Time Magazine lists 'Top 10 Video Games' of 2008

by Christopher Grant on Dec 8th 2008 11:56AM

On a list of "The Top 10 Everything of 2008" – a list that includes everything from the to-be-expected "Top 10 Olympic Moments" all the way down to the grocery-checkout-glamour of the "Top 10 Fashion Faux Pas" – we find Time Magazine's list of the "Top 10 Video Games." First, a navigational tip to the folks at Time: Maybe it's just us, but we'd probably file this one under "Arts & Entertainment" (next to movies, book, plays, and TV) and not under "Business, Tech & Sports" (next to the "Top 10 Financial Crisis Collapses"). Moving on ...

We don't mean to undermine Time games guy Lev Grossman's picks by saying that the mag isn't exactly known for its writing on video games (unlike that other weekly news mag), but we get the feeling that – while Grossman has some solid (and unexpected!) picks – it won't look anything like most of your top 10 lists. Mainstream news-gatherers like Grand Theft Auto IV, Gears of War 2, and Spore make an appearance, but so do indie treats like Braid, an iPhone tower-defense game, and the Flash-based Hunted Forever.

Climb through the list and come back to discuss the placement. Grand Theft Auto IV in the top spot? Star Wars: The Force Unleashed in the Top 10? Isn't Braid just for "people who smoke and people who drink"? Discuss!

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Tags: best-of-2008, Grand-Theft-Auto-IV, GTA-IV, GTAIV, Rockstar

Reader Comments (148)

I agree with offday. Burnout paradise was not good, at all. GTA was pretty good. It held my attention for 50 hours. I hope to get more out of DLC, or a possible sequel.

This list lost its credibility with the omission of Fallout 3.

I don't own any of the games on that list, or played that flash game. They seem a little out of touch, or maybe I am.

No TWEWY, Pro Layton, NMH, or Apollo Justice?

Harvey Birdman, Disaster, Sonic Chronicles? (sorta)

Gosh, I feel so invalidated. I'm going to dive into a woodchipper.

Invalidation is fun. You have to embrace it and keep telling yourself that you know better than everybody else, like I do!

I liked Force Unleashed, but not as much as at least 11 other games. Let's see, Fable 2, Fallout 3, Burnout Paradise (that was this year, right?), Smash Bros. Brawl, and Mega Man 9, just to name a few that I thought were better than Force Unleashed.

I also wouldn't call GTA IV game of the year, but I do think it deserves a spot on the top 10.

I have decided it was number one due to its huge hype and the fact that it sold a zillion copies. But then again, walk into gamestop and check out the number of used copies. They have crates full of used GTA 4s. I bet they didn't take that in to account when tallying sales.

On a related note, I wonder what the sell-back rate was on some of these games. Obviously, good games do not sell back, crappy ones do. For every 10 games sold new, 5 were returned used, or 2 or 7. That would be an interesting figure.

@Flex: I'm pretty sure good games do sell back if they have limited replay value (ie they aren't the sort of thing you might want to keep around for when friends come over).

For instance, I'll happily consider selling Mario Galaxy (not QUITE sure about this yet) even though it was totally awesome - I have 120 stars, that's enough thanks, don't think I will replay it.

I bet this guy didnt even play them, he probably just based his list on reviews

The should put Sonic Unleashed in there for the Lulz.

They might as well. What's 1 more awful game going to do to a list that's already pretty bad?

Fieldrunners! Yes!

glad someone else play this game. I love it very much so. I also like the color match game (dont remember the exact name) though it isn't a game in the same sense as fieldrunner. I was playing fieldrunners over my 360, ps3, wii, pc, psp & ds for 3 weeks straight. They need to have a arcade version with sound, infinite waves, expanded weapons and online ranking. If you like tower defense check out savage moon (i think that the name) for PSn coming out soon. Looks great.

savage moon -
http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/22812

It look like you can actually man the gun stations in this game to. Tower Defense game are my favorite genre and I wish we have more than are not full blown RTS game. PJ Monsters was good but extremely styleized and difficult. This look like top arcade/download game this year.

