Best games
Best Arcade games of 2008
The 18 best Arcade games released in 2008, ranked from 4,105 critic and player ratings.
The best Arcade 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.
- 18 games are listed on this page, carrying 4,105 ratings between them.
- Rankings are recomputed hourly; this one was last rebuilt on 29 September 2026.
Top 18
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
Burnout Paradise
Evolve or die. For Paradise, we knew we had to change everything. Burnout was a killer arcade driving game, but for a new generation of hardware and connected player Burnout had to become something more ambitious. Closed tracks made way for an expansive, open city, and we seamlessly synced your friends into the action and let you loose on a heap of cool challenges that unsurprisingly rewarded you for driving like a lunatic. Hey, it’s us after all.
93
/100
03
Rock Band 2
Rock Band 2 is the sequel to the 2007 musical simulation game Rock Band and offers similar gameplay. Directly competing with Guitar Hero: World Tour, the game allows different people to play together as in a band, with the same peripherals as the first game: lead guitar, bass guitar, microphone and a drum set. The new drum and guitar controllers for this version, bundled or sold separately, have been revised and older controllers are also supported. The guitar controller, modelled after the Fender Stratocaster, has five additional fret buttons near the neck, for fast fingertapping sessions. There is also an effect switch to toggle between five different effects. Players use the instruments to match notes on the screen, divided in different portions for different instruments, along with the lyrics for the singer who need to match the pitch.
93
/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
Burnout Paradise
Evolve or die. For Paradise, we knew we had to change everything. Burnout was a killer arcade driving game, but for a new generation of hardware and connected player Burnout had to become something more ambitious. Closed tracks made way for an expansive, open city, and we seamlessly synced your friends into the action and let you loose on a heap of cool challenges that unsurprisingly rewarded you for driving like a lunatic. Hey, it’s us after all.
93
/100
03
Rock Band 2
Rock Band 2 is the sequel to the 2007 musical simulation game Rock Band and offers similar gameplay. Directly competing with Guitar Hero: World Tour, the game allows different people to play together as in a band, with the same peripherals as the first game: lead guitar, bass guitar, microphone and a drum set. The new drum and guitar controllers for this version, bundled or sold separately, have been revised and older controllers are also supported. The guitar controller, modelled after the Fender Stratocaster, has five additional fret buttons near the neck, for fast fingertapping sessions. There is also an effect switch to toggle between five different effects. Players use the instruments to match notes on the screen, divided in different portions for different instruments, along with the lyrics for the singer who need to match the pitch.
93
/100
04
Braid
Braid is a puzzle-platformer, drawn in a painterly style, where you can manipulate the flow of time in strange and unusual ways. From a house in the city, journey to a series of worlds and solve puzzles to rescue an abducted princess. In each world, you have a different power to affect the way time behaves, and it is time's strangeness that creates the puzzles. The time behaviors include: the ability to rewind, objects that are immune to being rewound, time that is tied to space, parallel realities, time dilation, and perhaps more. Braid treats your time and attention as precious; there is no filler in this game. Every puzzle shows you something new and interesting about the game world.
87
/100
05
Bionic Commando: Rearmed
Classic side-scrolling gameplay is reporting back for duty with Bionic Commando Rearmed, a remake of the classic NES game, out now on PC. 20 years after the 8-bit classic was released, Bionic Commando Rearmed recreates the world of the original with a complete "2.5D" visual revamp.
86
/100
06
Soul Calibur IV
"Swords will be honed and weapons optimized as the world renowned weapon-based fighting series Soulcalibur unveils a fourth installment. Delivering new gameplay modes, characters and enhanced features with unprecedented 3D modeling and animation, Soulcalibur IV strives to be the definitive fighting game experience. The unrelenting pursuit of two legendary swords continues as Soulcalibur IV re-introduces classic warriors from the series as well as debuting new characters bringing new conflict and intrigue. Soulcalibur IV propels the fighting genre into the next-gen era with visually realistic environments, interactive stages, enhanced AI, and a new battle system." Exclusive to the Xbox 360 version is Yoda from Star Wars, who’s inclusion was meant to represent the colours of the Xbox Logo.
85
/100
07
WipEout HD
The futuristic racing and combat of the Wipeout universe makes its first PlayStation 3 appearance as a downloadable game on PlayStation Network.
