BossFight GOTY 2008 - PSP Game of The Year

The PSP had a patchy year, with games that really pushed the envelope in terms of the console's processing power, but rather slim pickings overall. The PSP-slim and 3000 series added performance boosts, and developers were keen to show off what they could do. This resulted in prettier, heavier games that got even closer to console quality, and promised much for the future.

The runners-up

Patapon

This crazy, laugh-out-loud percussion-rhythm game was a surprise hit on the PSP, featuring superb visuals, deceptively deep strategic elements, great music, and addictive, innovative gameplay. Oh, man, that craaaazy beat! Pata-pata-pata-pon! It took weeks to get it out of my head.

Crisis Core : Final Fantasy VII

The long-awaited debut of the Final Fantasy franchise (nope, Advent Children doesn't count. Games only, sorry.) on the PSP was a mixed bag. It was one of the most visually impressive games on the PSP, ad featured an engrossing story, great characters and fun combat. Not everyone agreed with the leveling-up system, though.

FIFA 09

The definitive football title on a handlheld system, FIFA 09 finally settled the argument by including phenomenal graphics, flawless and realistic gameplay, and the usual FIFA slew of official licenses and gameplay modes. PES 2009 wasn't bad either, but FIFA is now 'Campione del Mondo'.

BossFight PSP Game of The Year 2008

God of War : Chains of Olympus

What can we say about Chains of Olympus? That it was far and away the best looking PSP game? That it featured all the classic, furious God of War action in such a small package? That it successfully adapted the PSP's one-stick control scheme to God of War without sacrificing any of the gameplay? Focusing on any one aspect would be akin to standing in front of the Taj Mahal, and then proceeding to praise the qualities of some individual column. This, simply put, is the best PSP game. Period.

If Chains of Olympus is any indication, then it is definitely possible to have near-console quality action adventures on the PSP, and this should lead to a virtual parade of top-notch games for Sony's handheld. Well, we're waiting, developers. Hit us in 2009.

BossFight GOTY 2008 : XBOX Game of The Year

Microsoft's machine had a great year, overcoming the bad press from the RROD fiasco to continue to outsell the PS3, and seeing a whole slew of stellar titles. XBOX Live continued to be the leading online service, and the XBOX Live Arcade saw some great, affordable downloadable titles go toe-to-toe with the heavy hitters in terms of quality.

The runners-up

Braid [Winner : BossFight XBOX 360 platform-exclusive Game of The Year]

One of the surprise packets of 2008, Jonathan Blow's masterpiece featured ingenious time-manipulation mechanics, challenging puzzles, fantastic presentation, and possibly the greatest ending in any game ever. And paved the way for downloadable games on every platform holding their own against the big guns in terms of quality and gamer praise.

Castle Crashers

From the makers of the very wild 'Alien Hominid', Castle Crashers surprised everyone with it's impossible cute-yet-gory graphics, and frantic co-op beat-em up action. It featured some truly hilarious character and level designs that looked like a strange mix of ideas out of Bone and Ren & Stimpy. And some Br00tal and bloody battles against some of the most intimidating bosses seen this year. And we all know how much we love Boss Fights.

Gears of War 2

Gears of War 2 is the game that Gears of War should have been. Bigger, more hardcore and more polished than the original, Gears of War 2 is a deceptively top-notch product that stands out as one of the finest action gaming experiences in years. Look beyond the inevitable hype, beyond the idiot-fanboys online, beyond the gratuitous statements from Cliffy B, and you'll find a near-flawless implementation of the trademark run-cover-and-gun gameplay, amazing visuals, great set-pieces and a truly epic feeling of scale. Plus, Marcus and Delta are true badasses. Plus, this game features the bloodiest level of all time – it literally drowns you in blood! Best enjoyed coop with friends online.

Fallout 3

When Bethesda Softworks announced that they'd be taking over Interplay's legendary Fallout franchise, the true faithful weren't entirely convinced. They needn't have worried – Fallout 3 emerged as a stellar role-playing experience for the hardcore, featuring a post-nuclear wasteland that was amazing to explore and live in, an engaging storyline, great combat and all the trademark Fallout regulars – such as Radiation, Brahmin, and Bottle Caps, and Booze.

BossFight XBOX 360 Game of The Year

Grand Theft Auto IV

Any game that has a character like Brucie Kibbutz deserves to win GOTY on that alone – but GTA IV went beyond any game before it. Here was a title that featured the most believable, consistent and engaging gameworld we've seen so far. GTA IV takes the proven GTA formula and raises it to another level altogether – this is the future of gaming, and we like what we see. And did we mention it has Brucie Kibbutz?

We've heard the complaints – frustratingly difficult missions, relatively poor combat, uninteresting weapons. Yeah, whatever. That's missing the wood for the trees.