Prince of Persia and Dead Space should tie for #1.

This guy likely didn't even play PoP, as it just came out last week and I'm sure this article was done several weeks ago.

There's no way that generic Doom 3 clone should be #1.

Price of Persia is nothing like Doom 3 ;p

I still have to play POP (I have Dead Space but I haven’t open it since I got it,Man Banjo 3 is awesome)

I say it turned out better than I expected since I was bracing for Epic Suckage when I heard it was going to be in anime style but at the end they put a lot of effort in the graphics. I mean it isn't the lazy anime cartoon render used in games like DBZ it actually looks like if the characters and the world were from some of those elaborated Graphic Novels so Good Job Ubi.

Although I heard they dumbed down the difficulty to the point the game is basically cake.

I took one look at that list and saw that it couldn't have been devised by actual gamers :S

where is Fallout3?????

LMAO...GTAIV and LBP on the list of Top 10. BULLSHIT.

I think LBP should be on a top 10 list for this year. I imagine you haven't played it, as its pretty well done.

I was walking behind some kids a few years younger than myself and they were discussing LBP until one of them said "yeah, but it's the gayest looking game ever".

I facepalmed a little inside.

LBP was my favorite game this whole year. it was refreshing to have a game that was so outside the box yet such a complete experience. I think it is an under appreciated game by most gamers because it is not a hack and slash or shooter.

Hey! I smoke, and drink, and like Braid, but none of those things have any connection at all.

A video games best of 2008 list without Fallout 3 is no list that I'd be interested in. No other single player game has captured my attention like Fallout 3 since Half-Life 2. I played it for a week straight until I beat it (hint: don't jump on the main quest too soon; it's way too short).

On a side note, am I the only one who finds Dead Space to be a bit boring? I'm on Chapter 5 now and I'm dreading the fact that there's seven more chapters to play through if I want to beat it.

my top 10 games this year (consoles/PC)

1. little big planet (ps3)
2. fallout 3 (360)
3. metal gear 4 (ps3)
4. GTA 4 (360)
5. Rock Band 2 (360)
6. smash bros brawl (wii)
7. Resistance 2 (PS3)
8. geometry war retro evolved 2 (360)
9. Bionic Commando rearmed (360)
10. Pixel Junk Eden (PS3)

Honorable mentions - Gears 2, Fable 2, Valkyria Chronicles, Ninja Gaiden 2, Naruto UNS, Naruto BB, Tales of Vesperia, Tales Of Symphonia, Wii Fit, Dead Space, Prince Of Persia, Madden 09, NBA 2k9, NHL 09, MLB 08 The Show & Far Cry 2.

my top 10 flops/over hype games this year that i think were a letdown (console/PC)

1. Wii Music (Wii)
2. Haze (PS3)
3. Too Human(360)
4. Castlevania Judgement (Wii)
5. Spore (PC)
6. Castle Crashers (360)
7. Wario Land Shake It (Wii)
8. Devil may Cry 4 (360)
9. Brothers In Arms Hells Highway (PS3)
10. Star Wars the Force Unleashed (360)

*My list does not include hand held games.

Your list reminded me the number of games I have yet to play this year. I am now sad.

I agree with GTA IV being the GOTY. I've had so many great times with that game- it has a solid campaign and a fun multiplayer. I think Fallout 3 should be on that list someplace, especially over Force Unleashed, but that's just me... or Mirror's Edge, which I totally enjoyed the whole way through, even when things got ridiculously frustrating :) Overall, though, I mean their list isn't half-bad, they hit the titles which made the most money generally...

I have a feeling that Mirror's Edge will end up on a lot of "most innovative" lists for 2008, but not GOTY. It has too many flaws, but boy does it show promise for the future so long as the devs listen and learn from their mistakes this time around.

It's all crap except for Dead Space!

P4 is GOTY!

Top spot for controversy purposes only.

meh... if i had to go by total play time, RB2 would be my game of the year... i play that a little almost every day...

