Welcome to the 7th Annual Mod of the Year Awards - the premiere event that celebrates the best creations within the modding and indie gaming scene. Developers have poured their blood, sweat and tears into creating new gameplay experiences that truly "change the game". Now its time for the gamers to voice
their opinions and select their top picks of the year.

**Presenting the 2008 Winners**


From now until Feb 28th, the MOTY will present to you the cream of the crop for 2008 as voted by the public. The top mods and games will win the honors of being placed alongside other projects that have gone on to become commercial successes and cement their place in ModDB's hall of fame. And to the winner goes the spoils; ModDB has teamed up with a whole lineup of sponsors that have provided prizes ranging from software to servers to commercial engines. Everything to help budding developers excel at their craft.

Report RSS 2008 Mod of the Year Winners

After 114,000 votes, you have chosen this years top 10 mods.

Posted by on

This is it, the big one... the one everyone is waiting for: the result decided by you and 115,000 other gamers who voted for their favorite mods in January. As always, we expect the results to be argued - but one thing I think we can all agree on is that 2008 was a top year for mods, with 150 high-profile releases. 2009 is already on track to beat that number, but for now, it is time to showcase the very best of 2008!




Honorable Mentions

We would like to recognize the mods Insurgency (Half-Life 2), Sven Co-op (Half-Life), Empires (Half-Life 2), Forgotten Hope 2 (Battlefield 2) and Dystopia (Half-Life 2) which have placed higher in previous MOTY awards and therefore were not included.

Insurgency Media Update - Beta 3 Sneak Peek Gman Towers helicopter fight Cyclopean APC FH 2.15 release image Detonate and Cybernetic Screenshots


10.Half-Life 2: Wars
Half-Life 2

Half-Life_2:_Wars wrote: "Half-Life 2: Wars" is a real-time strategy (RTS) modification set in the Half-Life universe. Although development is in its early stages, much has already been implemented. Currently there is only singleplayer, but multiplayer is planned. There is thorough mapping documentation available on the forum for those who wish to make custom maps, which may be included in the mod.


HL2:Wars WIP Jan 09 Update v0.5 Screens v0.5 Screens


9.Stargate Empire at War
Starwars Empire at War

Stargate_Empire_at_War wrote: "Stargate Empire at War" The fight goes on,on your PC! Experience the biggest battles you've ever seen in the Stargate universe. You are the commander,it's your mission to free the galaxy or to lead it into eternal darkness! Huge space battles: Lead the ships of the Tau'ri, Goa'uld, Asgard, Ancients and Ori to victory and fight the threats like the Replicators or the Wraith. Thrilling land battles: Play with all the units you know from the series: SG Teams,Jaffa,Kull warriors and many more. Fight on the planets and locations well known from the series SG1 and Atlantis. Prove your skills in multiplayer battles and show your enemy,who's the ruler of the galaxy. The latest version of the mod is Final 1.0 for the Normal EaW.


Crashed BC-304 Ethon One detailed planet surface


8.Age of Chivalry
Half-Life 2

Age_of_Chivalry wrote: Age of Chivalry is a total conversion for Half-Life 2 currently being developed by Team Chivalry. We are a close group of friends who are dedicated to creating a fun story driven multiplayer experience set in a fantasy world in the medieval ages. We are creating a fast paced and fun first person melee combat system that will take the player to a new level of immersion. The players will be able to take part in sieges, town raids and open war in a story driven game. Our goal is to let the players write the history of the game as the teams battle it out over a sequence of user controlled map cycles depending on the victor.


aoc_monastery Blood and Effects coming in CR1 Blood and Effects coming in CR1


7.Eternal Silence
Half-Life 2

Eternal_Silence wrote: A massive deep space artifact from long-gone Earth was found and spawned a renaissance on the human colonies of the United Terran Forces. A gigantic assault from the UTF on the now independent colonies spawned the Neo Galactic Militia and started a deep space war the likes of which the world has never seen. Your role in Eternal Silence will be within vital strategic battles between massive capital warships. You will need your wits, your precision, your strength, your endurance, and above all your courage to take on the fierce challenges which await you.


