7 Best Video Game Trailers of 2008

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A good video game trailer leaves you doubled over on the floor, panting with anticipation, chewing nervously on your wallet in hopes that $60 will magically emerge just in time for the game's release. Your pulse quickens, your eyes dilate, you pray that the little YouTube progress bubble doesn't catch up with the end of the red buffering line. Watching game trailers can be a pretty heady experience. A good video game trailer will make bad games look awesome, and awesome games look magnificent. Here are Paste's favorites of 2008.

7. RAGE



The studio behind Doom is still developing its buggy-racing, mutant-shooting action spectacular. With Fallout 3 having already perfected the Mad Max experience, it's a good thing there's enough post-apocalyptic fun to spread around. And the trailer gets extra points for having a cameo from Goonies character Sloth. If it's not him, it's his brother Quasimodo.

6. Brütal Legend



Tim Schafer, the lead designer on Psychonauts and Grim Fandango, has teamed up with Jack Black for this heavy-metal, head-rolling odyssey. Cartoon violence has never gone quite so far over the top, which probably has something to do with the corrupting influence of rock 'n' roll. Parents, consider yourself warned: no matter how desperately you beg for a turn, your brat won't turn over the controller. (In case you're slow on the uptake, he's fighting with an axe, which is also a nickname for an electric guitar.)

5. Mirror's Edge


Maybe I'm just a sucker for the game's theme song "Still Alive" by Lisa Miskovsky (buy the radio edit on iTunes and watch the playcount soar), but the Mirror's Edge trailer rocks me pretty hard.