IMO, Fallout 3 was a better SP experience than GTAIV. Of course, GTA has multi-player, but it doesn't seem like many people are playing it anymore (or ever did). Can't speak for the PS3 side of the house, but I was surprised to see no MGS4 on Time's list considering what I've heard/read from almost every other news source.

As for handheld games, I like Fieldrunners, but I really like Castlevania:OoE - sure, it's more Castlevania, but it tweaks the formula just enough, and ramps up the difficulty enough, that I'm loving it like a new game experience.

Left4Dead is my multiplayer GOTY. Everyone says its better with people you know, and that's true, but I think it's more realistic with people you don't know. After all, come the zombie-apocalypse, are you really gonna know the other three survivors you're holed up with? Probably not.

There are probably 30 or so games that could be on the list, but I can't believe everybody forgot about The World Ends With You...sure it's a DS game, but it was fresh, new, challenging and actually had a story...easily one of the best games I've played.

I'm pretty much a huge 360 fan, but I've gotta go w/LBP for GOTY. Finally spent some time w/my copy of it this weekend (like all weekend) and what a fantastic, innovative game loaded w/personality. The create feature may not appeal to everyone but for me it's the bees' knees.

My personal Top 10 list of 2008

1. Little Big Planet (PS3)
2. NHL 2009 (360)
3. Civilization Revolution (360)
4. Fallout 3 (360)
5. Gears of War 2 (360)
6. Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii)
7. Boom Blox (Wii)
8. Grid (360)
9. Dead Space
10.Prince of Persia

Time is stupid

No MGS4, Wtf...? No Fable II? No Fallout 3?

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed!

Somebody who worked on this list definitely likes to smoke and drink. What the hell happened to Fallout 3.

gtaIV is a great game, game of the year may be pushing it but it definately deserves a top 5 spot. star wars definately didnt deserve a spot in the top 20 list even. if you are going for most inovative i would say braid could be as high as number 1. on my list it would be near the top of game of the year but i know way more people who didnt like it so that alone puts it out of the top 5.

Don't you diss that iPhone Tower-Defense game! ITS THE SHIT!

I think we should all take a step back and appreciate the fact that the bulk of the top 10 lists posted in this thread pretty much consisted of different games

As much as I like to see LittleBigPlanet getting some love, I really can't take this list seriously if it has The Force Unleashed instead of Brawl or World of Goo or MGS4.

This list shouldn't be Time's top 10 list, it should be Lev Grossman's top 10 list, because it's clear that this is just the opinion of one guy. It's his opinion and that's fine, but shouldn't a top 10 list be decided by a group of people and not just a guy?

Not a horrible list; my top 10 this year

10. Soul Calibur 4(PS360)
9.Dead Space(360)
8. World of Goo(wiiware)
7. GTA IV(PS360)
6. The World Ends With You(DS)
5. LittleBigPlanet(PS3)
4. Super Smash bros Brawl(Wii)
3. MGS 4 (PS3)
2. Fallout 3(PS3)
1. (Can't really decide on a #1...)

This list is so wrong. I mean come on GTA IV as GOTY you have to be kidding.

I've said this but many times....but I guess I'll say it again.

The World Ends With You

GOTY

Whenever I hear people talk about how GTA IV wasn't fun, I wonder if I picked up a super-rare "fun edition" of GTA IV, 'cause I had a lot of fun with it. Both singleplayer and multiplayer were a blast to play.

This top 10 list seemed actually pretty good up until The Force Unleashed. I better see more Bionic Commando Rearmed in future GOTY lists. >=[

What the hell is up with these replies?

GTA IV would not be getting this amount of hate in May, June, or July when everyone was playing it. Now that everyone has played the hell out of it, its popular to hate on the game? I'm sure I'll get the inevitable "I didn't like it back then either", but you're more than likely bullshitting.

I am not saying it sucked. Iam just saying its not the GOTY

garbage fucking list, whata joke that GTA4 was #1 and MGS4 wasn't even on it when it's much better in every way

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Time Magazine lists 'Top 10 Video Games' of 2008

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