Most Wanted Games of 2008

A year ago I posted about the Most Wanted Games of 2007. There's no doubt 2007 was an epic year of gaming, but how did the list fare? Well, more than half made the cut for 2007:

• Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars (PC, Xbox360)
• Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
• Guitar Hero II (Xbox360)
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii)
• God of War II (PS2)
• BioShock (Xbox360, PC)
• The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
• Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox360)
• Halo 3 (Xbox360)

I managed to play all of those except God of War II and Phantom Hourglass (both still sitting in my queue, of course). None of them disappointed (C&C3 was probably the least impressive, but was in no way bad). And there were some great surprises that came along after the list was made (um, hello Rock Band?).

What about the titles that didn't make it? Here they are:

• Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
• Spore (PC)
• Halo Wars (PC, Xbox360)
• Burnout Paradise (PS3, Xbox360)
• Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox360, PS3)

Definitely all games still worth being excited about. Burnout released about a month ago to general praise, and Brawl hit stores this last weekend. Both GTA and Spore have set release dates, so it's looking like there will be some serious heavy hitters in 2008.

GameSpy did another roundup, so I went through their new list. Here's a sampling:

• Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii)
• Street Fighter IV (Xbox360, PS3)
• Spore (PC)
• StarCraft II (PC)
• Halo Wars (Xbox360)
• Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
• WoW: Wrath of the Lich King (PC)
• Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox360, PS3)
• Fallout 3 (PC)
• Left 4 Dead (PC, Xbox360)
• LittleBigPlanet (PS3)

Totally absent from the list seems to be "More Rock Band," but I think they're only operating on officially announced titles.

It's not quite as epic as 2007, but it's still pretty impressive. There are three titles in there that haven't seen love in ages (Starcraft, Street Fighter, and Fallout). I'm not really into fighters, but Street Fighter's nostalgia mixed with a sweet inky art style puts it on the list, even if I'll take Brawl over it any day. WoW doesn't have the hold over me it once did, and I'm presently smitten with Tabula Rasa, but I'll definitely be tempted by some more high quality Blizzard content. Speaking of which, Starcraft 2… hell yeah.

Last year I picked Spore as my most wanted game. And I'm sticking to that, even if Starcraft 2 tempts me with something familiar and safe. The expectations for Spore are ridiculous, but it can fall pretty far from the mark and still be revolutionary. Thankfully there's plenty to keep me busy between now and September.