Best of 2009
Amn: Best of 2009
List items
-
I didn't play Halo 3 ODST until early 2010, so it didn't make it onto my official 'Games of 2009' list, but I love the contrast between the quiet city exploration and the hectic flashbacks. The episodic structure of the game also make it perfect for short 15-20 minute play sessions.
-
I have a love/hate relationship with RPGs. I so much want to be immersed in a fantastic virtual world, but boring environments, tired stories, and repetitive, easy combat almost always does them in. Borderlands fixes these problems and makes RPGs fun again through art design, humour, and great combat mechanics. It isn’t a particularly immersive game, but it’s not trying to be. Instead, Gearbox developed a world that was fun to be in and a game that I kept wanting to play.
-
I recently watched a Giant Bomb Quick Look of Cryostasis, and one of the either Vinny or Dave said that one of the reasons why they liked the game so much was that it is successful at making you feel like you are in a truly freezing environment. He then compared this to the Modern Warfare 2 snow levels: whereas Cryostasis makes him feel cold, Modern Warfare 2 makes him think ‘white’. I felt the same way when comparing Killzone 2 to Modern Warfare 2:
Being another space marine game with great graphics and a cover mechanic, Killzone 2 is one of the last games that I thought would end up on this list. But where the game is so successful is in the way it makes you feel about the environments and the situations that you’re put it. Helgast feels like a filthy world, the battles you take part in make you feel like you’re in a war, and the guns that you shoot feel and sound heavy and deadly. Modern Warfare 2, on the other hand, feels like you’re watching a Michael Bay war movie. Killzone 2 may take place in space and on an alien planet, but it feels a whole lot more real than MW2.
-
A very late addition to the list. I didn't play Resident Evil until August 2010, but a friend and I picked it up at the same time and have played through it once on Normal difficulty. And now I just want to turn around and play it again on Hard. The limited character movement makes things a lot more intense than they would be if you were able to run-and-gun, and I'm a sucker for the collectible/upgrade inventory system. I want nothing more than to collect and upgrade all of the weapons. The only downside is that you have to find someone who'll play it with you, because it just won't be the same without having someone to yell at when you're surrounded by zombies.
-
I have enjoyed the occasional arcade racer, but I was never into cars and driving enough to get immersed in the realistic driving mechanics and the minute differences between the differently tuned cars of games like Gran Turismo and Forza. Racing around tracks at breakneck speeds is fun, but braking at precisely the right time and decelerating just enough to follow a perfect line through a hairpin turn was never my thing. So I was surprised by how much I loved Gran Turismo for the PSP. I know that people have problems with this game. They lament the lack of a career mode and are disappointed that they are limited to only being able to buy a random selection of cars from a random selection of manufacturers every other game-day. Neither of these bother me. For a game as technical as this, the sense of progression that comes along with your ever-increasing skill at driving should be more than enough at satisfying any need that someone would have to feel like they are getting somewhere with this game. Why are gamers so eager the artificial feeling of progression that career modes and achievements provide? As for the random car selection, I find that it has me excitedly checking for what new models are available every other race, and it adds a fun, almost addictive joy to the car collecting that isn’t all that different from the joys of Borderlands’ random loot drops. It is an effective way of getting someone who isn’t all that interested in cars interested the whole car-collecting nature of the game.
-
Unlike Ubisoft, the developer of Demon’s Souls, From Software, doesn’t pander to the casual crowd. They make games that are meant to be played and conquered through the old-school trinity of game mastery: reflexes, memorization, and the ability to control your controller-throwing rage. Take those and wrap them in current-gen world design and third-person action-RPG game design, and you have Demon’s Souls. One of the best games of the year.
-
One of the few good reasons to own a Wii if you’re old enough to have reached your lifetime quota of Metroid, Zelda, and Mario. Not something that you’re going to want to play on your own, but in a party environment, this game shines.
-
Who knew quiz games could be this much fun? I managed to get into the mob once on the first season, and from the few times I’ve played the game this second season, I’ve seen that they’ve made some nice tweaks. I don’t play too many online games over XBL, but 1 vs. 100 might alone be enough to convince me to keep renewing my gold account.
-
Cruising around San Vanelona managed to suck up a lot of my time earlier this year, and though I’ve never skateboarded, this game feels like it conveys what skateboarding is like. Whether or not it actually does doesn’t really matter. The sound design in particular sticks in my head even though I haven’t played it for months---hearing the sound of wheels on pavement again is one of the main things I’m looking forward to in Skate 3. But this game gets second-to-last billing on this list because of two problems: (1) it’s difficult as hell to get air on half-pipes, and (2) some missions were just too hard---I never finished this game because I just lost patience with constantly repeating the same competitions. Here’s hoping these problems are fixed in Skate 3.
-
I love the idea of "new retro" games, and the inclusions of fake manuals and game magazines was a great touch. The games are all well-designed, and I’d love to see the sequel make it’s way to North America, even though it doesn’t look like it will.
-
An exciting game from start to finish.
Load Comments