Last month when we started our countdown of Variety critics' top ten games of the year, I asked Cut Scene readers to weigh in with their votes and 47 of you responded. 74 different games received votes, a wide array ranging from most of the year's most acclaimed AAA titles to some indie Web titles like "I Wish I Were the Moon" and "I Fell in Love with the Majesty of Colors," both of which received multiple votes, but didn't make the top ten.

Amongst the biggest vote getters, it was a very tight race between the top eight, with only a 30 point spread between #8 and #1 (description of how I calculated points at the bottom).

Ultimately, Cut Scene readers aren't all that different from the rest of gamers, with our top ten representing many of the most acclaimed, and best selling, titles of the year. Perhaps the only real surprises to me are "Dead Space," which got good but somewhat mixed responses, doing as well as it did; indie darling "Braid" making it well into the top ten; "LittleBigPlanet," for which we Variety critics got so much flack when we called it "overrated," scoring a somewhat distant #9; and, I'll admit, I didn't think the game at #1 would actually make it all the way to #1.

But anyway readers, I'll let you all evaluate your own choices. Here they are:

(I assigned ten points to #1 choices, nine points to #2, etc. For people who declined to rank their choices, points were distributed evenly. Games that weren't released in 2008 were disqualified, though I did allow 2007 games like "Mass Effect" and "Bioshock" that had versions released in 2008.)

Here's a convenient list of Variety's videogame critics' top ten games of 2008, along with our most disappointing and most overrated, all in one place. For full details on all our choices, read the detailed posts we've been doing for the past two weeks. And don't forget to vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.

A few interesting stats:

-The only thing all four of us agreed about: "LittleBigPlanet" as one of the year's three most most overrated videogames (Thus the not-too-unexpected barrage of comments)

-The two games listed by all four of us in different categories: "Fallout 3," on three top ten lists and one (ok, my) most overrated; "Grand Theft Auto IV," on my top ten, Leigh's most disappointing, and Tom and Chris' most overrated

-The game mentioned the most on our top ten lists: Tie between "Fallout 3," "Braid," and "No More Heroes," all listed by three of us

-If points were awarded based on our rankings, what game comes out as Variety critics' overall top choice? "Fallout 3" with 25 points, followed by "Braid" with 19 and "No More Heroes" with 15. Even if you take away a few points when one person calls a game overrated, "Fallout 3" remains number one. Which doesn't make me happy, but I know when I'm outnumbered...

Leigh Alexander

10. Midnight Club: Los Angeles
9. Chrono Trigger DS
8. Braid
7. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
6. Mega Man 9
5. PixelJunk Eden
4. No More Heroes
3. Fallout 3
2. Persona 4
1. Metal Gear Solid 4

Most disappointing: Far Cry 2, Grand Theft Auto IV
Most overrated: Professor Layton and the Curious Village, LittleBigPlanet

Tom Chick
10. The Club
9. Sacred 2
8. Multiwinia
7. Midnight Club: Los Angeles
6. Patapon
5. EndWar
4. Fallout 3
3. Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
2. Saints Row 2
1. Far Cry 2

Most disappointing: Too Human, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Haze
Most overrated: Grand Theft Auto IV, LittleBigPlanet, Braid

Chris Dahlen
10. Fable 2
9. Gears of War 2
8. Everybody Dies
7. No More Heroes
6. Rock Band 2
5. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
4. Left 4 Dead
3. The World Ends with You
2. Braid
1. Fallout 3

Most disappointing: Spore, Mirror's Edge, Fracture
Most overrated: Grand Theft Auto IV, LittleBigPlanet, Castle Crashers

Ben Fritz
10. Metal Gear Solid 4
9. Grand Theft Auto IV
8. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
7. No More Heroes
6. World of Goo
5. de Blob
4. Braid
3. Fable 2
2. Left 4 Dead
1. Boom Blox

Most disappointing: Wii Music, Wall-E, Spore
Most overrated: Fallout 3, LittleBigPlanet, Patapon

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Drumroll, please, as we present our picks for the #1 best game released in 2008. A first-person shooter, an RPG, a casual family game and a stealth actioner with 30 minute-plus cutscenes. An original, a "2," a "3," and a "4." Two American games, a French Canadian game and a Japanese game. A PS3 exclusive, a Wii exclusive, and two multi-platformers. Two unqualified hits and two moderate sellers. I'd say this is a pretty diverse and interesting set of choices...

Tom Chick

Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Montreal)

Of all the places I went this year without leaving my house, "Far Cry 2's" lush African countryside was my favorite, and not just because these are currently the best graphics I've ever seen. Here is a game that breathes without breathing down my neck. It's not afraid to let me roam without making the gameplay equivalent of idle chit-chat. With its emphasis on an interface-free interface, it does a tremendous job getting out of my way (in this respect, it is the anti-"Fallout 3") and letting me just be here. If Terence Malick were to make a videogame, it would be "Far Cry 2." And when things happen, they happen dramatically and dynamically. There's a glorious sense of spontaneity in the way the shooting erupts, unfolds, progresses. I almost never feel that these firefights were built by the developers. In fact, I almost never feel that about any of the moments in "Far Cry 2." These moments are mine. Some games unfold. Others are revealed. Some are like thrill rides. Others are like  playgrounds. But "Far Cry 2" is a beautiful place where amazing things simply happen. 

