian 2, twewy, and ecclesia were good.  Bonus: mother 3 in english rocked, technically a gba game though

PC: this year was all about learning to love steam I think, bought a bunch of older titles. Left 4 Dead was probably my biggest game played this year, exceeded expectations, co-op/versus with people is a blast.

[demi]

Mother 3 is trash, tiesto. Sorry. IU > Mother 3

[Great Rumbler]

Top 5:

1. Fallout 3
2. Saints Row 2
3. The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
4. Mirror's Edge
5. Dead Space

Achievement in Multiplayer Award:

Left 4 Dead [tie]
Boom Blox [tie]

Biggest Dissapointment:

Spore [tie] - Bare-bones experience that doesn't really get good until the final stage.
Grand Theft Auto 4 [tie] - Sterile gameplay experience cannot be overcome by focus on story.

Best Game from 2007 That I Didn't Play Until 2008 Award:

Europa Universalis III

Best Port of a Game From a Previous Generation:

Star Ocean: First Departure

Best Budget-Priced Game:

Mount & Blade

[Vizzys]

ah i forgot dead space, picked that up for pc, totally unexpected awesomeness

[demi]

best games of 2008:

Too Human
Devil May Cry 4
TWEWY
The Last Remnant
Saints Row 2

worst games of 2008:

prince of persia
mgs4
gta4
condemned 2
the wii

[Van Cruncheon]

best: farcry 2, vesperia, persona 4, saints row 2, fallout 3, valkyria chronicles, hot shots golf psp 2, kings bounty

worst: igavania order of ecclesia, prince of persia, gta4, the wii

[Tabasco]

Loved:

Saints Row 2:  As said above, PS2 GTA games made awesome

Fallout 3:  My GOTY.  So many "water cooler" moments over IM.  When I started Tranquility Lane, I was grinning ear to ear.


Suprised in a Good Way:

GRiD:  Codemasters came along and made a better version of PGR.  People who bitch about money wasted on gfx and presentation need to play this and DiRT to see how much a quality interface can add to tight mechanics.

Dark Sector:  After Pariah I figured these guys were shit devs who were going to crap out a shitty Gears clone.  It's not as good as Gears, but it's really fun.

Disappointed:

Mercs 2:  Sort of my story of the year.  It's incredible how bad this thing was.  I was so excited to play it.  Mercs was the best open-world game last gen.  Such a letdown

Gears 2:  I can't believe they didn't fix the glitches, and released such an impotent matchmaking setup.  SP was also crap for everything that wasn't standard Gears gameplay.

WTF:

Metal Gear Solid 4:  I just played, or tried to play, this weekend.  After all the GOTY awards and gfx praise, I wanted to experience it on my PS3.  Granted, my only previous exposure to the series was part of MGS2 or a friends PS2, but I don't get it.  Splinter Cell does everything better than Metal Gear.  Items and weapons system is horribly antiquated.  Controls suck.  I played 10 minutes and watched 50 minutes in the first hour.  I don't mean to be part of the EB hate parade.  I wanted to like it and see all the crazy cut-scenes.  But it's just not entertaining or fun.

GTA Hate:  It's absurd how people have overreacted to the game.  Yeah, the driving and shooting and walking are a little wonky, but it's not awful.  It's still fun.  The first part of the story is actually good, even if it falls apart afterwards.  But to read message boards it's worst thing ever.  It's not as good as Saints Row 2, but it is better than Saints Row 1.  And that's not bad.

[Diunx]

worst games of 2008:

mgs4

You should permaban yourself.

best of the year:

mgs4

worst:

the wii, brawl is lol and thats pretty much the only thing that came out for the system this year.

[siamesedreamer]

The Godly

> Ninja Gaiden DS - rock solid controls and super 3D graphics for the DS, could not put it down

> Lost Odyssey - still haven't finished it (on disc 4) but I'd argue it was the best 360 game this year


The Good

> Fable II - superior to Fable in every way, held back by a game breaking economic system and bitches that won't let you fuck your wife alone

> Gears of War 2 - very solid single player that I couldn't put down, ending didn't make sense

> Too Human - screw the haters this game is a ton of fun, hope part two gets made

> Bully Scholarship Edition - total mindless fun, glad they ported it as I would never have played it


The Entertaining (but not worth $60)

> Tomb Raider Underworld - just more of the good same, combat is pure shit

> Prince of Persia - beautiful art style, but too easy and ending was wtf

> GTA IV - pretty good until I got into some of the harder missions, lack of checkpoints during missions is archaic


The Wouldn't Wipe My Ass With It

> Alone in the Dark - can't think of a single good thing to say about this game

> Etrian Odyssey - punishingly difficult compounded by a shit save systems, wtf at items increasing in cost

[demi]

How dare you... EO is awesome

[Great Rumbler]

How dare you... EO is awesome

This transgression shall not stand! 

