Best Action Adventure: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
While Grand Theft Auto IV was certainly a bigger and arguably better experience, my pick for best action/adventure title goes to Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia simply because I put much more time into it. It's a much more challenging game than its predecessors on the DS, and its improved level design limits backtracking. It's nice to see 2D platforming mechanics come back into sty1e.
Honorable Mention: GTA IV

Best Driving Game: Burnout Paradise
Criterion reinvented the Burnout franchise with the latest installment. Moving Burnout to an open world with an event at every intersection (and no loading screens) was an ambitious endeavor that they pulled off nearly without a hitch. While the lack of a retry option made some events frustrating, the ability to drive around an entire island and instantly jump online with friends to complete hundreds of objectives or create your own races really extended the game's lifespan. Criterion continues to support Burnout Paradise with free updates that include motorcycles and new objectives, and those willing to pay a small premium will soon be able to nab iconic cars like the Delorian from Back to the Future.

Best Fighting Game: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Mortal Kombat has been my favorite fighting game franchise since I was a kid. I realize that the games have gotten somewhat stale over the past few iterations, especially in comparison to recent offerings from Capcom with Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, but I've always found guilty pleasure in playing through each new MK game. I was skeptical about MK vs. DC Universe because I have absolutely no interest in comics and saw the game (and its family-friendlier T rating) as a desperate cop-out. Now that it's out, I like the return to c1assic 2D mechanics, but I have no interest in the half-hearted story or the DC characters. So with that, my nod for best fighting game of 2008 goes to Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the simple fact that it encourages social interaction with friends who are actually sitting on the couch next to you instead of with strangers only interested in griefing online.
Honorable Mention: Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

Best Platformer: LittleBigPlanet
Ever since I picked up my first NES controller, platformers have been my favorite video game genre. Since the advent of 3D gaming, the platforming genre has been rather stagnant. The really successful platformers have remained largely 2 dimensional. 2008 saw a resurgence of the genre with unique titles like n+ and PixelJunk Eden. The newest installment of the Castlevania franchise, Order of Ecclesia, was easily Konami's best effort on the DS so far. But Sony blew its competition away with LittleBigPlanet. It's the platformer for kids who grew up wanting to be game designers. And while it will take a very dedicated individual to create levels of the highest quality, Sony seems ready to foster this kind of creativity by continually releasing downloadable level packs. Honorable Mentions: n+, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, PixelJunk Eden

Best Puzzle Game: Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a thinking man's puzzle game. I love block-droppers like Lumines, Dr. Mario, Tetris, etc., but the challenge in Professor Layton wasn't in timing or racing against the clock. Figuring out the solutions to hundreds of brain teasers left me scratching my head in frustration until finally figuring out that the answer was so obvious the entire time. Combine the excellent puzzles with an engaging narrative and some cutscenes that were pretty impressive by DS standards, and you've got the makings of a great franchise.
Honorable Mention: Dr. Mario Online Rx

Best Rhythm/Music Game: Rock Band 2
Rock Band 2 may not be the most original option for the best rhyhtm game of 2008, but it is the refinement of an already exceptional design. Guitar Hero: World Tour may have superior instruments, but it owes much of its success to simply copying ideas from Harmonix. An excellent assortment of fairly priced downloadable tracks ensures that anyone will be able to find something they like. Let's just hope the inevitable annualization of the franchise doesn't drive it into the ground.
Honorable Mention: Patapon

Best Role-Playing Game: Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger has long been on my list of influencial games that I should have played a long time ago. I'm a big fan of old-school Japanese RPGs, and I own the PlayStation version but never got around to playing it. Now that it's out on the DS, I'm having a great time grinding levels and enjoying the (somewhat convoluted) story. With my hectic schedule these days, Chrono Trigger is the perfect game to play for 30 minutes before going to bed.
Honorable Mentions: The World Ends With You, Fable II, Fallout 3

Best Shooter: Gears of War 2
Anyone who knows me is aware that first or third person shooters are not exactly my cup of tea. Prey was the first FPS I played since Doom, and since then there have still only been a handful of titles I've tried out, let alone finished. I'm not particularly good at shooters, and I just don't have the motivation to finish one once I become frustrated. But Gears of War 2 had me hooked the entire time because I was able to play the entire game cooperatively. The story is somewhat less laughable than the original, and the visuals are amazing (even though the entire game is mostly a couple different shades of gray). I may even hang around in the multiplayer for a while. That is, if the achievements are easy enough to get.

