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roguenine19

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Best of 2009

roguenine19: Best of 2009
 
There were so many important and influential games in 2009 that I couldn't have possible played them all. So there are a lot of games that should potentially be on this list (Left 4 Dead 2, Flower, The Void, Demon Souls, Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Uncharted 2, UFC: Undisputed, Beatles: Rock Band, Time Gentlemen Please) but aren't. That I could compile a list of the Top 10 games from 2009 I haven't played just shows what a great year it was for games.

List items

  • Dragon Age: Origins does nothing perfectly, but it does so much so well in such a well-realized world that it can't help but be Game of the Year by sheer breadth. The tactical combat could very well be its own game (a la Freedom Force); that it represents only a fraction of what you can do in the game blows me away. And with all the different ways any plot point can play out, I can easily see playing this 80-hour game multiple times. It's not only the best game of the year, it's one of the best games I've ever played.

  • For years I've wanted a game that takes the solid Action-RPG mechanics of Diablo and puts them in, well, a game that's actually fun to play. Borderlands is that game, and might be the best co-op game ever made. Plus, it oozes so much style and flair that you can't help but think every game should be look and sound this good.

  • There's so much depth to every aspect of FIFA 10's gameplay, with few of the concessions to gameness that plague most other sports video games. It makes for a skill-based competitive game that rivals fighting games in terms of its depth and balance. And it's an impressively faithful recreation of the sport. When my brother and I were watching actual soccer on TV over Christmas break after many games of FIFA 10, my parents asked us multiple times which of us was winning. You could spend hours just playing exhibition games with other people using the 400 distinct teams, mastering the sport, not even touching the Be A Pro or Manager modes that offer even more options. It's the best sports game I've ever played and, if the computer-controlled AI was more interesting, would be my game of the year.

  • I don't own an iPhone, which is a good thing because, if I did, I would be playing Canabalt all the time. Canabalt is video gaming stripped down to its pure essence, married to art that provides a fitting context to your despairingly futile escape without getting in the way. It's the most perfect thing I've seen in gaming this year.

  • There's really only three things to do in Arkham Asylum: 1) Fight people in melee combat 2) Sneakily pick armed opponents off one at a time and 3) Solve some movement-based puzzles, but it does all three so well while capturing the essence of all that is Batman that you can't help but be impressed. Plus, it brings back the head writer and most of the cast from the excellent Batman: The Animated Series, so extra points for that.

  • Who would have thought that an RTS, of all things, could be so completely immersive? The last stand in the final level of Dawn of War II's single-player campaign made me feel more like a soldier fighting for his life than any shooter ever has. And the idea of taking Company of Heroes' tactical mechanics and marrying them to RPG progression in the Warhammer 40k universe is one of the best ideas in game development this year.

  • Console ports of arcade games usually try to stick as closely to the original machine as possible. By adding 'hotkeys' for certain specials in the console version, BlazBlue makes itself immediately more accessible as a fighting game. That alone won't be enough to lift fighting games out of the inaccessibly technical ghetto they've become mired in, but it's a good start. The best competitive fighting game I've played this year (because no one wants to play UFC: Undisputed with me).

  • Easily the best thing in Xbox Live's universally-awful "Indie Games" section, Solar takes a simple concept--as a star, catch planets in your orbit and absorb them to get bigger, or have them absorb asteroids until they grow enough to harbor life--and executes it extremely well, while creating a laid-back atmosphere using the least-irritating looping ambient music ever featured in a video game.

  • I complained constantly to my co-op partner while playing Resident Evil 5--about the obnoxious control limitations (why can't I shoot while moving?), the restrictive inventory, the stupid level design and, most of all, the absolutely awful final boss battle. Then, as soon as we beat it, we started a new game to finish leveling up our weapons, get the gatling gun (and bow) and mow down zombies with infinite revolver ammo. Go figure.

  • Zeno Clash's first person fighting never quite clicked with me, and being constantly sprayed with bullets by gun wielding enemies had me wanting to punch things in real-life, but then I realized that the enemy bullets were weird insect things and remembered that the world of Zeno Clash was absolutely insane, in the best way possible. It's hard to stay mad at a game so lovingly mental, even though I still am. I hate you, Zeno Clash, but I also love you.
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