By: Kevin Larrabee

At the end of 2007 many people were debating whether 2007 was the greatest year in gaming history. Most would agree with that assumption, but 2008 has all of that ammunition needed to take down the juggernaut that was gaming in 2007.

In 2007 we had great games such as (in no particular order):

• Bioshock (Would you kindly play this game if you haven’t already!)
• Halo 3 (with all of its online innovations)
• Call of Duty 4 (Addictive multiplayer and a great single-player)
• Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (So I have heard, this is on my to play list)
• Half Life 2: Orange Box (which housed what turned out to be a surprise hit, Portal, but who couldn’t tell after E3?)
• Super Mario Galaxy (Returning to form after the disappointing Mario Sunshine)
• Mass Effect (No, there is no SexBox 360…)
• Assassin’s Creed (Mixed reviews, but none the less ambitious and fun, although repetitive)
• Crackdown (Did you find all those agility orbs?)
• Virtual Fighter 5 (I love me some El Blaze!)
• Rock Band (I wish I didn’t live in an apartment so I could use the drums)
• Crysis (I really hope this comes to consoles for all of us “not as hardcore as PC gamers” gamers)

Now, forget all of that, I am going to tell you why 2008 has all of the ammunition needed to knock 2007’s line up off it’s high horse.

Burnout Paradise (360, PS3) Available Now

Yeah, it is already out, but that also means we already know that it is one of the years best games. One of the biggest attractions of Paradise is the online features. Think of it this way, Burnout Paradise’s online advancements are to racers as Halo 3’s online advancements are to console first-person shooters. The fact that you can jump right into your friend’s, “Paradise” in less than a minute is groundbreaking for online gaming. Then after you are playing with up to 8 of your friends, you can then create races on the fly and work on conquering over 300 online challenges. I used a lot of space talking about the online half of the game, but I have been having just as much fun driving around Paradise City jumping into “Road Rage” events, races and my new favorite event, “Marked Man.” Yes, Showtime isn’t in the same neighborhood compared to Crash Mode, but with so many other things to do in Paradise City, I don’t really care, and neither will you.

Devil May Cry 4 (360, PS3) Available Now

Another game that has already come out this year, DMC 4 has made the transition to becoming more accessible to those who are not hardcore gamers, mostly for those casual gamers who love their Nintendo Wii’s. But the thing is, this game is on 360 and PS3, aren’t those still considered, “hardcore gamer” machines? Anyways, you are now in the shoes of Nero, another white-haired metrosexual who possesses, “demon power” and has been put in the position to save the day even if he’s going to bitch about it. Nero’s ability that makes the game feel so fresh is his, “Devil Bringer,” and it does just as it says, it grabs enemies and brings them towards you to create long combos.

This is easily the best DMC since the premier outing with Dante. And don’t worry if you miss the original “hero,” he will be playable after the first 2/3 of the game. And trust me, once you play as Nero, you will count down the minutes and seconds until you are back controlling Nero once again. The graphics are beautiful, the load times are almost non-existent (even on 360), and as always in the DMC games, the story is borderline bat-shit crazy.

Army of Two (360, PS3) March 4

The ultimate co-op game, you and a buddy shooting at enemies, this is: Army of Two. AoT has had an interesting last few months. Back in October, as the holiday season was quickly approaching, final copies of AoT was heading to video game magazines and websites around the world to be reviewed. A few European publications even had reviews of the game out in the wild, to put it bluntly, the reviews were terrible. EA got wind of the early reviews, and proceeded to make a very ballsy move. They held back the finished product to give it a few more months to get it right. Has it paid off? The latest previews from websites such as IGN.com and 1UP.com seem to say, “kind of”. The developers have tweaked the guns, the graphics and most importantly, the gameplay. Early signs from last year displayed serious flaws in the co-op play including horrible A.I. from your co-op buddy when you played alone. Even with its bumpy development cycle, I am still looking forward to AoT, who doesn’t want another great co-op game to play online? Check out this video to see the near final build of the game.

Condemned 2: Bloodshot (360) March 11

Ever since I played the first Condemned in 2006, I haven’t been able to look a mannequin in the eye when I go to Sears and I sweat when I hear Christmas music. That is the kind of fear that the developers at Monolith instilled into me as I took the role of Ethan Thomas. Condemned 2 is guaranteed to take the tension level up a notch with more realistic graphics, and more importantly, environments where everything isn’t made out of titanium. Another feature is that the CSI game play is abundant, and more advanced. Expect unclosed areas, abandoned buildings, melee weapons and the sound of pill bottles popping open constantly.

Super Smash Brothers: Brawl (Wii) March 9

Now for the BIG ONE (see, I did include a Nintendo Wii game in this list). Super Smash Brothers: Brawl will be the third installment in a series that makes Nintendo fanboys quiver and drool just at the sight of Sonic taking a fireball to the face courtesy of Super Mario. I have never personally been sucked into the series, but I do enjoy playing the Nintendo 64 and GameCube predecessors. I don’t see how anyone who has a Wii (and is anyone but a grandma who just plays Wii bowling?) can resist getting this game. This is the big Wii game for the first half of 2008, and will probably become the best selling game ever on the Wii (minus Wii Play). Just looking at the lineup of fighters makes me want to throw down all $50 on that preorder today. You have your obvious characters like Mario, Luigi, Wario, Princess Peach, Link, the Pokemon Trainer, and then there are the new challengers — Pit from Kid Icarus, Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid, and the blue blaze himself from Sega, Sonic the Hedgehog. Now in terms of online play, to be fair, the online components of the game aren’t that bad (level creation, random matches, and more). But, friend codes are still an issue, and there looks to be no solution in the near future. To wrap things up, the combination of the amazing lineup of characters, what looks to be a pretty good story mode, and, believe it or not, online play, will make this a must have title for anyone who owns a Wii.

If you want to get a copy of this game, pre-order it ASAP as the game is already in short supply due to demand in Japan, and its March release in Europe.

As you can see, there are a lot of quality titles coming to store shelves in the first three months of 2008, check back next week, as I will cover all the best releases until Fall.