Bad endings suck, and way too many of 2008's best games really collapsed when it came time to wrap things up. Sure, the journeys were great — and in some cases, they were breathtaking! — but nothing leaves a sour aftertaste like a story that flames out after a dozen hours (or sometimes, dozens of hours) of gaming to get there. But rather than just grump about it, we’re here to present our ideas for how these biggies of ’08 could’ve come to a graceful conclusion — and maybe, just maybe, to inspire the creators of 2009’s games to end them with less of a thud. And if not…well, at least we got to grump about it!

Fable II

WHAT WENT WRONG?: So…we spent 20 or so hours tracking down the Heroes of Strength, Will, and Skill…so they could stand in a circle and shoot lasers out of their chests? Sure, we got in a brief rumble with one of those upside-down pyramid-thingies, but we were crushed that we didn’t do some serious adventuring with them. And we would’ve really liked some more interesting options than just “kill Lucien” — especially for a story that’s otherwise so deeply about making choices.

HOW WE’D REWRITE IT: First off, we’d send your hero and the three musketeers on a meaty quest, like, say, fi nding a wise old monk (or something) who knew what Theresa was really up to in assembling all four of you. Sure, your character has plenty of reasons for wanting to punch Lucien’s ticket, but after laboring for Theresa for so long, we really, really wondered what she was after. Then we’d end with a big confrontation between the heroes, Lucien, and Theresa in the Spire, and give you choice after tantalizing, devastating choice for how it all wraps up.

READER RESPONSE: OXM forum member slappypyne called Fable II’s ending “the biggest videogaming letdown of 2008,” while Welcome Ghosts said: “A music box? Really? I was playing for hours to shoot a music box? Sorry, I was hoping for something a little better. Especially since I was mourning the loss of my dog at the time.”

RAGE-O-METER: 7

Gears of War 2

WHAT WENT WRONG?: The final sequence of Gears of War 2 fulfills all the fanboy dreams of the original game — now that you’ve fought a heavily armored Brumak, you get to ride one and make it do your bidding! After blowing up beast barges, toppling pillars, and breaking through the planet’s crust, you jump into a helicopter and come to…a giant Lambent Brumak straight out of 1992. He mutates and sprouts tentacles, so you have to shoot him three times with the Hammer of Dawn, which is alarmingly challenge-free. Then Jacinto implodes and floods. Sinking Jacinto is a cool ending, but we didn’t feel like we caused it: It just seemed to happen accidentally after we fought a cheesy boss.

HOW WE’D REWRITE IT: The giddy heights of massive destruction needed to keep building, instead of stopping cold in the wake of a visitor from the 16-bit era. Don’t get off the Brumak — stay in the saddle until the credits. If we have to endure The Monster from the SNES Lagoon, okay, but let us kill it with its own kind. Better still, let us blast away at key underground supports to trigger the city’s collapse on purpose, so it feels like true retribution for the fallen cities of Tollen, Montevado, and Ilima.

FAN RESPONSE: “At least Gears of War 2 had a boss battle,” argues OXM forumite LostKnightmare. “I’ll take annihilating the Lambent Brumak with the Hammer of Dawn over the endings of Fallout 3 (following an absolute killing machine) or Halo 3 (running away with the ground falling from under me) any day. And you can’t get much more epic than a Godzilla-sized glowing Brumak.”

RAGE-O-METER: 4

Fallout 3

WHAT WENT WRONG?: An open-world game all about choice forces you to die at the end? (Unless you send the innocent Sarah Lyons instead, you bad, bad man.) Riiiiiight. And what’s with the non-negotiable “Game Over” screen after the main quest, especially when Bethesda’s own Elder Scrolls games let you soldier on?

HOW WE’D REWRITE IT: Our radiation-proof super mutant buddy Fawkes could’ve activated Project Purity with no harm to himself or us. And even if he wasn’t around, we could’ve soaked up the radiation and been turned into a Ghoul and kept playing, just like the post-Megaton Moira did.

DEVELOPER RESPONSE: “We felt that, since it was Fallout, it was okay to have the game end like the originals, on a bittersweet moment,” executive producer Todd Howard shared. But he admitted: “[We] quickly found out after the game was out that people really just wanted to keep playing.”

RAGE-O-METER: 8

Call of Duty: World At War

WHAT WENT WRONG?: It’s never easy to satisfyingly tie up two campaigns in the same game, and unfortunately, both the American and Russian finales stir shoulder-shrugging indifference at best. The U.S.’s pyrotechnic display is nothing we haven’t seen a dozen times before in this series, and the Reichstag-storming, flag-planting sequence in the Russian climax was straight out of the very first Call of Duty.

HOW WE’D REWRITE IT: In a Newhart-ian twist, you approach the Reichstag but are stunned when the Nazi Zombies from the unlockable post-credits mode pour out of the building. You’re swarmed and killed, the playable game ends, and a cutscene ensues, showing hero Soap MacTavish from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare waking up in a cold sweat, sighing with relief, and saying, “It was all just a dream.” Then he lies back down and goes back to sleep, setting us up for this fall’s Modern Warfare 2.

READER RESPONSE: “The ending for Call of Duty: World at War was disappointing because it wasn’t original,” said OXM forum member squishydog2 on Xbox.com. “Pretty lazy in my opinion.”

RAGE-O-METER: 5

Dead Space

WHAT WENT WRONG?: At the very end of the game, after killing the Hive Mind, Isaac is sitting sadly, recalling his sweet Nicole — when a necrofi ed Nicole jumps out at him! (Cue credits.) Besides that fi nal shock being a hoary horror cliché, it also revisits the jarring mystery of whether Nicole is a hallucination or a necro during the entire game. If she’s a hallucination, how does she help you open a door, and how are other characters aware of her? If she’s a necro, why is she the only one who looks human?

HOW WE’D REWRITE IT: No fi nal scare. After Isaac’s tense last-minute escape, we see him aboard the shuttle, gravely pondering what he’s been through and what he’s lost. He’s been a voiceless cypher through the entire game; humanizing him now, and hearing him talk for the fi rst time, could make for a quiet but memorable close.

GAMERS’ RESPONSE: As controversial as the ending proved to be, gaming forums (including those at our very own GamesRadar ) had their share of posters who liked it. Some called it the scariest part of the game; others appreciated the ambiguity, noting that it gave EA more freedom in setting up a sequel.

RAGE-O-METER: 5