Best games
Best Action games of 2008
The 55 best Action games released in 2008, ranked from 22,943 critic and player ratings.
The best Action game of 2008 is LittleBigPlanet, with a critic score of 96/100 — updated September 2026.
How this ranking is built
- Games are ranked on the aggregated critic score out of 100 imported from IGDB and Metacritic, never on Tier's own grades.
- A game only enters the ranking with at least 80 external ratings, so a single enthusiastic review never outranks a proven classic.
- Community grades from F to S are shown next to every game, and only stated as a fact above 5 Tier ratings.
- Release window covered: 2008.
- 50 games are listed on this page, carrying 22,943 ratings between them.
- Rankings are recomputed hourly; this one was last rebuilt on 28 September 2026.
Top 50
01
LittleBigPlanet
Welcome to LittleBigPlanet – a world of infinite possibilities, where imagination becomes reality and the powers of creation are firmly in your hands. If you can think of it, you can create it if you can create it, you can share it if you can share it, you can play it – and watch our colorful LittleBigPlanet grow and diversify! It’s a new kind of game that unleashes the creativity in everyone. Design your own character and play over 50 awesome developer levels packed with dangers to navigate, races to win and puzzles to solve. As you play you will learn the skills to build a world of your own by earning creative tools and collecting hundreds of items. Use these items and tools to shape amazing levels of your own, featuring puzzles, challenges, and enemies of your own design. When you are ready, go online to access the LBP community and Share your creations for everyone to play. LittleBigPlanet is a world with no limits – a world that’s yours to shape, build and explore.
96
/100
02
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the final canonical Metal Gear game to feature Solid Snake as the main character. The gameplay of the previous games have been kept along with some new features, such as the ability to roll on your back and also to hide in bins scattered around the environment. Most of the story and the relationship between the characters are explained through cut-scenes with a considerable length, so knowledge of the prior games is recommended to fully understand the story. The game also features a complex multiplayer mode entitled Metal Gear Online with some original missions based on the stealth aspects of the single-player games.
94
/100
03
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the third installment in the Super Smash Bros. series and the follow-up to Super Smash Bros. Melee. This edition introduces super attacks referred to as final smashes, as well as a brand-new adventure mode in The Subspace Emissary which is a side-scrolling adventure in the style of a platformer. It retains all basic mechanics of the Super Smash Bros. series, such as a damage meter, stocks, and Smash-style attacks.
91
/100
LittleBigPlanet
Welcome to LittleBigPlanet – a world of infinite possibilities, where imagination becomes reality and the powers of creation are firmly in your hands. If you can think of it, you can create it if you can create it, you can share it if you can share it, you can play it – and watch our colorful LittleBigPlanet grow and diversify! It’s a new kind of game that unleashes the creativity in everyone. Design your own character and play over 50 awesome developer levels packed with dangers to navigate, races to win and puzzles to solve. As you play you will learn the skills to build a world of your own by earning creative tools and collecting hundreds of items. Use these items and tools to shape amazing levels of your own, featuring puzzles, challenges, and enemies of your own design. When you are ready, go online to access the LBP community and Share your creations for everyone to play. LittleBigPlanet is a world with no limits – a world that’s yours to shape, build and explore.
96
/100
02
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the final canonical Metal Gear game to feature Solid Snake as the main character. The gameplay of the previous games have been kept along with some new features, such as the ability to roll on your back and also to hide in bins scattered around the environment. Most of the story and the relationship between the characters are explained through cut-scenes with a considerable length, so knowledge of the prior games is recommended to fully understand the story. The game also features a complex multiplayer mode entitled Metal Gear Online with some original missions based on the stealth aspects of the single-player games.
94
/100
03
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the third installment in the Super Smash Bros. series and the follow-up to Super Smash Bros. Melee. This edition introduces super attacks referred to as final smashes, as well as a brand-new adventure mode in The Subspace Emissary which is a side-scrolling adventure in the style of a platformer. It retains all basic mechanics of the Super Smash Bros. series, such as a damage meter, stocks, and Smash-style attacks.
91
/100
04
God of War: Chains of Olympus
Kratos makes his inaugural appearance on a portable gaming platform in the third instalment of the God of War series. Chains of Olympus serves as a prequel, unfolding its narrative a decade before the events in the original God of War. While retaining the familiar gameplay dynamics of its predecessors, subtle modifications enhance the overall experience. Kratos embarks on a journey through various levels, engaging in relentless combat against foes and formidable bosses, deciphering puzzles based on manipulating boxes, and participating in quick-time events. Throughout his odyssey, he amasses red orbs to fortify his weapons and abilities, secures Gorgon eyeballs to augment his health, and acquires Phoenix feathers to amplify his magical prowess. The game's controls underwent refinement to harmonize with the reduced button configuration of the PSP. Dodging, for instance, now necessitates the utilization of both shoulder buttons and the analogue stick. The iconic Blades of Chaos, synonymous with the God of War series, make a return, accompanied by an array of new weapons and magical spells such as the Sun Shield, Efreet spell, and Light of Dawn. The narrative unfolds as the Gods dispatch Kratos to the city of Attica, charging him with the defence against an encroaching Persian army. However, as Morpheus unleashes chaos, Kratos finds himself compelled to harness his formidable powers to once again rescue the world from impending doom.
