Dalai's 2009 awards thing: games of the year and decade.

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Edited By Dalai

Sponsored by 2010: enjoy those stupid glasses while you can!

I gotta admit, I had a really hard time choosing one game as my Game of the Year this year. I had changed my official list several times before I finally committed to a winner. It was a year of zombies, endless gun variety, Nintendo nostalgia, MotionPlus, superheroes, Metroidvania games, street fighting, and Nolan North. And while my list of nominees is a bit different than probably yours, it goes to show that 2009, even though it couldn't really compare to the last two years, was still a great year for gamers of all ages and tastes. Here are my nominees.

And the winner.

The Sims 3

The Sims 3: Dalai's 2009 Game of the Year.
Somehow The Sims 3 was forgotten among the public, but it's understandable. Games like The Sims 3 aren't going to wow people who prefer games that resemble blockbuster action movies like Uncharted 2 or Batman: Arkham Asylum, but The Sims 3 feels more like a great dramatic comedy with unexpected plot twists you create yourself. On the surface it looks just like any other Sims game, but The Sims 3 made some significant changes to the point where it feels nothing like the previous games. They took the open world concept and rolled with it big time by adding a world that you can explore without annoying loading screens. You can grab a bite to eat at the local diner, visit the neighbors while they're about to go asleep, play a little guitar in the park, take a dip in the public pool checking out the bikinis, or just enjoy a stroll through the neighborhood. The create-a-Sim tool has never been so detailed, and you can pretty much edit anything right down to the size of your nostrils. The dozens of traits replace the whole slider personality system that actually gives each Sim unique personalities and moods. Your personal architect and interior decorator will love fooling around with the building tools. There's so much to like for any Sims fan and it's one of the few games I found myself playing throughout the year even while newer games come and go.

And a quick shout-out to the nominees. I haven't spent enough time with Left 4 Dead 2, probably because I did play plenty of the original in the months before its release, but the characters and additions (sweet melee weapons) erases the speculation we had prior to its release. Modern Warfare 2... what's there to say? Awesome multiplayer like its older brother. Still one of the best out there. Borderlands has some odd quirks, but few games this year took the risks Borderlands did and Gearbox somehow made playing in a wasteland really fun. New Super Mario Bros. Wii was almost my Game of the Year and it deserves more recognition that it's gotten among the reviewing elite. Yeah it's the same Mario we've been spoon-fed for 25 years and much of my excitement and bias comes from childhood memories, but the 4 player clusterfuck is something every gamer must experience at least once.

I'm not done yet, though. Here's my "other" 2009 Game of the Year.

Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 is goddamn addictive and even though I'm a few years late to the party, that party is still going as strong as it did in 2007. The funny thing is that I had zero interest in TF2 and only bought it because half the Giant Bomb Steam community were playing it religiously... and also it was on sale for $2.50. Best $2.50 I ever spent! The appeal of Team Fortress 2 is its complexity through simplicity and the reliance on the "Team" in Team Fortress. You're always looking out for each other whether you're a Medic charging up your Heavy friend, a Sniper picking off a Soldier attacking your Pyro friend, or an Engineer just trying to protect your intelligence. It's chaotic, cartoonishly violent, and surprisingly balanced. It's also the game I spent 50 hours playing in the past two months. And it's my "other" 2009 Game of the Year. And in a way it's more a 2009 game than a 2007 game what with the updates and all.

Also a shout-out to the other nominee, good ol' Persona 4, the one game that made me love a JRPG, something that no game has done since Earthbound 15 years ago.

I also have a Game of the Decade. While it might be silly to choose one game to define an entire decade, everybody else is doing it so why the hell not?

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

I have a deep appreciation for games that give you freedom and don't force you to follow a predetermined path. I also love games that throw the kitchen sink at you. Also, I'm a fan of games that aren't too serious and show a goofy side every so often. Throw in a somewhat modern setting, a gigantic, varied world, and some amazing music and you've got what I think is the best game you'll find in the 2000s. GTA: San Andreas feels at times like 50 games in one. One day it's a mission-based 3rd person shooter, the next day it's a stealth game, then a racing game, a virtual life game, flight sim, extreme sports game, etc. It might not do any particular thing perfectly, but there's so much to do that you're bound to find something fun. If you're the type of gamer that just wants to drive around town stealing cars, running over innocent people, jumping big-ass ramps, and finally launching your car into the ocean, you're covered. You like just finding gruesome ways to die? There are dozens of tall buildings for the jumping. Rockstar might have gone more gritty and serious in GTAIV, but San Andreas is in some ways the anti-GTAIV. Some characters straddle the line between corny and stupid and that's how it should be. GTAIV maybe could've used an OG Loc or a Zero to mix things up. It's for those reasons that I chose Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as my Game of the Decade.

