2008's Games that You Totally Missed

[BiG D]

2008 had a ton of completely original, completely awesome games that didn't get the amount of hype the boring sequels did. I bet you missed a few.

Did you try...

Prince of Persia (360, PS3, PC)
And I start off the list with a SEQUEL! Don't call me on it unless you want an essay about Ubisoft's take on game branding.
Anyway, this one is brilliantly written, brilliantly acted, and stunningly beautiful. Platforming and combat that are really cool but simple enough that you won't be frustrated. Perhaps the best end sequence of any game ever.

Castle Crashers (XBLA)
An old school beat-em-up through and through. If you liked games like River City Ransom back on the NES, you'll be right at home here. Incredible hi-def art and a quirky bait-and-switch style of humour make this one a winner. Without a doubt the best four-player game this year, especially if you're all in the same room.

World of Goo (PC, Wiiware)
More quirky art & humour! Gameplay that's challenging but intuitive. But the best part is the feeling that you've never played anything like this.

The World Ends With You (DS)
I don't even know where to start with this one, so many different parts of it are brilliant. Excellent story, excellent art, interesting combat that evolves as you play, and genuinely original gameplay mechanics. It rewards you for time spent not playing. All of that is great, but if I had to say one thing to convince you it's worth playing, it would be this: Your characters have a Bravery stat. The only thing it does is determine what clothes they can wear.

Some others that you should totally play that I don't feel like writing a paragraph about because you're probably already aware of them anyway:

• Burnout Paradise
• FarCry 2
• Mirror's Edge
• Braid
• Rez HD

So. What under-hyped games did I miss this year?

 

[DocBot]

Boo Hiss for Prince of Persia, I say. It's super repetitive and way too easy. That said, extremely handsome game with nice voice acting and a decent story. And no, I didn't play it through to the end.

I could recommend King's Bounty: The legend. If you played the original this one's fun, too Nothing that will win any awards, but enjoyable for quite a while.

 

[BiG D]

Boo Hiss for Prince of Persia, I say. It's super repetitive and way too easy. That said, extremely handsome game with nice voice acting and a decent story. And no, I didn't play it through to the end.

How far did you play? The difficulty picks up quite nicely once you've started unlocking areas. That being said, it's not even about how challenging it is. Difficult games are not automatically good games.

 

[DocBot]

I played through 2 and a half of the "clusters", I.e. 2 bosses (alchemist was cool). I think. At least I had 3 powers when I uninstalled it.

I agree that "easy" in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if we instead phrase it as "without challenge", (I mean, portal was "easy" to finish, but still challenging) and add to that repetitivity... For some reason, I also felt it was more linear than the other PoP games I've played (except #1, but that one was HARD). All in all, it felt less like I was playing a PoP game, and more like I was playing, I dunno, DDR or something. Especially in the fights. But that feeling was with me almost from the beginning of the game, the scenery and visual style kept me in the game for quite a while.

 

[Rai]

Fallout 3 is fun, but that isn't quite underrated, is it?

Anyways, i heard alot of stuff about Mirror's Edge but i haven't tried it out yet... I'm pretty hungry at this moment

 

[BiG D]

(I mean, portal was "easy" to finish, but still challenging)

That's an interesting comparison. I would say the difficulty curves are very similar. Both games spend the first three quarters or so "teaching" you different aspects of the gameplay, and then they set you off on your own. The difference being you saw the challenging bits of Portal, but quit PoP before it got to that point.

Also, the original Prince of Persia game? Hard? I had that one mastered by the time I was 8

 

[DocBot]

Ah, but there was always a "puzzle" part to the Portal gameplay, that is - you had to figure something out before you could go on, whereas in PoP it's completely lacking. The only bit I've seen was "turn these wheels in the right order", in a few places. Oh and the endlessly annoying fights. I can't help but quote Yahtzee here: "Press X not to die". Or in this case, "Press X not to have to try to press X again".

I didn't have PoP mastered when I was eight, but that might have been because it didn't come out until I was nine...

 

[Angelic]

OK, so I downloaded World of Goo. It's cute It's not easy, though, with the gooballs crawling upon my subtle and fragile structures rocking them and eventually breaking down... Also I hate that I can't move goonodes once I place them.
Still, it's a very nice game

DLing the Prince as we speak.

Go go exam period when I still have no exams done -.-

 

[Silk]

Boo Hiss for Prince of Persia, I say. It's super repetitive and way too easy. That said, extremely handsome game with nice voice acting and a decent story. And no, I didn't play it through to the end.

I could recommend King's Bounty: The legend. If you played the original this one's fun, too Nothing that will win any awards, but enjoyable for quite a while.

OMG they've re-made my favorite ever game?? How the hell did I miss that one?!?!

Edit: It's not out til 16th Jan, so why's it on yoru 2008 list? Thanks for the heads up though!

 

[VibroAxe]

World of Goo was awsome, I only played the demo, but managed to get OCD on all but 1 level. Then I installed vista, lost my save game, and kinda gave up great game though

 

[Huung]

Prince of Persia (360, PS3, PC)
And I start off the list with a SEQUEL!

If you're referring to the newest PoP (which you can also buy via Steam) then it technically isn't a sequel
This prince isn't the same as the prince from the sands of time trilogy, nor is it the same prince from the original ages old PoP games according to the devs.

For anyone, like myself, that loves the PoP games, you might be pleased to know a movie is planned...

 

[BiG D]

If you're referring to the newest PoP (which you can also buy via Steam) then it technically isn't a sequel

It's a sequel in the same way that FarCry 2 is a sequel. That is, it's another entry in the series, but isn't canon in any way with previous ones.

*urge to discuss ubisoft's branding strategy rising...*

 

[Huung]

It's a sequel in the same way that FarCry 2 is a sequel. That is, it's another entry in the series, but isn't canon in any way with previous ones.

*urge to discuss ubisoft's branding strategy rising...*

I guess in that respect, yes, it would be a sequel. Just feels a bit wrong calling it a sequel when its not actually the storyline that continues, just the game mechanics

I can see why they change the princes though, although it would be cool to have the same guy in all of them, I could see it getting tiring and old; eventually restricting what the "one prince" could do without him becoming some form of god. This way there can be subtle differences each time.

*Prepares for BiG D barrage on branding strategy*