No other game we have played has succeeded in creating such a realistic, believable and interesting gameworld as GTA IV. You felt like you actually were a part of a living, breathing city that carried on with its existence regardless of your participation. You actually believed that you were Niko Bellic, making your way up the ladder in a city of hope, dreams, crime, and, naturally, stunt-driving. The brilliant writing, hollywood-class dialogues, great story and complex situations drew you in to Liberty City, until you obsessively played and played and played.

The sheer amount of content that was created by Rockstar in order to make the gameworld plausible and coherent is nothing short of mind-boggling. You'd see references to products, people and services scattered through the game – an ad on radio, and appearance on TV, a billboard while you were driving by, in conversations with other characters. A cabbie would pick up a random conversation with you. Random pedestrians carried on their own phone conversations. You could walk into a club and see Ricky Gervais perform a stand-up act. You could call a friend, go drinking at a bar, get drunk, crash your bike while trying to outrun cops, and put your buddy in hospital. You could just sit and surf the in-game Internet. And all of this is purely incidental to the plot and the main game – you don't have to pay attention to any of it if you don't want to.

Another of this year's major blockbusters, Metal Gear Solid IV, was roundly celebrated for taking storytelling in videogames to a higher emotional plane. But the important difference is that MGS IV is like starring in your own movie, while GTA IV is like living in another world. And, in our opinion, the former is a game with next-gen production values. The latter is a next-gen game, period.

Bossfight GOTY 2008 : Wii Game of the Year

Everybody's favourite little white box had an unusual year – featuring some big-name Nintendo licenses as well as a number of innovative third party titles. This is the year third-party developers really took to the Wii, rivalling Nintendo in the quality of games they delivered – no mean task. It continued to be the largest selling console, and shows no signs of slowing down.

THE RUNNERS-UP

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

This is the 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' of the Nintendo universe. Featuring every conceivable character, and then some, fighting out in an assortment of zany arenas using the usual Smash Bros arsenal of insane moves, Brawl was the top fighter of the year by some margin. Watching Wario fart on Solid Snake and then run over him with his bike counts as one of the greatest gaming moments ever.

World of Goo

World of Goo was another delightful example of an independent developer hitting the big-time with a top quality, original and imaginative game. 2D Boy delivered a mind-boggling physics-based puzzler featuring sticky goo-balls, balloons, spikes and all manner of challenges that are too bizarre to describe in a short paragraph. The first truly must-have WiiWare download that isn't a remake, World of Goo is a pointer to the kind of amazing games we can look forward to from smaller developers in the coming years.

BOSSFIGHT Wii GAME OF THE YEAR 2008

Boom Blox

Whether he's creating terrifying monsters, telling touching stories, or showing us how the Wiimote can be used to create an intuitive and addictive puzzle-based game for the Wii, Steven Spielberg is, to put it mildly, teh_pWnzor. Boom Blox is the best, most natural-feeling use of the Wiimote yet. As you throw balls at towers of stacked blocks, making them tumble this way and that, and rack up combos to score points, you'll realize that this is what the Wiimote was invented for – games where the interface is so intuitive that it practically disappears, leaving just you and the game. Removing the layers of abstraction involved in controlling a game is a challenge that needs to be overcome if gaming is to move beyond niche into the true mainstream.

And Boom Blox is important for this reason more than any other. It's an eye-opening experiment into intuitive control schemes that can draw people into a game, as opposed to abstractions that need to be mastered before a game can be enjoyed. This was the great promise of the Wii, wasn't it? That we could perform actions in-game like how we would in real life? That's a promise that hasn't been fulfilled yet, but Boom Blox goes some way towards it. Here's hoping that more developers find ways to integrate Wiimote controls to give us natural-feeling game interactions that make us feel more like we're in the gameworld.

Plus, Boom Blox is not only about technology – it's addictive, charming and challenging, and great fun to play with friends and family. Hundreds of addictive puzzles will keep you entertained for the longest time. Just the sort of game that we like to play on the Wii, and without question BossFight's Wii game of the year.

BossFight GOTY 2008 : Nintendo DS Game of The Year

2008 for the DS was a little unusual. Instead of the usual top-rung Nintendo properties ruling the roost, it was the third-party titles that truly drove the platform's reputation for innovative games this year. Importantly, the DS finally made its way, albeit quietly, into Indian store shelves. Sadly, the available games library is yet to catch up, with most of us depending on assorted imported goods stores for quality titles. IN fact, we're ashamed to admit that it took us months to get a copy of Professor Layton and The Curious Village, and we still haven't played one of the year's best titles, The World Ends with You, because we couldn't get our hands on a copy.

