2008 Game of the Year, Day 3: The CG Awards
And on the third day Uncle Crispy created a winner, and he saw that it was good.
12/23/2008 6:14 PM | 2 Comments | Page 11 of 13
Scott Jones
Status: Coffee makes me feel 4-percent sexier.
John Keefer: If people can get past their fixation on the DRM and set aside what they feel this game
should have been, they'd find an engaging game that really does have Will Wright's vision firmly embedded in it. From the evolutionary process to making friends (and enemies), the game really forces you to think in-depth about strategies for beating each mini-game and evolving to the next level. Coupled with the enjoyment of creating creatures and the downloadable content, this game should keep its target casual audience enthralled for quite some time.
Rock Band 2
(Harmonix Music)Order Now
Game or music maker, it kept us coming back.
Scott Alexander: Calling it Game of the Year isn't exactly important, because
Rock Band 2 is not a game -- which is why it is so wonderful. Rock Band is a platform.
Rock Band 2 refined that platform in subtle but important ways to create the best, friendliest party game ever made.
William Abner: I have a slightly different perspective on
Rock Band 2 than most: I never played the original or found the time to play Guitar Hero. I never reviewed the games and didn't want to pluck down the extra money on a plastic toy guitar. I'm an adult. I play PC games. But I'm a music junkie, so it was only a matter of time; these games are tailor-made for a guy like me: I can't play an instrument outside of the triangle, but I'm arguably the best air guitarist in the Midwest. I finally took the Rock Band plunge with this sequel and was hopelessly addicted from the moment I started the guitar tutorial. The sequel to
Rock Band is a better game from top to bottom, not only with better solo features for those who can't rock with a group, but also a significantly better default track list. "Let There Be Rock," indeed. I've played so much
Rock Band 2 that my fingertips are numb. That's normal, right?
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
(Mythic Entertainment)Order Now
It goes to places Warcraft doesn't, and has developed a strong following.
William Abner: There were warning signs that
Warhammer Online wouldn't live up to its massive PR-driven hype: several delays, a trimming of huge chunks of city content and so on. In the end, Mythic delivered one of the best MMOs to date. The realm-vs.-realm combat gives you incentive to play beyond the normal human drive to "get another level." You can play
WAR however you like: as pure PvP, strictly PvE, in Scenario battles with other players, or dabbling in every area of the design. I've been playing Warhammer in one form or another for 20 years, and this is a fully realized version of Games Workshop's fantasy world (part of it, anyway). From the gritty realism of Altdorf to the jagged cliffs of the World's Edge -- Mythic absolutely nailed it.