I had a great time playing video games this year. I also wasted quite a bit of time playing some absolutely terrible games. I suppose that's my fault more so than the developers, because I should have just switched games. I'm apparently a masochist. Anyway, keep reading and share in my misery.

Most Despicable Use of In-Game Advertising: Shaun White Snowboarding
When microtransactions were first introduced to console games, there was concern over whether we'd start seeing unfinished games on store shelves that would be patched later on or completed through price gouging digital downloads. Shaun White Snowboarding took this horrible practice one step further by leaving out a large chunk of the game and making that content available only at one retailer for a premium price tag. Branding an entire mountain with Target logos is one thing, but forcing the player to purchase your game at Target if they want the complete experience is downright dirty.
Dishonorable Mention: Guitar Hero: World Tour

Most Disappointing Game: Spore
I've never been a fan of the Sims, but I admire Will Wright for all of his contributions to the video game industry. I looked forward to Spore because I thought it might be the first game that actually got me into PC gaming. The press had lauded over Spore for years and it received a number of awards even before people knew exactly what the game was. When it was finally released (complete with consumer-unfriendly DRM), I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. Instead of one cohesive experience, each segment of the game was broken up into smaller pieces that had all been done before.

Flat-Out Worst Game: Mr. Driller Online
There probably aren't a lot of people out there who feel as strongly about this one as I do, but I love Mr. Driller. I love Mr. Driller so much that I could even forgive the dearth of gameplay modes in this horrible XBLA game. But if you release a game called Mr. Driller Online, don't you think it would be a good idea to have at least one person at your company stand up and say "Hey, maybe we shouldn't release this game if there's absolutely no online functionality?"

Worst Game Everyone Played: Deca Sports
I've never played Deca Sports because, apparently unlike many people who bought a Wii, I have some semblance of taste when choosing what I want to play. The Wii has become a dumping ground for shoddy ports and inane minigame collections that any uninformed parent will buy for their kids if the box art looks friendly enough. I'm happy that Nintendo is doing well again, but I wish it would have been by better means.

Best Game No One Played: World of Goo
As one of the highest rated Wii games, it's a shame World of Goo hasn't fared better. To be completely honest, I haven't played it either because I simply don't 'have any space left on my Wii. Nintendo's obstinate refusal to release a hard drive for their system has forced me to be extremely discriminating in my choice of downloads. Moving games back and forth from an SD card is only slightly less ridiculous than their utter lack of any advertising support for their Wii Ware games.

Least Improved Sequel: Animal Crossing: City Folk
I really should've known what to expect from Animal Crossing on the Wii. The GameCube and DS versions were essentially the same game, but I naively thought that Nintendo would put more effort into a sequel 6 years in the making. City Folk could have been an amazing MMO experience if they had done it correctly. Still, with the minor improvements made to City Folk, I'll probably still play it much longer than I should. I have to collect everything. It's a sickness, really.

Worst Use of a Great License: Lego Batman
I loved the Lego Star Wars games. Lego Indiana Jones was also a great time, although admittedly not as fun as its predecessors. Without iconic movies to draw from, Lego Batman lacks the humor of the Star Wars and Indy games. It's more fun beating up the villians, but the puzzle design is so obtuse that you literally have to try every single option to figure out what you're supposed to do to progress. There's rarely a logic to follow, and the game quickly grows tedious. And, since boss battles are prone to glitching that make finishing the level impossible, ending each stage with one probably wasn't the best idea.

