Highs and Lows of 2008

[Charlie]

Highs -

Fable 2
Geometry Wars 2
Rez HD
GTA IV
Left Four Dead
Dead Space

Lows-

Gears of War 2
CoD5
Bioshock
Fallout 3

[Riskbreaker]

Highs

Saints Row 2 - More fun than GTA4. Fact!
Fable 2 - Love Albion and it's people. Really want Lionhead to patch the damn game so that I can go back to it.
Left 4 Dead - The best co-op experience anyone has put together until Capcom make the co-op version of Mercenaries mode that I dream of.
Fallout 3 - 60 hours in. Level 20. Still completely enthralled by this.
MGO - I actually really enjoyed MGO, I plan to go back to it once I clear through the pile of games I have.
NXE - Not exactly new console territory but I like it all the same.

Lows

Winter release schedule - just plain silly
The Wii - Definitely the least used machine in my flat. Aside from Smash Bros it's barely had any use.
Fable 2's gamebreaking bugs - as much as I love the game, some of the bugs that scraped through are ridiculous.
KONAMI ID - seriously, wtf!
NXE Premium Themes - Ugly as feck.

[Charlie]

Lows -
a couple of games in Edge getting 7, when they are obviously 8s

[Brad]

Lows:
Nintendo
GTA 4 - Got boring fast, not as fast as Saints Row 2 though ;-)
NXE - Not as easy to use as XMB

Highs:
Little Big Planet - as good as I imagined it
Metal gears Solid 4 - Unbelievably brilliant
Socom : Confrontation - Unexpectedly brilliant
Fallout 3 - Completely superb
Buzz - Great family fun
NXE - Install to disk feature meant I finally got a 360 and can play it at night without waking everyone up.

All in all a good year.

[averybluemonkey]

Highs:

Left 4 Dead.
Easily game of the year for me. My mates bought it and came to visit. We spent all day Saturday on the thing, incredible times and I cannot wait until I can get my own copy.

Too Human.
I adore this game. The controls are sublime and they've got the balance just right. A shame the experience tree is on the basic side and the last Hellheim levels smell decidedly funny but the co-op really does give this legs. I love the Norse mythology reimagining.

Endwar.
Weak single player but when you do 2 versus 2 matches online boy does it get intense. The voice comms are seamless and the constant jokeying for territory very compelling. If only the mission supports didn't bias some battles so much towards whichever side has the most nearby bases. Still you can lose, even with all supports I am embarrased to say.

Lows:

GTA4.
I knew I wouldn't like it. But all the guys at work were playing it. And I mean, all the good reviews too. I find this game so utterly boring it depresses me to think what I paid for it. Give me Saints Row 2 or Crackdown any day of the week over this.

Tempest XBLA.
Why did I buy this? That 400points could have bought me some horse armour for god's sake. This is what happens when your girlfriend goes back home at the end of a weekend and you feel lonely, you can't afford another 400points and already have Jetpac Refuelled and all the arcade hits .

[egparadigm]

Too Human.
I adore this game. The controls are sublime and they've got the balance just right. A shame the experience tree is on the basic side and the last Hellheim levels smell decidedly funny but the co-op really does give this legs. I love the Norse mythology reimagining.

Maybe you should do a review of this. From what I've heard and played you're in a minority, but that might make it interesting to read.

[Ish]

Highs

Little Big Planet - lived up to the hype and it just makes me smile.

Mirrors Edge - not quite finished this but I've had a terrific buzz off of it and it was quite unexpected. I knew sod all about it but a friend just said she thought I'd like it. And she was right.

Gears of Wars 2 - grrrr, makes me feel like a man.

Wipeout HD - what an enjoyable bargain!

Ratchet & Clank - (the PS3 one), loved it - its just simple daft fun.

Lows

Fallout 3 - it had a promising start and I love the originals but its just left me cold.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 - how the hell do you take such a great game and ruin it totally?

Not much time for gaming - I think this year I've gamed the least I've ever gamed. Just too much other stuff going on.

[PeteJ]

+
Left 4 Dead - my favourite multiplayer game of the year, and probably the best coop experience since Halo.

Mirror's Edge - When it flows, ME is one of the most jaw-drapping experiences you can play.

Rockband 1 & 2 - the original is by far my most played game this year and the sequel is more goodness. So glad they made it so you could use the original songs with the sequel. An amazing package.

Boom Blox - the second best game on Wii

-
The xbox 360 - another fail this year

The Wii - great concept but nothing to play. Once I was done with Boom Blox it was left untouched. Now sold.

