Best Video Games of 2008

Well the year is almost over and I haven't finished my "Best of" series yet. And my delaying has again let my brother beat me to a post. Anyway, aside from movies, the other entertainment area that takes up lots of my free time is video games. I wanted to inform everyone about my favorite video games that were released in the previous year. Here are my rules:

1) Release date in this current year (by my count that equals 9 games...sort of)
2) I have to have played the full game, not a demo

Honorable mentions: I know I'm going to enjoy these games, but I just received them for Christmas. Which means I haven't really played the full game...yet, but I'm going to go ahead and start the list with them.

10. Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom - Honestly, I know nothing about this game but got it for Christmas. It's an action-RPG with online co-op play. So, I'll hit it up with my bro and see how it is.

9. Dead Space - My brother has played it and compared it to Resident Evil 4, which is easily one of my favorite games...ever. So, I'm really looking forward to it.

8. Fallout 3 - From the makers of Oblivion (also one of my favorite games), comes an action-role playing game (RPG) in a post-apocalyptic world. I've played the very beginning of this game and am enthralled thus far.

Ok, now the true countdown begins, as I have played enough of all of these games to make an accurate assessment.

7. Unreal Tournament III - A shooting game that is basically the same in single player as it is in multi-player. Primarily picked up so my brother and I could play against computer-controlled bots. Fun, but relatively average.

6. Fable 2 - Another action-RPG, but this one failed to live up to the hype. I wasn't a huge fan of the expression system (instead of a conversation system). The story was ok. The combat system was good, but still left much to be desired overall.

5. RockBand 2 - More of the same from the first RockBand game. An improved World Tour mode, and compatability with all RB1 songs made this a one stop shop for all things music. I'm a fan.

4. Rainbow 6: Vegas 2 - I honestly didn't realize that this had a 2008 release date until I looked it up for the post. I was a huge fan of the first game and equally enjoyed this one. No real tweaks over the original. A better advancement system and more customization, but a slightly poorer terrorist hunt mode. Still, I'm in for any Rainbow 6 game in the future.

3. Gears of War 2 - High expectations and easily met them. Probably the best single player story mode of any game this year. I loved the single player. However, the multiplayer just doesn't quite do it for me. I know it is similar to the original in this area, but I never was a huge fan either. Sadly, I still haven't ever gotten into a Horde mode, which is highly raved about.

2. Call of Duty: World at War - The CoD franchise returns to WWII, and I was excited. Solid single player levels, but a poor story. However, amazing online play. I love this game online. The upgrade and perk system from CoD4 is brought along and still impresses. CoD may easily become my favorite franchise ever if this quality keeps up.

And my favorite game of the year....

1. Left 4 Dead - I like zombies and I like shooting games, and now there is a game that puts them together. And does so near flawlessly. It holds up well as a single player game, but shines in co-op and versus modes. Even with only 4 missions/stories/movies, the AI system successfully keeps things interesting and different. The versus mode (with friends) has resulted in some of the funniest moments ever. Really hope they get some new maps out there without reqiuring much more of an investment.

There they are. Best games of 2008, and I'm really looking forward to a few games in the early months of 2009 (Lord of the Rings: Conquest and Resident Evil 5).

Until next time...enjoy your gaming....

Best Movies of 2008

Well, we are just over one week away from the new year (and only a few days to Christmas...an early Merry Christmas to all my readers), and in order to stick to tradition, a best of list must be made. I previously hit up the worst movies of the year, but now it is time to focus on what movies where the best from 2008.

Here are my criteria:
1) Must have had a theatrical (or on DVD if that was the only way it was produced) release in the 2008 calendar year.
2) Have been viewed by me (either on DVD or in the theater)....currently out of 53 viewed [sorry to Valkyrie, Eagle Eye, and WALL-E]
3) Ranking primarily based upon my star rating (out of 5)
4) Just as a reminder, I judge movies largely on the entertainment and rewatchability factor and less on the critically done aspects (artsy-fartsy movies don't rate very highly for me)


Well, without further ado, in dramatic rank order....

10. Star Wars: The Clone Wars - 4 stars; Good animation, entertaining story and good action (especially for a cartoon). Not perfect by any sense, but still it was a good trip back into the Star Wars Universe.


9. Journey to the Center of the Earth - 4 stars; Simply an entertaining film from start to finish. Lots of funny one-liners. I'm sure a large part of 4 stars was due to the 3-D version I saw in the theaters. Really well done.

8. Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - 4 stars; A darker and more action packed trip to Narnia than the first film. I never read the book, so I don't know if it was accurate, but it was a good flick. Solid action, but I would have liked more back-story/explanation.

7. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 4 stars; I'll admit, the film's plot was super cheesy and mostly dumb. However, it was an Indiana Jones film and that's worth a few stars all its own. I wouldn't be opposed to another Indiana Jones adventure, but I really hope there's a better treasure to seek.