Reposted from Doctor Fishypants

2008 has been a great year for video games. It hasn't been a great year for my ability to play them, however. I've fallen behind on a number of games, and there are still a few from 2007 (like Twilight Princess) that I have yet to finish. Since I'm too lazy, even during my two weeks off, to make a list of my favorite games of this year, I've stolen most of the categories and nominees from GameSpot's Best of 2008 Awards. Enjoy!

Most Surprisingly Good Game: Braid
It's ironic that Braid is actually receiving my first award because I absolutely hated the game. I recognize its importance to the industry, its ingenuity, and its impeccable level design. It had one of the most striking visual **** I've seen in modern video games, and I can still hear its haunting soundtrack. Unfortunately, I hated everything else about it. While most people praise the story for its ability to be interpreted numerous ways, I found it pretentious and not at all relevant to the gameplay. Puzzles were, for the most part, fair. But don't bill your game as a platformer/puzzle hybrid if success in the game is not at all dependent on platforming skills. Anyway, my Braid rant is over. Amazing game, but definitely not for me.

Best Graphics, Technical: Metal Gear Solid 4
I might be the only PlayStation 3 owner with absolutely no intention of playing MGS 4. I'm not a fan of stealth games because I despise guess-and-check gameplay. Hiding from guards is consistently my least favorite part of any Legend of Zelda title. But you don't need to play MGS 4 to recognize the amazing visual achievement that it is.
Honorable Mention: Burnout Paradise

Best Graphics, Artistic: Patapon
At $20, you couldn't really go wrong with Patapon this year. It was an innovative mix of real-time strategy, RPG, and rhythm mechanics that became almost hypnotic as you pounded away at the face buttons. It had a distinct visual ****unlike any game I've seen before. Most importantly, it showed that you don't have to make a watered-down PS2 port to have a great game for the PSP. Honorable Mentions: LittleBigPlanet, Prince of Persia

Best New Character: Sack Boy
Sony has gone through a number of mascots for the PlayStation brand, and none of them seem to have the same staying power as Mario or Master Chief. It remains to be seen how long Sony will stick with Sack Boy and LittleBigPlanet, but it appears that they finally have a character with mass-market appeal. It doesn't hurt that his game is an amazing feat, either. Let's just hope Sony doesn't run Sack Boy into the ground with $5.00 downloadable outfits.
Honorable Mention: Niko Bellic (GTA IV)

Biggest News: Nintendo Reclaims Console Supremacy
While I think it's great that the console makers I grew up with are back on top, I wish it were under better circumstances. When I was a kid, the Nintendo Seal of Quality meant you were buying a product that met a certain standard of excellence. This generation, the insignia has been officially shortened to the Nintendo Seal, and it's obvious that quality is no longer a priority. There are still plenty of great games for the Wii, but those games are overshadowed by the seemingly limitless piles of shovelware that any and all developers are throwing out to make a quick buck.

Best Original Downloadable Console Game: Mega Man 9
Most of my favorite games this year weren't even retail releases at all. Because of my increasingly short free time, most of the games I played this year came from Xbox Live Arcade or PlayStation Network. Even though I'm far from finishing it, Mega Man 9 gets my nod for best downloadable console game because of sheer audacity. I never imagined they'd continue the original Mega Man line like this, especially after running each of the million spin-offs into the ground. It's impossibly difficult, but if a game that comes out in 2008 can remind me of playing Mega Man II as a kid, it deserves an award. Even if Capcom is milking every last cent from pointless downloadable expansions that should have been included in the original release.
Honorable Mentions: WipEout HD, echochrome

Best Downloadable Content: Burnout Paradise - New tracks, modes, & motorcycles
2008 was a great year for downloadable content, with plenty of games getting worthwhile additions long after their retail releases. n+ had some great level packs and Harmonix continued its amazing support for Rock Band, but Burnout Paradise gets my commendation for the sheer fact that all of their extra content in 2008 was free.

Best Original Music: Patapon
Patapon gets my award for best original music because the player takes an active part in making the music. Even if it makes it difficult to play Patapon anywhere but at home with headphones, the rhythms in the game are what make it so addiciting.

