Tech Olive

Starting our top 5 off is Far Cry 2. Despite this game’s weak points, such as the poor AI, the constant travel, and monotonous, less than exciting gun fights, it still manages to be a game that steals your time away from the others. It’s hard to say why this game attracted me so much. I guess it’s the animal instinct that it brings out in you; the want to stalk and hunt your prey. The only reason this game scored so low in the countdown is the fact that the multiplayer is embarrassingly bad.

Coming in at number 4 is the newest game in the Call of Duty series, World at War. Even despite this game being just a reskinned and rebadged version of CoD4, it still offers a stellar single player campaign. While online does feel a bit uninspired, it does offer more challenges and character levels than the previous game in the series, and also has much better level design. As a result, it’s still a good game, especially considering Treyarch’s history with the Call of Duty series.

Taking the bronze medal in our countdown is Race Driver GRID. It’s quite possibly the best racing game the PC has ever seen, and exactly the type that it needs. A serious tone, but very little simulation elements to be found, leaving the game very simple, thus clearing a path for the fun. Remember that? Fun. I can understand the enjoyment of a nice simulator, but it is nice to just be able to sit back, grab a car, and race. No shift timings or tires to choose from. Other game developers of the racing genre should sit up and take a page from Codemaster’s book.

A game that has managed to steal many gamer’s hearts, and our silver medal is the epic zombie shooter Left4Dead. A game looked forward to by many gamers and for good reason. All the things that Valve promised to us gamers sounded almost too good to be true; a gamer’s fairytale. However, when the game finally arrived, we all found that they gave us exactly what they promised us and so much more. While the single player is almost non-existent, the multiplayer is a sheer work of art. A grand symphony of bullets and undead that carries you through one of the best multiplayer games you’ll ever experience.

The game receiving our highest honor in this countdown is Bethesda’s newest FPS/RPG fusion, Fallout 3. Many gamers where afraid that Bethesda was merely re-boxing their previous FPS/RPG hybrid The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and passing it off as a whole new game. However, what they did is quite a triumph. They managed to keep most of what made Oblivion good, and add so much more. Because of the setting, it’s much easier to lose yourself in the landscape and the story. The wide-open world with an abundance of moral choices makes this game such a gem. Many will say that the game has strayed too far away from what the Fallout series used to be. While still in the same world and setting, not much else stays true to the previous games. But, no matter where you stand on this topic, it’s still a fantastic game, well worthy of this honor.

Receiving honorable mention as the best indie game of 2008 is Audiosurf. A game that is so simple, it’s fantastic. It falls into the genre with the likes of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but it takes the use of music a little less…lame. In Audiosurf you control a space ship flying on a track that is built from the song you chose to play. Where as the other games you are stuck with a plastic instrument. One of the best things about Audiosurf is the fact that you can choose any song from your library you want to play. The game will then analyze the song, and within a matter of seconds, you’ll be playing it.