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 13 of 13
Scott Jones
Status: Coffee makes me feel 4-percent sexier.
Tom Chick: This is the paragon of open-world city-havoc sandboxes. It's a pitch-perfect example of a game that accomplishes exactly what it intends to accomplish. It's crass and generous and spectacular, stuffed with stuff to do -- usually involving the liberal application of chaos. Like the first
Saints Row, it out-Grand Theft Autos the best of them: Mercenaries, The Godfather, Scarface,
Bully, Grand Theft Auto itself and even
Crackdown. If there is a better-realized vision of a city as a massive free-wheeling incendiary playground, I haven't seen it. And the fact that I can play almost every corner of
Saints Row 2 cooperatively is almost obscene. Really, Volition? You're going to go that far above the competition? That's just showboating.
No More Heroes
(Grasshopper Manufacture)
Experimental, irreverent and challenging for the audience. Brilliant.
Dave Long: Suda 51's first true commercial success might not be his best game, but it's my favorite. Few developers have the guts to take on their audience, but Suda turns the knife on us after sticking it in deep. The game pokes fun at gaming clichés almost to the point of masochism, while offering absurdly over-the-top hack-and-slash. Wrestling moves are the Wii-waggling reward for a job well done. And man, I love the bosses. They're all nuts, but Travis always comes off as being a little bit crazier -- maybe just like us? This game sticks in my head more than any other from 2008, because there are so many inspired moments -- jerking off to power up your sword, geysers of blood, mowing the lawn, the training guy, Raspberry Chocolate Sundae -- heck, even saving the game is just plain old stupid fun, the way videogames are meant to be.
Gus Mastrapa: Nobody makes games as experimental, irreverent and chock-full of obscure pop culture references than Suda 51. And if they did, they still wouldn't have the
cojones to play with the form of videogames the way he does. Santa Destroy is an open world with nothing to do. And that's a totally purposeful comment on American sprawl (not to mention the expectations of American gamers). And still there's no lack of variety in
No More Heroes. The game is peppered with brutal one-on-one lightsaber fights, goofy motion control mini-games and tons of homages to old-school gaming. In a time when so many games take players on predictable adventures,
No More Heroes doesn't just take the road less traveled -- it drives off the cliff, floors it 15 miles through bat country, then plows through the front window of an erotic cake shop.
Read Day 1 and Day 2 of our 2008 Game of the Year coverage.
What's your pick for Game of the Year? Sound off in our Groups.
