Eurogamer's Top 50 Games of 2008: 10-1 Comments by Eurogamer staff

Same top 3 as for me, just in the reverse order. :)

And I would probably place World of Goo at number 4. Yes, it really is that good, at least for me. For those who don't 'get' it, try to play through the whole first chapter, at least. I think the tumble-dryer level was the one where I really 'got' it. The final level of the chapter is also great.

Hmm, a thought has just occured - what's the impact of game release dates on the Top 50?

Let me explain my thinking on this one - Dead Space is a game that many expected to be in the top 50. However it wasn't released until the end of October and right in the middle of a horribly busy schedule which included GH:WT, RB2, LBP, Farcry 2, GOW2, Left 4 Dead, Fable 2 and Fallout 3. It got a not-great reviews and has been steadily building support on forums the world over as word-of-mouth did its job.

However, for those folks who work for Eurogamer they've got to get through a huge pile of games for review AND play whatever games take their fancy out of that stack. Some games are gonna get short shift the same way that most of us put certain titles on our 'wait for the sales' list. Now considering that these lists must come in for preparing the articles at least a few days before the Xmas break that probably left a period of, what, two months to work through ALL those games. If I was in their position I'd be looking at games with a heavy multiplayer component and that seems to be reflected in which games made it in from that busy period (or they were major titles ala Fallout 3).

Another thought - would it be possible to see individual writers rankings for games? No reason other than curiosity really but it'd be interesting at least.

This list is crap. No FIFA 09, no Dead Space and GHWT above RB2. GHWT is a bad game next to RB2, it's ugly and boring.

Looking through the top 50, its a pretty good balance no matter what you own. Even the PS2 gets a look in!

I think 2008 has been a quality year, there is loads outside of this list that is also worthy of being in anyones collection.

The list is the top games they are playing, loving, enjoying... so it is possible that some games will be out of the top 50 or totally missed.

If you just look at yourself and see what games you have and which ones you might be missing. I think then you will see how easy it is to miss things. Me I havent got WAW, Mirrors Edge, FIFA or Deadspace, though I might get two of them early next year as the prices have gone down.

Its easy to see why there are some strange choices in the list and why some games are left totally out of the top 50, because its what they are playing and liking etc.

Umm..Sins of Solar Empire?

Kudos to LittleBigPlanet. I'd have preferred to have some sort of validation of my own private little list of top games this year by seeing Fallout 3 in the top spot, but I've never played LBP so I can't really comment on its accuracy (besides, I got that validation in the Readers' Top 50, and that means thousands of people agree with me!). Considering some of the titles I've played this year, #2 ain't too shabby at all, and I can't say I'm especially surprised by some of these positions.

Incidentally, the next time I see anybody in a comments thread crying out in anguish that EG's staff are somehow biased against the PS3, I'm going to open up this article on their PC, take their monitor, and then proceed to merrily smash it over their head. I'd suggest that you all follow a similar practice so that we might finish off the annoying whiners for good!

Actually Farzlepot it didnt seem that most of the EG staff were that impressed with LBP from reading the write ups, so from that I take it was the general overall good showing from other contributors that probably made it No 1. ;)

Where's Valkyria Chronicles? I'll assume it's somewhere where those games released last year are.

"Actually Farzlepot it didnt seem that most of the EG staff were that impressed with LBP from reading the write ups, so from that I take it was the general overall good showing from other contributors that probably made it No 1. ;) "

I dunno, most of the write-ups seemed full of nauseating quantities of praise to me... then again I did have to leave the computer every now and then to console my weeping copy of Fallout 3, so I might not have been giving it my full attention. :)

Incidentally I'm absolutely devastated that Alone in the Dark didn't make this list. Propagating fire, people!

The script and the acting are still the worst things about the GTA series. I'm sick of hearing them get praised. HBO quality my arse. They're barely True Movies quality. And if you didn't want to drive you could always just get cabs everywhere. That's what I did. GTAIV still pretty much pissed on everything else I played this year from a reasonable height.

Done to appease Sony fanboys after the furore over the obviously bad 9/10 score. I don't understand how you guys can criticise this the way you did and then put it first? I also can't understand why you gave Fable 2 a 10 and then criticised it so much here. Fallout is the only consistant review.

Where the F are Valkyria and Dead Space? DS is one of the (if not) best survival horrors this year, Valkyria is pretty original compared to a lot of these games on the list and imo it's better than Condemmed 2.

Nice to see LBP become no.1, after playing the MGS pack and using the paintinator, its made the game even more fun and there will be endless hours of fun on it.

Why shouldn't LBP be no.1? Other than 360 fanboys complaining, it's original compared to a lot of the games on that list and I'd say it's twice-three times longer than any of those too.

