Paco’s Quickie: Batman Arkham Asylum
Posted by HCG Paco | Filed under Games of the Year, Quickies, Reviews
Game of the Year contender. Easily.
My favorite Batman before Arkham was The Adventures of Batman and Robin for SNES. Easily.
Arkham beats the SNES classic. Easily.
Tags: Batman, Batman Arkham Asylum, quickies, Review, SNES
Musashi’s 2008 Games of the Year
Posted by HCG Musashi | Filed under Games of the Year, Reviews
While it’s always been a challenge for me to narrow down one title to deem my “Game of the Year”, 2008’s release schedule made that task nearly impossible. Each month was packed with at least one buzz-worthy title to take a peek at while other months (November, please stand up and be recognized) had our heads spinning with multiple A-Class titles every week. 2008 will definitely go down in my mind as one of the more impressive years in video game releases.
GAME OF THE YEAR:
Metal Gear Solid 4 - Guns of the Patriots (Playstation 3)
WHY
While Guns of the Patriots is hands-down a technical A-Class (or S-Class?) game, I feel it’s true shining achievement is it’s storyline and portrayal of characters. Sure, the Metal Gear Series is older than most of the gamers playing it today, but I don’t feel the series’ staying power is what made Guns of the Patriots so good; it was Kojima studios’ amazing storytelling and character portrayl that hit it out of the park. While I’ve had the privilege of growing up with Metal Gear series - all the way back to the NES days - it still amazes me that a game produced in 1988 with no more than a simple story on the back of a black and white instruction booklet has grown into a now 20 year old gaming dynasty that has sold millions of copies worldwide.
CONTENDERS TO THE TITLE
Tags: 2008 games of the year, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Gears of War 2, Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear Solid 4, Person 4, Playstation 2, PS2, PS3, Reviews, Xbox 360
KP1gL37’s 2008 Games of the Year
Posted by HCG KP1gL37 | Filed under Games of the Year, Reviews
2008 was a pretty stellar year in gaming. With more than a few highly-anticipated sequels hitting the shelves, and a slew of original titles blowing me away, narrowing it down to my select chosen favs for the year turned out to be more challenging than I thought.
So here it is, KP1gL37’s 2008 games of the year:
Game of the Year: Prince of Persia for Xbox 360 (Released: Dec 9, 2008)
I agonized over Game of the Year for a few weeks, and finally gave in to my first instinct with Prince of Persia for the Xbox 360. Between the original platformer trilogy, the recent Sands Of Time trilogy and the countless other portable and remake versions, Prince of Persia has been gracing gaming since 1989, so you bet your ass this was one special remake to beat out the other amazing Game of the Year contenders.
Read why I think PoP is GOTY after the jump
Tags: 2008 games of the year, Bully Scholarship Edition, Burnout Paradise, Gears of War 2, Left 4 Dead, Prince of Persia, Reviews, Rock Band 2, Xbox 360
Dreadsorrow’s 2008 Games Of The Year
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under Games of the Year, Reviews
I play mostly MMOs, but in recent weeks I have finally overcome my brainblocks to playing shooters on a console, and am enjoying them now immensely. However, I am still primarily an MMO player. I certainly hope that my favorite MMOs wind up on consoles someday, but I’m not holding my breath on that.
Anyway, I tried out a few new MMOs in 2008, but they were somewhat less than satisfying (e.g. Age of Conan). But with an MMO, expansions tend to add so much in terms of gameplay and content to the original game that I include MMO expansions among original releases when considering which is the best game released in any given year. So, without further fanfare or titillation…
GAME OF THE YEAR
Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria, nothing else is even close. LOTRO was already so epic in size, so true to Tolkien’s original vision, that I didn’t think it was possible to be any better.
WHY
The Mines of Moria expansion has added such an enormous amount of content that it boggles the mind. Everything was so well implemented, the launch so smooth, everything so bug-free, I had to really nitpick to find fault with the game. But most important, by playing this game, you get a real sense of how epic a virtual world can be, and how very small you can feel dwelling inside it. Turbine is not perfect, no game developer is. But their screw-ups are made insignificant by their successes.
Tags: 2008 games of the year, Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Left 4 Dead, Lord of the Rings Online, Mines of Moria, Reviews, Sins of a Solar Empire, Star Wars Force Unleashed
Paco’s 2008 Games of the Year
Posted by HCG Paco | Filed under Games of the Year, Reviews
Here at The Hardcore Gamer we won’t make you scroll to the end of the page or burrow through defensive and jaded commentary filled with ads that are spread over seven pages instead of one just to justify bloated ad rates. So, let’s get going…
GAME OF THE YEAR
Metal Gear Solid 4 is my personal favorite game of the year. I don’t know if it is accessible for everyone in the way that Gears or Prince of Persia are, but more of a closing love letter to a rabid fan-base.
WHY
During the most stellar year in gaming since last year, Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid 4 left an indelible mark on my gaming soul for the rest of my life. The sound design rocked me, the graphics wowed me and the story moved me. Read my Metal Gear Solid 4 review for the gory details.
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
Prince of Persia, Duke Nuke’em 3D, Bully, Left4Dead, Fable 2, Burnout Paradise and Fallout 3. (In no particular order, calm down trolls) Read past the jump to discover (or confirm) why these 2008 classics get the attention they deserve.
Tags: 2008 games of the year, Burnout Paradise, Duke Nukem 3D, Fable 2, Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Metal Gear Solid 4, Prince of Persia 4, PS3, Review, Xbox 360