Chris Dahlen

Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks / Bethesda)

I could go on about each of the core elements the game got right – that it was so much more than "Oblivion" with shotguns, that even the escort missions were fun, and that the sight of the Chinese army invading a ‘50s "Leave it to Beaver" cul-de-sac will stay with me for years to come. But the single reason I loved "Fallout 3" was that I never knew what was around the next corner.

Ben Fritz

Boom Blox (EA / EA Casual)

The first great game for the Wii that would only work for the Wii is also the most surprisingly deep, universally accessible, and  unyieldingly enjoyable videogame of 2008. Using the Wii-mote to play with blocks seems like the most obvious concept in the world (no offense, Mr. Spielberg), but the development team at EALA crafted an experience so rich that I’ve enjoyed it with non-gamers, with hardcore gamer friends, with kids, and by myself late into the night. The diverse array of challenges and huge number of levels stands as proof that “casual” and “core” are not mutually exclusive. “Boom Blox” is the videogame that demonstrates, truly, we all can play together.

Leigh Alexander

Metal Gear Solid 4 (Konami / Kojima Prods.)

Simultaneously one of the highest-rated and most controversial titles of the year, it polarized its audience. Sure, there were those who loved the game's uncontested technical polish and the most sophisticated implementation yet seen of the franchise's stealth mechanics -- but much of the discussion revolved around the merit (or lack thereof) of Hideo Kojima's self-indulgent directorial style and the game's long periods of non-interactivity badly in need of an editor.
 
But a brilliant director who's overambitious is essential to a medium long constrained by narrative status quo, risk aversion and repetition. Look closely at the subtleties of "Metal Gear Solid 4's" brilliant postmodernism -- underneath the overt sprawl lies an exercise in stunning elegance whose largest failing was that it imposed itself on an audience that prefers a different format.

And that's a wrap. I'll provide a convenient summary of all four of our top ten lists in a post later today. Don't forget to cast your votes for the top games of the year here.

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

These are not games we thought were bad, or even disappointing. They're the videogames that Variety's critics found fell the shortest of what most other critics and/or the public thought. It also, interestingly, the only category in this whole process in which all four of us agree about a game.

Chris Dahlen

Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar / Rockstar North)

It’s a lie to say that sandbox games let the player “do anything they want”; they still have an underlying vision, as we saw in "Fallout 3." So what’s "GTA IV’s" vision? That the American Dream ain’t perfect? That consumerism infects our lives? That talk radio lies to us? This is dimestore cynicism. It’s easy to admire the parts – the drunk effects, the jazz fusion station, the consistently interesting mission design, the Ricky Gervais cameo, and the way the cars go so much faster when you hit the highlife. But the sum ain’t there.

LittleBigPlanet (Sony / Media Molecule)

A niche game for budding game designers, disguised as an all-ages, endless dreamscape. And here’s a question: why do the games that bet big on user-generated content consistently expect users to dive into specialized skills such as platformer level design, puzzlecrafting, or 3-D modeling, when the two types of content that real life people actually put on the web – text, and photographs – are neglected?

Castle Crashers (The Behemoth)

It’s not like me to bash an indie. But "Castle Crashers’" single-player campaign was repetitive and undistinguished, and four-player co-op was good for maybe an hour – an hour that’s now better spent with "Left4Dead."

Ben Fritz

Fallout 3 ( Bethesda Softworks / Bethesda)

When fans rattle off all the awesome things they saw and did in “Fallout 3,” I can hardly argue. But I don’t understand why all the tedious, old-fashioned RPG tasks in between don’t bother them more. Whether I’m agonizing over how to distribute all my points and perks after finding out I made a bunch of bad choices the last time I leveled up, working through a dialogue tree with one of the information repositories known as “people,” struggling with the mediocre combat, or just trying to find the stuff I need so I can move on, 80% of “Fallout 3” is a slog to get to the 20% that’s actually worth experiencing.

LittleBigPlanet (Sony / Media Molecule)

The ultimate problem with “LittleBigPlanet” is that it’s impressive, but nothing more. Wow, sackboy is cute. Damn, those level-building tools are remarkably easy to use. Holy cow, that user created level looks just like a working calculator / a lamborghini / “Duck Hunt” / “God of War.” But there’s nothing remotely engaging about the experience, unless you’re in that small minority with dozens of hours to kill and the desire to make an awesome platforming level.

Patapon (Sony / Sony)

The fact that you push four buttons to a beat and everything's really cute doesn't make up for the fact that this is a painfully simple RTS with absolutely no substance.

Leigh Alexander

Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo / Level 5)

Why are charming little animations an excuse to glorify the sort of dull school workbook designed expressly to validate Mensa wannabes?

