In early January, we'll be posting our Best & Worst of 2008 awards, but before we do that, we've got an appetizer for you. We've rounded up some of our editors and asked them to list their top 10 favorite games of 2008, as well as share their overall thoughts on the year. Keep reading to see what our team's personal top 10 lists look like.

---

Phillip's Top 10 of 2008

Phillip Levin, Editor-in-Chief

1. Grand Theft Auto IV
   
2. Fallout 3
   
3. Gears of War 2
   
4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
   
5. Braid
   
6. Fable 2
   
7. LittleBigPlanet
   
8. Prince of Persia
   
9. Mirror's Edge
   
10. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Having had some more time to think about it, I've decided 2008 wasn't quite as good as 2007. Titles like Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, BioShock, Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 make the previous year superior. That said, 2008 was still a truly great year to be a gamer. We've seen some major releases on all platforms, although I'd say that Xbox 360 had the best year and Wii had the worst. The year was also impressive for downloadable titles, with XBLA, PSN and WiiWare all having solid releases. In fact, this is the first year that I've included an XBLA title in my top 10, so that's saying something. Another nice thing about 2008 was the launch of Netflix on Xbox 360, which I've been using regularly since it launched. However, as great as the year was overall, there was no definitive Game of the Year, in my opinion. If forced to choose, I'd pick GTA IV, and that's what I've done. Admittedly, it has its own problems, but I had the most fun playing GTA IV, and that's why I've given it my number-one pick.

---

Brad's Top 10 of 2008

Brad Hilderbrand, Editorials/Features Director

1. Fallout 3
   
2. Rock Band 2
   
3. LittleBigPlanet
   
4. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of Patriots
   
5. Guitar Hero World Tour
   
6. Chrono Trigger DS
   
7. Fable 2
   
8. God of War: Chains of Olympus
   
9. Lost Odyssey
   
10. Boom Blox

2008 was a good, but not particularly great year for the gaming industry. Sure, there were a lot of hot games to come out, but nearly all of them were sequels or remakes, and very few IPs managed to rise to the top. Those that did garner some attention, like LittleBigPlanet and Mirror's Edge, only serve to draw more attention to the fact that the industry needs to keep focusing on the new ideas rather than continuously pumping out "safe" games that make money but don't bring anything new to the table. 2009 has some bright prospects with games like Ghostbusters, Brutal Legend and inFamous primed to show off the power of a new franchise, let's just hope that's a sign of things to come. I hope every developer and publisher's New Year's resolution is to focus on coming up with fresh ideas and start reminding us why we fell in love with gaming all over again.

---

Ryan's Top 10 of 2008

Ryan Olsen, Reviews Director

1. LittleBigPlanet
   
2. God of War: Chains of Olympus
   
3. Mirror's Edge
   
4. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of Patriots
   
5. Soulcalibur IV
   
6. Valkyria Chronicles
   
7. Patapon
   
8. Red Alert 3
   
9. PixelJunk Monsters
   
10. Fracture

This year there are far more than 10 games that I could say are my top games. I would put money down that this year is much better than last year in terms of quality, originality and fun. There are only ten games listed but believe me when I say that I could type a list ten pages long full of games that I really enjoyed this year. The only regret that I have this year is that I didn't get to play too much Wii. I'm eagerly waiting for January so I can catch up on the growing back log of games and other titles I wanted to play more.

---

Flip the page for more.