Game of the Year: Part 2

Continuing our Game of the Year series (Part 1 here),  here is Part 2: the open genre awards! Once again, we've asked the writing team to choose a game and chosen a winner from the shortlisted.

Game with the best replayability:

Alex Denning: LittleBigPlanet

Nometet: Fallout 3

Sam Atkins: Burnout Paradise

Roger Batchelor: Fable 2

Rhys Simons: Super Smash Bros Brawl

Unmouldeddoor3: LittleBigPlanet

And the winner is: Fallout 3

The map is huge - long enough to take over half an hour to cross just by walking it. That's not including the monsters you'd have to take out on the way - and there are lots of towns to visit, many quests that you can do. Not to mention it has multiple endings, and that is why Fallout 3 has the best replayability of any game in 2008 - Nometet

Game you didn't expect anything of:

Alex Denning: Braid (XBLA)

Nometet: Celebrity Sports Showdown

Sam Atkins: Dead Space

Roger Batchelor: Far Cry 2

Rhys Simons: Professor Layton and the Curious Village

And the winner is: Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Combined a simple yet immensley satisfying gameplay mechanic with a wonderful fairytale story that sucked the player into it's unique world like nothing else this year. Also with a heart warming visual style and jaunty theme music, it was an absolute pleasure to accompany the Professor and Luke on their superb adventure - Rhys

Best new Intellectual Property (/best new original series, any platform):

Statistically: Dead Space

Alex Denning: Mirror's Edge

Nometet: Mirror's Edge

Sam Atkins: Dead Space

Roger Batchelor: Dead Space

Rhys Simons: Mirror's Edge

And the winner is: Mirror's Edge

Beautiful design aesthetic combined with a brilliant new take on the platforming genre combined to make an absolutely wonderful experience. Though it had it's flaws, there was nothing that stopped the game from being thoroughly enjoyable yet provides room for improvement in what will hopefully be a not to distant sequel. Everything you could possibly want from a new ip and perhaps most importantly, something genuinely new - Rhys

And now moving on to the console specific awards.

Best Wii exclusive game:

Statistically: Mario Kart Wii

Alex Denning: No More Heroes

Nometet: Super Smash Bros Brawl

Sam Atkins: No More Heroes

Roger Batchelor: Wii Fit

Rhys Simons: Super Smash Bros Brawl

And the winner is: Super Smash Bros Brawl

Super Smash Bros is a classic, and Brawl has great characters and the best levels from Melee. You can even design your own stages to battle on - it's a great party game, and in 20 years' time people will still be playing the Super Smash Bros Series. I'm as sure of that as much as I'm sure we'll be playing  "OK, this really is the Final Fantasy, we promise - Nometet

Best Xbox 360 exclusive game:

Statistically: Fable 2

Alex Denning: Rock Band 2 (UK)

Nometet: Fable 2

Sam Atkins: Gears 2

Roger Batchelor: Fable 2

Rhys Simons: Gears 2

And the winner is: Fable 2

No game this year came anywhere near perfection. Even though Fable 2 was released unfinished and was full of bugs , so was every other game released in 2008. What made Fable 2 a cut above the rest however, was its humour and ability to entertain. Here was a game that refused to take itself too seriously and a game that just wanted to amuse and engage its audience with an epic role playing fantasy. A worthy winner -Roger

Best Playstation 3 exclusive game:

Statistically: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Alex Denning: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Sam Atkins: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Roger Batchelor: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Rhys Simons: LittleBigPlanet

And the winner is: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

If the PS3 was your console of choice this year, there was a single game that proved just why that was the right decision to make. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the most polished, and enthralling game to have been released in the last 12 months from the amazing story, to the forward thinking gameplay. And as a PS3 exclusive goes, it's the most essential of the lot - Sam

Best PC exclusive game:

Statistically: Spore

Alex Denning: Spore

Nometet: Crysis Warhead

Roger Batchelor: World of Warcraft

Unmouldeddoor3: Spore

And the winner is: Spore

Spore could so easily have been a complete flop. It was so ambitious that it would have been easy for Spore to be average, and nothing more. Arguably, Spore was average, but the combination of all of the average parts resulted in a game that was just brilliant fun, and that is why its our best PC game of 2008 - Alex

Best game that no-one played:

Alex Denning: Rock Band (UK)

Nometet: Fable 2

Sam Atkins: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES

Roger Batchelor: Mirror's Edge/Dead Space

Rhys Simons:  Batallion Wars 2

Unmouldeddoor3: Club Penguin:

And the winner is: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES

And finally... the tension is unbearable, but hold out for Part 3, where we choose a winner.