Best of 2008: Best Fighting Game

Zestful Contemplation’s Best of 2008 Awards

Just in time for 2008 to be a thing of the past, it’s Zestful Contemplation’s Best of 2008 Awards.  I’m not pretending to make my awards comprehensive or unbiased or any of that other pretentious crap.  The fact that these awards reflect my own personal experiences, tastes, and dislikes is exactly the point.  I haven’t played every game that came out this year and I’m not going to consider a boatload of titles I never played.  But I did play a huge number of games this year, and these choices reflect my personal tastes and thoughts about the games I spent time with in 2008. Best Fighting Game Contenders:

• Soulcalibur IV

• Super Smash Bros Brawl

For a category that supposedly doesn’t see much in the way of contention these days, the fighting game genre sure turned out some pretty big hits this year.  Heck, despite every molecule of my brain being confused by the very prospect, apparently Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe isn’t actually soul-crushingly terrible.  Go figure. There were two entries this year that rather blew me away for their own reasons.  It was damn near a double K.O.  But in the end, Soulcalibur’s spirit burned brightest. Despite being a giant Nintendo nut, I never really got into the past couple of Smash Bros games.  I was pleasantly surprised this time around when, for whatever reason, Brawl really hooked me.  It was quite addicting. Still, there’s no topping Soulcalibur for me when it comes to the ultimate fighting experience.  Amazing graphics, a great character creator, Star Wars guest characters who were out of place but still fun, and that classic mix of simple controls, deep gameplay, and stylish moves put this one over the top.  It’s a formula that hasn’t changed much since its inception, but that’s because it doesn’t need to. Despite lackluster single player modes (something unfortunately common to fighting games and one area where Brawl was decidedly superior), there’s enough here to keep Calibur fans busy until the Soul begins yearning for the next installment.