The 2nd Annual VGF Awards 2008

Despite what others have said across the industry, 2008 wasn't exactly the best year for the industry.

Sure, we saw the return of great franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Gears of War, Resistance, Metal Gear Solid, Call of Duty, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Bros., but because of such there was little innovation to be found this year.

Regardless, 2008 was still a great year filled with enough new content to keep gamers entertained well into 2009.

Below are the 2008 VGF Awards, the most prestigious award show on this blog this year!

Feel free to comment and voice your opinion on what you feel are the greatest games of the year:

Best Visuals:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)

The first time you experience Metal Gear Solid 4’s seamless sequences from an engaging cinematic presentation to immersive gameplay you know you are looking a great visual presentation. The mere fact that there is no distinguishable difference between the game’s many cinematic sequences and gameplay is a true feat in the visual capabilities of this title. Pushing the Playstation 3 to its extremes and showcasing its true visual capability, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is truly the most beautiful game of 2008.

Best Story:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)

Maybe I am a little biased, but the epic conclusion of one of the industry’s best storylines is something to make note of. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is not only a fantastic game, but a crowning achievement in story telling unparalleled in the medium. Producer/Director Hideo Kojima crafts a familiar cast of characters yet added enough depth to keep each interesting. None of MGS4’s characters are static. The emotional connection Kojima conveys with each character via the story make this an experience gamers will not soon forget.

Best Music:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)

Once again Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots excels in providing a complete media experience with its excellent soundtrack. The Metal Gear Solid franchise is nothing new to Hollywood composer Harry Gregson-Williams and his experience with both forms of media helps to further exemplify the cinematic experience of the game. Coupling heart-breaking scores with emotionally impactful moments helped to tangibly covey the psychological ambiance of this engrossing title. In other words, the music is fantastic!

Most Overrated Game:

Grand Theft Auto IV (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)

I know that I am bound to receive a lot of flack for this, but Grand Theft Auto IV is the most overrated and disappointing game of 2008. Sure it’s the first GTA game to grace next-generation consoles, but that doesn’t automatically mean the game is superb. GTAIV pails in comparison to earlier GTA titles such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Missions are overly repetitive not only onto themselves but repetitive of previous GTA titles as well – you can only clean up and drive away from messy drug deals so many times before its gets boring. Also, you can no longer purchase property, a diverse arrangement of clothing, or manipulate your hair style or physical appearance. Money is practically useless in the game aside from purchasing weapons. However, the game replaces monetary gain with a new incredibly annoying, and tedious, friend system where characters you interact with in the game constantly call you to hang out and if you don’t, you are no longer friends. When you do eventually agree to being roped into doing something with these characters you have to drive across the city to pick them up, drive back across the city to do whatever they want to do (such as spend 5 minutes bowling), and then you have to drive across the city again to drop them off – no of which is any fun. You can choose not to engage to these activities, but what’s the point in having this option if you aren’t supposed to be friends with these people? GTA4 simply has too many annoying distractions that subtract from an already watered down shell of what the series has previously been. It’s just sad when this is a game worse than its four-year-old predecessor.

Best Online Multiplayer Content:

Little Big Planet (PS3)

With Resistance 2 featuring multiplayer matches with up to 60 players and Call of Duty: World at War further polishing its unparalleled multiplayer experience, it becomes very difficult to choose a winner here. Nevertheless, Little Big Planet dares to do something new with nearly limitless possibilities. Providing players with the necessary tools to craft their own levels in any way they see fit is truly extraordinary. I have played anything from beautifully crafted night life scenes to complete remakes of classic Super Mario levels to imaginative adventures in the Ghostbusters universe. With no signs of slowing, added content coming every couple of weeks, and a wide user-base, this is an online experience that makes the game’s $60 price tag well worth the money.

Most Unique Nontraditional Gameplay:

Wii Fit (Wii)

Congratulations to Nintendo for tricking gamers and non-gamers alike into working out and the Wii balance board makes it all possible. Calibrating everything from your weight and balance to your posture, the Wii balance board quickly blurs the lines between playing a video game and serving a useful purpose. Not to mention you can use the Wii balance board to play with your butt flying downhill in Rayman: Raving Rabbids TV Party: something I never thought I would do.

