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It's been a gratifying year for Xbox 360 owners
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Bethesda Softworks' Fallout 3, one of this year's best game titles.
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Published: December 25, 2008
It's been another spectacular year for video games, with more than enough compelling adventures to satisfy even the most demanding player.
It's been a particularly gratifying year for Xbox 360 owners, who have benefited from a consistent flow of first-rate software from Microsoft and other publishers.
Nintendo, on the other hand, has been a huge disappointment. While the low-priced Wii continues to outsell the competition, new releases for the console have been, for the most part, uninspired.
And although Sony's pricey PlayStation 3 has been a tough sell in this economy, its library is improving, almost -- but not quite -- keeping pace with the Xbox.
Here are my favorite games of 2008:
1. Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3): Set in Washington 200 years after a nuclear holocaust, this epic brings an eerie beauty to a bleak scenario. With its powerful story, memorable characters and morbid comedy, it's a compelling journey that leaves you wanting more even after 100 hours of play.
2. LittleBigPlanet (Sony, for the PlayStation 3): As delightful as Fallout 3 is grim, LBP freshened up the 2D action game and unleashed an army of amateur designers with its innovative level-building kit.
3. Rock Band 2 (Electronic Arts/MTV Games, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2): By releasing new songs every week of 2008, Rock Band developer Harmonix refused to let its rhythm-game franchise get stale.
4. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3): The violence and profanity are still over the top, but protagonist Niko Bellic is a little more grounded than your typical GTA lead. He's a thug you can care about.
5. Braid (Microsoft, for the Xbox 360): Independent developer Jonathan Blow's time-warping, mind-bending puzzler turned a hackneyed plot -- little guy rescues a princess -- into a melancholy meditation on love and loss.
6. Lost Odyssey (Microsoft, for the Xbox 360): I love an old-fashioned role-playing game, and Final Fantasy veteran Hironobu Sakaguchi delivered a rich tale with real emotional impact.
7. Fable II (Microsoft, for the Xbox 360): I like newfangled RPGs too, and Peter Molyneux's ambitious open-world epic is a satisfying blend of action, character building and laugh-out-loud humor.
8. Dead Space (Electronic Arts, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3): Sure, it cribs a lot from such movies as Aliens and Pitch Black, but this exploration of a monster-infested spaceship was the year's most nerve-racking game.
9. Grid (Codemasters, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3): This unusually challenging sleeper delivered white-knuckle auto racing with sublime controls and a superb variety of courses.
10. Mirror's Edge (Electronic Arts, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3): Boy, it's tough, but EA's parkour-inspired thriller looks unlike any game we've seen before.
Honorable mentions: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Gears of War 2, Resistance 2, Prince of Persia, The World Ends With You, No More Heroes, Patapon, Ticket to Ride.
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