Best Games of 2008

By Ian Brown

Before we enter the New Year, with the traditional sound of Big Ben bringing the UK into 2009, it’s time to reflect upon the top games that we’re going to be leaving behind from 2008. This year for UK gaming has been pretty good, with some more unique titles such as Etrian Odyssey and Baroque being licensed as well as the good old fashioned AAA games from Nintendo.

Unfortunately, the latter is so niche that it can’t possibly be included in a list of games to be remember – although I wish I could let myself do that! However, there were plenty of other fantastic games that need to be remembered and replayed in the early parts of 2009, and in no real order those games are:

Etrian Odyssey

Translated by Atlus USA and then released and distributed in the UK by none other that Nintendo UK, Etrian Odyssey is one of those games that you’ll either love or hate. It doesn’t hold your hand at all, and is the epitome of dungeon crawler to the oldest sense. With only a few save points and a lot of backtracking to get further on in the game, it’s made for gamers who have many hours to spend gaming their days away.

See our review of Etrian Odyssey here.

LostWinds

LostWinds came out very early in 2008, or at least it feels like a very long time ago now! With one of the finest uses of the Wii Remote and Nunchuck to date on any platform, this WiiWare game entered the gaming realm with much fanfare and press activity.

A short and enjoyable game where you control both the wind and the main character at the same time with the use of both the Wii Remote and the Nunchuck, although it sounds hard it really isn’t. The controls are intuitive and fluid. A must have on the WiiWare.

See our review of LostWinds here.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

The first Sonic game in a long time not to be made by the internal Sonic Team at SEGA but by BioWare, which alone generated a fair bit of press for our little blue friend. Fortunately the press was all positive and rightly so.

Taking Sonic away from the super speed that we are accustomed to, Sonic became more of an RPG with turn-based battles, a large, interchangeable team and various characters from across the franchise. Sonic Chronicles was met with some criticism from the anti-Sonic factions of the world, but on the whole this was a great game. In fact, one the first few levels have been passed Sonic is a fabulous game.

See our review of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood here.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

After causing a little controversy with the multiple reviews from our US team, Super Smash Bros Brawl came out in the UK – but far too late. Even so, it managed to gather the attention of all core-gamers of the Wii in the UK and sold incredibly well.

Continuing on from previous iterations of the Smash Bros. Franchise, Super Smash Bros. Brawl contains dozens of unseen characters in the past, and for the second time in the same year did the once unforgivable – merged Sonic and Mario in one game.

See our Super Smash Bros. Brawl review here.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

When Nintendo released Brain Age a few years ago, it was the start of the casual game influx that’s existed on all formats ever since. Professor Layton was an attempt to try and pacify core-gamers whilst maintaining the forward thinking of the casual titles. Fortunately this worked and Professor Layton combines Brain Age type puzzles in a very story rich environment with traditional goals for core-gamers.

Owing to this, it’s been marketed at core-gamers and casual gamers alike and has achieved a fair amount of success – showing a “left of centre” game can be for everyone and be good.

See our review for Professor Layton and the Curious Village here.

Opoona

Created by Koei, Opoona is a RPG that’s aimed a slightly younger audience initially. With its very unique look, addictive storyline and simple gameplay, Opoona was criticised for being “too easy” for older RPG player. Fortunately this is all erroneous as once players actually get into the game, the difficulty does increase and you’ll want to save Opoona’s sister and get them off the planet they crash-landed on.

The only negative side to this game is that it’s not been translated particularly well. However, that does not detract from its brilliant gameplay.

See our review for Opoona here.

Samba De Amigo

Kudos to SEGA for bringing back a title that was much loved on the fan-favourite Dreamcast. A game that’s entire purpose is to shake the Wii Remote and Nunchuck in time to the beat, it’s DDR with your hands. Naturally this means that it’s a lot of work involved, and people have developed exercise programs around a videogame, but that’s not what makes this game great.

The sheer fact of watching other people play this game, and the Latino music is great alone. It’s pure, unadulterated fun at it’s finest.

See our review of Samba de Amigo here.

Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer

Another game from SEGA! Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer is a title that will bemuse many people. It’s a remake of an old classic originally on the SNES, SEGA remade it for the Nintendo DS and hoped that this roguelike would sell well. Rumour has it, that the sequel will not make it to our shores for popularity reasons, so if you like roguelike games, but want something a little more forgiving than Etrian Odyssey give Shiren the Wanderer a try.

See our review of Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer here.