But still, it was another year that made us happy to be DS owners, with great games and important technological advances that make us look ahead to 2009 with great anticipation.

The runners-up

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Beautiful cartoon graphics and some great puzzle design made this puzzler one of the standout DS games in 2008. A great handwriting recognition system, and completely stylus based controls made it a pleasure to play, and, with 135 challenging puzzles in all, and an oddly cute story involving murder and crime, Professor Layton is a must-play for DS owners

Chrono trigger

Yes, it was a pretty faithful remake of one of the greatest games ever made. Chrono trigger really didn't offer any exciting DS specific features, but hey, you don't fix what ain't broken, right? This admirable principle results in Chrono Trigger being one of the best DS games of the year, but then, it would have been on any platform it might have been released for. Youngsters who have no idea what Chrono Trigger is, play this game. That's an order.

BossFight DS Game of The Year 2008

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword

When Tecmo announced that they were bringing their popular Ninja Gaiden Franchise to the DS, eyebrows were raised. How could a series known for stunning graphics and fast, furious hardcore gameplay make the transition to a platform not known for such games. Turns out that there was no need to worry. Ninja Gaiden : Dragon Sword is a revelation on the DS, that somehow manages to keep the series' reputation intact in every way. Amazing graphics and fast, visceral combat make this an important game to show the way forward for hardcore action games on the DS. It demomstrates how stylus-only controls can be implemented without compromising the gameplay, and here's hoping that other developers take Tecmo's lead.

You could argue that Castlevania or Chrono Trigger were superior games to Dragon Sword, and you may even be right. But these games don't really make use of the DS control scheme and features in anything other than the most superficial way. Dragon Sword, on the other hand, showcases the DS touchscreen controls in the best possible way - by being a stellar game that wouldn't be possible to implement on any other platform. It was a pleasure to control Master Ryu Hayabusa, leaping, blocking, dodging and slashing with furious ease. The ninpo system was also fun to play with. And, importantly, the control scheme was not merely a novelty that wore off after a few levels - it soon became second nature, and very much an integral part of a wholly unique gaming experience. It also helped that Dragon Sword is easily the most visually impressive DS game to date, featuring production values that many wouldn't have thought possible on the system.

Ninja Gaiden : Dragon Sword does the DS a great service in demonstrating the platform's suitability for hardcore titles, as well as showing the way for control schemes that make use of the touch-screen to find newer, and I daresay better, ways to play. For that alone, it wins BossFight's DS Game of the Year ahead of some truly heavyweight competition.

The Zeitgeist GOTY part 2

Anand Ramachandran and Videep Vijay Kumar wrap-up the first ever GOTY in the mainstream press in India - for Zeitgeist in The New Indian Express. Of course, you'll see more details and other awards in a slightly different format on Bossfight in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Click on the image for a larger version.

Bossfight GOTY 2008 : Special award for delayed gratification - Braid

Few games, from any generation, on any platform, have ever appeared as simple yet worked on as many different levels as Braid does. For instance, my favourite Braid moment didn’t even happen when I was playing, or have anything to do with what was happening in the game itself. Watching someone else play for the first time, I found myself gently chuckling as he went through his repertoire of standard gaming responses - time that jump just a bit better, take a longer run, explore a different area of the screen, look for power ups – before it slowly dawned on him that maybe, just maybe, that rewind mechanic in the game was there as something more than a fancy replacement for a save/retry option. From there, it was a few short steps before he started to understand why the story was written as it was, the correlation between the intro screens and the game mechanic. As I watched, I was reflecting on how so many of our responses as we go about our lives are so conditioned, so predetermined.

That’s right, watching someone else play, I was thinking about how I go about my life. That’s the kind of experience that Braid is. Or isn’t. Take your pick. It’s a challenging puzzle-platformer, a ground breaking experiment in videogame mechanics, a beautiful work of art, a brilliantly written story of unrequited love, a commentary on the creation of the atomic bomb, and a thought provoking documentation of a young man’s journey through life. Braid can be any or all of the above, all delivered through lovingly crafted visuals set against haunting, melodic music, liberally sprinkled with subtle, reverent nods to classics of platforming like Super Mario Bros and Donkey Kong. And all of this is capped off by probably the best ending level ever, with an honest to goodness twist ending – which in itself, tales a little time to really sink in. It really has something to reward anyone who has even an iota of the patience needed to absorb it. With no “tutorial”, and the largely respected plea from the developers not to put walkthroughs up on the net, you will need patience. And will be well rewarded for it.

Play through from start to finish before challenging yourself with the speed runs and maxing out your achievements, sit back and gaze upon the paintings you create by finishing each level, or trawl the internet figuring out what it all means. It doesn’t really matter how you experience Braid, but experience it, you must. In the twitch dependent, photorealism craving, mega budget marketing dominated world of videogames, Braid is a simple, purely movement and jump control driven, independently developed game that requires, no, demands, that you put down your controller every so often and think, reflect and contemplate. And in today’s world of instant gratification, that certainly deserves an award.