LittleBigPlanet (Sony / Media Molecule)

It's adorable, I'm heartened by the vision behind it and couldn't be more impressed with Media Molecule and its beautiful execution. But at the end of the day, I'm a fan of video games because I want the professionals to make them for me. I don't want to make video games, I don't really care what my "friends from the Internet" have made, and I often wonder how many people really do care -- and how many people just leapt on board the bandwagon of positive sentiment surrounding an effort they admired. 

Tom Chick

Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar / Rockstar North)

One of the most amazing realizations of a real-world-ish place and one of my favorite games this year. Also the setting for a poorly told
story and uninspired gameplay, and the subject of a system-shattering
PC port.

LittleBigPlanet (Sony / Media Molecule)

Awesome graphics! And those little sack people are so cute I could just eat them up! Now where's the game? 

Braid (Number None)

This is not a game that moves and it's not very accessible. You need to have a stomach for old-school platformers and mental brick walls. Which is a shame, because the place Braid eventually goes is sublime.

Coming Monday morning: The best videogame(s) of 2008

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Ben Fritz

Left 4 Dead (Valve and EA / Valve)

For those of us who thought Epic, Bungie and Insomniac had taken multi-player action as far as it could go, Valve delivered a genuine paradigm shift. Every single element of “Left 4 Dead,” from the level design to the resource distribution to the menus to the integration of zombie movie tropes to the dynamic A.I. not only encourages, but compels cooperative gameplay. They also make it the most genuinely scary interactive experience of 2008, because you never know what's coming next and whether your team has the guts to survive.

After dozens of successful online campaigns, however, "Left 4 Dead's" most lasting impact on me is its demonstration that great videogame design can overcome even that most intractable of foes: the Xbox Live asshole.

Leigh Alexander

Persona 4 (Atlus / Atlus)

This was the year that the industry seemed increasingly willing to back-shelve traditional Japanese mechanics and genres -- but as it did last year, the "Persona" series proves it's way too early to call the Japanese RPG a relic. "Persona 4" adapts to modern, fashionable visual and music just as deftly as it updates staid, conventional game mechanics. But it's most broadly impressive for its poignant cultural subtext and commentary on interpersonal relations -- markedly adult, even while it's all wrapped in a widely-accessible high school hipster story.

Tom Chick

Saints Row 2 (THQ / Volition)

This is the paragon of open-world city-havoc sandboxes. It's a pitch-perfect example of a game that accomplishes exactly what it intends to accomplish. It's crass and generous and spectacular, stuffed with stuff to do, usually involving the liberal application of chaos. Like the first "Saints Row," it out-"Grand Theft Autos" the best of them: "Mercenaries," "The Godfather," "Scarface," "Bully," "Grand Theft Auto" itself, and even "Crackdown." If there is a better realized vision of a city as a massive free-wheeling incendiary playground, I haven't seen it. And the fact that I can play almost every corner of "Saints Row 2" cooperatively is almost obscene. Really, Volition? You're going to go that far above the competition? That's just showboating.

Chris Dahlen

Braid (Number None)

Jonathan Blow's long-awaited debut had a nice window in late August to get critics’ and fans’ attention - most famously, Soulja Boy. It has passionate advocates, myself included, yet I wonder if we’re outweighed by the players who made fun of the writing or grew frustrated with the platforming. Blow has objected to people who criticize the game for what it's not, rather than taking it for what it is - and in my experience, "Braid" is an elegant, brilliantly-designed puzzle game where each problem has an exquisite "ah-ha" solution, and the story that started out so sweetly turns troubling and confusing by the epilogue. Is Blow ultimately full of shit, as his detractors (and blogosphere sparring partners) claim? A prize goes to the critic who can get far enough ahead of him to prove it.

Coming Friday: The most overrated videogames of 2008.

Coming Monday: The best videogame(s) of 2008

Coming tomorrow: Most of you will have too much of a hangover to read this blog anyway

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Leigh Alexander

Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks / Bethesda)

It's more of a prototype for the wholly-lifelike game experience than a perfect execution thereof, but no coin's ever landed this close to the cup. The expansive rendition of a post-apocalyptic Washington is both breathtaking and unsettling, a wide-open nuclear playground that offers a decidedly overwhelming array of options for how it's to be experienced. It's dark and exhausting, but the sense of discovery and the opportunity to mark each fallout-dusted stretch of land with the footprints of choices invoke an almost giddy delirium.

Tom Chick

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (Microsoft / Rare)

Forget "Lego [Insert Popular License With Geek Appeal]." This is the best Lego game I've ever played. Never mind that it doesn't have the Lego license. That's Lego's loss. As I explore this colorful world built for exploring, gathering bits and parts along the way, "Nuts & Bolts" appeals to a unique compulsion that most games can't touch: the desire to engineer stuff. Not just make stuff. Lots of games are doing a great job letting me make stuff. The "Boom Blox" toy box, the map maker in "Far Cry 2," and the video editor in the PC version of "Grand Theft Auto IV" are all wonderfully accessible studios in which I can build something, consider it, and then ask myself, "Um, now what?" But the things I create in "Nuts & Bolts," the cars and airplanes and submersible attack ships, have immediate gameplay value in this colorful world. These are the vehicles I use to tackle various challenges: go this fast, jump this high, carry this doo-dad there, run this course, and so on. And I'm even free to break many of these challenges by outbuilding them instead of outplaying them. That's freedom: the ability to foil the developers themselves.

