Your Top 10 Games of 2009 (Images Galore!)

[leXX]

1. Assassins Creed 2 (360)

 

 

2. Uncharted 2 (PS3)

 

 

3. Dragon Age Origins (PC)

 

 

4. Torchlight (PC)

 

 

5. Forza Motorsport 3 (360)

 

 

6. Shadow Complex (XBLA)

 

 

7. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (XBLA)

 

 

8. Wii Sports Resort (Wii)

 

 

9. 1 vs 100 (XBL)

 

 

10. Bejewelled Blitz (iPhone)

 

[jrrtoken]

Machinarium, for its tidy and well-executed presentation, coupled with the fact that it's one of the best adventure games in years, and a fairly original concept, to boot. Whereas SoMI:SE and ToMI were welcome and nostalgic morsels, they lacked pose and became quite tiresome, often from "trying to hard" to be like Monkey Island, or a humorous adventure game, at that. That's where Machinarium exceeds; by providing a dialogue-less often slapstick-oriented romp, that relies more on visual aid and dark humor to provide true bliss, rather than "for nostalgia's sake". Machinarium also proves once again that 2D adventure games will always have more heart, soul, and detail than their 3D counterparts, by providing a world that's equally alien and commonplace.

 

 

 

One of the more flat-out visceral and reflex-satiable game of the year was MadWorld, partly due to its presentation. The high-contrast black and white and red world was exceptional in presentation, with the latter augmenting the former. It's one of the better examples of pure, unadulterated "fun" that brandishes excessive violence as a comedic self-parody of itself; MadWorld recognizes that it's over-the-top and ridiculous, and pokes fun at itself for it. The game encourages you to "Get creative" with violence, and it does so without any "epic" overtones that enforce seriousness a la God of War, which is too seldom seen in today's industry of epic, mature themes.

 

 

 

The Dark Spire, a dungeon crawler for the DS, is more of a innovation than a throwback. It directly pays homage to dungeon crawlers of old, with a first-person perspective and narrative text that creates more of an atmosphere than a visual display. In fact, it enforces the belief that graphics are more of a visual aid than a gameplay pillar, but they compliment the narration with a high-contrast environment gamut, complete with dark, explorable hallways. When these two elements are coupled, they produce more ambiance than a purely visual-driven exercise. The music also delivers, with evocative, high fantasy-esque chanting paired with synthesizer-driven electronica, resulting in a truly new sound. All of these elements, combined with a ASCII-based "retro" mode, forge a new albeit nostalgic experience.

 

 

 

 

And... that's about it. The few games that have impressed me enough this year to shell out my monies ended being more unimpressive in hindsight. Most that I have played were either several years old, and I found them to be more enjoyable than some next-gen watershed de jour of anonymous stature (Think of a "4" and multiply that by "2" ). Honorable mentions would include Torchlight and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and that's all.

[Pho3nix]

I only have two;

 

 

+

 

[swphreak]

My Top 10:

 

1. Batman Arkham Asylum (360)

 

2. Ghostbusters (360)

 

3. Assassin's Creed 2 (360)

 

4. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (360)

 

5. Dragon Age Origins (PC)

 

6. inFamous (PS3)

 

7. Red Faction: Guerrilla (360)

 

8. Modern Warfare 2 (360)

 

9. Sword of the Stars (they released an expansion so I'm counting it) (PC)

 

10. Borderlands (360)

 

 

Honorable Mention:

 

Gratuitous Space Battles (PC)

 

Evochron Legends (PC)

 

 

Obligatory Mention:

 

MASS EFFECT 2 (360)

[jrrtoken]

Mass Effect 2 isn't even out yet, and won't even be until '10, so yeah... >_>

[MrWally]

In no particular order:

 

 

Fantastic FPS/RPG crossover. I had serious doubts about it, and while I initially thought it was cool, it didn't catch my attention (probably due to distraction with Dragon Age). However, after picking it up a second time I couldn't put it down and upon finishing I immediately began a second playthrough. It's just that fun.

 

Reviewers and game critics be damned, I thoroughly enjoyed this sandbox game.

 

Incredibly fun Fantasy RPG. Still haven't beaten it, though. I should probably get on that...

 

Best comic book video game ever. Period.

 

Played this at a friend's house yesterday. Only went through two campaigns, but I loved it. Definitely adds more to the original than I expected, and I didn't feel like an expansion pack to me.