Best Licensed Music: Braid
As I said before, my favorite part about Braid was its haunting score. Rock Band 2, obviously, is a close runner-up.
Honorable Mention: Rock Band 2

Funniest Game: Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
Harvey Birdman isn't a good game. At just about 4 hours, it probably isn't worth more than $10. But if you're looking for a good laugh and some watered-down Phoenix Wright gameplay, it's probably worth picking this one up in a bargain bin.

Best Cooperative Multiplayer: Burnout Paradise
The lack of a retry option in Burnout Paradise occasionally made the single-player experience frustrating. But throw in a few friends and a couple hundred online objectives, and you've got a party.
Honorable Mentions: Gears of War 2, n+

Best Competitive Multiplayer: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl was a Nintendo fanboy's dream. It's packed with nostalgia and has enough content to last you the next 5 or 6 years until the inevitable sequel. There were plenty of games this year that had arguably better competitive multiplayer experiences, but Smash Bros. gets my top prize because it actually encourages real life friends in the real world to sit down next to you on a real couch and play a game on the same television set. Social skills are fun.

Best Original Game Mechanic: echochrome - Altered perspective gameplay
I'm probably a bit biased for this one because I wrote GameSpot's review of echochrome, but I really love its perspective mechanic. It has its issues, like occasionally not following its own conventions, but there's something about seeing an M.C. Escher painting come to life that really has me.
Honorable Mention: Patapon - Using rhythms to command your tribe

Most Innovative Game: echochrome
See previous award.
Honorable Mention: Patapon

Best Use of Control Scheme: Boom Blox
Something about grabbing a ball and chucking it at a bunch of blocks in a sort of anti-Jenga parallel world is really satisfying. Like most good games on the Wii, Boom Blox builds a game around a successful mechanic instead of shoehorning a succesful game into a shoddy new control scheme.

Best Implementation of User-Generated Content: LittleBigPlanet
The possibilities for creativity in LittleBigPlanet are endless. Granted, it will take a very determined player to design the best levels, but the stage is set for some amazing content. As long as Sony doesn't go overboard on the moderation, LittleBigPlanet has the potential to nurture some great future developers.
Honorable Mention: n+

Reposted from Doctor Fishypants

I know I don't post here very often anymore. My schedule just doesn't allow me to spend as much time here as it used to. But I wanted to take some time out from studying (yes, I'm studying on a Friday night) to say thank you to some people who've helped keep GameSpot afloat during some troubling times, who really make GameSpot a site that caters to its readers, and who just got some really ****ty news this week. It's understandable that, in our terrible economy, cuts are being made all over the country. As someone who isn't even finished with school at 25, I never really think cuts like this will affect anyone I know.

GameSpot lost some of its best people today. I can count on one hand the number of staff members that have been with GameSpot since I joined the site 5 years ago. Bethany was one of those people. She has made my experience as a moderator fun and rewarding. A lot of the people reading this won't be familiar with all of the work she does behind the scenes, but people like Bethany are what make GameSpot the best gaming site on the net and my favorite place to visit.

Don is one of the friendliest people I've ever met. You can tell that he really loves this site, his job, and the community here. Like Bethany, he made being a moderator feel like being part of a team. And he's always around for some good achievement point exploitation.

Aaron is a great writer. I was a big fan of his reviews because I knew they were his honest opinion. Ratchet and Clank deserved a 7.5, and his performance in GameSpot's Gamer Score video was nothing short of Oscar-worthy.

I'm sure that everyone who is leaving will land on their feet because they're all great at what they do. I hope they decide to stick with gaming, because I'm sure it isn't the last we've seen of any of them. I just wanted to thank you guys for doing an awesome job and keeping GameSpot my "only source for all the hot topics in video games."

It's been a busy month for me with school, and I haven't had as much time as I usually do for games. But here's a quick rundown of what I've been up to:

My second Xbox 360 suffered its inevitable red-ring last week in the middle of a particularly productive game of Braid. I'm not a huge fan of the game, mostly because I don't think it warranted a $15 price point and I find some of the puzzles unfairly designed, but I'm determined to finish it. Before the red-ring fiasco, I kept myself busy with Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise and Rock Band 2. They're both ideally suited for quick play sessions during study breaks.

