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 12 of 13
Scott Jones
Status: Coffee makes me feel 4-percent sexier.
Jason McMaster: Admittedly,
Warhammer Online didn't grab my attention right out of the gate. I had recently ended my longtime love affair with
World of Warcraft, and the thought of playing yet another MMO was starting to make me nauseous. I might not have played the game at all, if not for the fact that my friends would not shut up about it.
Warhammer Online is anything but your average MMO. The PvE is flat, but I challenge you to find a company that understands PvP better than Mythic. If you're a fan of real PvP, (i.e., not
WoW), you owe it to yourself to at least give
WAR a try.
Civilization Revolution
(Firaxis)Order Now
A turn-based strategy classic comes to console in magnificent form.
David Thomas: How many times can you remake the same game? Every time I bump into another Civ game, I think, "Wow. They did it again." Like the Ramones of game development, Sid Meier and his rotating backup band have found a formula that works and stuck with it. Anyone who thought that you can't really port a PC game to the console just needs to look at
Revolution. It's simpler where it needs to be, goofier where it can be, and streamlines play to keep all the classic Civ strategizing in scale with slouching on the couch.
Dan Hsu: One of the best, most critically acclaimed series ever deserves a wider audience, and
Civ Rev (the more syllable-friendly way of calling it) made that happen. It brought PC-style strategy to consoles in a way that makes sense without offending the existing fan base. Very little was lost in the translation, while a lot of streamlining even made the original games seem cumbersome. It's been over a decade since the console audience last saw a decent Civ game (
Civilization II for the original PlayStation). This update was long overdue -- and luckily for all of us, it delivered in a big way.
Saints Row 2
(Volition Inc.)Order Now
Many said it was better than
GTA IV. Not here, but still a great game.
William Abner: Saints Row 2 is street-level chaos in a box. While you can make the argument that
Grand Theft Auto IV is the more "mature" design, you cannot convince me it's a better game. I play
Saints Row 2 at lunch with a good friend of mine who is in the Navy. He works a desk job, and we meet up on Xbox Live every weekday at noon for 50 minutes of complete mayhem: spewing sewage on buildings, stealing cars, drag racing -- we don't even have to follow the storyline or do any of the officially sanctioned activities or missions.
Saints Row 2 does everything it can to make sure you are being entertained every moment you have the controller in your hand. It's in many ways what playing games is all about ... if you're old enough.