Chris Dahlen

The World Ends With You (Squre Enix / Square Enix)

I've heard from diehard Japanese RPG fans who say this didn't knock their socks off. Maybe I'm just not tired of angsty spikey-haired adolescents grinding their skills and saving the world. Or maybe I adored the game's winningly emo dialogue and its fantastic sense of place, from the ramen stand to Shibuya’s mythical phone booth of love.  “Any tree can drop an apple. I’ll drop the freakin’ moon.”

Ben Fritz

Fable 2 (Microsoft / Lionhead)

“GTA” and its legion of imitators have made physical sandboxes old hat, but “Fable 2” is the first successful societal sandbox. No videogame world has ever felt quite so alive or so full of consequences. A brilliantly accessible but rich combat system makes “Fable 2’s” quests a joy, but it’s the awareness that you’re fighting for something deeper – whether it’s new houses for all three of your spouses, a fierce reputation so people will cower everywhere you go, or revenge on the villain who killed your sister so many decades ago – that makes the experience matter.

Coming tomorrow morning: The second best videogame(s) of 2008.

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Tom Chick

Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks / Bethesda)

I didn't do this intentionally, but once I'd arranged my list I realized that my top four games of 2008 are all powerfully imagined and skillfully created open worlds, with rock-solid infrastructures of good gameplay and an unwavering emphasis on freedom. Here are almost unprecedented juxtapositions of developer creativity and player freedom ("Grand Theft Auto IV" would have belonged among this rare company if Rockstar had either written a better story or designed a better game). "Fallout 3" is the most contrived of the four, proceeding apace along the usual RPG trappings like dialogue trees, fussy interface muckery, and occasionally clunky world building. But it's an unforgettably bleak and epic experience, brave enough to be barren and gray, but crammed with stories, vignettes, characters, and sights. Some fans of the "Fallout" series were worried that it would be "Oblivion" with guns. "Oblivion" should be so lucky.

Chris Dahlen

Left 4 Dead (Valve and EA / Valve)

The brilliance of "Left 4 Dead’s" co-operative play lies in the way that even strangers learn to work as a team, knowing their survival is at stake.  And if you play with friends, you get a rare chance to see their true character come through. I never get sick of reading about people's experiences in the game – Daniel Purvis’ tale of cowardice under pressure is my favorite - because the same few elements can afflict you in so many ways. Sort of like browsing old chess games, with a much, much scarier queen. 

Ben Fritz

Braid (Number None)

If nothing else, “Braid” entranced me with a quality I never knew videogames could possess: relaxation. Spending hours pondering, experimenting, and rewinding time while figuring out brain-bending puzzles to the tune of a wistful cello solo and the sight of swirling watercolors was a wholly unique and utterly invigorating experience. Themes of loss, regret, and forgiveness are subtly woven and then masterfully brought home, even if the epilogue is unbearably pretentious.

Leigh Alexander

No More Heroes (Marvelous and Ubisoft / Grasshopper Manufacture)

It's shamelessly bizarre, heavy-handed, clunky and incisively brilliant from beginning to end, a loving send-up of the very gamer culture that eats up the deprecating self-references with glee. Little moments of genius abound: the actually joyous use of the Wii's controls, the necessity of playing an entire stage hanging upside down from one's couch, and the population of villains who, given only brief cameos, seem more exciting and fully-realized than all of the grave animated robots we've been fed all year.

Coming tomorrow morning: The third best videogame(s) of 2008.

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Chris Dahlen

Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo / Level 5)

I love solving puzzles. I love being patted on the head when I get one right. And I love a game that will give me little, helpful hints but never hand me the answer, no matter how much I beg.

Ben Fritz

de Blob (THQ / Blue Tongue)

This unlikely translation of a Dutch student project into a AAA American release is the most unjustly overlooked videogame of the year, both critically and commercially. Its embrace of color and music over gray monotony may be simple, but it’s the infusion of those aesthetics into the gameplay, so that the visual and aural richness of the world grows along with the player’s progress, that makes “de Blob” so impressive and infectious.

Leigh Alexander

PixelJunk Eden (Sony / Q Games)

Quickly glance at its undulating colors, ambient techno and iconic floral design (which I wholly believe is ripped off in the graphic design for some current Sears ads) and it's easy to dismiss "PixelJunk Eden" as an "art" game. In fact, it's deceptively accessible in its simplicity, sometimes deliciously frustrating, and often luminously trance-inducing. Its taut design subtly graduates the player into ever more expansive challenges and provides a real sense of growth and unfurling along the way.