14 years ago

Dalai

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#1 Edited By Dalai

I gotta admit, I had a really hard time choosing one game as my Game of the Year this year. I had changed my official list several times before I finally committed to a winner. It was a year of zombies, endless gun variety, Nintendo nostalgia, MotionPlus, superheroes, Metroidvania games, street fighting, and Nolan North. And while my list of nominees is a bit different than probably yours, it goes to show that 2009, even though it couldn't really compare to the last two years, was still a great year for gamers of all ages and tastes. Here are my nominees.

And the winner.

The Sims 3

The Sims 3: Dalai's 2009 Game of the Year.
Somehow The Sims 3 was forgotten among the public, but it's understandable. Games like The Sims 3 aren't going to wow people who prefer games that resemble blockbuster action movies like Uncharted 2 or Batman: Arkham Asylum, but The Sims 3 feels more like a great dramatic comedy with unexpected plot twists you create yourself. On the surface it looks just like any other Sims game, but The Sims 3 made some significant changes to the point where it feels nothing like the previous games. They took the open world concept and rolled with it big time by adding a world that you can explore without annoying loading screens. You can grab a bite to eat at the local diner, visit the neighbors while they're about to go asleep, play a little guitar in the park, take a dip in the public pool checking out the bikinis, or just enjoy a stroll through the neighborhood. The create-a-Sim tool has never been so detailed, and you can pretty much edit anything right down to the size of your nostrils. The dozens of traits replace the whole slider personality system that actually gives each Sim unique personalities and moods. Your personal architect and interior decorator will love fooling around with the building tools. There's so much to like for any Sims fan and it's one of the few games I found myself playing throughout the year even while newer games come and go.

And a quick shout-out to the nominees. I haven't spent enough time with Left 4 Dead 2, probably because I did play plenty of the original in the months before its release, but the characters and additions (sweet melee weapons) erases the speculation we had prior to its release. Modern Warfare 2... what's there to say? Awesome multiplayer like its older brother. Still one of the best out there. Borderlands has some odd quirks, but few games this year took the risks Borderlands did and Gearbox somehow made playing in a wasteland really fun. New Super Mario Bros. Wii was almost my Game of the Year and it deserves more recognition that it's gotten among the reviewing elite. Yeah it's the same Mario we've been spoon-fed for 25 years and much of my excitement and bias comes from childhood memories, but the 4 player clusterfuck is something every gamer must experience at least once.

I'm not done yet, though. Here's my "other" 2009 Game of the Year.

Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 is goddamn addictive and even though I'm a few years late to the party, that party is still going as strong as it did in 2007. The funny thing is that I had zero interest in TF2 and only bought it because half the Giant Bomb Steam community were playing it religiously... and also it was on sale for $2.50. Best $2.50 I ever spent! The appeal of Team Fortress 2 is its complexity through simplicity and the reliance on the "Team" in Team Fortress. You're always looking out for each other whether you're a Medic charging up your Heavy friend, a Sniper picking off a Soldier attacking your Pyro friend, or an Engineer just trying to protect your intelligence. It's chaotic, cartoonishly violent, and surprisingly balanced. It's also the game I spent 50 hours playing in the past two months. And it's my "other" 2009 Game of the Year. And in a way it's more a 2009 game than a 2007 game what with the updates and all.

Also a shout-out to the other nominee, good ol' Persona 4, the one game that made me love a JRPG, something that no game has done since Earthbound 15 years ago.

I also have a Game of the Decade. While it might be silly to choose one game to define an entire decade, everybody else is doing it so why the hell not?

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

I have a deep appreciation for games that give you freedom and don't force you to follow a predetermined path. I also love games that throw the kitchen sink at you. Also, I'm a fan of games that aren't too serious and show a goofy side every so often. Throw in a somewhat modern setting, a gigantic, varied world, and some amazing music and you've got what I think is the best game you'll find in the 2000s. GTA: San Andreas feels at times like 50 games in one. One day it's a mission-based 3rd person shooter, the next day it's a stealth game, then a racing game, a virtual life game, flight sim, extreme sports game, etc. It might not do any particular thing perfectly, but there's so much to do that you're bound to find something fun. If you're the type of gamer that just wants to drive around town stealing cars, running over innocent people, jumping big-ass ramps, and finally launching your car into the ocean, you're covered. You like just finding gruesome ways to die? There are dozens of tall buildings for the jumping. Rockstar might have gone more gritty and serious in GTAIV, but San Andreas is in some ways the anti-GTAIV. Some characters straddle the line between corny and stupid and that's how it should be. GTAIV maybe could've used an OG Loc or a Zero to mix things up. It's for those reasons that I chose Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as my Game of the Decade.

14 years ago

Claude

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#2 Edited By Claude

I'm afraid of addictive, never ending games like The Sims series. Good old GTA: San Andreas, me loved you long time, wonder if it would run on my wife's new laptop. Snipzor's game of the decade was Deus Ex, and I kind of agree. The fact that a game that old still sits on my hard drive says a lot to me.

14 years ago

The Sims 3

Team Fortress 2

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

The Sims 3

Team Fortress 2

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

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