84
/100
08
Pure
83
/100
09
Guitar Hero World Tour
Guitar Hero: World Tour is the fourth main game in the series and brings a major change to the concept. Following the release of Rock Band that built on the Guitar Hero concept but added additional instruments, World Tour introduces these as well to allow players to play together simultaneously as a real band. Next to the guitar that was the main peripheral for the previous titles, the bundled edition of the game adds a microphone for the vocal parts and drums for percussion. Just like the previous game, the guitar tracks are split up for the lead and bass. The lyrics and the vocal pitch is shown near the top of the screen, while the bottom part is split up for bass guitar, lead guitar and drums, each with a separate set of notes that need to be hit to correctly play the part.
82
/100
10
Midnight Club: Los Angeles
Midnight Club: Los Angeles is an open-world racing game developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. Set in a recreation of Los Angeles, the game lets players take part in street races, time trials, and freeway battles while earning money and reputation to unlock vehicles, upgrades, and customization options. The game features licensed cars and motorcycles, with performance tuning and visual modification systems. Its open-world structure lets players drive through the city without loading separate tracks, using streets, traffic, and shortcuts as part of each race.
82
/100
11
MotorStorm: Pacific Rift
82
/100
12
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
74
/100
13
Kung Fu Panda
73
/100
14
TrackMania Nations Forever
70
/100
15
Need For Speed Undercover
65
/100
16
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
64
/100
17
Sonic Unleashed
60
/100
18
Lost: Via Domus
54
/100
Braid
Braid is a puzzle-platformer, drawn in a painterly style, where you can manipulate the flow of time in strange and unusual ways. From a house in the city, journey to a series of worlds and solve puzzles to rescue an abducted princess. In each world, you have a different power to affect the way time behaves, and it is time's strangeness that creates the puzzles. The time behaviors include: the ability to rewind, objects that are immune to being rewound, time that is tied to space, parallel realities, time dilation, and perhaps more. Braid treats your time and attention as precious; there is no filler in this game. Every puzzle shows you something new and interesting about the game world.
87
/100
05
Bionic Commando: Rearmed
Classic side-scrolling gameplay is reporting back for duty with Bionic Commando Rearmed, a remake of the classic NES game, out now on PC. 20 years after the 8-bit classic was released, Bionic Commando Rearmed recreates the world of the original with a complete "2.5D" visual revamp.
86
/100
06
Soul Calibur IV
"Swords will be honed and weapons optimized as the world renowned weapon-based fighting series Soulcalibur unveils a fourth installment. Delivering new gameplay modes, characters and enhanced features with unprecedented 3D modeling and animation, Soulcalibur IV strives to be the definitive fighting game experience. The unrelenting pursuit of two legendary swords continues as Soulcalibur IV re-introduces classic warriors from the series as well as debuting new characters bringing new conflict and intrigue. Soulcalibur IV propels the fighting genre into the next-gen era with visually realistic environments, interactive stages, enhanced AI, and a new battle system." Exclusive to the Xbox 360 version is Yoda from Star Wars, who’s inclusion was meant to represent the colours of the Xbox Logo.
85
/100
07
WipEout HD
The futuristic racing and combat of the Wipeout universe makes its first PlayStation 3 appearance as a downloadable game on PlayStation Network.
84
/100
08
Pure
83
/100
09
Guitar Hero World Tour
Guitar Hero: World Tour is the fourth main game in the series and brings a major change to the concept. Following the release of Rock Band that built on the Guitar Hero concept but added additional instruments, World Tour introduces these as well to allow players to play together simultaneously as a real band. Next to the guitar that was the main peripheral for the previous titles, the bundled edition of the game adds a microphone for the vocal parts and drums for percussion. Just like the previous game, the guitar tracks are split up for the lead and bass. The lyrics and the vocal pitch is shown near the top of the screen, while the bottom part is split up for bass guitar, lead guitar and drums, each with a separate set of notes that need to be hit to correctly play the part.
82
/100
10
Midnight Club: Los Angeles
Midnight Club: Los Angeles is an open-world racing game developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. Set in a recreation of Los Angeles, the game lets players take part in street races, time trials, and freeway battles while earning money and reputation to unlock vehicles, upgrades, and customization options. The game features licensed cars and motorcycles, with performance tuning and visual modification systems. Its open-world structure lets players drive through the city without loading separate tracks, using streets, traffic, and shortcuts as part of each race.
82
/100
11
MotorStorm: Pacific Rift
82
/100
12
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
74
/100
13
Kung Fu Panda
73
/100
14
TrackMania Nations Forever
70
/100
15
Need For Speed Undercover
65
/100
16
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
64
/100
17
Sonic Unleashed
60
/100
18
Lost: Via Domus
54
/100
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Arcade 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.