[TiE23]

1. Assassin's Creed 2 (360)

 

2. Uncharted 2 (PS3)

 

Edit: I got this for Christmas... guess what I've been playing since then...

3. Forza Motorsport 3 (360)

 

4. Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC)

 

5. Battlefield 1943 (XBLA)

 

6. Skate 2 (360)

 

7. Red Faction: Guerilla (360)

 

8. Mirror's Edge (PC)

 

9. DiRT 2 (360)

 

10. Resident Evil 5 (360)

 

11. The Sims 3 (PC)

[/img]http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/27/900745-thesims3_athleticcareer_super.jpg[/img]

 

 

But my actual game of the year didn't come out in 2009. Oh well...

 

00. Battlefield: Bad Company

[PR-0927]

2009 sucked for games. I don't even have Batman: Arkham Asylum, but I'd probably put it at the top. Halo 3: ODST was good in my books. The first expansion to Sins of a Solar Empire is awesome (Entrenchment).

 

That's it. Dirt 2 interests me. But CoD can burn in hell, and all the other games were boring.

 

2010 will be much better. Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Crysis 2, and Mass Effect 2 all are highly anticipated by me...as is the second Sins of a Solar Empire expansion (Diplomacy).

 

- PR-0927

[Kusanavi]

I like your format, Phreak, so I stole it. Mwahaha! Anyways,

 

My Top 10:

 

1. Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3)

 

2. Dragon Age: Origins (PC)

 

3. Modern Warfare 2 (360)

 

4. Assassin's Creed II (360)

 

5. Street Fighter IV (360)

 

6. Demon's Souls (PS3)

 

7. Shadow Complex (360 - XBLA)

 

8. Resident Evil 5 (360)

 

9. Torchlight (PC)

 

10. The Beatles: Rock Band (360)

 

Honorable Mentions:

 

Borderlands (360)

 

'Splosion Man (360 -XBLA)

 

Disappointment of the Year:

 

Brutal Legend (360)

[Jeff]

10. Braid (Number None, PC)

Amazing art style, and fun and addicting puzzles. Couldn't leave this off the list. The PC version came out in 2009 which is what I played.

 

9. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo, Wii)

I actually don't care for the art style so much in this game, it just looks very generic to me. But the gameplay, especially when playing with 3 other players is so much fun and there is so much variety to the levels. Definitely a "must-play" for Wii owners.

 

8. Torchlight (Runic Games, PC)

Ever play Diablo 2? Think that with 3D graphics and WoW's art style and you have Torchlight. Just one more level...

 

7. The Beatles: Rock Band (Harmonix, Xbox 360)

Aside from, you know, The Beatles, what separates this game from all the other band-specific music games out there is the amount of polish and the level of uniqueness given to this title. The visuals are amazing, each song has a custom backdrop, and the addition of vocal harmonies really does make this a standout title.

 

6. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (Relic Entertainment, PC)

No base-building + loot drops = a great RTS formula. This game was probably a big risk since it strays so much from what people think of as an RTS game but it was definitely worth it.

 

5. Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft, Xbox 360)

I personally loved the first Assassin's Creed so this one is a no-brainer for me. Improved mission variety, still the same fun gameplay from the first.

 

4. Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady, Xbox 360)

It was tough for me to decide which I enjoyed more, Assassin's Creed II or Batman, but I think it just came down to the fact that it's Batman and we've never had a Batman game even close to how amazing this is. The brawler aspects are fun but I think the detective and stealth parts are my favorite.

 

3. Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve, PC)

Too early for a sequel? Definitely not, this game improves upon so much from the first game. I have already played this more than I played L4D1. The only thing I like better from the first game is the characters.

 

2. Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, Xbox 360)

Probably an unpopular pick but I loved almost everything about this game. Resident Evil 4 was my first exposure to the series and I flat out loved it so it's no surprise that I loved this one as well. One thing about this is to get the full enjoyment out of it, you must play it co-op as I did.

 

1. Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare, PC)

By far my favorite game this year, I don't know if I have any real complaints about it other than technical issues. The characters are what really shine though, you actually care about what they think of you and they are just very believable. Definitely a worthy successor to Baldur's Gate, one of my favorite games.

 

Honorable Mentions (Listed alphabetically)

Halo 3: ODST (Bungie, Xbox 360)

Mirror's Edge* (DICE, PC)

Tales of Monkey Island (Telltale Games, PC)

 

*I actually love Mirror's Edge, but I originally played it on 360 and only briefly played the PC version, otherwise it would be high on my top 10 list.