Opening paragraph, "MGS4:  Guns of the Patriots was, is, and likely will forever be the single most polished, complete and well-made game of all time.  Moments such as Naomi's final heart wrenching decree, Snake's unabashed resolve in the face of death and Raiden's bone chilling self-sacrafice (to me the single most dramatic scene in gaming) won't be topped anytime soon, if ever given the current propensity to sacrifice substance for broad accessibility.  That said fantasy and platforming is where I live and nobody did it better this year than the Prince of Persia."

Top 10 Games of 2008

01  Prince of Persia --  Ubisoft Montreal /     PS3 / XBOX 360

02  Metal Gear Solid 4:  Guns of the Patriots --  Konami    PS3

03  Tomb Raider Underworld --  Crystal Dynamics /  Eidos    PS3 / XBOX 360

04  Ninja Gaiden II    --   Team Ninja /  Microsoft     XBOX 360

05  Gears of War 2    --   Epic Games  /  Microsoft    XBOX 360

06  Mirror's Edge   --    DICE  /  EA    PS3  /  XBOX 360

07  Little Big Planet  --  Media Molecule  /  SCEA    PS3

08  Wario Land:  Shake It  -- Good Feel  /  Nintendo     Wii

09  No More Heroes  -- Grasshopper Manufacture  /  Ubisoft    Wii

10  Dead Space  -- EA Redwood Shores    PS3  / XBOX 360

         Author Dave Halverson

     Play magazine February 2009 / Afro Samurai cover issue.  Volume Eight:  Issue two #86. pg. 40.

http://www.playmagazine.com

unusual list I must say

I love that guy :D And his reviews are always so nicely written. Very strange list, but so Dave xD

      In the new issue, he says Afro Samurai is amazing and gives it a glowing review.  His only quibble with it is that they cut out the sex scene.

LOL that's awesome :D I really ( I mean REALLY ) like play magazine. These guys are just so in-touch with games and they always show such passion for the industry. They all seem to have been looking forward to Afro Samurai. If you can look forward to a game they review in the way that they feel it was meant to be played, you almost can't be let down ^^

is it play magazine that dropped actually rating games? i think that's kind of messed up. i mentioned it before, but i think they should have an executive summary in the form of recommend or not.

      They want people to actually have to read the review to see if what the reviewer says about the game interests them into actually getting the game.  Their system should actually appeal to all the "The Review System is Broken" folks.

Yeah I'm in that crowd. Instead of just molding your score into values which you feel are correct, you actually have to read the review to see what they liked, how they liked it, etc etc. I just feels like a much more fleshed out review and they get much more personal with the games in my opinion :P

I've been collecting their mags since the 90's and I had my name mentioned in an issue of Gamefan in the letters column. I think it is in the Knuckles Chaotix issue. I have the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night issue of Gamefan with Alucard on the cover sitting on my dinner table right now.

i'm not against reading a full review and finding out what makes the games good, bad, etc. but, there are some games that you're not all that interested in so you don't want to read a full review to get the gist of whether you should take a second look at it.

so that's why the name is so familiar. i loved the page layouts in gamefan. i wonder what happened to nick rox.