So each of us has chosen our top 5 games of the year, and we'll be posting one each day all week... leading up to our favorite games of the year on Friday. It was incredibly hard picking only 5 games to recognize, as this year we had some truly fantastic titles. Suffice to say there's a ton of games we loved this year that didn't make it into our Top 5. So it goes.

Feel free to agree/disagree/wish death upon our choices in the comments.

Metal Gear Solid 4 – nominated by Ryan

As always, Kojima went for a stratospheric level of storytelling and detail, and mostly got what he wanted. MGS4 is a stupefyingly constructed, baffling, mesmerizing, confusing ball of comicbook heroism and political commentary. Somehow the story really does manage to pick up the few hundred stray threads of the Metal Gear universe and tie them up into a semblance of finality. Stunning presentation and some honestly heart-pounding moments near the end made this one of my favourite experiences.

Fieldrunners - nominated by Jim

There were a lot of top notch tower defense games out there this year, most of which have a place in my heart (and all of which were begging for a place on this list). But if I have to pick only one (and I've forced myself to do just that) it's going to have to be FieldRunners. Sure it may not have the variety of towers or the huge selection of maps that other games have, but that's honestly what's so appealing about it. There's a certain elegance in it's simplicity. A great art style, simple touch screen mechanics, and two distinctly different maps that offer completely fresh experiences keep me coming back for more on a daily basis. It's easily the best game on the iPhone so far.

N+ - nominated by Kevin

The year's most challenging trial and error game was refreshingly simple in its appearance (evoking memories of a Commodore 64 era long since gone) and mechanics but exhaustingly deep in map design and skill implementation. It's a great game to pick up and spend fifteen minutes or three hours playing though I wouldn't suggest the latter, you may go mad.

Braid - nominated by Dan

I know, it was pretentious as hell... and some of us just didn't get it. But for those of us that did were given a deep puzzle game disguised as a platformer. A different time-control mechanic for each level ensured that you never fell into a "been there, done that" feeling and the narrative, while self indulgent, left me truly satisfied. The game gives you a true feeling of accomplishment when beating each puzzle and never seemed unfair in it's difficulty.

Comments (8)

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written by Tralfaz, December 30, 2008

N+ was totally great. During the period of about a month or so when a good portion of my company was between projects, we had a game of N+ going literally non-stop in one of our presentation/meeting areas for about a week.

I had heard of the game, but not having a 360, nor playing the original N, this was my first exposure, and it was a blast! It'd inevitably draw a crowd with its simple, yet beautiful, aesthetic, and when one of the players had to get up for whatever reason, we just passed the controller to one of the bystanders. And even if you picked up the controller, not knowing what you were doing (it was intimidating after watching the others play, to say the least), it was still so awesome. It really is fun and enjoyable, even if maddening, when you fail as well as succeed.

Yeah, definitely top 5 material.

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written by JJ BANKS, December 30, 2008

Ryan, I don't have a problem with MSG4 being one of your "favorite" games of the year, but I do have a problem with an unnecessary "u".

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written by Dan Zuccarelli, December 30, 2008

Metal Gear 4 definitely would've made my top 10 list of best games this year... I liked the game more than I ever thought I would.

Everything about the game was tight and with the exception of one major issue I loved every second of it... but more on that later...

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written by Jim Squires, December 30, 2008

JJ Banks - we speak the Queen's English in Canada sir, not that guttural Hee-Haw dialect you Americans prefer.

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written by JJ BANKS, December 30, 2008

Ryan and Jim you guys are just like my "neighbor", fortunately for me he died in a boat accident down by the "harbor".

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written by Kevin Alexander, December 30, 2008

Yeah well this morning the "wudder" in my shower was nice and hot. Then I had a "beggel" for breakfast.

/Jersey FTW!

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written by Ryan Hewson, December 30, 2008

My favoUrite armoUr has some jewelLEry in the cenTRE.

AnalyZe that.

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written by Ryan Hewson, December 30, 2008

Also, totally buying Fieldrunners.

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