6. The Happening - 4 stars; The most recent film by M. Night Shyamalan, and a pretty good one. It was a pretty tense film from start to finish, but not without issue. I'll buy the concept (which I won't ruin in case you haven't seen it), but I don't like how it only occurs in one area. Also, I would rather have it been a secret for a little longer. Still a good movie.

5. Quantum of Solace - 4 stars; An amazing action-packed movie. Daniel Craig still doesn't quite feel like Bond, yet. This one clearly had a few more moments of Craig trying to be suave. He's close, and I'm hoping the next film he fully embodies Bond and is past all this Vesper stuff.

4. Cloverfield - 4 stars; A monster attack on New York City as seen through the handheld camera of a group of friends. I didn't find the shaky camera thing to be annoying, and was on the edge of my seat for most of the film. Really sweet flick.


3. Ironman - 4 1/2 stars; What a fun film. I had low expectations before watching this and found it to be really good. Robert Downey, Jr. fully embodies Tony Stark and that really makes the movie.

2. Hellboy II: The Golden Army - 4 1/2 stars; An awesomely fun movie. I enjoyed the first Hellboy movie, and this one retains the humor and coolness, but ups the
fantastical. The combination is a really cool movie.


And the best movie of the year is ...

1. The Dark Knight - 5 stars; Near perfection. Excellently acted, solid action, captivating story, and keeps you wondering how it will end. Heath Ledger's Joker will go down as one of the best characters in all of cinema, simply amazing. Everyone must see this film. Easily the Best Movie of 2008.


There you have it. The best movies of 2008 (as determined by me). All-in-all a pretty solid movie year. Stay tuned for my best video games of 2008. It'll be fun.

Thanks for reading...and Merry Christmas!

Worst Movies of 2008

It's fast approaching the end of the year, and now is the time when many publications/critics/people publish their best of lists. Well, I too will do that with movies and video games (as I have the past few years), but decided I would start with the WORST movies of 2008. I do this mostly because I might yet catch a movie released in 2008 over the next week, and I would like to include as many candidates as possible.

Here are my criteria:
1) Must have had a theatrical (or on DVD if that was the only way it was produced) release in the 2008 calendar year.
2) Have been viewed by me (either on DVD or in the theater)....currently out of 53 viewed
3) Ranking primarily based upon my star rating (out of 5)
4) Just as a reminder, I judge ratings largely on the entertainment and rewatchability factor and less on the critically done aspects (artsy-fartsy movies don't rate very highly for me)

So, without further ado, in ranked order:

10. Tropic Thunder - 2 1/2 stars. Simply put, this movie just wasn't very funny. The dialogue was generally dumb, very few physical gags, and it reeked of self-important acting. If it was supposed to be satirically funny, then, well, I pretty much missed it. Just not funny.
9. In Bruges - 2 1/2 stars. Fast dialogue that wasn't as witty as the script thought it was. Painfully slow in the beginning, and the shootout at the end wasn't too exciting either.

8. Conspiracy - 2 1/2 stars. A B-movie starring Val Kilmer. Pretty much everything in this movie had been done before. No originality and felt like a movie you find on a cable channel on Saturday afternoon.

7. Art of War 2: The Betrayal - 2 1/2 stars. Wesley Snipes returns...and who really cares. The movie acted like people remembered his character from the first Art of War, and I bet no one really did. Pretty mundane and obvious with subpar action. 6. Meet Bill - 2 stars. A slow, boring drama...or comedy...maybe dramedy. Anyway, it was boring and unfunny. Even Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Alba as eye candy couldn't save this one. You needed to like the main character, I could care less about him.

5. The Promotion - 2 stars. A comedy that forgot a very important factor for comedies...namely, humor! Painfully unfunny.

4. The Ruins - 2 stars. I was hoping for a movie like the Descent only set in a Mayan ruin instead of a cave. What I got was Attack of the Killer Vines. Oh, wait, did I spoil the surprise? Sorry, guess you don't have to watch it now. You can thank me later. 3. Day of the Dead (remake) - 2 stars. A remake in name only. In fact, the original Day of the Dead is probably my favorite of all the "of the Dead" by Romero. This one was a cheap zombie movie that stole the name. SciFi channel quality all the way.

2. In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale - 2 stars. I gave this one an extra star exclusively for the laughability of Burt Reynolds as the King. A bunch of named stars somehow got suckered into this Uwe Boll (worst director...ever) movie. Hysterical in how hard it tries to be serious. And the Worst Movie I saw in 2008....

1. Semi-Pro - 1 1/2 stars. Man is Will Ferrell the most unfunny "funny" person alive. I recently heard him described as having "air of Saturday Night Live self-regard." That finally puts a finger on what I dislike about him in his leading man comedy roles. He thinks he's funny and you OWE him your laughter. Anyway, you can count the funny moments from Semi-Pro on one hand...and I'm being generous there.
There you have it. I certainly saw more bad movies than good ones this year, and several 2 1/2 star films just missed the cut to the top 10 (including: Pathology, Starship Troopers 3, 10,000 BC, Shutter, Flawless, and Harold and Kumar 2). Anyway, stay tuned for Best Movies and Best Video Games of 2008.