Like every other site in the universe (we can only assume that aliens also do this), we would like to present our “Best of” list for 2008. We here around completionist.com have always done things a little bit differently than the rest, so there’s an important qualifier I must add before there are cries of foul en masse. We will be looking at games that we played during 2008, not solely games that were released in 2008. So if a game came out in 2007 or, say, 1995 but we played it in 2008, it counts. Without further ado…

Best Downloadable Game – Puzzle Quest
(submitted by Chris, seconded by Julie)
I couldn’t believe how much game was actually in this package. Sure, it’s fundamentally the same bejewelled-ish style puzzling throughout the game but the depth of the story is pretty incredible. I couldn’t believe it all panned out to end up being a 30+ hour experience. Nods to Mega Man 9 and PixelJunk Monsters.

Best Strategy Game – Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
(submitted by Chris)
This franchise is the granddaddy of all strategy games so it’s only fitting that it maintains its superiority over the pack by constantly improving itself. There’s some real excitement around here to crack open our recently acquired copy of Civilization IV: Colonization. I have to admit that I had to create this category so I could give a shout out to Beyond the Sword. I would have called it Best PC Game, except, well, you’ll see. Nods to World in Conflict and Age of Empires III: The Warchiefs.

Best Strategy Game – Heroes V
(submitted by Julie)
PixelJunk Monsters already got a nod in the downloads section, but I have to give it another nod here as well.  However, despite PJMs merits, Heroes V was a hands down winner for me.  WoW aside (and who doesn’t wish they could put WoW aside), it’s my favourite PC/strategy title of all time.  It took us about 3 years to finish the main game plus all expansions, but we did it, and it was worth it.

Best PC Game – Portal
(submitted by Chris, seconded by Julie)
Portal offered games a shift in a great direction that we can only hope starts a trend toward legitimately funny and entertaining gameplay. The fact that it was packed in with so many good game in The Orange Box for such a ridiculously low price means that there is no excuse to have not played this one yet. If you’re not a fan of Orange or Boxes, you can buy Portal, standalone and online, for only $4.99 from Steam until January 2nd. Seriously, no excuse! Nods to Heroes V: Tribes of the East and Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword.

Best Handheld Game – Professor Layton and the Curious Village
(submitted by Chris, seconded by Julie)
There was nothing I enjoyed more than curling up on the couch with Julie and DS and helping the weirdo residents of St. Mystere with their ridiculous puzzles. The cool, Euro-style graphics add a great deal to the experience and are a refreshing change from the generic anime style one would expect to see in a Japanese based animated game. Nods to God of War: Chains of Olympus and New York Times Crosswords.

Best Music Game – Rock Band 2
(submitted by Chris, seconded by Julie)
This has been a big year for music based games so I feel it warrants its own category. The winner is Rock Band 2. It may have been Rock Band 1 based on it have a superior setlist but since all the songs from Rock Band 1 can be imported into Rock Band 2 as well as the fact that many of the annoyances of Rock Band 1 are eliminated (band leaders, anyone?), Rock Band 2 eeks out the win. Nods to Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 1.

Game of the Year – Mass Effect
(submitted by Chris)
A shocker! Most probably would have thought that GTA IV would have had a lock on this category but looking back, I think I had the most fun this year playing Mass Effect. There were days I would sit at work and think about Mass Effect and I couldn’t wait to get home and play it again. While GTA IV was amazing, there was a lot of the same in the game from previous GTAs. Mass Effect, while not novel in concept (re: Star Wars), is the first game that I’ve played that truly nails the space genre. A huge nod also goes to Bioshock, an absolutely amazing game that deserves its own category. This is why I hate “Best of” lists…it’s always so hard to decide! This is why we’re paid the bug bucks, though…to make the hard decisions.  The good news is that we can expect to see sequels to all of these games…eventually.  Will I have to endure the same brain-straining excercise in 2009?  2010?  2011?  I’d gladly take it if it meant three more games of this caliber.  Obvious nods to GTA IV and Bioshock.

Game of the Year – Portal
(submitted by Julie)
I absolutely second the nod to Bioshock, but game of the year?  I’m not sure about that.  Picking game of the year is too difficult, because it’s literally comparing apples and oranges.  How can you compare Bioshock and Professor Layton?  Other than being games, they have nothing in common at all.  The end factor for me, I decided, is fun.  Video games are supposed to be fun, so I had to ask myself which game I had the most fun playing this year.  After a lot of careful consideration, I almost copped out on a 3 way tie, but Chris told me that I have to pick a game so I went with Portal.  What can I say?  My desktop at work still features a companion cube.  I’ve re-read the dialog on wikiquote.  The other games in my delicious 3-way were Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, and Boom Blox.

All-in-all, we played some pretty amazing games in 2008 and whether or not 2009 can live up to the bar set by ’08 remains to be seen. Happy New Year from everyone at completionist.com!