Xbox 360 Game of the Year Award
WINNER: Gears of War 2
Publisher: Microsoft
RELEASE DATE: 10/21/08
ESRB Rating: M – Mature
Gears of War 2 may seem like an obvious pick, but we feel that ultimately, the game is very deserving of this game of the year award. It’s safe to say that few games have impacted XBL as Gears of War have, and it’s happening again with the sequel, which provides another twelve or so hours of campaign along with all kinds of new multiplayer fun. Cooperative mode with Gears 2 is bigger and better than ever, with new modes, enemies, weapons, and maps to enjoy with friends. The Horde mode has been a particular favorite amongst us here, and just like with the original Gears, we see ourselves playing Gears 2 six months from now, a feat few games can manage.
RUNNER-UP: Fable II
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Xbox 360 Sleeper Game of the Year Award
WINNER: Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution
Publisher: 2K Games
RELEASE DATE: 07/08/08
ESRB Rating: E-10T
Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution spent more time spinning on our 360s than we expected. The addictive game of turn based diplomacy and leadership kept us up many late nights as we strove to conquer and advance. The series has been popular on PCs for ages, but Firaxis did a hell of a job bringing the experience in a fresh, fun way to consoles that made it both accessible yet as addictive and fun as the best PC versions.
RUNNER-UP: Culdcept Saga
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Xbox 360 Creativity Game of the Year Award
WINNER: Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise
Publisher: Microsoft
Release Date: 9/2/08
ESRB Rating: E – Everyone
It wasn’t really the most creative year for the Xbox 360, but we thought the sequel to Viva Piñata was clever and creative enough to snag this award. Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise brought about over thirty new species and two new areas for ambitious gardeners to explore. Only cooperative play helped bring gardeners together to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Ultimately , it’s still a sequel, and frankly nothing on the Xbox 360 screamed ‘creative’ this year like Spore on the PC or LittleBigPlanet on the PS3, but for its advancements, Viva Piñata earns the award.
RUNNER-UP: Scene It? Box Office Smash
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Xbox 360 Best XBLA Game of the Year Award
WINNER: Bionic Commando: Rearmed
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: 08/13/08
ESRB Rating: M – Mature
Waiting for the all new Bionic Commando game was made much easier with the release of Bionic Commando: Rearmed. This gorgeous downloadable title was a huge success for Capcom and stands as the best downloadable game on the XBLA or PSN, as far as some of us here are concerned. Rearmed was great in that it was a re-telling of the classic original NES game; updated controls, beautiful graphics, a pumping soundtrack, old school difficulty, and tons of optional challenges made this $9.99 game last as long or longer than many $59.99 games we review.
RUNNER-UP: Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
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Xbox 360 Most Hotly Anticipated Game of 2009 Award
WINNER: Resident Evil 5
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: 03/19/09
ESRB Rating: M – Mature
2009 should be another strong year for the Xbox 360, and there is once again a lot to look forward to. It was a difficult choice, but we think Capcom’s Resident Evil 5 is the most anticipated title on its way next year. The hugely successful, long running series makes its first stop on the Xbox 360 and is said to have a strong co-operative element to it, something we just itching to try. Resident Evil 4 was considered by many as the best game released for the Gamecube, and one of the very best to date for the Wii and PS2. With so much hype and the successful history of Capcom’s survival horror monster, it’s hard to see how this game could fail.
RUNNER-UP: Street Fighter IV
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Xbox 360 Best Cooperative Game of the Year Award
WINNER: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: 03/18/08
ESRB Rating: M – Mature
Talk about a tough decision here – 2008 was a great year for co-operative gaming and it looks like we’ll only see more co-op action in 2009. Looking back to this year, several games come to mind as having an excellent co-op element. We had a blast with EA’s Army of Two, Lucasarts’ LEGO Batman and Indiana Jones, Epic’s Gears of War 2, and others, but Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 took the cake. Vegas 2 came out in March and we’re still playing it on a nearly weekly basis. The addictive counter-terrorist ‘sim’ has so much going for it that it’s managed to stay fresh to us for all of these months, a true accomplishment.
RUNNERS-UP: Army of Two, Gears of War 2
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Xbox 360 Best Use of The Force Award
WINNER: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Publisher: Lucasarts
Release Date: 09/16/08
ESRB Rating: T – Teen
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed kicked a lot of ass this year and we weren’t surprised. While lots of other reviewing outlets focused on its few faults, we were enamored with fun The Force Unleashed was. This new angle on the Star Wars universe, in which gamers take the role of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice in a story set between the end of Episode III and IV, felt completely fresh and immensely satisfying. We loved darn near everything about the game from the boxart to the credits, and a few of us have managed to find time to play through it three or four times.
arises: to play, or not to play? And to that we at Digital Chumps urge all gamers to stick to their guns and try out any and every game they think has potential rather than take any reviewers’ word for it at