Ryan M. Eft has 8 chronicles

1. Year-In-Review part 2: The Best Games of 2008
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Jan 02 2009

   Note 1: Wii reviews are by Ben Luke, because I still haven't found a compelling reason to buy the thing.
   
   Note 2: This is not meant to be comprehensive. I can't play everything. Notably, Spore is missing, and it would almost certainly be present, but I haven't even had time to try it. Also, I don't play WoW. So there's that.
   
   Grand Theft Auto IV (XB360, PS3, PC)
   Previous GTA games blew the concept of open-world games wide open, but they always felt suspiciously removed from their setting; humanity was sucked out in favor of over-the-top satire. And it worked. But GTA IV is the first game in the series that comes close to being realistic. Not everyone liked having to maintain contacts and a social life or go out to bars with friends. But it made Liberty City feel like a wicked distortion of a real American city, and Nike Bellic, a refugee of the violence of the Bosnian war, feel like an actual person, as opposed to a player cipher. It got flak for not having as many cars or generally as much stuff as previous games, but it takes more than bigger and more to make a good sequel. Evolution is more important than adding crap, and GTA IV has that in spades.
   
   Braid (XBL)
   A dynamic visual style and compelling narrative are things on the bulletpoints of Square Enix titles, not features in 2D side-scrollers where you have to save a princess. But Jonathan Blow’s long-anticipated Braid had all these things, plus some of the year’s most compelling puzzles. While I’m not sure if a game with several tens of thousands of dollars in funding fits some people’s definition of independent, the fact was Braid proved to a good portion of the masses that engaging narratives and gorgeous visuals aren’t just the realm of high-powered retail titles. If you haven’t got Xbox Live, be sure to get the PC port coming in 2009.
   
   Fallout 3 (XB360, PS3, PC)
   While fans of the original games were disappointed to outraged that Fallout 3 broke with that mold, most everyone else who wandered into the wastes was as pleased as someone lost in a post-apocalyptic wasteland could be. Bethesda’s previous game was The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and the blueprints of that title are definitely present. But Fallout establishes it’s own identity. Roaming radios in the middle of a nuked Washington D.C. play God Bless America. Raiders roam supermarkets. But the gameplay is also improved over Oblivion; no more are waves of easily defeated enemies going to run right into your weapons, and some encounters are damned hard. The Karma system ensures that the way you play affects the world around you, and this immersion pushes the game into classic territory.
   
   Ninjatown (DS)
   Yeah, it’s based on a license, even if most people don’t know what Shawnimals are. But this strategy romp breaks the rules about quality in licensed games. Defending the various sections of Ninjatown against the invading Wee Devils isn’t the most punishing of strategy affairs, but that isn’t to say it is without depth…or humor. Use Ninja Droppings to ward off Devils with stink clouds, or Ninja Babies to kill them with cuteness. Ninjas have excellent powers like ice and slingshots, while placing dojos to increase the power of units and upgrading on the fly are essential to victory. Of course, there’s the inherent cuteness factor, and if unbearably cute little ninjas don’t win you over you officially have no soul.
   
   Chrono Trigger (DS)
   Yeah, it’s almost fourteen years old. But there’s a reason why some games lose their appeal while others get labeled as timeless. I couldn’t give you a measure, but whatever it is, Chrono Trigger has it in spades. That a lot of RPG players never experienced this game’s compelling story, innovative time travel, and unique combo skills is very much a crime, so don’t miss it a second time.
   
   Left 4 Dead (XB360, PC)
   It only has four maps. There are five types of enemies init, and four playable characters. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like a game with legs. But once you hop online, you’ll experience the first game where you and your team absolutely have to work together or it’ll be curtains for everybody. This will be refreshing to anyone who has been turned off online multiplayer by jerks who like to hot dog it. Leave your team in the dust, and you’re the one who’ll end up getting smoked. The AI director ensures that no matter how many times you play a mission, it’s not the same. Tired of being the good guys? Then take the zombies and ravage some human brain. Left 4 Dead isn’t like anything you’ve ever played online.
   
   Little Big Planet (PS3)
   Playstation 3 owners are pretty familiar by now with the word drought. Well, the riverbeds once again filled with water on release of Little Big Planet. Few can argue that the platformer genre is dying a slow death, but LBP might be the antidotal shot in the arm it needs. 25 levels are only the tip of the game; you’re then provided with all the tools the developer used to make the game. You can share your levels online and download the levels of others, creating a game that has the potential to be played forever. A charming mascot in Sackboy hopefully will help sales stand alongside gorefests like Gears of War.
   
   Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
   The Playstation may no longer be the home of great RPGs, but they can still send out a good one every now and then. That it was developed by Sega, who have undergone a severe drop in quality as a developer and who were never the most well-known in the genre, makes it all the more surprising. Striking visual styling and immersive strategic game are just advertising unless you actually implement them. Sega has, and while no system seems fated to enjoy the genre dominance of the PS2, this game is a must-have for fans of the genre.
   
   Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World (Wii)
   Yea, I know I've already reviewed this one officially, but if it wasn't apparent enough from my original review, this is most definetly one of the best games of the year. It is one of the best RPG's I have ever played, but what else would you expect from the Tales franchise, which only seconds in gameplay and story to the Square's Final Fantasy series. The story picks right up two years after where the GameCube’s Tales of Symphonia left off. You are able to enjoy this game just as much, even if you haven't played the original.
   
   Castle Crashers (XBL)
   As if we didn’t have enough proof that downloadable games have as much to offer as retail releases, 2008 confirmed it. Castle Crashers, by the two guys who brought you Alien Hominid, includes the catchphrase “That’s the Last Turd out of You”, but it isn’t vulgar or cheap. It’s like Double Dragon slapped with endlessly entertaining humor and deepened with level progression and varied combos. Another break from the brawlers of old is a lengthy quest; the first few stages are as long as an entire older game.
   
   World of Goo (Wiiware)
   World of Goo is a game about blobs -- black blobs, red blobs, sticky blobs, and dead blobs (among others) -- and it's the first brilliant original title for Nintendo's WiiWare service. Naturally, it's not the blobs themselves that define World of Goo but what the two-man team at 2D Boy has done with them, crafting increasingly devious challenges that combine the sense of wonderment and boundless creativity of LocoRoco with the brainy play approach of Portal.
   The core concept of creating sturdy structures out of elastic, joinable balls of goo won't melt the brain -- at first. You start out with simple towers and bridges, attempting to connect your structure to a metal pipe to transfer a specified amount of unused goo balls and complete the stage. The Wii Remote is an apt tool for such a challenge, allowing you to expand your structure simply by aiming the pointer at the screen and dragging the blobs at will.

   
   

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