How 2018’s Games Stack Up Against 2008’s Classics

2008 is regarded by many as one of the best years for video games in history, and for good reason. The year saw countless big releases that in many ways redefined areas of game design or the industry itself. These included titles like Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, and Grand Theft Auto IV. We haven’t seen a year so stacked with highly-acclaimed games until maybe 2017. Although we’re only a few months into 2018 at this point, it’s looking like the year could stack up just as well as the last one, if not better. So is there a chance we could see 2018 surpass even the lofty standards that 2008 set? We’ll take a look at the games already released as well as what’s on the horizon, that we know about, to see how 2018 can stack up.

First Half

Comparing the first two months of each year shows a pretty close competition honestly. January 2008 saw the release of the classic racing title Burnout Paradise, with the surprise hits of No More Heroes and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin joining it. Still, January 2018 clearly blows that away with the monumental success of both Monster Hunter: World and Dragon Ball FighterZ. The sales numbers for both titles were incredibly impressive, and they certainly stand to be two of the most memorable titles of the year, even with Dragon Ball FighterZ’s dwindling base playing on PC. This isn’t even to mention smaller releases like Lost Sphear, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, and the indie hit Celeste.

February still goes to 2018 as well, simply through the sheer number of releases, as the most notable releases 2008 had in the month was Devil May Cry 4, Lost Odyssey, and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. While all of these did go down fairly well both critically and with fans, 2018 saw the release of a strong mix of remasters and new games including Shadow of the Colossus, Civilization VI: Rise and Fall, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology, Bayonetta 2 on Switch, and Moss on PSVR.

While 2018 has eked out ahead of 2008 in the first two months, the following months set a really hard bar for 2018 to meet. March saw the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Condemned 2: Bloodshot, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 2, and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

April to June would bring us even more beloved games that would have staying power for years including; Mario Kart Wii, Persona 3: FES, The World Ends With You, Valkyria Chronicles, Ninja Gaiden II, and Battlefield: Bad Company. These months also gave us two gargantuan titles that both garnered Game of the Year awards, Grand Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid IV: Guns of the Patriots.

Comparing what’s coming in 2018, there’s certainly a chance that it could overtake the impressive schedule of 2008’s first half. March has Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom and Far Cry 5 scheduled, an anime RPG and shooter that could definitely rival Valkyria Chronicles and Bad Company. There’s a number of other big new titles on the way too; Sea of Thieves, Kirby Star Allies, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, God of War, Nintendo Labo, Vampyr, and more. All of these will be out by June, and there’s sure to be even more on the way. The sheer diversity of those releases, along with even more remasters including Dark Souls: Remastered, certainly show promise for what’s to come. Chances seem good that the first half of 2018 will be even better than that incredible first half of 2008, and it’s been a hell of a start so far. Where the big question lies, however, is in the second half with the Fall rush and holidays.

Second Half

The second half of 2018 is where the big question mark lies, as we don’t really know what’s coming out yet. Very few games have release dates for later this year, most only coming with vague windows. The only thing we have a definitive release date on is Red Dead Redemption 2, a game that could easily nab Game of the Year and end up being one of the best titles to release in years. Looking at how many GOTY awards GTA IV nabbed in 2008, it’s certainly not unreasonable.

Before we go over what could be in store for the rest of 2018, let’s take a moment to cover just how impressive the rest of 2008 was. July gave us titles like Trauma Center 2, Persona 4, Guitar Hero III, and Soul Calibur IV. August and September brought Braid, Tales of Vesperia, Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, Yakuza 2, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Lego Batman: The Video Game, and Mega Man 9. The last three months kicked things up to a ridiculous degree with the Fall rush. Some all-time classics made their way onto the market like the horror phenomenon Dead Space, the divisive Far Cry II and Fable II, the hugely influential Fallout 3, the cult hit Mirror’s Edge, Valve’s multiplayer hit Left 4 Dead, and the fighter Dissidia Final Fantasy. While these are simply the highlights plenty of other big games released during this time, to name just a few; Patapon 2, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Call of Duty: World at War, and Gears of War 2.

This is an absurd list of games, many of which scored incredibly high scores with critics and fans. The quality of 2008 is evidenced simply by the split in GOTY choices. Many years the choice seems obvious, like in 2013 when The Last of Us released, but 2008 had a split due to so many quality titles releasing. Now, what about 2018? Is there any way that it can overcome 2008?

As long as everything meets its release schedule, there’s a lot of potential in the second half of the year, and that’s only what we know about. Sony has big exclusives like Spider-Man, Detroit: Become Human, Dreams, and Days Gone. Square Enix has some tricks up its sleeves with the highly awaited Kingdom Hearts III, Dragon Quest XI, Project Octopath Traveler, and the Front Mission-inspired Left Alive. Nintendo could be bringing us a new Fire Emblem, Pokemon on Switch, Yoshi, and Mario Tennis Aces. Meanwhile, a few other games could be breakout hits like BioMutant, Ace Attorney Switch, Code Vein, Darksiders III, Metro Exodus, and SoulCalibur VI. Interestingly, this year also sees the release of new entries in three series established in 2008 with Valkyria Chronicles 4, The World Ends With You Final Remix, and Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes.

What all of this means is that 2018 certainly has the makings of one of the very best years for video games, even after the incredible 2017. If everything goes right and big games actually make their release dates, 2018 may just go down in the annals of history.