>> best steam games of 2008 the full ranking

These are the best Steam games of 2008 — the releases of that year players still rate highest, years after the reviews stopped counting.

No launch-week scores, no hype: every position comes from head-to-head duels between two games in one player's library, and a game's percentage is the share of a typical library it beats. Years are the honest test, and this is what 2008 looks like once the dust has settled and only the games people still reach for are left standing.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

beats 77%

51 players

percentile across every personal ranking, weighed by the crowd behind it

Games ranked by the share of a typical library they beat.
rk	game	players	beats
02	Mass Effect (2007)	72 players	beats 75%
03	Fallout 3	37 players	beats 75%
04	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	105 players	beats 73%
05	Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne	38 players	beats 73%
06	Silent Hill Homecoming	13 players	beats 75%
07	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Vegas	11 players	beats 75%
08	Prince of Persia: Warrior Within™	22 players	beats 71%
09	Bully: Scholarship Edition	83 players	beats 70%
10	Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition	3 players	beats 82%
11	Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood™	4 players	beats 77%
12	Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® - Soulstorm	48 players	beats 69%
13	Cold Fear™	5 players	beats 75%
14	Heroes of Might & Magic V: Hammers of Fate	5 players	beats 73%
15	Children of the Nile: Alexandria	3 players	beats 77%
16	Sacred Gold	7 players	beats 69%
17	Prince of Persia®: The Sands of Time	27 players	beats 65%
18	FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage Collector's Edition	19 players	beats 66%
19	Tomb Raider: Underworld	28 players	beats 65%
20	Bejeweled Twist	3 players	beats 72%
21	Overlord™: Raising Hell	29 players	beats 64%
22	Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon®	3 players	beats 68%
23	Beyond Good and Evil™	10 players	beats 62%
24	Prince of Persia®	26 players	beats 61%
25	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell®	20 players	beats 61%
26	Heroes of Might & Magic V: Tribes of the East	14 players	beats 60%
27	SPORE™	196 players	beats 58%
28	Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor's Choice Edition	14 players	beats 59%
29	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Vegas 2	16 players	beats 58%
30	Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones™	20 players	beats 58%
31	Manhunt	26 players	beats 57%
32	Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus®	10 players	beats 56%
33	Peggle™ Nights	30 players	beats 55%
34	Telltale Texas Hold ‘Em	3 players	beats 57%
35	Children of the Nile: Enhanced Edition	4 players	beats 56%
36	Left 4 Dead	183 players	beats 53%
37	Crazy Machines 2	7 players	beats 54%
38	Crysis	27 players	beats 53%
39	Frontlines™: Fuel of War™	4 players	beats 53%
40	Need for Speed Undercover	15 players	beats 52%
41	TrackMania Nations Forever	116 players	beats 52%
42	Trackmania United Forever	13 players	beats 52%
43	Call of Duty: World at War	48 players	beats 52%
44	LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame	91 players	beats 52%
45	Sam & Max 201: Ice Station Santa	5 players	beats 52%
46	S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky	42 players	beats 51%
47	Assassin's Creed™: Director's Cut Edition	92 players	beats 51%
48	Far Cry® 2	43 players	beats 50%
49	Fish Tycoon	3 players	beats 51%
50	Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30™	5 players	beats 50%
51	Virtual Villagers: A New Home	4 players	beats 50%
52	Sam & Max 202: Moai Better Blues	5 players	beats 50%
53	Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People: Season 1	5 players	beats 50%
54	Grand Theft Auto III	37 players	beats 50%
55	Silent Hunter® III	3 players	beats 50%
56	Mount & Blade	36 players	beats 50%
57	X-COM: UFO Defense	20 players	beats 50%
58	Heroes of Might & Magic V	15 players	beats 50%
59	Unreal 2: The Awakening	5 players	beats 50%
60	X-COM: Apocalypse	8 players	beats 50%
61	World of Goo	66 players	beats 50%
62	Defense Grid: The Awakening	29 players	beats 50%
63	The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director's Cut	253 players	beats 50%
64	Sherlock Holmes - Nemesis	7 players	beats 49%
65	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® 3 Gold	8 players	beats 48%
66	Desperados 2: Cooper's Revenge	4 players	beats 46%
67	PuzzleQuest: Challenge of the Warlords	8 players	beats 42%
68	SPORE™ Creepy & Cute Parts Pack	41 players	beats 40%
69	Luxor: Quest for the Afterlife	3 players	beats 32%
70	Unreal Gold	23 players	beats 37%
71	City Life 2008	4 players	beats 30%
72	Tycoon City: New York	3 players	beats 26%
73	Mare Nostrum	3 players	beats 25%
74	The Wonderful End of the World	8 players	beats 30%
75	RollerCoaster Tycoon® 3: Platinum	17 players	beats 32%
76	Project Aftermath	3 players	beats 22%
77	Iron Grip: Warlord	6 players	beats 27%
78	Far Cry®	22 players	beats 31%
79	Imperium Romanum Gold Edition	5 players	beats 25%
80	Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization	17 players	beats 30%
81	Conflict: Denied Ops	3 players	beats 20%
82	X-COM: Interceptor	5 players	beats 25%
83	Dracula: Origin	4 players	beats 22%
84	Legendary	7 players	beats 25%
85	X3: Terran Conflict	14 players	beats 28%
86	Penguins Arena: Sedna's World	7 players	beats 25%
87	AudioSurf	67 players	beats 30%
88	Spectraball	6 players	beats 24%
89	Crysis Warhead®	7 players	beats 25%
90	Crysis Warhead®	12 players	beats 27%
91	Rayman Raving Rabbids™	4 players	beats 19%
92	Zombie Panic! Source	9 players	beats 25%
93	Precipice of Darkness, Episode One	11 players	beats 25%
94	Death to Spies	3 players	beats 14%
95	Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee®	58 players	beats 27%
96	Multiwinia	17 players	beats 24%
97	Insecticide Part 1	4 players	beats 15%
98	Aquaria	16 players	beats 23%
99	Silent Hunter®: Wolves of the Pacific	3 players	beats 9%
100	X-COM: Enforcer	8 players	beats 18%
101	Synergy	14 players	beats 12%

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