On the PlayStation front, the game I've been waiting for since buying the system finally launched last week. WipEout HD is basically a best-of compilation from WipEout Pure and Pulse on the PSP, but the amazing visuals and sound make it well worth the $20 price tag.

I'd made a decision not to download any new games for the Wii until Nintendo devised a solution to their storage problem. Their "taking stuff out of your fridge" angle was ridiculous, and I wasn't going to give them any more of my money until they opened up the SD slot. Then I noticed that I still had 150 blocks of space left, which was just enough room for Mega Man 9 and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Mega Man II was one of my favorite games as a kid, when I obviously had much more patience for games. Mega Man 9 is killing me, and I'm loving every minute. Super Mario RPG was also a favorite, and it's just as fun to play now as it was back on the SNES.

I'm trying to play Lego Batman on my PSP, but it has this minor bug where the game won't actually load past the title screen. Given the fact that the game case insert says Lego Batman is two UMDs, I'm guessing they didn't put all that much effort into the PSP port.

I'm also fairly disappointed with Kirby Super Star Ultra on the DS. I never played the original SNES version, but I'm a huge Kirby fan and assumed that Super Star would be much like its DS predecessors. I find the experience too disjointed, and each minigame lacks enough substance for me to want to replay it. It's unfocused, directed at a younger audience even moreso than previous games, and it just isn't as fun to play as any other Kirby game.

Re-posted from Doctor Fishypants.

As it turns out, medical school is a huge time commitment. Go figure. I knew I'd have much less spare time, but I didn't realize it would be this restricted. With lecture from 8AM-5PM every day, I have about 2 hours to sit and relax in the evening before heading back to the library to study. By the time I get home at night, I have time to play a few minutes of some DS game while I'm in bed before falling asleep (usually with the DS still on) and waking up at 6AM.

So I apologize for being entirely absent recently. Facebook and GameSpot are both blocked while I'm on campus, which is where I spend the vast majority of my time. It means that, over the short term, I won't be around nearly as much. I'll try to help out in the moderation queue as needed, but it'll be a while before I'm back to posting. Once Anatomy is over I should (hopefully) have a bit more spare time. I hate the subject (and the cadavers), but it feels good to finally be learning a science that I can actually use as a physician.

P.S. If anyone happens to have a good wallpaper image of Dr. Mario, I could really use it for my new laptop. My inbox (bfish62@gmail.com) would be very appreciative :)

Last year, I posted one of the essays I submitted for my applications to medical schools. If you haven't read it, you may want to take a look at it now to get the proper context for this post. As you can probably assume from that personal statement, it has always been my dream to become a physician. I love GameSpot, I love video games, I love writing about video games, and I love helping out in the community here. But my real passion has always been medicine. I applied to medical schools last fall for entrance into the c|ass of 2012, but as the rejection letters kept coming, I began to think that I'd missed my opportunity. I moved in with my fiance and decided to apply for PhD programs in Psychology, because I like the research I'm doing right now. It lets me interact with patients on a daily basis, but that's all I'm really doing - interacting. I don't know enough to treat the symptoms or understand the underlying causes of the disease. With a PhD, I could at least continue my work, teach, and maybe even incorporate my love of video games into my neuroscience research. It was a good plan.

Two days ago, I got a call from the admissions department at one of the schools where I was waitlisted. They wanted to know if I was still interested, and I responded enthusiastically. I never really expected to be getting a call like that one. Yesterday morning, I gave them a call back. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I needed to ask about potential scheduling issues, just in case. The woman I'd been speaking to told me that, although they don't normally tell people about admissions decisions over the phone, mine was a special case. I'd been accepted, and my official letter should be arriving in the mail any day now.