Fable2 coop - was looking forward to it following E3, but it really didn't work.

E3 - ugh

Mirror's Edge - when it doesn't flow, ME is one of the most frustrating games you can play.

Q4 - too many games at the end of the year, again. Still haven't played Dead Space, CoD5. Fallout3 is hardly touched.

[Ish]

Mirror's Edge - When it flows, ME is one of the most jaw-drapping experiences you can play.

Mirror's Edge - when it doesn't flow, ME is one of the most frustrating games you can play.

quite!

[BeyondJumpFish]

Highs:

Wipeout HD
Vegas 2 (only the terrorist hunt in co-op mode tho)

Lows:

Fallout 3 Its shockingly bad. And i loved oblivion too
MGS4 Such a letdown with a wishy washy story that left me dis-satisfied

[parkinho]

Highs:

Okami
No More Heroes (and news of a sequel!)
Bangai-o Spirits
8-bit MegaMan returns!

Lows:
Nothing really - not played a great deal in '08 but have enjoyed almost all the games I bought. Perhaps Sin&Punishment on VC because it is a bit rubbish, and the fact that no one game came clsoe to Mario Galaxy from '07, but I expected that tbh.

[hudson]

Highs

Street Fighter IV - I got to play it on my travels to Tokyo and Kyoto. It exceeded my expectations and have made me a snob in the face of any previous SF

Socom Confrontation

NXE - Showing Sony and Home how to get all the good bits in and leaving out the crap in between. Installing games!

BF: Bad Company - Had some great times playing over Live with my friends.

Wipeout HD - Bringing back the great times I had from day one of PSone life in HD and then some.

Offline same-sofa multiplayer gaming with the following:

LittleBigPlanet - Top laughs. People hanging off my legs as I tried to make a daring leap... aaargh!

PES2009 - 1 v 1 and 2 v 2. Back to its roots and then some. An absolute joke online.

Bionic Commando Rearmed - 2 player frolics through the main game is excellent.

Wii gun games - Me and the girlfirend have been playing Umbrella Chronicles most nights, high fiving our way to victory with the occasional blame banter.

Lows

PES2009 - Cruddy cruddy online.

Mirror's Edge - I thought I was going to love this, but it leaves me feeling empty inside. Waste of money feeling

Home - I want it to do well, but it's feeling pointless at the moment.

Too many games!

[C']

Highs

Games like WipEout HD & Braid showing that digital distribution software can offer more than just twinstick shooters or cheap, throwaway pap that no one cares about after 5 minutes, offering meaty, substantial gameplay experiences for incredibly low prices. WipEout HD especially has easily been my most played game this year.

NXE Installs - Finally taking most (but not all) of the background noise out of playing a 360 game. A great feature that I hope becomes standard on consoles in future.

Street Fighter 4 - Turning out to be the real deal after all. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix didn't turn out half bad either despite my fears.

Rock Band Series - The epitome of "one more go" gaming and showing that party games can involve more than just waving a Wii Remote around.

Lows

The death of backwards compatibility. I may be a minority but I like having a small number of boxes that play a wide range of software formats. Space and connections are at a premium. However, with Sony showing no sign of reinstating PS2 compatibility into the PS3 (making me fearful of the day my 60GB US model dies) and Microsoft seemingly given up on their end it looks like the days of baackwards compatibility are over.

The Wii. I want to like it Nintendo but you sure are making it hard for me to do so. That the last game that really grabbed my attention on the system was Super Mario Galaxy almost a year ago says it all sadly. However, the fact that SMG was so unbelievably awesome means I am willing to hold out for you a litle longer. For now...

Another Xbox 360 death. Only my second return but it was almost one too many and I left it unfixed for a few months of sheer frustration. Only the (then) upcoming) autumn game schedule got it repaired.

Bandai Namco's shocking DLC policy. No, paying for unlock keys for content already on the disc I own is not an acceptable practice.

[sj33]

The death of backwards compatibility. I may be a minority but I like having a small number of boxes that play a wide range of software formats. Space and connections are at a premium. However, with Sony showing no sign of reinstating PS2 compatibility into the PS3 (making me fearful of the day my 60GB US model dies) and Microsoft seemingly given up on their end it looks like the days of baackwards compatibility are over.

Backwards compatibility is a bit of a lifesaver here. I brought my PS3 and Wii with me to university, and I've been able to play my PS2/PS1 and GameCube games too. Certainly it's not fesible for me to have any more physical consoles here, because I'll eventually have to cart them back across the country.