Best of 2009
Honorable Mentions: New Super Mario Bros Wii, Torchlight, Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter 4, Trials HD, 'Splosion Man
Honorable Mentions: New Super Mario Bros Wii, Torchlight, Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter 4, Trials HD, 'Splosion Man
I’m just going to get right to the point and say that Uncharted 2 has some of the best set pieces and action sequences I’ve ever seen in a game. Top it off with great narrative, beautiful graphics, and a great adventure movie-inspired plot, and you have my game of the year. I know that’s not a great description, but this is a game that just needs to be played.
Not to brag, but despite the snags of the first game, I saw a ton of potential in the Assassin’s Creed series, and Ubisoft really made that apparent with this game. They basically took everything that was great about the first game and made the necessary changes to beef it up to what everyone anticipated back in 2007, giving us an amazing story with the gameplay to back it up.
One look at Left 4 Dead 2 and it would appear that Valve just took the first game and threw some new weapons in across a few new campaigns and called it a day. While there may be some validity in that, I had a lot more fun with L4D2 than I did with the original for reasons I don’t really understand. I’m just going to call it magic and thank Valve for giving me the best co-op experience of the year.
Yeah, the campaign feels more like a disaster movie than a military game, and the multiplayer can get pretty bogged down with hackers and angry adolescents, but despite all that, Modern Warfare 2 earns a spot on the list for its new Spec Ops mode. These co-op centered missions were the most memorable and most rewarding moments for me, like defending a diner from waves of enemy tanks and infantry, or providing a friend with covering fire from the gunner’s seat of a Black Hawk helicopter. Let’s hope the next entry puts some more emphasis on this.
As a fan of the animated series, Frank Miller's graphic novels, and Chris Nolan's films, I really wanted Arkham Asylum to be good but no amount of hype or previews could convince me so. It wasn't until Halloween weekend when I finally played the game and realized just how good it was. The brilliant combat system, fun puzzles, and attention to detail in every aspect of the asylum kept me immersed in the experience for way longer than I anticipated.
I don’t know what I liked more; the great storytelling in the campaign, the wave-based Firefight mode, or that your ODST squad is voiced by the cast of Firefly. Regardless, this is the best Halo experience I’ve had since the original, so grab some friends and enjoy.
Like with Shadow Complex, for a low price you can have an amazing GTA experience in the palm of your hands. Bringing back some of the craziness from earlier GTA games, and combining it with the amazing gameplay of the more recent titles, Chinatown Wars was not only the best handheld game of the year, but also one of the best overall.
Talk about bang for your buck. For 15 dollars, you basically get an updated Super Metroid with some great puzzle solving and great shoot-em-up gameplay. Definitely a must have if you’re a 360 owner.