Bossfight GOTY 2008 : Mobile Game of The Year

The mobile platform continues to grow in relevance as a true-blue option for great gaming, and 2008 saw some great leaps forward.

Earlier on Bossfight, we took a look at certain aspects of the mobile gaming scenario. Here's the post.

THE CONTENDERS

Assassin's Creed HD

Gameloft managed to drop our jaws with the mobile iteration of Assassin's Creed. Featuring the wall-scaling, rooftop-leaping, swashbuckling gameplay of its console cousin, Assassin's Creed HD is great news for gamers looking for a fuller, more hardcore experience on mobile phones.

Boom Blox

Steven Spielberg's Boom Blox was a surprise hit on the Wii in 2009, wowing everyone with it's accessible and devilishly addictive puzzle based gameplay. The mobile version was also great, with separate versions for Java and N-gage. You had to launch a ball to knock over different kinds of blocks (exploding blocks time-bombs, chemical blocks) to score points. This is way more fun than it sounds, trust me. The short, addictive puzzles made Boom Blox ideal for on-the-go gaming, and the level editing tools in the N-gage version were also a good step towards UGC on the mobile platform.

Metal Gear Solid Mobile (N-Gage)

The first truly heavyweight license (other than the disappointing FIFA 09) to make its way to the N-gage, Snake's first outing on NOKIA's platform was an exceptional game in every way. Featuring the best graphics on the N-Gage yet, the trademark MGS gameplay translated surprisingly well to the miniscule screen and controls of the mobile phone. It also featured some neat uses of the mobile phone camera – where you could point the camera at any real-world object to choose a texture for Snake's camo-suit. Let's hope the success of MGS mobile encourages other publishers to bring great franchises to N-gage. GTA mobile? We can hope.

Spore Origins (iPhone)

Basically just the cell stage from Will Wright's PC hit Spore, Spore Origins was an engaging mobile game that also added a feature where you could upload your creations from the mobile version and then download them for use in the PC game – a cool idea which shows how integration between platforms can be implemented in interesting and relevant ways. The iPhone version featured the best controls – you guided your creature by simply tilting your phone, and the coolest feature, where you could click any photo and use it as a texture for your creature's skin.

BOSSFIGHT MOBILE GAME OF THE YEAR 2008

Reset Generation (N-Gage)

Reset Generation energized the N-Gage platform with its insane multiplayer gameplay, crazy power-ups and weaponry, and cast of colourful characters – perhaps the funniest and most challenging multiplayer strategy game since Worms. It was a lovingly crafted parody and homage to the cult of gaming, featuring caricatured versions of videogame superstars such as Mario, Master Chief, Lara Croft and Sonic spewing ridiculous lines such as “I plumber! I fix toilet, I save princess!”.

All this would be of no use if Reset Generation wasn't a good game – but it is just that, and much more – it's a genuinely great game. Featuring a host of game mechanics that were completely original, this is a strategy game that is challenging, fun and truly hardcore, belying its cutesy-pie graphics. Perhaps the greatest tribute to Reset Generation is that we can't quite say “It reminds us of X game or Y game”. In an age of me-too game designs, that's praise of the highest order.

Importantly, you could play on your mobile against a friend who was playing on a web browser – the cross-platform multiplayer gameplay making sure that the game wasn't limited to people who owned an N-Gage compatible phone – a farsighted and laudable move from NOKIA. Reset Generation released in August. We're still playing it. Word.

Here's our original review of Reset Generation – where we tell you in detail why it's so special.

The Bossfight Game of The Year Awards 2008

At-em, hearties! Listen up, Delta! Waaaaaaaaaaagh!

Whatever your battle-cry, there's no doubt that December is here. And you all know what that means! No, not Rajnikanth's birthday, you fanboys, it's time to celebrate the year's best in gaming! That's right, Bossfight kicks off our very first GOTY awards.

While we will be looking at the usual suspects with a keen microscope..er...eye...er...lens, we'll also be giving a whole bunch of India specific awards.

And, since we're indisciplined assholes, we'll freewheel as long as the format is concerned. There will be platform specific awards, but apart from that we'll just hand out whatever we feel like. There, that's settled.

And, to get you warmed up for a taste of things to come, Bossfight's very own Anand Ramachandran and Videep Vijay Kumar are proud to present the very first GOTY in the Indian mainstream press - kudos to Aditya Sinha and his mates at the New Indian Express for supporting gaming like no other Indian daily newspaper. Hit the image for a larger screenie.