Tom Chick

EndWar (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Shanghai)

Okay, I'm going to get wonky here. "EndWar" is not your normal real time strategy game, and not just because it finally cracks the code for how to play an RTS on a console system (The key? Voice commands!). "EndWar" is a gamble. In fact, I think it misreads the appeal of the genre. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if this turned out to be a commercial fiasco for Ubisoft. But that's what you risk when you cannily rework how real time strategy games play. "EndWar" is about moving pieces on a board and psyching out your opponent. It's about knowing when to push and when to give. It's about carefully upgrading your units over the course of a perhaps too dynamic campaign. This is one of the most subversive game designs of the year for how it takes the fussy action movie motif of a typical RTS and recasts it as an elegant European board game. If Reiner Knizia made RTSs, this is the one he'd make. See, I told you I was going to get wonky.

Coming this afternoon: The fourth best videogame(s) of 2008.

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

"Most disappointing" does not necessarily mean the worst (after all, we don't want to shower Brash with too many prizes). Rather, these are the games that Variety's critics believe fell the furthest short of our expectations and their potential.

Ben Fritz

Wii Music (Nintendo / Nintendo)

Finally, an accessible social videogame that uses peripherals to let anyone play music. Oh wait, I’m thinking of “Guitar Hero. And “Rock Band.” And even “Ultimate Band.” "Wii Music" is an unnecessary, cacophonous mess of a game (if it even is one, not that it matters) in which most attempts at making music sound worse than an elementary school orchestra. Though I can’t say I’ll ever forget the David Lynch-esque experience of watching a cheerleader, a sitar player, and a man in a dog suit performing “Daydream Believer.”

Wall-E (THQ / Heavy Iron)

To a certain extent, this choice is a stand-in for the many lame licensed titles (“Lost: Via Domus,” “Iron Man,” everything from Brash, and on and on) that show Hollywood and game publishers still don’t really have their act together. But “Wall-E” was the most disappointing of them all because it took source material overflowing with romantic spirit and devolved it into a product so unimaginative and formulaic (Wall-E shooting a gun? Really?) it could have come straight from the film’s corporate overlords at Buy n Large.

Spore (EA / Maxis)

Perhaps I didn’t read the marketing materials right, but wasn’t "Spore" supposed to be about evolution? Nothing in this awkward mash-up of “flow,” “Civilization,” and a space rpg resembles real physical or cultural evolution, in which inherited traits and competition inescapably define a species’ fate. The irony is that the “creature creator,” which EA released for free a few months early to whet gamers’ appetite, is far and away the best part of this disappointing package.

Leigh Alexander

Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Montreal)

So gorgeous, so technically excellent, so intriguing at first -- which makes it especially crushing that under all that richly-realized Africa is yet another first-person shooter, and endless litanies of the same ambush mission over and over.

Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar / Rockstar North)

In many ways, it's the wildest and most poignant video game ever made -- but in most ways, it's over-weighted, illogical and emotionally manipulative, so that its ploddingly earnest storyline, its precious character tropes and its over-pretension nearly suffocate its fun and sharp cleverness

Tom Chick

Too Human (Microsoft / Silicon Knights)

Although it's an action RPG that misses the point of action RPGs, it's one of the year's only games about cyber-Vikings.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts / LucasArts)

Great story. Shame about the game. 

Haze (Ubisoft / Free Radical)

The guys who made "Goldeneye" and "Timesplitters" have come to this?

Chris Dahlen

Spore (EA / Maxis)

Like everybody, I read all the advance hype for the game. And I don’t think my disappointment in the final release stems from backlash, so much as confusion: playing through one full campaign and a couple restarts, I never felt like I saw the point, never had an intuitive understanding of any of the decisions I was making, never felt the urge to go back and try a different path, and never believed that the three key parts of the game - play, create, and share - worked together in any but the most simplistic ways. Instead of revolutionizing user generated content, it trivialized it: Yes, your hermaphrodite alligator man has very spiky eyebrows, but if they don’t impact gameplay, who cares?

Mirror's Edge (EA / Dice)

" Mirror’s Edge" frustrated and annoyed a lot of players. Its soothing aesthetic didn’t match its difficulty: imagine trying to play a game of "Rock Band," except the song stops cold every time you miss a note. Combat should’ve been truly optional, and the cheapest deaths should’ve been caught in playtesting. And yet in spite of it all, I keep coming back to it – for the almost sensual pleasures of sliding down a sheer glass wall or riding the top of a subway train, or feeling the “oomph” as Faith slings herself over yet another ledge. 

Fracture (LucasArts / Day 1 Studios)

...and a dozen other shooters with high production values, elaborate cinematics, ample headshots, and nothing else to offer. I slogged through a lot of these this year, but "Fracture" saw the biggest boost from LucasArts and the most hype for its supposedly innovative “make a pile of dirt almost anywhere you want” mechanic. So I’ll honor it as one of the year’s highest-profile duds.

