Golden Crecentes honor year's best video games

By Brian D. Crecente, Special to the Rocky

Published January 22, 2009 at 7 p.m.
Updated January 23, 2009 at 5:52 p.m.

Text size

More More Entertainment

Even during this economic apocalypse, the winners of the Third Annual Golden Crecentes should resist the urge to melt down these valuable awards for the bullion within. Because these babies are worth more than their weight in gold. They say, "We are the absolute best games of the year, the dazzling pinnacle of technical and artistic achievement."

Besides, the Golden Crecentes are really figurative honors. There are no actual statuettes - just the priceless glory that comes prepackaged with year-end accolades bestowed by gaming guru Brian D. Crecente.

************

Game of the Year: Grand Theft Auto IV (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Famed for its portrayal of big-city crime and dedication to interaction, Grand Theft Auto IV somehow manages to maintain its formula without feeling like a retread.

In this latest iteration, the game whittles away the unnecessary clutter of previous titles and polishes what's left to a high gleam.

It also tells a sweeping story of coming to America, self-discovery and the repercussions of war while allowing gamers to remain free of the leash most narrative-driven games force on players. Ultimately, GTAIV stood above the rest by allowing gamers to discover their own stories, their own moments. The boxed story does come to one of two endings, but your experience never needs to.

Runners-up

* LittleBigPlanet (PS3): User-created content was 2008's mantra. But only LittleBigPlanet truly delivered. While the title comes packed with a game's worth of levels, it's the ease of creating your own levels and the ability to share them that make this a must-own.

* Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360): A fun action title with guns can get old, but Gears of War 2 delivers such an intense experience that it's hard to put the controller down.

* Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3): Almost more art than game, this latest step out by developer Hideo Kojima includes a movie's worth of cut scenes.

* Fallout 3 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360): You've survived a nuclear war in a bomb shelter with '50s-crazed xenophobes, but then break free to find your father in the wasteland.

************

Best Rhythm Game: Rock Band 2 (PC, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)

Rock Band 2 didn't reinvent itself, but it didn't really need to. The latest in the breakaway party game instead delivered a more polished version to die-hard fans and new devotees.

The plastic instruments for the game were retooled to look and feel more realistic, and a more detailed training mode can teach even the rhythm-free how to survive a song. But the biggest draw is the game's ever-expanding and now masters- driven downloadable soundtrack that includes everything from country and Dylan to punk and the Naked Brothers Band.

Runners-up

* Guitar Hero World Tour (PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360): Guitar Hero's first attempt to add a full band comes with a unique take on the instruments and a solid soundtrack. Guitarists now get to add slides and taps to their faux repertoire, while drummers get three pads, a foot pedal and two cymbals.

* Audiosurf (PC): Sort of an anti-Guitar Hero, this audio-based game lets players race through a soundtrack trying to avoid the notes that sync with the music being played. The best part? The music comes from your library.

* Korg DS-10 (Nintendo DS): Not so much a game as a full music studio. This piece of software emulates the KORG MS-10 synthesizer so popular among DJs and bands.

************

Best Multiplayer Game: Left 4 Dead (PC, Xbox 360)

While you can play through all of Left 4 Dead on your own with a bunch of computer-controlled buddies, you can only get the full experience while playing through the game's four campaigns with friends.

Once you've mastered cooperative mode - saving and being saved by the endless, shuffling hordes of zombies on your way to extraction points - you can move on to competitive play. In this mode the players are split between the living and the undead.

Runners-up

* Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360): Gears returns with a full set of competitive modes for multiplayer gaming but adds a dazzling cooperative mode called horde, where gamers battle to fight off increasingly large waves of enemies. Eventually, everyone falls to the horde.

* Call of Duty: World at War (PS3, Xbox 360): After completing the game, players get a chance to take on all of those Nazis they killed, who return as zombies. The game's zombie mode plays a bit like Gear's horde mode, but set in an increasingly unsecure farm house located in the middle of a foggy field.

* LittleBigPlanet (PS3): Creating your own game in a matter of minutes is great fun, but even better is playing through that level with your pals. Especially when you know all of the shortcuts.

************

Best Role-Playing Game: Fallout 3 (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Set in the year 2277, this post-apocalyptic role-playing game is a heady mix of nuclear fallout and retro American culture.

The game includes more than 80 quests and dozens of hours of game play all taking place in an incredibly detailed 16-square-mile map of Washington, D.C., and its surrounding area.

Runners-up

* World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Mac, PC): With more than 11 million active users, World of Warcraft continues to be the mainstream monster in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. This latest expansion pack sold 2.4 million copies in the first 24 hours.

* Fable II (Xbox 360): In Fable II, a player's choices determine not only how the story progresses but what happens to the world and even how the player looks. This time famed developer Peter Molyneux added a dog to the mix as a sidekick, going for that surefire heartstring tug at the right moment.

* Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC): World of Warcraft is in no danger of being toppled from its roost, but at least Warhammer Online presents a game good enough to garner some attention from the players of the famed fantasy title.

************

Best Action Game: Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)

This latest dig into 20 years' worth of franchise history comes up with a gem that showcases the PlayStation 3's power in a technically flawless title.

A creative mix of animated and live-action cut scenes keeps the game moving and makes things - even for the Metal Gear Solid aficionado - seem interesting.

The game's deep, stealth action game play managed to draw in both hard-core and casual gamers. Even my father, at 70, bought the game.

