Pariah’s Guild

We saw a lot of great games released in 2008. We saw Solid Snake get old in Metal Gear Solid 4, we were able to chainsaw Locusts again in Gears of War 2, and we were able to steal cars from our friends in GTA 4. So, what top five games did Pariah’s Guild pick to be our favorite game of 2008? Here’s the list in all of its glory.

5) Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway
In all honesty, we did not expect to heavily enjoy BIA: Hell’s Highway when it came out. In fact, we expected to hate it. But after playing just two levels of the game, it was obvious that Brother’s In Arms: Hell’s Highway was different from its predecessors. Although you play as the game as Sgt. Matt Baker of the 101st Airborne Unit, Hell’s Highway had one of the most engaging story’s I’ve seen in a WWII game. The epic amount of blood and gore was another reason it made this list. Thanks to the power of the Unreal 3 engine, various body parts can be dismembered with heavy weaponry (e.g. a grenade, machine gun, tank fire, etc.) making this grittiest WWII game I’ve played thus far. Finally, Hell’s Highway made this list because of its new cover and squad base mechanics. Like in the Rainbow Six series, whenever you enter cover, the camera switches to a third person view allowing you to see a a lot better. With all of these new features and a “decent” multiplayer mode, and you got yourself one of the best games of 2008 and on of the best Brothers In Arms games of all time.

4) GTA 4
In April of 2008, we saw the return of the King of sandbox games. Of course you know that I’m talking about GTA 4. But, something was very different about GTA 4. First off, it has a very different protagonist from the previous games. In GTA 4, you played as Niko Bellic looking for the person who betrayed him during a savage war in Eastern Europe. The biggest reason why GTA 4 made this list is because of the game’s radical departure from previous GTA 4 games. The game has a different combat mechanic than previous GTA games. Taking a page from the Gears of War series, Niko can fire in second person view and can take cover. Also, the heavily uses a cell-phone mechanic in order to do anything in the game: from calling Roman to go bowling with him, to entering multiplayer mode. A GPS and a Taxi system are also used in the game making traversing the city a little bit bearable. If we talked about everything we loved about GTA 4, then it will fill up the whole page, which is why GTA 4 steals the number 4 spot in our list.

3) Mirror’s Edge
By making Mirror’s Edge, DICE has proven to multiple gamers everywhere that they can make an extraordinary single player game. In Mirror’s Edge, you play as Faith who is trying to prove that her sister did not murder a mayor who’s capable of bring real change the city needs. Along the way, Faith will uncover a conspiracy that could threaten the livelihood of the runners. Like I said in our review of Mirror’s Edge, the story is filled with many twists and turns that will satisfy any conspiracy junkie. But, that’s not the reason why its on this list. The main reason Mirror’s Edge is on this list is because of its take on first person platforming. Like in any good platforming game, you can do typical platforming like jumping, running on walls, vaulting, sliding, sprinting, etc. What’s not so typical is that Mirror’s Edge emphasis on momentum to combine various aerobatic actions. Also, the game has an excellent hand-to-hand combat system that I never saw in any first-person shooter games. So, you can see why Mirror’s Edge is number 3 on our top games of 2008 list.

2) Gears of War 2
Come on! You should of saw this coming! Pariah’s Guild has been drooling over Gears of War 2 since its announcement in March of 2008. Luckily, the game did not disappoint. In fact, it exceeded out expectations! The story in Gears of War 2 is much darker than its predecessor. The Locust have found a way to make giant emergence holes capable of sinking entire cities at once. Faced with no other option, Marcus Fenix and the rest of the COG Delta Squad decided to drill underground to “take the fight to the Locust.” Everything you know and love in GOW1 is back in GOW 2 with a some minor changes. Like in GOW1, you can take cover behind anything suitable (e.g. cars, platforms, gigantic worms, etc.) and you can still fire in second person view. However, some things new in Gears of War 2 are the chainsaw mechanic, meat shields, and crawling-for-dear life when your health is down. With all of these features, and the awesome multiplayer mode that the series in know for, it’s easy to see why it made our number 2 spot.

1)Fallout 3
Before we played Fallout 3, we were expecting Gears of War 2 to be our game of the year. But, after playing Fallout 3, we knew that there has been a change in plans. The main character is…you!Your character was a dweller of Vault 101 and lived with his/her dad, played by the infamous Liam Neeson. After living a second-rate life in Vault 101 for 18 years, the player’s father leaves the Vault without any reason or explanation. So, its the player’s job to find his/her father. I could talk about the great story, the awesome audio or the multiple missions in the game, but I want to focus on the reasons why its out top game of 2008. Fallout 3’s gameplay is very open and non-linear. You can do whatever you want in Fallout 3 (but you still face the same moral repercussions like in real life) and the game can unfold in a multitude of ways. Finally, the game features a truly unique combat system that combines a first-person shooter with a turn based RPG known as the V.A.T.S system. V.A.T.S is quite possibly the coolest feature in Fallout 3 since you’re able to target multiple body parts, in order to cripple your enemy. If you’re lucky, you’re able to see one of your enemy’s limbs explode. Before Fallout 3 came out, many people complained that the game was “Oblivion with guns”. I couldn’t disagree with them more. Fallout 3 is its unique entity that will considered one of the best RPG’s of this decade. In fact, the game is so unique, that I personally think it could revive the Fallout franchise. But, for now Fallout 3 is our number one game of 2008.