Image via WikipediaAfter the success of Halo 3 in 2007, Microsoft started 2008 on a very rocky basis as its Xbox Live Service experienced frequent outages.However it didn't take long for the service to bounce back and then help deliver some of the best games of the year.
Yes, this is the year I truly think digital delivery came into its own. Braid, Castle Crashers, and Geometry Wars2 headlined Xbox Live Arcade and offered some of the best new gameplay experiences available, and high definition remakes of games such as Bionic Commando and Street Fighter II made playing classics feel brand new.
Braid on its face seems like a simple Super Mario style side-scrolling action game, but your ability to roll back or speed up time made the simple timed jump mechanics one of the most complex and fun experiences in gaming.
The glorious painted graphical style and atmospheric music make the $15 price tag seem unfairly inexpensive for its creators.
Of course this is Xbox, and its power is not in the artsy or indie, but in testosterone and raw destruction. The biggest contenders for this prize are Burnout Paradise and Gears of War 2.
Burnout Paradise is an open world racing game, where you're dropped into a fictional city and can start a competition at any traffic light. Ramps and shortcuts litter the streets, inviting daring jumps and stunts, and you're rewarded new cars by running your opponents aggressively off the road. Tap the left and right bumper buttons simultaneously and your car will go into a controlled roll and a counter will keep a running tally of how much damage in dollars you can cause. One of my better runs racked up a 110-car pile-up, including 8 city buses, that totaled several million dollars in damage. The almost pornographic level of destruction is offset by there being no human drivers or consequences for such actions, making it like playing with Matchbox cars that explode.
Gears of War 2 continues the adventures of Delta Squad from the 2006 original. You'll traverse city streets, tunnels, and mountains fighting an invading alien menace with maximum machismo. The story is paper thin, but the gameplay is right there and accented with over the top voice acting and literally dozens of ways to take down and enemy, including a chainsaw mounted to the end of your rifle. Not for the faint, but what it lacks in subtlety it makes up for in replay value.
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