GOTY 2008: Handheld Games

Handheld gaming had a mixed year in 2008. On one hand, we had epic releases like God of War: Chains of Olympus and Ninja Gaiden Dual Swords, and on the other hand, we saw a very weak holiday release line-up on both the consoles (PSP and Nintendo DS). The surprise element was the release of the Nintendo DSi and the PSP 3000 — both redesigns of the same hardware with notable ‘improvements’.

Still, as the tradition goes. Even from the few AAA releases this year, we’ll pick out the best games worth playing among both the handheld consoles this year.

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Action
God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)

As if you didn’t expect this one! Kratos and his awe-inspiring action was faithfully delivered to the Sony PSP, keeping all the mayhem and zero load times intact. Many looked at the announcement of God of War for the PSP in disbelief — how would a game that pushed the PS2 to its limits in graphical performance, look and play on the humble PSP. Surely enough, the game delivered on both the fronts, making it to the top of our portable action games list this year.

Runners-Up:
Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (Nintendo DS)
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Nintendo DS)

Shooter
Call of Duty: World at War (Nintendo DS)

N-Space wowed us last year by delivering a game like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare successfully to the Nintendo DS, keeping some of the key moments from the game intact. This year, they gave us an encore with Call of Duty: World at War.

The best part about these games is that they don’t try to compete with their home console counterparts by trying to recreate the same scenarios. Instead, they take a parallel story of another troop/battalion during the same missions that you may have seen in the console versions. This creates a fresh experience for the player, while retaining the game’s original flavor.

Runner-Up:
Space Invaders Extreme (PSP, Nintendo DS)

Racing
GRID (Nintendo DS)

I’m probably going to get flamed for this, but WipEout Pure on the PSP did nothing new for me. It seemed like an add-on to the earlier released, WipEout Pulse and that got real old, real fast for me. GRID, on the other hand brought a whole lot to the table, which made it the most fun racer on the DS since Mario Kart.

It’s usually rare for a racing game to make the most of the available hardware on the DS, and it’s even rarer for it to use the available features on the console effectively. GRID not only gave you an in-depth racing game, but also guaranteed longevity of the title by adding multiplayer and an effective create-a-track option.

Runner-Up:
WipEout Pure (PSP)
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PlatformPatapon
(PSP)

There was a bit of a confusion about the genre of this one. It’s not exactly music, since the premise is not broad enough. It’s not even an action game, as the action is carried off using the beats as orders. In the end, we had to settle for a side-scrolling adventure, which makes platform the best genre for it.

Patapon is definitely one of the most unique games we’ve seen this year. The idea of using “Pata” and “Pon” beats to play through a whole game may seem pointless and repetitive on paper, but in implementation, it turned out to be one of the most fun games of 2008.

Runners-Up:
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (Nintendo DS)
N+ (PSP, Nintendo DS)

PuzzleDownstream Panic
(PSP)

2008 was a great year for puzzle/arcade games, but unfortunately very few of them actually came to the handheld consoles. That said, Downstream Panic! caught me completely by surprise, as I had no expectations of the game being even remotely as engaging as it turned out to be.

The simple idea of moving fish down the stream may seem a bit like what Lemmings had originally started years ago, but the implementation of the idea was fresh enough to keep you playing through this game anyway. I definitely hope for a sequel to this one.

Runner-Up:
Soul Bubbles (Nintendo DS)

Music
Guitar Hero On Tour (Nintendo DS)

I would have hated the game if it was done without the extra palm attachment, which made the controls as close to the home console version of Guitar Hero as possible. Sure there were great music games made before that only used the touchscreen (and buttons) for gameplay, but Guitar Hero upped the ante, in a way that other music games on the DS have no choice but to follow suite. Now if only there was a way to get a drum kit attachment as well.

Runner-Up:
Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades (Nintendo DS)
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RPGCrisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
(PSP)

The game that showed how a Final Fantasy can be done without the conventional turn-based fighting — that too on a storyline that happens to be the prequel to the best Final Fantasy ever! Crisis Core did everything right. It gave a story that made you want to play it till the end, it gave you characters that you’d care about and it gave you real-time action in a way that seems the right way to go for Japanese RPGs. Oh, and extra props for the gorgeous cut-scenes.

It was a real challenge picking Crisis Core over The World Ends with You or the classic Chrono Trigger, but when you talk about the best handheld RPG released this year; I’ll have to go with the complete package.

Runners-Up:
The World Ends with You (Nintendo DS)
Chrono Trigger (Nintendo DS)

Fighting Game
Bleach: Dark Souls (Nintendo DS)

Ichigo Kurosaki wins this one hands-down. Even though there was a serious dearth of fighting game releases this year on the handhelds, this one still stands above the crowd as the most entertaining and well balanced fighting games you can get. With tons of characters and over-the-top moves, the game is a delight for the fans of the Bleach anime. But the best part is, anyone can pick-up-and-play this title, thanks to its noob-friendly touchscreen control system that makes executing combos a piece of cake.

Runner-Up:
None

Agree/Disagree with our selection? Let us know in the comment box below.