EuroGamer - Top 50 Games of 2008, 10-1

Eurogamer wraps up their yearly multi-genre,multi-platform Top 50 list with it's Top Ten, amongst which are two games we actually cover here. There are multiple opinions from multiple editors on each game, so I'm just giving a sample snip for each:

4. Fable II

Microsoft / Lionhead / Xbox 360
...Dan Whitehead: Fable II thoroughly deserves top marks. At least, it does in principle. So many of the ideas at play here are so brilliant and obvious that you wonder why games haven't latched onto them earlier. The fact that experience is a more valuable commodity than health in a genre driven by quicksaves and healing potions, for example. Yet the game never quite gets the balance right, making it far too easy to build up massive reserves of gold and XP. For every step forward, Fable II takes two sideways. It's also glitchy and buggy and only starts to get interesting once you reach the end of the main story. I'm happy to call it one of my favourites of the year, but my affection is ultimately based on empathy for what it attempts rather than inspiration from what it actually does.

And the other game? No surprise:

2. Fallout 3

Bethesda Softworks / PC, PS3, Xbox 360

...Alec Meer: Enjoyed this a whole lot more second time around, when I stayed away from the shonky core quest and focused on unchecked exploration of the endless wasteland. It's a shame the production values are so woeful and that it defaults to vaguely unsatisfying combat too much of the time, but that we get a vast, fascinating world to explore that isn't either yet more high fantasy glades'n'caves or gritty, hooker-filled urbanscapes is something we should all be celebrating. I can't help but feel Bethesda made some unbelievable cock-ups with it, but at the same time they've created an incredible structure for modders to run wild with. I can't wait to see what Fallout 3 PC has been made into in about six months.

For those who are curious, the PS3 platformer Little Big Planet gets the Number One spot.