Best of 2009
MinusTimes: Best of 2009
List items
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Assassin's Creed II is an improvement upon the first game in almost every way conceivable from both a game play as well as character development and story telling perspective. As someone who appreciated the first Assassin's Creed despite largely agreeing with nearly every criticism levied against it, Assassin's Creed II turned out to be the most satisfying gaming experiences I had in 2009. Although the ending leaves something to be desired in terms of resolution to either Ezio or Desmond's story, it effectively engenders interest for what the inevitable third installment has in store.
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Truth be told, I have not touched the single player, and honestly, I do not know when and if I will. The competitive multiplayer and spec-ops modes alone place this one in the top five for me. The addition of a more advanced perk system, new and improved weapon attachments and the scaling back of much maligned perks such as last stand and martyrdom serve to make this every bit its predecessor's equal if not its superior in terms of the best multiplayer experience to be had on consoles.
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At around twenty hours I hit the same wall with Borderlands that I hit with World of Warcraft. I had reached my tolerance level for fetch and kill quests. Luckily I returned to the game about a month later and finally finished it. Although the game lacks any semblance of narrative, the game itself is a blast, and the fact that I could play through the entire game with two other people made it all the more enjoyable.
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In terms of sheer game play, inFAMOUS was as good as any game released this year. However, repetitive missions, the lack of a fast travel system, and inconsistent narrative along with poor character development keep this game out of the top five. Although when compared to other open world games inFAMOUS' single player campaign is of average length, I found myself becoming increasingly wary of the repetitiveness of the missions as I drew nearer to its conclusion. The characters surrounding Cole were largely unlikeable as I all to often found myself indifferent or even actively disliking characters with whom the game was clearly attempting to establish an emotional connection. Despite these flaws, inFAMOUS contained numerous elements that future open world games would benefit from adopting.
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Skate 2 comprised both incremental as well as pivotal improvements upon its predecessor. While highly touted features such as the ability to get off your skateboard and move objects to create your own line opportunities proved to be of marginal utility, with the later being almost irrelevant to to the single player challenges, the inclusion of a functioning fast travel system removed one of the most frustrating aspects of the first game. In addition, many aspects of the game feel much more optional than was previously the case in the first skate. I rarely found myself repeating the same challenge over and over again simply to unlock the next story mission as was so often the case in the first game. Despite these improvements, there is an underlying feeling of more of the same throughout this game as skate 2 is content to build on the foundation that the first game established rather than taking any chances.
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The best football game to be released on the current generation of consoles. If game of the year were measured solely in hours of your life lost to a game, then Madden NFL 10 would be without peer in this list. While it is not without its flaws, the steps forward that were made in the overall game makes this easily superior to any incarnation of Madden previously released for the PS3 and Xbox 360. What more is there to say? It's football.
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Killzone 2 is a very competent shooter, which is to say that not much really stands out about it. With all the hype and controversy that surrounded the 2005 E3 trailer one would assume the visuals alone would distance Killzone 2 from the admittedly crowded First Person Shooter market; however, the consistently drab muted color palate robs the game of any meaningful visual impact. In many ways, Killzone 2 is brown and dreary even for a first person shooter. The controls are difficult to adjust to at first and while your character does not necessarily feel unresponsive, there is a general feeling of being slow, heavy and/or weighed down that is unique to this game.
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