Coming Monday morning: The fifth best videogame(s) of 2008

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Leigh Alexander

Mega Man 9 (Capcom / Inti Creates)

In today's era of blisteringly sharp next-gen, why on earth would Capcom ape the NES era -- staticky scan lines, brutal difficulty and all? Because, given that today's audience endlessly compares new franchise installments to their rosy memories of ancient predecessors, it's a damn great idea to just give them what they want. "Mega Man 9" reminded most players what a feat it was that they fell in love with such a punishing medium, re-instilled the youthful love of frustration -- and beyond nostalgia, actually managed to show off some of the best level design the series has ever seen.

Tom Chick

Patapon (Sony / Pyramid)

No game this year that had me grinning as consistently as I grin when I play "Patapon." I love these little guys, and in return, they love me. They dance and sing for me. They talk to me. As I drum them their rhythm, which is really all the gameplay there is here, their little eyes roll around. They jump and sway. They charge forward. The colorful sky fills with their arrows. I feel terrible as they're stamped into the ground or stabbed by evil patapons. I consider which one gets which hat and which sword. I dole out horses carefully. Did I mention that I love these little guys? The simple fact about "Patapon" is that it makes me happy. Not since "Katamari Damacy" has a game been so purely and simply joyous.

Chris Dahlen

Rock Band 2 (MTV and EA / Harmonix)

A strong platform saw key improvements. The single-player band mode made it easier for me to play alone; the no-fail mode and freestyle drum trainer made the game accessible to my three-year-old. (Who doesn’t dream that their kid will grow up to be a drummer?) And the addition of hipster essentials like "Mission of Burma" to the music store proves yet again that Harmonix is staffed by genuine, signed-in-blood rock snobs – just the way I like ‘em.

Ben Fritz

World of Goo (Various / 2D Boy)

Plenty of games nailed “cute” this year, but “World of Goo” dismisses that for something much harder to achieve: atmosphere. A simple building mechanic is tied to an impressively diverse set of puzzles, making this a game worth playing even if it was set against a blank white wall. But its the sinister music, the off kilter designs and those disturbing notes from “the sign painter” that bring to mind the delectably unlikely influence of “Edward Scissorhands.” Who knew little green balls of goo could be so creepy?

Coming Friday: The most disappointing videogames of 2008

Coming Monday morning: The fifth best videogame(s) of 2008

Coming tomorrow: Christmas.

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Tom Chick

Midnight Club: Los Angeles (Rockstar / Rockstar San Diego)

It's not a good year for videogaming without an almost perfect racing title lighting up the room. "Midnight Club: Los Angeles" is this year's belle of the ball, with its crowded and evocative Los Angeles-a-like serving as a shrewdly crafted rumpus room for the same great driving physics that graced "Grand Theft Auto IV," but this time with better AI in the other cars. No one does traffic like Rockstar, bless their city-building hearts. But this next-gen "Midnight Club" will really ruin other racing games for you once you see how well it plays by actually looking at the world instead of a minimap. Not since "Forza" invented a color-coded gravity indicator (really!) has a driving game so successfully put you in the driver's seat instead of behind a TV screen.

Chris Dahlen

No More Heroes (Marvelous and Ubisoft / Grasshopper Manufacture)

Probably the roughest and least accessible game on my list, "No More Heroes" succeeds because of the way its story explores one of pop culture’s best lies - namely, that an average schmuck can become a winner through doggedness and hard labor, whether it’s pumping gas and cleaning trash, or spending half an hour wearing down a lolita with a lethal baseball bat. And the fact that after all that, Travis Touchdown remains a schmuck, is the perfect kicker. 

Ben Fritz

No More Heroes (Marvelous and Ubisoft / Grasshopper Manufacture)

The first action game to successfully embrace the Wii from the ground up, rather than jamming in something that works 100 times better on a PS3 or 360. The swordplay and wrestling are a bloody good time and the villians are over-the-top awesome. But “No More Heroes” really stands out for the way it overflows with style tailor-made for its audience, giving gamers the ultra-violent, retro, bombastic, hilarious fantasy life they never knew they wanted. It’s “The Last Starfighter” for otaku.

Leigh Alexander

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (Konami / Konami)

Though "Castlevania" creator Koji Igarashi persists, in the face of fan pleas to the contrary, in pursuing the franchise in 3D and on next-gen consoles, the long-running series continues to shine on the DS. There, its jaw-droppingly complex and artful 2D sprites can take center stage, while the stylus controls make for intuitive mechanics that don't try to overhaul the basics. Previous DS "Castlevania" titles have excelled, but "Order of Ecclesia" combines a lovely heroine, environments as variegated as they are visually captivating, and the smashing new "Glyph" game system for what feels like the series' richest and most challenging entry since the classic "Symphony of the Night."