So why is my case an exception? Well, I needed to be told about the admissions decision as soon as possible because c|asses start July 28. That gives me about 2 weeks to find a place to live, get financial aid in order, and move my entire life to Erie, Pennsylvania. It's exciting and utterly terrifying at the same time. I also feel terrible for my boss, who was expecting me to work through at least August. That gives me about a week to get everyone else in the lab trained on the tasks that I'm responsible for. I was supposed to have two months.

So you may not see a lot of me around the site for a while. I'll still be here, performing my moderator-type duties, but it'll most likely be behind the scenes stuff. I'm utterly at a loss for how to describe what I'm feeling. You never really know how to react when you find out that one of your dreams is coming true. The fine folks at GameSpot have already given me that opportunity once when they agreed to let me test my mettle at reviewing games. If things had gone just the slightest bit differently, and moving to California had been a feasible option for me, I'd be on an entirely different career path, living an entirely different dream. And that would have been amazing. But working freelance for a great site like this one and going to medical school is more than I ever really could have wanted.

My review for the absurdly named Mega Man Star Force 2: Zerker x Saurian (and Zerker x Ninja) went up last night. One of the things that didn't make it into the review was a discussion of one of the game's locales. The Battle Network and Star Force series have never really exerted much effort to come up with original names for their levels. This time around, you'll search for a violent sea creature in Loch Mess, get lost in the Bermuda Maze, and speak with the denizens of the "Southern" country of... Whazzap. Really, the country is called Whazzap.

Remember that old Budweiser commercial? It's like that, only even more stupid. All of the citizens in Whazzap are dark-skinned, and the country is primitive in comparison to the rest of the places in Star Force 2. The people pray to a bunch of wall drawings that they think will help them communicate with the gods of an ancient civilization called Mu. If you try talking to any of the people in Whazzap, they won't speak to you unless you say "Whazzap?!" first.

Maybe the Capcom folks in Japan just weren't aware of certain things. But you'd think that the localization team might have made more of an effort. I wouldn't go so far as to call it racist, but it really is in poor taste. Maybe churning out a bajilliondy Mega Man games a year isn't such a great idea.

Re-posted from Doctor Fishypants.

It's been a while since I've compiled the latest Fishypants happenings. Other than Wii Fit, I haven't really been playing much lately. I'm reviewing Fatal Inertia EX (PSN) and Mega Man Star Force 2 (DS) for GameSpot this week, so I've had to cut back on other games. I just posted my initial impressions of Fatal Inertia EX. I was going to post impressions of Mega Man Star Force, but then I realized that there isn't much to say besides "Yep, it's another Mega Man game."

In site news, I've set up two new pages. My Publications page has links to all of my professional writing. This includes my scientific research experience and all of the reviews I've done as a freelancer for GameSpot. I've also set up a Features page that contains links to the recurring articles I post to Fishypants. More specifically, it's an archive for my Wii Fit weight-loss initiative and a new, hopefully bi-weekly column called The PlayStation Legacy. The first issue is about how Lumines helped keep the PSP afloat during a less-than stellar launch period.

That's about it for now. Look for my reviews of Fatal Inertia and Mega Man Star Battle Force Network Maverick Hunter Powered Up X: Pokemon Diamond Edition sometime next week. I think Mega Man was just given the title of the most prolific video game character ever. If it weren't for the recently accounced Mega Man 9, a blessing from the retro WiiWare gods, I think I'd be pretty discouraged by that fact.

Anyone reading this will notice some new images on my profile. Yay! I got tired of looking at the same pictures every time I logged in. I'm pretty sure I've been using the same Dr. Mario avatar since I joined GameSpot almost 5 years ago. I wanted to keep the same retro vibe that I had before, so all of the images are modified from wallpapers for Nintendo's CIassic NES Series on the GBA. I'm still not a huge fan of the font size in my banner, but I'm not exactly a Photoshop wizard. I wanted it to look like the banner at Doctor Fishypants, but I can't seem to find that file, and the original one I created it with isn't proporioned correctly for GameSpot's size restrictions. Anyone feel like making me a better one???