Mario Kart Wii

The latest iteration in Nintendo’s second best selling franchise – Mario. Mario Kart Wii takes all of the good things for Mario Kart Double Dash!! Of the Gamecube, and the best of the online functions of Mario Kart DS and merges them into Mario Kart Wii. With the option of purchasing a plastic accessory to make the Wii Remote a Car Wheel, or just using the classic options, Nintendo has catered to all with this game.

It also introduced something entirely new – motorcycles. You are now able to play with motorcycles instead of karts, and they’re really easy to use. Of course the normal impossible AI remains, but it’s worth buying and playing lots.

See our review of Mario Kart Wii here.

Boom Blox

Made by Stephen Spielberg and distributed by Electronic Arts, Boom Blox had two powerful names to help sell this title to casual gamers, and it turned core-gamers off immediately by being made by EA. This stigma is starting to dissolve now, but not early enough for Boom Blox, which is a fantastic game.

A brainteaser at least, and an addictive game of skills at best Boom Blox requires the player to destroy lots of things. This is done by using the minimum amount of destructive instruments, such as bombs, or removing structural walls, but causing the maximum destruction. The fact that players are given medals encourages them to go back and try and beat their previous score, and this carrot works very well.

It’s always on sale these days, so pick it up immediately.

See our review of Boom Blox here.

Please note all images were created by me.

Pirates: The Key of Dreams

Pirates are a dying breed. For many years, people believed them to be non-existent. Then, suddenly, off the shores of Indonesia, pirates reappeared. Causing mayhem, death and mischief to all who they encounter, this resurgence of something that was once considered deceased has caused pain and mayhem to various people around the world. In the past, pirates would simply just steal from any passing sea vessel, and in a lot of cases it would have been from the British Navy.

This is no different in the second part of Oxygen Games’ latest franchise: Pirates. Pirates: The Key of Dreams is the WiiWare counterpart of the DS Pirates: Duel on the High Seas and they each have interconnecting storylines that will help explain the overall story to the player.

The famous Port Royal’s governor has sent the player on a dangerous mission to find the “Key of Dreams” which is said to make its owner a master of battle. This becomes necessary as the number of pirates across the world has risen rapidly and it’s time that they were culled a little. So that no one is aware of the top-secret mission, the player has been disguised as a pirate in a pirate ship. As a result, not only are there pirates to be fending off, but there’s also the entire British Navy to deal with, as well.

There are only two modes of play in Key of Dreams: Single Player and Multiplayer. The Single Player mode will take the player through the story of the game and is where the majority of the action takes place. There’s a three tier difficulty setting, and depending on the difficulty selected, the choice made with determine the size of the craft. The easy setting will allow access to the largest, quickest and strongest boat. Medium is exactly that and the hard setting will give the player the smallest, weakest and slowest vessel.

The gameplay in Single Player involves just sailing around the various ports and seas that the player finds themselves in and navigating their way out of the usual maze. This may sound a little dull, but the variety of enemies brightens things up a lot. There are many different smaller boats to destroy, and these are fairly easy to deal with. A few shots from the cannon and they have been sunk, often leaving behind a little bit of treasure. With the larger ships that are unfortunate enough to come across the player’s path, they require a little more firepower but will sometimes leave behind a crew member. If a crew is left floating around, the player has the option of giving them a new home. This will make the ship better by some degree, be it speed, firepower or defence.

Then there are the watchtowers to destroy. Without the special weapons, these can take a long time to be rid of; fortunately, there are various special weapons like rockets, mines, flamethrowers and a few others. These are helpful, but ultimately it doesn’t matter which the player may come across as they’re all the same in strength, and there’s usually lots of them, anyway.

There are ten different objectives throughout the Single Player mode, and each of them are pretty much the same. The entire point of the game is to get away from the enemy and find the Key of Dreams. Towards the end of the game, there’s a big surprise and this boss will require a lot more thinking, and this really is the highlight of the Single Player game. The multiplayer mode is essentially a free-for-all. A melee of attacks from various CPU or human players for goals like control of the area, “balloons” and many other missions that make the multiplayer a brilliant experience.

The game is presented in a traditional “piratey” theme, with lots of “Arr” sound effects and with plenty of naval music. The graphics themselves are a little weak, but they look good for a game that’s a top-down pirate game, especially as it’s meant to tie in with the DS counterpart. The cut-scenes are brilliant; they have some very distinctive and individual artwork and are really top-notch. The music throughout the game is good and many of the tunes will burn their way into your skull, such as the completion of a level.

Final Verdict - 7/10
A short single-player mode makes the 1,000 Wii Points price tag a little on the high side, but the multi-player mode makes up for it. A solid start into what will hopefully be a long lasting franchise.