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Lilarcor

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Best of 2009

In general, I judge games by 'how much sleep I lose to keep playing them.' Therefore, these may not be the games with the most objective critical praise, just the ones I enjoyed most this year. A few notable caveats for this version of the list: I do not own a Playstation 3 (yet), so no Uncharted 2 or Infamous, and I haven't bought Assassin's Creed 2 or New Super Mario Brothers Wii yet either. Plus, I have a copy of Red Faction: Guerrilla that I just bought for 20 bucks that is still wrapped in plastic. If I get an opportunity to play any of those before the voting period ends and they impress me enough to supplant these games, I will adjust my list accordingly. Honorable mention goes to Street Fighter 4, which I bought on sale during the summer despite my deep aversion to fighting games. I love everything about that game except actually trying to play it.

List items

  • Another great effort from BioWare, I played through this huge game in about a week because I just could not put it down. I've burnt out on it a bit from playing it so much during such a short period of time, but I'm looking forward to going back through in the post-Thanksgiving lull and play through as an evil bastard. I really respect the increased dedication by BioWare to forcing the player to make tough decisions, and I hope that it continues into my #1 anticipated game of 2010, Mass Effect 2.

  • Probably the most controversial on this list, I will fully admit that I love both Tim Schafer and have more than a bit of nostalgia for heavy metal, so take those biases into account. What's truly remarkable about Brutal Legend to me (beyond the excellent humor, of course) is that I normally really dislike open world games, but I actually found Brutal Legend enjoyable enough to 100% the collectibles. I attribute that to the game having an absolutely incredible visual design, which made the world much more interesting to explore than the vast majority of open world games. Also, possibly the best use of licensed music in a video game ever.

  • Another bit of a surprise because I'm honestly not a huge Diablo fan. Adding the skill tree and loot elements to the first person shooter gameplay was enough to get me on board, and the excellently implemented co-op didn't hurt either. Hopefully the DLC (which I haven't downloaded yet) will give me the motivation to finally get my character to 50 and get the full 1000 achievement points.

  • Fantastic game, and probably the most overall polished of the ones on this list. But for whatever reason, it didn't get its hooks in me like the top three did. The Scarecrow sequences were truly excellent, though, and it has what may be the most enjoyable stealth action of any game I've ever played. Inverted takedowns were my bread and butter, I couldn't stop giggling like a maniac after stringing a hopeless henchman from those gargoyles.

  • I hate the goddamn train boss, but otherwise this game is fantastic. Light-hearted and fully enjoyable, with combat more dynamic than the vast majority of turn-based RPGs. Nintendo could release a Mario-based RPG per year and if they were as all as high quality as this, I'd keep buying them.

  • My dad taught me a deep love of the Beatles from a young age, so this game already had a far better footing for me than most rhythm games do. This is the only game on this list that I don't actually own, but I have played it and it's an amazing recreation of the visual and musical history of the Beatles, and that's about the most you could ask out of a game like this. It has got me to listen to some Beatles songs that I hadn't heard in years, and that's worth it all by itself.

  • I actually did not play more than the demo of the first game, so L4D2 is really my entry to the series. All of the complaints about it being too soon didn't apply to me, I just really enjoyed how well Valve has recreated the zombie movie experience. Coach is my main man, the other survivors are for suckers.

  • I was one of the guys who played through this game like 4 times after it came out. Another game improved massively by the addition of co-op, and I loved how Capcom completely went off the deep end on the story side, even by their own lofty standards. I'll miss Wesker and how he always wore sunglasses indoors in the dead of night.

  • At the risk of losing some of my old-school gamer cred, I actually never played much of the original Punch-Out. So take it from somebody without the rosy lens of nostalgia when I say that this is still a very fun game even in 2009. It's simple yet deviously challenging, with some of the later opponents requiring split-second timing even if you know their patterns. As someone without 8-bit experience, I found the original difficulty more than punishing enough before the new, second tier that I never quite managed to get through. An impressive update of an old classic, and one I'm glad I got to experience.

  • One of the most original games I've seen in a long time, this game is part Fire Emblem, part Valkyrie Profile, and part bullet hell shooter. Frantic action and tons of content, this game had me replaying levels seconds after scraping through them the first time because I knew I could manage to get more items. A fantastic use of the DS's unique hardware, and easily one of the most overlooked games of the year. It's very complex, so it can be daunting up front, but if you can get past that it's an utterly unique product that's worth experiencing for yourself.

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