Battle of Cerbera Battle of Cerbera Battle of Cerbera


6.Pirates, Vikings and Knights 2
Half-Life 2

Pirates wrote: Pirates, Vikings and Knights II is a unique, total conversion of the Half-Life 2 Source engine. 3 teams fight each other for kills, objectives and total domination! With a melee combat system that's unique to the modding community, game modes you won't find in other games and parrots that can be trained to peck at enemies, it's no surprise PVKII is so entertaining! If you enjoy getting together with friends and having an exhilarating time.


2.3 Features and Effects 2.3 Features and Effects 2.3 Features and Effects


5.Zombie Master
Half-Life 2

Zombie_Master wrote: Zombie Master is a multiplayer Source modification, centred around a zombie-apocalypse, which throws all but one player in the shoes of human survivors. Pitched against a relentless tide of rotting flesh, they must scavenge for weaponry and equipment just to stay alive. But that one player, chosen randomly at the beginning of the round, is not bound by mortal restraints. To speak his name is to invite the wrath of hell - but most call him the 'Zombie Master'. He is nigh omnipotent. His invisible hand controls the legions of undead like puppets on strings; slowly closing the net on the humans while they run to and fro like rats in a maze.


Command Bashing Survival

4.First Strike
Battlefield 2142

First_Strike wrote: First Strike is a Star Wars total conversion modification for Battlefield 2142. The goal of First Strike is to totally immerse the players into the amazing universe of Star Wars by presenting the most accurate representations of famous Star Wars locales, weapons, and characters, and combining them with exciting, fast paced gameplay and features new to the Battlefield scene. Within this mod you'll find yourself as a soldier of the Galactic Empire or as a freedom fighter for the Rebel Alliance. You'll fight across lovingly detailed recreations of various Star Wars locations with a wide array of weapons and vehicles.


New Map Community Game Screenshots New Map Community Game Screenshots New Map Community Game Screenshots


3.Portal: Prelude
Portal

Portal:_Prelude wrote: Portal: Prelude, as its name states it, is an unofficial prequel to the game Portal. Its story revolves around the pre-GlaDOS epoch, even before she was plugged in. At this time, test subjects were monitored by real Aperture Science employees, whose work was tedious, lengthy and repetitive. This is why they decided to build a great artificial intelligence that could both replace them in these difficult tasks, and also take responsibility for many other tasks within the complex and compete with Black Mesa's superiority. All employees of the Aperture Science complex are now eagerly awaiting GlaDOS. Maybe even a little too eagerly, as the upcoming events will tell... This game is totally free. It offers a bit more gameplay hours than the original Portal, with 8 chapters, 19 test chambers, 48 challenges, 6 advanced maps, a brand new storyline and more than 400 lines of english speech with dozens of subtitles translations.


Portal: Prelude Screenshots Portal: Prelude Screenshots Portal: Prelude Screenshots


2.Zombie Panic: Source
Half-Life 2

Zombie_Panic:_Source wrote: Zombie Panic: Source is a co-op oriented Survivor Vs Zombie multi-player survival horror modification for HL2. While our main priority is to make the mod as fun to play as possible, ZP:S plans to greatly expand on the core features of "Zombie panic" For HL1, with the obvious new features, impressive visuals, and of course atmospheric maps. More importantly ZP:S will not force players to fend against dumb and predictable AI, but instead keep the same intense thrill of surviving against intelligent and persistent player controlled zombies as the original.


ZPO_Harvest gameplay ZPS_Cinema gameplay screenshots ZP:S v1.5.1 Media


banners


1.Project Reality
Battlefield 2

Project_Reality wrote: Welcome to "Project Reality", a free to download game modification for the Battlefield 2 (aka BF2) retail Windows game. The focus of this mod is to rework the original game engine developed by Digital Illusions of Sweden (Dice) within legal and feasible constraints to create a more realistic combat environment for the gaming community. This includes adjusting various game play elements including physics, visual effects and overall game play formats. Along with changes to how the game handles, the Project Reality team has been introducing British and Insurgent factions, plus a number of community assisted factions are currently in the works to introduce Canadian, Russian and IDF forces to the virtual battlefields. This Mod is not for the masses, due to the fact that it has a much higher learning curve then your classic arcade game. This is the real deal.


Lynx AH-7 BTR-60 APC T-72 MBT


Post comment Comments  (0 - 50 of 193)
Robots!
Robots!

WOO HOO FIRST!!! and project relaity deserved it, it looks awesome. though i cant play it.