Coming tomorrow morning: The sixth best videogame(s) of 2008

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Chris Dahlen

Everybody Dies (Jim Munroe and Michael Cho)

The best-written games this year worked in plain old text: the winners of the Interactive Fiction Competition, the ultra-profane meta-Internet game "ForumWarz," and the fascinating one-move game "Aisle," all provided gripping scripts and memorable characters. It took time to settle on "Everybody Dies" as my favorite. A surreal story set in a mundane suburb outside Toronto, it’s told from the perspective of three memorable characters, one of whom introduced me to the phrase “Moustache Brotherhood.”

Ben Fritz

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts / LucasArts)

I know, I know, the controls are a little wonky and that star destroyer sequence should be grounds for a class action lawsuit against LucasArts. But by giving us the power to throw objects with our minds, shoot lightning from our fingers, and generally tear sh*t up with a lightsaber, “The Force Unleashed” successful merges “God of War”-esque action with the childhood dreams of every red blooded American geek. Add a story that puts all other videogames in 2008, not to mention Lucas’ last three films, to shame and you’ve got a game that more than overcomes its flaws. 

Leigh Alexander

Braid (Number None)

Much discussion surrounded "Braid"'s decidedly opaque narrative, and the blogosphere still wonders what the ending was "about." "It's art," many decided; "It means what you want it to mean." And it was definitely thought-provoking, admirably so. Yet, perhaps ironically, the greatest thing about the year's indie ambassador to profundity in games was the actuality of its stellar time-bending, brain-teasing gameplay. Puzzles that looked infuriatingly simple were truly meaty, and "Braid"'s transcendence was assisted not by its obfuscated "meaning," but by its perfectly-chosen music and arresting, dreamlike art style.

Tom Chick

Multiwinia (Introversion)

"Multiwinia" is one of the year's most subversive real time strategy games (the more subversive one is later in my list). It's also the most visually stunning, but not for the reason that real time strategy games are usually visually stunning (see "Red Alert 3" for the worst case example of that). As they did with Defcon, developer Introversion demonstrates game design at its most economical, with muscular gameplay, perfect pacing, and ice-cool haunting production design.

Coming this afternoon: The seventh best videogame(s) of 2008

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Ben Fritz

Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar / Rockstar North)

Liberty City is awe inspiring not only for its beauty, but its subtle rhythms and sharply drawn, often hilarious denizens. Despite it’s massive scope, “GTA IV” is an intimate affair that slowly opens itself up as the player, much like Niko Bellic, discovers how exhilarating, disheartening, and up-for-grabs the American dream is. If only Rockstar had figured out how to integrate open world mayhem with a tightly structured story, it could have been a truly great game.

Leigh Alexander

Chrono-Trigger DS (Square Enix / Square Enix)

Is it cheating to rank a remake among the year's top ten? Not when it's quite this good. It's true that the original SNES game, widely regarded as one of the best RPGs ever developed, didn't need too much in the way of an improvement -- but this edition's subtly optimized for the DS, wisely allows purists to play with classic controls, and through a cleaner, more naturalistic localization, proves itself an absolute must-have for old fans and new-audiences alike. Welcome back, champion. 

Tom Chick

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (CDV / Ascaron)

Probably the most perfect embodiment of the mindless joy of a good action RPG. It's all about the loot and the leveling. The wild battles along the way and the lovely graphics are fine, too. But it's all about the loot and the leveling. Mostly the leveling. 200 levels of leveling, every one of them a lovely dilemma for how to spend your skill points. Still, the loot is pretty nice. It wasn't a good year for action RPGs. "Space Siege" and "Too Human," both showed up by the no-budget indie "Depths of Peril?" Then "Sacred 2" came out and showed us how it's done.

Chris Dahlen

Gears of War 2 (Microsoft / Epic)

Yes, the story's a mess, the canon is simplistic yet obtuse, the small tactical firefights that made the first one so replayable are missing, and it's also kind of easy. But "Gears of War 2" crept onto my list thanks to about a dozen amusement park-style spectacles that took my breath away - like the gunboat flume ride on an underwater river, or the spectacular reaver race across the open plains, or the chance to ride a brumack - which for the uninitiated, is a little like hanging off the back of Godzilla and making him kill everybody. This is how you thrill.

Coming tomorrow morning: The eighth best videogame(s) of 2008

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Leigh Alexander

Midnight Club: Los Angeles (Rockstar / Rockstar San Diego)

A car game that even a reviewer who hates car games can love. Its graphical dazzle is as glitzy as the world of West Coast street racing it portrays with the satirical disdain that serves as developer Rockstar's hallmark. The technically impressive in-game transition from a realistic Los Angeles to an overhead map lit with linking lights is one of the year's coolest special effects, and the point system for passing races is welcome and friendly for players not quite so bad-ass as their gleaming, fully customizable car might indicate. Energizing, enervating and infinitely replayable.