Unless you haven't got broadband or a psn account then the game would seem quite short, but to the one's who have, we can create and share levels, play multiplayer, try out user creators levels and play story mode.

There's plenty of things to do and you can even customise your sackboy and even download costumes for it like the MGS one's and Street Fighter, new downloadable levels are being added, like the awsome MGS pack which gives you the paintinator.

@Farzlepot.

AITD didn't deserve to be on that list, if Dead Space didn't, what chance were there for that pos.

All good stuff, a well-considered top 10 for 2008 if you ask me.

What's this Trials 2 thing Tom mentions, is it basically Elastomania?

"@Farzlepot.

AITD didn't deserve to be on that list, if Dead Space didn't, what chance were there for that pos."

Hey, I put AitD in 5th place on the list I submitted and I'm sticking with it! No matter how much I'd had to drink at the time!

Yeah AITD was utter crud and shouldn't be in the top anything of anything.

Little BIg Planet?

Are you serious!?

*gives up*

Hey idiots, these lists represent Eurogamer's opinions, not yours. Make your own list if you want to.

Personally I probably wouldn't put Braid in my own top 10, but hey. The main titles are all there - Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, World of Goo, GTA IV. Happy days. 2008 was fucking awesome for games.

Damn right and 09 is looking better.

Opinions, eh? It's a great list in that it's one of the least 'safe' that I've seen - it doesn't always go for the obvious choices, though I was hoping to see something like World of Goo at number one. But no No More Heroes? No TWEWY? Bah.

Oh, and cawley1 - I think you'll find that the platformer started its comeback last year with Super Mario Galaxy. (And LBP, for all its merits, isn't a particularly good platformer.)

Reading the text, how did World of Goo not get the top spot? Based purely on the main EG staffers it seems it would have got the #1 spot.

It's like they spent all their time playing shit games.

I score this list Alone in the Dark out of Dead Space (4/10)

Just wanted to say that Tom has earned big kudos from me for his comments on Gears 2. Despite it being not one of my most anticipated games this year, it's the one I probably had the best time with. I tend to play action games with a persistent sense of an imminent, premature conclusion - and most games end about two hours before they feel they should. Gears pushed past that point, got bigger, more entertaining, and then ended when I was ready for it to. It was also the first game in a long time to really impress me technically; the scale of it, at points, felt way beyond anything else I've experienced in this generation of consoles.

It feels like a game that was made with a lot of love and enthusiasm and skill, and it's ludicrously honed and polished. Which for me makes it hugely entertaining and deserving of its place in the top 10. Yes, it's macho, but it is not stupid. The reactionary snarking that tends to surround this sort of thing is getting as tiresome as the concept of games where you shoot monsters is supposed to be. Gears is a great, vital piece of games design.

@menage :

"@smelly

Braid is fucking brilliant. "


On first play through - i thought so too.. but now looking back.. it was fairly mediocre with too many glitches where things dont quite do what you expect them to do.. and too pompous a story line..

" I don't understand how you guys can criticise this the way you did and then put it first? I also can't understand why you gave Fable 2 a 10 and then criticised it so much here."

Read the bleedin' editor's blog, or failing that, the first paragraph of this article.

That's a surprise!!!
But I'm glad something so different won! Now, I just ought to buy a PS3, a HDTV, and LBP... That's more than 1000euros investment... no wonder why a mass market brilliant game didn't have the commercial success it deserves!

ROFuckingFL!

Meh

"no wonder why a mass market brilliant game didn't have the commercial success it deserves! "

I thought it was a mess myself.. because it's fysics based sometimes well timed jumps and things dont work thru no fault of your own.. Camera is messed up in multiplayer, etc etc.

Cant quite put my finger on exactly what i didnt like about it.. we were playing for a solid hour but i never thought i was having fun.

Disclaimer: Not played in single player though..

Load times were fucking ridiculous too.

Before i actually played it - it looked EXACTLY like my type of game.. the perfect thing.. i almost bought a ps3 just to play it.. then i played it and thought "meh - i'll stick with my 360 and wii"

'But no No More Heroes?'

I think that even the reviewers who intially spunked themselves over the Japanese quirkiness (sp?) and fact that it was a Suda 51 game eventually realised it was just a really shitty game in retrospect.

Don't bother to tell me how it's a 'statement' on the current trends in videogame design or whatever pretenious crap was floating around shortly after it's release. It was just utter rubbish that deserves to be forgotten.

PS3 > 360 this year it seems?

LBP is number 1? Eurogamer's Sony bias is confirmed. There's no way that above-average over-hyped non-game is the best game of the year.