Best Plateformer:

Little Big Planet (PS3)

Nothing like a game that can revive the nostalgia when we played games the same way we read books: left-to-right. Little Big Planet not only does that but looks beautiful in the process. The game that literally captivates our imagination also showcased outstandingly beautiful visuals, surprisingly realistic physics, and incredible online content. This was surely a title PS3 fans had waited a long time for and with good reason. Little Big Planet was charming, whimsical fun that was unmatched this year.

Best First-Person Shooter:

Call of Duty: World at War (PC, Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, DS)

Always a tough category, the industry is constantly flooded with first-person shooters. However, the sequel to last year’s winner takes the cake another year. Despite initial criticism that the series was returning to the tired World War II genre, Call of Duty: World at War does what many other first-person shooters fail to try - attaching emotional connections to the reasons you are fighting. Peppered with as many dramatic sequences as its predecessor and adding additional content such as cooperative campaigns and even a mode to slay waves of Nazi zombies (a la Left 4 Dead) this is another installment of a series that continues to showcase the pinnacle of the genre.

Best Multiplatform Game:

Fallout 3 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)

Difficult to be classified in a genre, Fallout 3 is certainly the one game in 2008 no one saw coming. Reviving as the sequel to two strategy games released ten years ago, Fallout 3 makes a fantastic reentry to the forefront of gaming. Its beautiful synthesis of RPG and FPS gaming mechanics make this game feel like a next-generation update of Deus Ex, without the conspiracy. Regardless if you have a PC, Xbox 360, or PS3 you need to check this one out.

Best Wii Exclusive:

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)

No list of the greatest games of 2008 could be complete without a mention of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, easily the must-own title for Nintendo Wii owners this year. Not only is this the best Super Smash Bros. game ever made, it is the greatest collection of Nintendo all-stars (and even others) to date. Finally, Nintendo fans are able to take their much honed Super Smash Bros. skills online and compete with gamers across the globe. Add a surprisingly lengthy and thematic single-player sub-space emissary mode and you have the best game on the Wii this year. Not to mention this is a game open to all Nintendo fans with the option to play with nearly any control scheme available on the Wii.

Best Playstation 3 Exclusive:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)

Hailed by many as a system seller even years before its release, Metal

Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a game people will point to as defining the Playstation 3 for years to come. Making this game an exclusive on Sony’s console may have saved the dreary machine from its slump. The shear technical mastery of the game makes this something that only the PS3 could pull-off and showcases what the console has to offer. Excellence in presentation, story, and music, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a game no PS3 owner should be without.

Best Xbox 360 Exclusive:

Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)

You take perhaps the greatest game of 2006, polish its visuals, expand gameplay, and include additional content and you have the must-own title for Xbox 360 owners this year. Gears of War 2 is bigger and better than its predecessor in nearly every way to make this

an incredibly enjoyable experience for fans of the genre or even folks how just like to shoot things or kill people with chainsaws attached to their guns. Regardless, not much else can be said of a series that continues to impress upon the entire industry coupling brilliant visuals with killer gameplay.

Game of the Year:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots(PS3)

I know you must be tired of hearing the name of this game once again and I personally believe that longer and more creative bouts of gameplay could have been added to perfect this game, but taken into perspective, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the best game of 2008. Something has to be said about the artistic synthesis of both a film and video game in a way that moves the entire medium forward. No doubt, Metal Gear Solid 4 will make a lasting impression on anyone who played the game with its countless emotional and almost surreal sequences which are clearly unmatched by anything in the entire industry. Were there games with better gameplay in 2008? Certainly. However, Metal Gear Solid 4 is a technical masterpiece in every sense of the word. Add that with the best story and music of the year and you are left with no other choice than to hail this as simply the best game of 2008. In the same way that the Academy Awards has helped to highlight films that helped the entire industry progress by their aesthetic prowess, Metal Gear Solid 4 truly illuminates the potential that the video game industry has not only in story telling, but as an interactive entertainment medium. That is why this will be a game that will be remembered for years to come as the best of 2008.