Tom Chick

The Club (Sega / Bizarre Creations)

As a commercially successful game, "The Club" was doomed. A shooter based on replaying the same levels to see if you can improve your score? But consider that it was from a developer known for the Project Gotham Batman-less racing games (a game based on driving the same route to see if you can improve your time?). And consider this is also the developer of the maddeningly addictive score-based compulsion of "Geometry Wars" games (it's all in the multiplier, baby!). Now it clicks. And by "clicks", I mean it slides into place with the decisive ka-thunk of chambering a new shell in a shotgun. Bizarre  Creations has taken what they know and managed to create something I haven't seen in a very long time: a shooter that's unlike any other shooter I've ever played.

Chris Dahlen

Fable 2 (Microsoft / Lionhead)

I went back and forth on whether to list this. On the one hand, while I was playing this game, there was nothing else in the world I’d rather have been doing. Bartending is my mini-game of the year; the real estate feature made "Fable II" an ideal dollhouse for grown-ups. At the same time, the story was underwhelming, and only one of the characters had three-dimensions – and it wasn’t the player. Or the dog. I felt like the entire game was just setup for the Big, Important Choice at the end, and while the choice was haunting, I wound up feeling played.

Ben Fritz

Metal Gear Solid 4 (Konami / Kojima Prods.)

Based on everything I read, I thought I’d need earn a PhD in Kojima Studies to even remotely enjoy this game. But it turns out “MGS 4” has loads to offer anyone who appreciates an uncompromised directorial vision and expertly crafted stealth gameplay. Sure, the overwrought cutsenes are as creaky as Snake’s knees, but just like its hero, “Metal Gear Solid 4” unapologetically holds onto its old school values and proves they’re not quite as irrelevant as those in thrall of the new would like to think.

Coming today at noon: The ninth best videogame(s) of 2008

With Variety's top ten games of the year countdown starting Monday (details here), I just wanted to drop a brief post with the "important" games (defined as ones we think we probably should have played) that Variety's critics didn't play, or didn't play enough of to include in the list. Nobody has infinite time, so there are inevitably at least a few games we don't get around to. So if you love one of the games below and don't see it on that respective critic's list, don't get mad. We all do have a little bit of a life beyond videogames.

(Note: None of us are really sports games people, nor are we "World of Warcraft" people. So just give us a blanket exemption on everything athletics related, as well as "Lich King.")

Leigh Alexander
Fable 2, Left 4 Dead

Tom Chick
Army of Two, Mirror's Edge, Persona 4, World of Goo.

Chris Dahlen
Metal Gear Solid 4, Persona 4, Saints Row 2, Warhammer Online

Ben Fritz
Burnout: Paradise, Midnight Club: LA, Professor Layton, Resistance 2, Saints Row 2, Yakuza 2

Coming Monday morning: The tenth best videogame(s) of 2008

I know Cut Scene readers aren't always the most prolific commenters. We've got thousands of readers per day, so it's not a problem of traffic, but I'm guessing it's because many of you are busy professionals, not loud mouthed fanboys. Given the substance of our comments, though, we've definitely got quality over most videogame blogs' quantity.

As I just described, Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and I will be counting down our top 10 games of the year, along with our most overrated and most disappointing, for the next two weeks on this blog. At the end of the process, I'd also love to announce the Cut Scene readers' top games of the year (and possibly most overrated and/or disappointing, if y'all are into that as well).

Here's how it works: Leave a comment with your favorite videogames of the year. They can be console, mobile, Web, downloadable, whatever. Vote for up to 10. If you don't have 10, no worries. Anywhere between one and 10 is fine. If you're got an opinion about the most overrated (meaning it may have been good, but not as good as most reviewers and fans thought) and/or disappointing (not the absolute worst, but the worst compared to what the game could have and should have been), feel free to list up to three votes in each of those categories as well. No explanatations are necessary, though they are of course welcome.

Voting closes the night of January 5. Then I'll calculate the votes (assigning ten points for a #1 vote, 9 points for #2, etc.) and announce the winners. But only if we get a decent number of votes (ten or so, but hopefully a lot more). So make your voice heard, because I'm willing to bet that Cut Scene readers will have make more interesting choices than any of the enthusiast sites.

With the end of the year upon us, I thought it would be fun for Variety to round up the best games of the year, as well as the most disappointing and the most overrated. But rather than just drop the list all at once, we'll be counting down day-by-day (taking breaks on the holidays and some weekends), leading up to the #1 game on or around January 5th. And I'll interrupt the countdown twice along the way, once to list the most overrated games, and again the most disappointing.

But really, how interesting is my opinion on its own? So I've invited Variety's trio of insightful, talented and attractive freelance reviewers -- Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick and Chris Dahlen -- to join me in the summary (actually only two of them are attractive, but I'm not naming names). With each post, you'll get four opinions, usually contrasting, but hopefully always interesting.

Of course, anyone's definition of a "top ten" is debatable. The best games of the year? The most personally impactful? The ones that stay with us? The ones we can't stop talking about? For each of us it's a little different, but in general, all four of us have discussed our choices as personal ones that stuck with us or stayed with us or excited us. Not necessarily the best executed games, or the biggest, or the most impressive.

I'm also going to be soliciting your votes for a Cut Scene readership favorite games of the year. Look for that post momentarily.