91
/100
05
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
An entry in the JRPG/visual novel hybrid Persona series in which the player has to harness the power of Personas and fight entities called Shadows by forging bonds with the locals of Inaba, a rural Japanese town thrown into unrest by inexplicable murders committed under cover of foggy weather and rumours of a television channel said to broadcast mysterious images on rainy nights.
90
/100
06
Portal: Still Alive
Portal: Still Alive is a retooled version of the original smash hit first-person puzzle game, with additional levels and challenges. As unwilling test subjects in a sinister laboratory, players must break the laws of physics using 'portal' technology to solve puzzles and survive. Featuring a darkly comic story that weaves adventure with brain-bending puzzles; 'Portal: Still Alive' also introduces 14 brand new bonus puzzles to challenge even the most skilled test subjects. Players can also get a glimpse into the making of 'Portal: Still Alive' with commentary from the developers.
90
/100
07
Left 4 Dead
From Valve (the creators of Counter-Strike, Half-Life and more) comes Left 4 Dead, a co-op action horror game for the PC and Xbox 360 that casts up to four players in an epic struggle for survival against swarming zombie hordes and terrifying mutant monsters.
89
/100
08
Fable II
Fable 2 is the second game in the fable series by Lionhead Studios, it is an open world role-playing game. It has a simple story line where the hero needs to save Albion from the evil Lord Lucian by collecting together the other three heroes to defeat him. Interactive cut-scenes are a large part of the game however the main character never speaks and all dialogue is uncontrolled. The game features a large variety of game play and freedom, allowing a player to shape the world around and the characters appearance and moral standing based on decisions throughout the game. The player can also get married both same and opposite sex and bring up children to childhood but no farther, expressions are a lot more interactive with NPC's than before
89
/100
09
S
Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV is an action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the eleventh title in the Grand Theft Auto series, and the first main entry since 2004's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on-foot or by vehicle. Throughout the single-player mode, players play as Niko Bellic. An online multiplayer mode is included with the game, allowing up to 32 players to engage in both co-operative and competitive gameplay in a recreation of the single-player setting. Two expansion packs were later released for the game, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, which both feature new plots that are interconnected with the main Grand Theft Auto IV storyline, and follow new protagonists.
88
/100
10
Resistance 2
After a valiant struggle to stop the Chimera invasion in Europe, mankind must make its last stand on the shores of the United States. Resistance 2 delivers an unprecedented console gaming experience with a standalone eight-player, class-based online co-op campaign and 60-player online competitive multiplayer. An epic single-player campaign will feature a new weapons arsenal to combat giant boss encounters that increase the scale of the conflict to new heights.
87
/100
11
Braid
87
/100
12
B
Dead Space (2008)
86
/100
13
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director's Cut
86
/100
14
Bionic Commando: Rearmed
86
/100
15
Far Cry 2
85
/100
16
Valkyria Chronicles
85
/100
17
Soul Calibur IV
85
/100
18
Prince of Persia
84
/100
19
Crysis Warhead
84
/100
20
Battlefield: Bad Company
84
/100
21
WipEout HD
84
/100
22
Devil May Cry 4
81
/100
23
Saints Row 2
81
/100
24
Mirror's Edge
81
/100
25
Condemned 2: Bloodshot
81
/100
26
LEGO Batman
80
/100
27
Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition
80
/100
28
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
79
/100
29
Banjo Kazooie: N n B
79
/100
30
A
Castle Crashers
79
/100
31
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2
78
/100
32
The Void
77
/100
33
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm
76
/100
34
Ninja Gaiden II
75
/100
35
Kung Fu Panda
73
/100
36
Tomb Raider: Underworld
72
/100
37
Bully: Scholarship Edition
72
/100
38
Mount & Blade
72
/100
39
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
71
/100
40
Army of Two
71
/100
41
LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
69
/100
42
Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason
69
/100
43
Crash Time 2
69
/100
44
Quantum of Solace
67
/100
45
Turok (2008)
67
/100
46
Silent Hill: Homecoming
67
/100
47
Dark Sector
66
/100
48
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
64
/100
49
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
62
/100
50
Sonic Unleashed
60
/100
God of War: Chains of Olympus
Kratos makes his inaugural appearance on a portable gaming platform in the third instalment of the God of War series. Chains of Olympus serves as a prequel, unfolding its narrative a decade before the events in the original God of War. While retaining the familiar gameplay dynamics of its predecessors, subtle modifications enhance the overall experience. Kratos embarks on a journey through various levels, engaging in relentless combat against foes and formidable bosses, deciphering puzzles based on manipulating boxes, and participating in quick-time events. Throughout his odyssey, he amasses red orbs to fortify his weapons and abilities, secures Gorgon eyeballs to augment his health, and acquires Phoenix feathers to amplify his magical prowess. The game's controls underwent refinement to harmonize with the reduced button configuration of the PSP. Dodging, for instance, now necessitates the utilization of both shoulder buttons and the analogue stick. The iconic Blades of Chaos, synonymous with the God of War series, make a return, accompanied by an array of new weapons and magical spells such as the Sun Shield, Efreet spell, and Light of Dawn. The narrative unfolds as the Gods dispatch Kratos to the city of Attica, charging him with the defence against an encroaching Persian army. However, as Morpheus unleashes chaos, Kratos finds himself compelled to harness his formidable powers to once again rescue the world from impending doom.
