Top 10 PC Games of the Year 2008

Five – Far Cry 2

Publisher: Ubisoft
UK Price (as reviewed): £17.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): $46.99 (ex. Tax)
Full Review Here

Far Cry 2 may have got some of you down with some fairly repetitive missions, but it’s hard to deny how much innovation and beauty there is in the game. Ubisoft’s follow-up to the original Far Cry may have no connection to the first game in terms of story or location, but it captures that sense of strategic freedom perfectly.

It casts players as a simple mercenary, one of many operating in the African savannah, all of whom are trying to take down a local gun runner called The Jackal – a man deeply entrenched in the politics of a civil war.

Finding where The Jackal is won’t be easy though – and nor will killing him. At the start of the game you’re already indebted to local factions, pretty much defenceless and coming down with malaria. You need friends, supplies and medicine. You’ll need to wade deep into the local war and earn all these things.


Earning all this is done through a mixture of assaults, assassinations and betrayals as you take on missions from different factions, often with the help of other mercenaries who will give you advice and support as you wade into the sandbox with a gun in hand and murder on your mind.

Far Cry 2 isn’t a perfect game. The missions do get quite samey after a while and the AI will get occasionally flakey, but it doesn’t matter too much. By and large this is one of the most visually stunning and impressive games of the year, offering players options that constantly change and a world that is always evolving. With a smattering of original ideas, such as the cool healing system, and the best flamethrower in the history of gaming, Far Cry 2 definitely deserves to be on this list.

Four – Grand Theft Auto IV PC

Publisher: Rockstar
UK Price: £24.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price: $49.99 (ex. Tax)
Full Review Here

We’ll be honest here and say that we’re frankly very surprised to see this game make the list, let alone place so highly. Not because the game is at all bad admittedly, just because of how controversial and hated the bloatware and protection systems surrounding the title are.

On the other hand, if people are willing to overlook the intrusive nature of the Games for Windows Live and Rockstar Social Club systems then it’s yet more proof that Rockstar has made the best Grand Theft Auto game ever this year.


Looking at the game as a whole, GTA IV PC isn’t wholly different from any of the other Grand Theft Auto games. You play a guy, down on his luck and involved with the wrong people, who starts a life of crime in an American city and starts to rise from lowly gangster to feared crimelord. Along the way there are plenty of car crashes and chases, as well as the occasional RPG.

What makes Grand Theft Auto IV PC a little bit different though is that it’s the first game in the series that is really starting to take itself seriously. There glaring neons of Vice City and the rampant attitude of San Andreas have been fairly traded in for muted browns and bleak realism. It may not be to everyone’s tastes, but there’s obviously enough people out there who like it.

The tale of Serbian immigrant Niko Bellic and his quest for vengeance is only part of the reason that Grand Theft Auto IV is such a great game and much more of GTA's greatness is earned by the gameplay than the plot. Liberty City is a living, breathing world that is filled with new things to do – everything from bowling to strip clubs. Strip clubs; that’s the real reason this ranks to highly on the PC, isn’t it?