TOP 10 FREE INDEPENDENT GAMES of 2008- and the rest

Best free games? Or best free OR independent games?

My free list:

1. Dolphin Olympics 2:
You're a dolphin, you do tricks for points. If you're good enough, you get a Scott Adam's reference. It's cool.

2. Kongai
Kongregate's card game. The game (which isn't bad) isn't actually as cool as the challenges. Every week Konrgegate.org has a few challenges in a random flash game. Accomplish task X and you win a free card for Kongai. It has really exposed me to a slew of amazing free games.

3. Pack Rat
Only facebook game I've ever enjoyed. It's actually less of a game and more of a card collecting thing. Recent changes have made it a little less compelling for me, but I really loved playing it over the summer.

4. Forumwarz
If WoW met Encyclopedia Dramatica?

5. Mirror's Edge 2D
Ok, maybe not that great. But pretty music and a good 2D adaptation.

6. www.eyezmaze.com
Really all his stuff. I'm not even sure it qualifies as games - but more like Japanese pop game art. Faux-simulations and really cool stuff. Best is his Grow series.

7. Violet
Winner of IFComp and also speaks very directly to me (comic book loving protagonist tries to write academia while avoiding distractions). Also, narrator has an amazing voice. Love it.

8. SeppuKuties
Save a bunch of cute animals -- generally by killing them in horrific ways.

9. Pandemic 2
RPG. You are a virus. Earn points by infecting countries. Spend those points on mutations. Kill the entire world.

10. Ayiti: Cost of Life
Take a Haitian family and help them thrive (or, more likely, fail horribly about twenty times before you hit on a winning strategy. Btw: Winning strategy means = you don't die every game). -- This actually came out in 2006, but I didn't play it until 2008. So I'm including it. But just in case it doesn't count, here is my bonus answer (ie, this list goes to 11):

11. ESPN Fantasy Football
Ok, it's not technically an independent game. Nor is it unique to 2008. But I spent SOO much time playing it. It must be included.

Lol. Teach me for using Site New Answers. I thought this was an ILG thread. Not a Player's Forum thread. My bad!

do you not use the fancy multicolouring option for board answers? it's really handy.

I do, but I grouped both Game threads with the same color.

doh

Dyson - had an okay look, but frankly didn't seem like more than an average Flash game with slightly nicer graphics. Also, even with the time sped up it felt so slow and too lacking in visual feedback.

Mighty Jill Off - actually did persevere and beat this. Generally disappointed. I really liked the cutscene art, but can someone tell me why this was covered on so many blogs (besides maybe that it was developed by a few insert credit regulars)?

Mighty Samurai Mansion - nice art, otherwise, not a super-fun arcade throwback. But I'm bad at those hyper reflex-twitchers.

Harpooned - funny for two minutes, nothing special about the game itself. Should've been a browser game.

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2008/12/gamasutras_best_of_2008_top_5_1.php

A lot of good mentions in this, even in that least bunch in the last paragraphs. Now that I think about it, Rope and Barkley would probably be my picks for this genre (indie freeware/"art projects").