OK, my quick top 10 for the year, just because I'm insufferably bored prior to the excitement of tonight's festivities.

10. Condemned 2- The dirtiest, grimiest game I've ever played. It's the gaming equivalent of Saw 2, but these things work so much better in videogames. Plus the forensic investigation was vastly improved over the original. It's not scary at all, but it is intense most of the time, and you can't really ask for much more from an action title.

9. Gears of War 2- I could see that it's excellent, and it was easy for me to finish it. And yet, there was something missing... I had no interest in watching Dom cry or the absolutely laughable plot. And the duck-and-shoot gameplay is starting to show its age. Still, a great sequel.

8. Lost Odyssey- A great RPG in so many ways, but so damn old-school. Unapologetically traditional. If there were no FF VII or VIII, this might have been an all-time classic. As it is, it just seems like a beautiful copy, with a disappointingly cliched story. The dream sequences feature some of the best writing I've ever seen in a game, though. These bits are simply magical, and really, are the only reasons for this game making it into the top 10.

7. Mirror's Edge- Almost excellent. I love the free running, the aesthetic and Faith, but everything else about the game is deeply (and, I mean deeply) flawed. It's a missed opportunity in so many ways. A sequel is absolutely essential in this case.

6. COD: World at War- Biggest surprise of the year for me. It's actually pretty damn good, even brilliant in parts. It's no COD4, but it's absolutely worthy of any top 10 list.

5. FIFA 09- Probably the best Football game ever made and one of the best sports games of all time. EA has finally got its act together. Fifa 09 plays realistically, with great graphics and more options and modes than you can shake a stick at. There's still a lot of room for improvement, but this is more than enough for now.

4. Saints Row 2- Amazing. This would have been a classic if Vice City had never been released and if they fixed the bugs. But trust me, it's impossible not to have fun with SR 2.

3. Braid or MGS4- Had I played these games, they surely would have been high on the list. So pretend I've played them.

2. GTAIV- Amazing and annoying at the same time. The crowning techical achievement of 08, and one of the best "adult" games ever released. Still, the checkpointing was infuriating, and the missions didn't have enough variety. Despite these flaws, GTAIV missed out on being named Streak's GOTY by a mere whisker. Overall, it's a brilliant game.

1. Fallout 3- This is the game I've been waiting for. A modern update of the magnificent Fallout 2, featuring one of the most interesting gameworlds I've ever come across. The overarching story is disappointing, but the fact that this doesn't matter to me in the slightest points to the fantastic quality of individual quests, combat, and exploration on offer. The best atmosphere by a mile, the best gameworld by a mile, Game of the Year by a whisker.

So I've spoken. Have a great night and a good 2009!

GameZ:

1. FALLOUT 3- What a great game!!! It's not perfect by any means, and you could spend a whole day picking out the flaws, but it's the most immersive gaming experience I've come across in a long while, and the gameworld is one of the most impressive I've ever seen. I'm 9 hours in and I've barely even touched the main quest. I've decided to complete all the side quests currently available to me, and then I'm gonna have to seriously think about blowing up Megaton (a sidequest so delicious, my mouth is watering from just thinking about it). You see, I've grown to like Megaton and some of its citizens, but damn, I have an option to set off a nuclear bomb, completely wiping the town off the map! Even though I've played as a good character so far, this act of genocide may just be too tempting to pass up. This kind of thing makes Fallout 3 easily the best game of the year. Easily. It's absolutely brilliant.

PS- If you've played the game, what did you decide to do with Megaton? It's a really tough decision.

2. DEAD SPACE- What a disappointment! It's polished to a shine, it looks great, combat is very satisfying, and zero-g sequences are fantastic. Pity everything else about it is generic at best, downright mediocre at worst. The story is absolutely ridiculous, with one of the worst final scenes I've ever seen. The missions themselves are completely unexciting. The atmosphere completely disappears once you realise how damn repetitive the whole thing is. The horror is virtually non-existent. The GS review is filled with outright lies. Disappointing, indeed. The sad thing is that it clearly has the makings of a good, even great, game, but the entire experience is hopelessly padded out, and marred by some very average design.

3. GTAIV- The most unfairly criticized game in history. Even some of the people who say they liked it (looking at you, turbo) "admit" that it wasn't fun . How can you like a game that's not fun? I thought it was very fun, and clearly the second best game I've played this year. Everyone goes on about the lack of content, but I don't really know what they're talking about. I don't know about anyone else, but I got 68 hours out of it, which is more than enough for me. I thought the city was just amazing, so much so that I'd sometimes just cruise around checking out the sites. The combat, storytelling and driving were all vastly improved over the previous games in the series. I also loved the general atmospere, and I could see nothing wrong with the much maligned Police chases. I thought it was a good thing that they were easier to negotiate this time around.

Although some gameplay flaws are undeniable, I won't talk about them here, just like the haters never seem to point out even the clearest of positives. I will never understand the level of vitriol this game has received....

4. MIRROR'S EDGE- I can't decide whether I need this game. It looks like a breath of fresh air in a marked saturated with polished but predictable sequels and a glut of generic shooters. BUT, the reviews are far from convincing. There's obviously a major flaw somewhere, which makes me a bit hesitant to splurge impulsively. Anyone played it yet? Is it good? Do I NEED it?

EsoteriC:

5. VERBOSE- So edit me .

6. EXIL'D- A most grave injustice. The Collins Pocket English Dictionary defines the word "retarded" as "underdeveloped, especially mentally". One could argue that Bali bombers were indeed mentally underdeveloped. So taken even at face value, the sentence in no way warranted an exile (a suspension). For those who don't know, they forcibly removed me from these shores, dumped me in the desert with no food or water, and left me to find my own way back. Over nothing!!! O, most foul and grave injustice! I will never vote for the present administration again, and will encourage Revolution and Anarchy at every opportunity, until they finally send their anonymous secret agents to silence me forever.

7. EIGHT- RAAAAAAAAAAH!!!WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! pain. the tears. but the laughter. we must never forget the laughter.

8. 000- Her face. I think of her face. Her body.

9.

10. Whatever I do... Whichever way we... I mean.

I certainly did. Da sentens be:

Universally that person's acumen is esteemed very little perceptive concerning whatsoever matters are being held as most profitably by mortals with sapience endowed to be studied who is ignorant of that which the most in doctrine erudite and certainly by reason of that in them high mind's ornament deserving of veneration constantly maintain when by general consent they affirm that other circumstances being equal by no exterior splendour is the prosperity of a nation more efficaciously asserted than by the measure of how far forward may have progressed the tribute of its solicitude for that proliferent continuance which of evils the original if it be absent when fortunately present constitutes the certain sign of omnipollent nature's incorrupted benefaction.

It's doing my head in. Any thoughts? Translation?