91
/100
05
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
An entry in the JRPG/visual novel hybrid Persona series in which the player has to harness the power of Personas and fight entities called Shadows by forging bonds with the locals of Inaba, a rural Japanese town thrown into unrest by inexplicable murders committed under cover of foggy weather and rumours of a television channel said to broadcast mysterious images on rainy nights.
90
/100
06
Portal: Still Alive
Portal: Still Alive is a retooled version of the original smash hit first-person puzzle game, with additional levels and challenges. As unwilling test subjects in a sinister laboratory, players must break the laws of physics using 'portal' technology to solve puzzles and survive. Featuring a darkly comic story that weaves adventure with brain-bending puzzles; 'Portal: Still Alive' also introduces 14 brand new bonus puzzles to challenge even the most skilled test subjects. Players can also get a glimpse into the making of 'Portal: Still Alive' with commentary from the developers.
90
/100
07
Left 4 Dead
From Valve (the creators of Counter-Strike, Half-Life and more) comes Left 4 Dead, a co-op action horror game for the PC and Xbox 360 that casts up to four players in an epic struggle for survival against swarming zombie hordes and terrifying mutant monsters.
89
/100
08
Fable II
Fable 2 is the second game in the fable series by Lionhead Studios, it is an open world role-playing game. It has a simple story line where the hero needs to save Albion from the evil Lord Lucian by collecting together the other three heroes to defeat him. Interactive cut-scenes are a large part of the game however the main character never speaks and all dialogue is uncontrolled. The game features a large variety of game play and freedom, allowing a player to shape the world around and the characters appearance and moral standing based on decisions throughout the game. The player can also get married both same and opposite sex and bring up children to childhood but no farther, expressions are a lot more interactive with NPC's than before
89
/100
09
S
Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV is an action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the eleventh title in the Grand Theft Auto series, and the first main entry since 2004's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on-foot or by vehicle. Throughout the single-player mode, players play as Niko Bellic. An online multiplayer mode is included with the game, allowing up to 32 players to engage in both co-operative and competitive gameplay in a recreation of the single-player setting. Two expansion packs were later released for the game, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, which both feature new plots that are interconnected with the main Grand Theft Auto IV storyline, and follow new protagonists.
88
/100
10
Resistance 2
After a valiant struggle to stop the Chimera invasion in Europe, mankind must make its last stand on the shores of the United States. Resistance 2 delivers an unprecedented console gaming experience with a standalone eight-player, class-based online co-op campaign and 60-player online competitive multiplayer. An epic single-player campaign will feature a new weapons arsenal to combat giant boss encounters that increase the scale of the conflict to new heights.
87
/100
11
Braid
87
/100
12
B
Dead Space (2008)
86
/100
13
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director's Cut
86
/100
14
Bionic Commando: Rearmed
86
/100
15
Far Cry 2
85
/100
16
Valkyria Chronicles
85
/100
17
Soul Calibur IV
85
/100
18
Prince of Persia
84
/100
19
Crysis Warhead
84
/100
20
Battlefield: Bad Company
84
/100
21
WipEout HD
84
/100
22
Devil May Cry 4
81
/100
23
Saints Row 2
81
/100
24
Mirror's Edge
81
/100
25
Condemned 2: Bloodshot
81
/100
26
LEGO Batman
80
/100
27
Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition
80
/100
28
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
79
/100
29
Banjo Kazooie: N n B
79
/100
30
A
Castle Crashers
79
/100
31
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2
78
/100
32
The Void
77
/100
33
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm
76
/100
34
Ninja Gaiden II
75
/100
35
Kung Fu Panda
73
/100
36
Tomb Raider: Underworld
72
/100
37
Bully: Scholarship Edition
72
/100
38
Mount & Blade
72
/100
39
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
71
/100
40
Army of Two
71
/100
41
LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
69
/100
42
Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason
69
/100
43
Crash Time 2
69
/100
44
Quantum of Solace
67
/100
45
Turok (2008)
67
/100
46
Silent Hill: Homecoming
67
/100
47
Dark Sector
66
/100
48
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
64
/100
49
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
62
/100
50
Sonic Unleashed
60
/100
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Action game of 2008?
LittleBigPlanet currently tops the ranking with a score of 96/100 across 270 ratings. Ranking updated September 2026.
How is this ranking built?
Games are ranked on their aggregated critic score out of 100, with a minimum vote threshold so a single glowing review never outranks a proven classic; the Tier community's own F-to-S grades are shown alongside each game.