[Beezy]

Mirror's Edge - GOTY
Burnout Paradise - best arcade racer this year once you get used to the city
Ninja Gaiden 2 - bought and played this right after I beat NG:B and the combat destroys it
Lost Odyssey - really liked it, first worthy jrpg this gen and my most achievements in a game, 900/1000
Tales of Vesperia - currently the jrpg of this gen, best "Tales of" game, battle system owns, so does the main character, pacing made it even more enjoyable
Super Smash Bros. Brawl - really fun, lots of great new characters, more balanced than previous games, online was trash
Omega Five - the game that got me to take XBLA seriously,really gorgeous and fun trying to climb the leaderboards
Mr. Driller Online - my favorite puzzle games, too bad they took so long to fix the netcode
Castle Crashers - 2D beat em ups
Culdcept Saga - good game, but it's such a huge commitment, I didn't have the time to play it
GTA IV - good graphics, city design, ok music, too bad the game sucked ass, sold it 2 weeks later
Gears of War 2 - good not great campaign, online is really fun with friends, horde mode fucking owns
Mario Kart Wii - ...well it's better than the disappointment that was Double Dash
Devil May Cry 4 - fun game, but way too easy and the combat is nowhere near as fun as either of the NG games
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin - more AW is always welcome, loved the new artstyle and more serious story
Street Fighter IV (arcade) - sexiest fighter/arcade game I've ever laid my eyes on
Tatsunoko vs Capcom (friend's copy) - im not good at fighters, but I thought this game was fun
Dead Space - liked what I played, definitely RE in space with better controls, 360 fucked up during the 3rd chapter :'(

[drew]

i dont know how you guys can remember all this

drug and alcohol abuse :'(

[Beezy]

The shelf with my games is right next to my computer desk.

[drew]

The shelf with my games is right next to my computer desk.

ah, you see, i dont have 80% of what i bought this year left

its all been pawned off.  for drugs and alcohol!

[Oblivion]

-Brawl - of course, even though it seems me, Beezy, Rman, and BrandNew are the only fans on here. Online was disappointing tho

I loved the first 2, and Brawl is a good game I think, but as Experiment mentioned, the changes they made to Brawl really made it less fun to play. Plus, most of my friends that I would play SSB with moved away, so I kinda lost interest in the games in general.

[siamesedreamer]

Oops meant EO2

[demi]

[Tucah]

360:

Fable 2 - Surprised me, as I loved it. I was lukewarm about Fable 1, but I was so amazingly addicted to the sequel I was shocked. Fun, fun game, even if it's easy and the story sucks.
Gears 2 - I'm not a fan.
Fallout 3 - Love love love it. GOTY probably.
Banjo 3 - Not bad, but I would have loved a game in the vein of the first two.
Lost Odyssey - Finally, a good next gen RPG.
Rock Band 2 - king of music games
GHWT - Not the king of music games

PS3:

LBP - I wasn't too hyped for this, but I enjoyed it all the same. Creating levels is pretty fun.
MGS4 - Good. Story was like the rest of the series, but when you actually got to play, the gameplay was fun enough.

Wii:

Animal Crossing CF - Same as the rest of the series. I still like it.
SSBB - Disappoiting. Lots of new stuff, but Subspace Emissary sucked and it was slow and not as much fun as Melee in general.
Wario Land Shake It - It was easy, but exactly what I wanted, a new Wario sidescroller.
Megaman 9 - AWESOME.

DS:

FFIV/DQIV/TWEWY - Awesome handheld RPGs. FFIV was a great remake of a game I already liked, DQIV was awesome and I had never played it before, and TWEWY is one of the best original RPGs in a long time.
Ninja Gaiden - Was fun for a while, I guess, but I wasn't super impressed with it.
Layton - Puzzles are fun, story was predictable, art style was sorta cool I guess.

PSP:

Crisis Core - Story sucked, gameplay was okay, graphics were awesome.
Dissidia - Fun game, took me by surprise.


Left off a lot of games I played, just listed some basics here. I actually played a lot of my old PS2 backlog instead of new games, still have to get around to a lot of the newer releases.