LBP at 1! This will spark another 360 price cut.

my 1st and last coment on this site
I don't why you call yourself 'Eurogamer'. This site is so out of touch with eurogamers and reality that is not even funny.
Or you want to fabricate some kind of 'reality' in which you can justify your absurd views.
I write this because your #30 game for 2008 MGS4,
By putting mediocre and absymal 'games' like SINGSTAR,PURE,wii fit,tomb raider underworld,,and what not,above MGS 4 you have hit lowest bottom of todays gaming 'journalism',and your editors reasons for it reads like a worst trolling on some obscure internet forums by a 12 year old.what's even more shocking you gave MGS2(worst MGS)a 9 and MGS4 8.By what standards???
Seriously,a karaoke games and fitness game better then MGS4? Seriously???
and that is just 1 example of your non-gamer,non-journalist,non-euro,top 50 list.
WELL DONE "EURO""gamer"

P.S. you should change this site name by removing 'euro' and 'gamer'.
you are an insult to journalism

Wasn't NMH released last year (07)?

Its funny how things have turned out, instead PS3 fanboys crying, it's the opposite, I say it's about time the PS3 got praised, afterall EG seemed to have been 360 biased.


I agree, how can MGS 4 be beaten by games such as Singstar, Pure, Tomb Raider:Underworld and whatever other tripe beat it, imo MGS 4, 3, 1, 2.

To the people asking - yes, World of Goo really is that good. It's a sublime piece of pure wondrousness. And I didn't even like Darwinia.

Agree with KG. Gears of War > World of Goo?. In whose dreams?

And thank god GTA isn't number 1. Just the PC fuck up should kick it out of the top 50.

What's Goo like on the Wii, is it just one blurry mess ? as i might get it.

SHARXTREME! Come on, sit down. Honestly, come on, have a nice mug of coffee and a hug.

No Dead Space anywhere? Seriously? You guys are a joke.

I know it's your opinion but your opinions have become more and more outrageous over the last few months. Fable 2 gets a 10, I spent my hard earned cash on that buggy, shallow piece of crap because of you guys, and then a supremely polished and dripping with atmosphere title like Dead Space doesn't even get an 8 and get in a top 50 list? I mean really, please.

I reiterate you guys are a joke and cannot be trusted for reliable review scores anymore.

The reader's top 50 is far better.

Seems to me that everyone put LBP in their top 10 as they felt they 'had' to - because it is an important step in the right direction for console gaming and a worthy choice. But no one would pick it as #1 because it didn't really connect with anyone.

And blow me down with a feather if it doesn't stack up when all the points are totted up as number 1!
That was a mistake eh EG?

Yeah, I thought Fable was pretty shallow as well. It'd get an 8 from me. And the ending is terrible.

@ doriangray, kudos on the name by the way!

I know, there's a big divide between people who A) wanted GTA IV to be more realistic and B) those who wanted a more Crazy Taxi-esque arcade experience, but personally I found the balance between fun and realism absolutely perfect. Each car handled exactly as it should. And as such, most of the cars are unutterable shite. But the "good" cars, make journeys a pleasure. I think handbrake turns needing the right balance of acceleration, momentum, braking and of course handbrake is a stroke of genius. Maybe personal taste but you can't honestly say that driving from one end of a warfield to another in FC 2 is better. Never before have I played a game in which getting to the mission was the hard part, the mission itself the easy part.

@wingzerosys : "Its funny how things have turned out, instead PS3 fanboys crying, it's the opposite,"

Gotta laugh when you have the misfortune of posting this right after a rant on MGS4...

But I honestly don't see much fanboy crying here. No accusations of bias and no real whining about LBP as I think most acknowledge it's a good game even if it's not their personal preference. If you want fanboy crying have a look at the 30-21 article comments...

Besides, 5 out of the top 10 games are exclusive to Xbox (on consoles at least)... ;-)

Seriously,a karaoke games and fitness game better then MGS4? Seriously???

Did you (or half the people here, it seems) actually read how this list was put together?

I've no doubt that MGS is a superb game, but if I played World of Goo (for example) and absolutely fell in love with it, and didn't actually get around to playing MGS this year, why would I put MGS above it just so the list 'looked better'?

I'm pretty sure nearly everybodys top 50 would be missing some absolutely cracking titles.

@SHARXTREME "my 1st and last coment on this site"

How sad.

don't bother botherer:)
so,you think putting for example mgs4 lower than singstar in top list for this year is somehow based in reality?
if your answer is yes,then please tell me what reality is that?how is the weather there?
and obviously we all have 'opinions' but JOURNALISM is/should be a little different then random opinions on internet forums.
Or you want to say that 'eurogamers' views and reviews are NOT journalism,which was my point in the first place:)

@ rottm
well,it was my1st,and obviously not my last post, because i couldn't resist to word-play the 'botherer':)
not sign of strength,i know:)
or if i spin it(very popular these days),it is a sign of strength,hehe