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f0rqu3
f0rqu3

aww

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kiddi1000
kiddi1000

may oi ask somone who saed yay, pr won but he cant play it got buried... are peaple really that sore.... that should not have any neg comments

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DuckSauce
DuckSauce

I think it's just the PR/BF2 haters, probably the zombie fanboys who are now mad ZP:S didn't make it first spot.
Well 2nd spot isn't bad and PR seems much more top notch then ZP:S at this time. Better luck next year ZP:S, I know you guys try to make it as best as you can, but there's always someone better or just more popular.

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sbnewsom
sbnewsom

haha, so true. haha, but again, Project Reality won majority vote.

Thankfully, comment ratings shouldn't be that big of a deal, until it gets buried.

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Yeoman
Yeoman

I was hoping that PVKII would win but i also like project reality so congratulations to them :D

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cW#Ravenblood

Prelude FTW

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AlCool
AlCool

So much half life its unreal.

Congratz.

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DuckSauce
DuckSauce

lol, that made me check what games the mods were far, noticed Zombie master is listed as a mod for... zombie master :P
typo there I guess :)

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AlCool
AlCool

I noticed that too.

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DuckSauce
DuckSauce

they fixed :) quick response :D
anyway it's not surprising so much hl2/source stuff made it, isn't Source one of the most modding supported engines? More developers seem to start making their games moddable though, but that takes time, so I think we're gonna see many more hl2/source mods before modders spread across more engines.

btw just so you know... I don't think ModDB is biased to hl2, even in editor's choice there were mods chosen from other engines/games, but like I said, Source is huge when it comes to modding, it's unfair to say ModDB is biased, there are just more mods for source and therefore more chance for them to be good one's.

Not to mention most mods can be played by just having 1 source game out of many available, that increases the playerbase of Source mods by ALOT, compared to UT3 for example where only UT3 would allow you to play UT3 mods.

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Jayjack40
Jayjack40

Half-Life 1 was huge on modding as well, but game developers still haven't made their games as easily mod-able as Valve games. Not to say they don't, it's just Valve supports it so much more. They biggest selling games are mods (Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, etc.)

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INtense! Creator
INtense!

Spread the indie and mod development love - Digg.com and Stumble

Reply Good karma+5 votes
m82sniper
m82sniper

Done ^^

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ChiefRyza
ChiefRyza

lol someone down-voted this? LOL

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DuckSauce
DuckSauce

some interesting results, I don't have BF2 but seeing Project Reality win, means that there's alot of people that agree with what I heard said on a modcast: that it makes BF2(******) into something awesome.
Congrats to all the winners.

Just curious, how high is Jailbreak up the list of 100? or you can't share this information.
I expected it to be in the top 10, but maybe it's due that the most awesome update still being "upcoming".

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PiratePlunder
PiratePlunder

Well Done PR - thoroughly deserved

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oWn4g3
oWn4g3

PVK was my favorite but the winner really deserved it.

Great event again, let's hope we have many new mods being announced this year.
There are really some great games with great ideas and a very professional production.

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mcluv
mcluv

W00t! Go pr! Finally, a great choice!

Good job to all the honourable mentions, too!

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Broadsword530
Broadsword530

Well zm did very well considering it does not have the advantage of being on steam!

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AwsomeCake
AwsomeCake

congrats PR, was hoping for a HL2 title to win tho :P

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Mularac
Mularac

-.- weren't you satisfayed that 60% (70% if you count portal) of the winner were from the same game and engine?
personally, I think it should be splitted into two categories: half-life mods and not half-life mods.
Congrats to PR and SG-EaW, they certainly deserved (didn't play PR, but it looks like mod with a lot of work placed in it)

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Kattevoer
Kattevoer

nah, if Source mods own other engine's mods... let them win : )

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Khameli
Khameli

congraz Zombie panic, i love u! ^^
and others too, never played p reality but it looks n1 :P

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fuzzheadtf
fuzzheadtf

congrats to all mods!

special thanks to moddb, ive been trying all these new mods and i would have never heard of most of them if it wasnt for this awesome website and community!

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Tatsur0
Tatsur0

Congratulations Project Reality. You've placed 2nd 2 years running and stuck to your project and your community to see it finally pay off. I won't lie and say I didn't hope you'd make 2nd again this year for obvious reasons, but out of every mod currently available I'm glad it was you guys who beat us out for the #1 spot.

I hope you go on to do quite a bit more in the future!

And congrats to the rest of the top10 for doing an incredible job.

