Okay, There are probably a lot of you out there that will disagree with me as well as a lot of you that will probably agree but what i say is just my opinion and i just want to express it, even if nobody ends up caring.
My prediction for 2008 Game of the year is that it will be SUPER SMASH BROS BRAWL. Hands down and for several reasons, and i will also list the reasons why it may not get it.
The reasons why it may be GAME OF THE YEAR (in my eyes) is just the sheer size and polish of the game. I mean this game has everything anyone pretty much wanted in a SMASH BROS game, and then they threw in SNAKE! I mean the online is not the greatest but it is there, and technically here is Downloadable content in this game since we get to download a new stage daily and even upload our own. the only drawback so far to this game is that there is no voice chat and no ranked battles online. I was seriously hoping to at least Mario Strikers style online play with the rosters, but with Smash bros it would have KO, SD and Death count. Now the online may not be the greatest but the offline is superb. This is no longer simply a fighter, with the Subspace Missions it feel like there is a whole platforming game to be had, unlike in Melee where it was just tedious work that had to be done. Also the 'story' portion is finally able to be played as Multiplayer with your buddy beside you.
Now the Roster, it is one of the biggest Game rosters i have seen in a while considering each character has a completely new moveset, no more duplicates like in Melee. I mean other fighting games have huge rosters too, or at least did but they didn't have all the stuff listed above to go along with that. The Dojo site keeps updating the roster but i am certain we can expect a few more surprises along the way to open up once the game comes to store shelves that will be quite pleasing. The nice part is that even if you don't have the patience to unlock all the characters you can still use them all in ONLINE, at least that was stated by the Dojo Site. This is the exact same rule that applies to Mario Strikers. This will give people a reason to hop online as well and i do predict that this will be the most played Nintendo Wi-fi game for a while, beating out GH3. This game potentially has almost unlimited replayability to it .I mean people are still playing Melee, i know i still am and it doesn't even have half the features this game has.
Now the reason it may NOT get Game of the year. Simply the release schedule, since it is suppose to be out in March it may be forgotten by the time it comes to picking Game of the Year. Everyones hype will be on all the FALL/WINTER games and lets face it, even editors get swept up in the hype, and i may be swept up in the BRAWL hype but at least i know i won't be disappointed. The only other two reasons it may not get Game of the Year is if Metal Gear solid 4 is released. That is probably the most anticipated game for Hardcore gamers. Or GTA4 is released. But then again MGS4 will not appeal to as many people as Brawl will, i mean i'm not a huge MGS fan personally, i did play a few but i was not swept up in it, though the 4th one can probably make my eyes bleed cause it looks so nice. GTA on the other hand appeals to me but i don't have a 360 or Ps3 so i will end up playing it on the PC but also that game does not appeal to many people. And i cannot remember any of the previous GTAs winning game of the year or being a major contender for it, though i may be mistaken as i sometimes am. I mean they could do something totally awsome with the game apart from the shiny graphics that we have seen so far. The other thing with these games is they may not ship this year, GTA may but I'm unsure about MGS.
Well thats my two cents. In my eyes Brawl will be MY GAME OF THE YEAR, if the likes of GameSpot, 1UP, IGN and others want to agree with me i will gladly allow them to, if not then i will go and play my Brawl and congratulate the winners.
PS. It would be cool to have 2 Nintendo games in a row win Game of the Year. First Galaxy and now Smash, that would be awsome :-D