Runners-up

* Grand Theft Auto IV (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360): Deeply immersive and colorfully detailed, Rockstar's look at New York City offers gamers a chance to go wild in a dangerous playground.

* Prince of Persia (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360): Throwing out the back story and characters from nearly 20 years of successful games is dangerous. Tossing out death from a video game is insane. But in this case it works and reminds developers that the standards of gaming aren't always necessary.

* Saints Row 2 (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360): This open-world crime action game doesn't take itself nearly as seriously as Grand Theft Auto IV, which is the only reason it manages to stand apart.

************

Best Shooter Game: Gears of War 2

(Xbox 360)

This is your summer blockbuster for video gaming, your Die Hard, your Independence Day, your Rambo.

Packed with over-the-top battles, chain-saw blood baths, and monster trucks that shoot artillery shells, Gears 2 is not a subtle game.

The nonstop action and new multiplayer modes may not deliver any paradigm shifts in game design or make you rethink your place in life, but it's one heck of a ride.

Runners-up

* Dead Space (PS3, Xbox 360): In this third-person shooter you play an engineer stranded on a spaceship packed with alien-infested corpses. The riveting plot and detailed sound work make for a chilling survival horror experience.

* Left 4 Dead (PC, Xbox 360): Delivering its plot through snippets of conversation and discovered bits of notes and messages on the wall, Left 4 Dead spends its time crafting a zombie apocalypse that is so detailed it can be played seemingly endlessly.

* Call of Duty: World at War (PS3, Xbox 360): Call of Duty returns to World War II, following the fall of Nazi Germany through the eyes of a Soviet soldier and the brutality of war in the Pacific as seen by a U.S. Marine. Some of the year's most spectacular scenes occur as players fight their way through the game.

************

Best PC Indie Game: You Have to Burn The Rope

This satirical game features a generic run through a generic dungeon and ends with an all-too-easy boss to beat. Once completed, though, you're rewarded with the granddaddy of all credit songs. Part introspective treatise on the absurdity of "beating a game," part jab at developers, it's the soundtrack for my life.

Runners-up

* Cortex Command: In this side-scrolling action game, you use your disembodied brain to issue commands to an army of brainless minions. Political connotations aside, Cortex Command's use of real-world physics and Sergio Aragones-esque graphics makes this a joy to play.

* Crayon Physics Deluxe: Using digital crayons on a faux-construction- paper background, gamers have to draw a way to get a ball across the screen and safely to a star.

* Tasha's Game: This adorable little platformer features talking rainbows, a magical cat and a backpack-toting Tasha. More important: It's free and designed by famed developer Double Fine.

************

Best Downloadable Game: Braid (Xbox 360 Live Arcade)

Behind the whimsical design and trite story of this one-man project is a game that questions many of the cliches of video-game design. The game tells the story of Tim's frustrated search for a princess and plays like Super Mario Bros. or Donkey Kong, but includes the ability to reverse time. This ability, initially used to undo mistakes, is later plumbed for some fascinating puzzles.

Runners-up

* Castle Crashers (Xbox 360 Live Arcade): Pure button-mashing fun delivered in an amusing cartoon style that is heavy on the outlandish and toon gore.

* Pixeljunk Eden (PlayStation 3 Store): Featuring the art of Japanese multimedia artist Baiyon, Eden has players shooting small creatures called Grimps across a gardenlike backdrop.

* Pixeljunk Monsters (PlayStation 3 Store): Players build defense towers along an enemy's route to try to prevent them from destroying huts and the base. The game's interesting graphics and music by Otograph set it apart from other tower defense titles.

************

Best iPhone Game: Rolando

You tilt and touch to play this puzzler that serves up 36 levels of devilish brain twisters packed with a jaunty soundtrack and artsy look. I've spent more time playing Rolando this year than many full-size and portable games. The perfectly paced increase in difficulty and surprisingly new abilities that pop up even late in the game make finishing this title a must.

Runners-up

* Trism: The original iPhone puzzle title takes the classic formula of matching like tiles to eliminate rows and turns it on its head, then its side, then back on its head if you like.

* Puzzle Quest: First released on PC and then adapted for the PlayStation Portable, DS, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2 and PlayStation 3, this role-playing game-meets-puzzle title finally landed on the iPhone this year.

* FieldRunners: Take a blank playing field and fill it with weapons, then wait for a never-ending stream of bad guys to weave their way through your death course. Every time one makes it, you lose a point. Simple formula, addictive play.

************

Best Portable Game: God of War: Chains of Olympus

(PlayStation Portable)

This platform-pushing action title manages to deliver a full taste of the PlayStation 2's incredibly popular God of War franchise to a handheld. Taking on the role of Kratos, gamers have to slice and dice their way through a menagerie of mythological creatures and demi-gods. The over-the-top action is punctuated with a memorable story and some touching moments.

Runners-up

* The World Ends With You (DS): Set in Japanese fashion center Shibuya, this action role-playing game combines an anime aesthetic with J-Pop music to deliver a distinct Japanese flavor. The game is played on both screens simultaneously using buttons, the touch screen and microphone.

* Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (DS): Nintendo's classic turn-based strategy title returns to the DS to deliver online multiplayer action, allowing gamers to take each other on in this war game over the Internet or in the same room.

* Patapon (PSP): The player takes on the role of a god, controlling the diminutive Patapon by playing drums using the PSP's four buttons. Each set of rhythms inspires the miniature army into different actions. French artist Rolito designed the highly stylized backdrop and characters for this music strategy title.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News