I would like to again thank our supporters for making us #2 MOTY. Without you we'd never have achieved as much as we have. We're truly grateful.

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marcoelnk
marcoelnk

PROJECT REALITY FTW !

congrats to all other mods as well ;)

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CSargeP
CSargeP

Was hoping for Zombie Master to win but congratz Pr!

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Psycho_Sam
Psycho_Sam

Project Reality, the true saviour of BF2 if ever there was one.

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Onil
Onil

Hell yeah! Well deserved win.

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frikazoyd
frikazoyd

Congratulations Project Reality! You guys clearly put a lot of work into the mod.

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kneecapper
kneecapper

SWEET BEST MOD BY FAR

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NotMe!
NotMe!

Nice list. Congratulations to all in top 10.

It was nice to see some old ones also which have been under deveploment for many years, like Pirates Vikings and Knights 2

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Nokiaman
Nokiaman

(buried)

PR sucks so hard :(
(Bury this comment if you want,but I won't change my opinion)

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LORDDEREX
LORDDEREX

Have u tried it?

I havent, but the looks of it's its good, but not the best.
Far from the best... But still its hard to say which one that put most time and skills to a mod. (I mean all mods, old as new.)

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Spec_Operator
Spec_Operator

No problem, you have your opinion, and if you don't like it (and tried it!) that's just fine.

Congrats PR, finally 1st :)

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ChiefRyza
ChiefRyza

What's that? You hate PR because it doesn't include Jedi? OH MY GOD HE's RIGHT!

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kiddi1000
kiddi1000

lol, he hates it becuase he cant kill like in vinnala=P

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Nokiaman
Nokiaman

It's stupid to mind that my avatar is from Star Wars.I don't like only SW games,but this one isn't so good as other mods I tried

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f0rqu3
f0rqu3

congrats all. they all look nice :)

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Magster1914
Magster1914

Nice MOTY!

I want to get BF2 now.

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Bobomberman
Bobomberman

Same here, I've heard amazing things on the mod, making me anxious to get bf2.

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LORDDEREX
LORDDEREX

Sven coop would so deserve that, if they would have fixed the bug so not all could play it (including me...).

...

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MaxBoZ
MaxBoZ

Couldnt be any happier..

Gj everybody!

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Mkilbride
Mkilbride

(buried)

Mediocre results. ZP:S didn't deserve second, but hey, it happens.

At least the results were not as upsetting as Best Upcoming.

Three surprises to me are though:

Half-Life 2 wars - This mod is fun, but far from what I'd consider a MoTY...but oh well.

Stargate The Last Stand - I guess fans can bump a game that's ugly, buggy, and not very fun, and make it this far. Fans are powerful indeed.

Pirates, Vikings, and Knights II - I will never support this mod after what they did, stealing code from the AoC team who helped them, and then denying it. I still hate them for this and can't respect them. AoC dev's I've seen aren't fond of stealers either. :P

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nickelplease
nickelplease

(buried)

don't be jealous just because PVKII owns AoC

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DuckSauce
DuckSauce

I never knew PVK2 stole code from them, when did that happen?
Is there proof?

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nickelplease
nickelplease

pvk didn't steal code. someones just mad Aoc got 8th and pvk got 6th :D

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Crazytalk
Crazytalk

We never stole any code, this is a ridiculous claim and I don't know where he got it from.

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AgeofChivalry
AgeofChivalry

Not sure what the confusion here is, Many AoC developers are quite fond of PVKII and there has never been any friction between us at all. Our fans may be a different story at times but the teams themselves have never negatively interacted in my memory.

They never stole anything, further more i believe Age of Chivalry and PVKII to be about as far apart as is possible considering they're both medieval style melee combat games based on the same engine. They both bring a unique and different feel and take on things, which you prefer is entirely up to you!

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Mkilbride
Mkilbride

Well, I got it from an Official News statement on the AoC site itself. It was a big fiasco, I read all about it. I don't know what's going on now though, if AoC themselves are denying it, but that new posts is as clear as day in my mind.

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AgeofChivalry
AgeofChivalry

Not possible, i believe i remember some sort of this sillyness years ago by some member on our forums about two video showcases that were similar in nature one from each team. But this was a statement by someone entirely unrelated to either team. And also entirely wrong, please give it a rest.

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cW#Ravenblood

pwnd but i think Aoc rulez more than PVKII

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