well 2009 is almost done and i guess nothing else good is coming out so we can start talking about coolest games of the year yeah??
Modern Warfare 2: Scottish main character == instant GOTY. The single player campaign was a little weaker than COD4's in my opinion, but COD4 was totally fresh and had a ton of surprises, so it would be kinda hard to top it with more of the same. It still had some wicked sick setpieces, i.e. pretty much every TF141 mission. Except Favela maybe. Which wasn't that bad.
Spec Ops was a fun diversion though it would have been nice to have infinite wave defense missions with randomized spawns, weapon drops, etc. Multiplayer is the ****in bomb and while it does feel a little more random and at times unfair than COD4 it's starting to level out and all the chaos of week 1/2 is being balanced out now that people know their **** when it comes to stuff like Stingers, Cold Blooded, HB sensors, etc. The level of customization is ****ing sick and there is p. much always something to aim for in a match.
Overall the game is just a really good value package with a lot of replay value and some balls-to-tha-****in-wall cool **** in it like snowmobiles, throwing knives into people's eyes and callin in harrier jets to do your bidding.
Batman Arkham Asylum: This game was so slick, polished and just a total blast to play. First game since Snake Eater where I've been excited by the prospect of actually sneaking. AA gets everything right about the mythos and makes you really feel like you're wrecking **** as Batman. Sometimes I would just spend a couple of minutes mind****ing a solo guard while listening to Mark Hamill big it up as the Joker and then drop out of nowhere and make him **** his pants. The voice work is great, the controls are great, the stealth is great, the graphics are nice and grim and the combat is ****ing masterful, especially on hard. TWO FREE DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT MAP PACKS ON THE FIRST MONTH was just the icing on the ****ing cake.
Street Fighter IV: To be honest, there was some **** about the game that really let me down as a hardcore SF fan. Ultras are too common, some characters can turn the tide in their favor too easily, and super-building is almost nonexistant. HOWEVER, the fundamental game feels like a strong balance of SF2 and SF3, the focus system is a really nice compromise for parry-lovers and parry-haters alike, and the characters are lovingly realized in 3D. For a fighting game, there are also a ****load of bonus features and the trial mode is especially helpful, plus the game has a p. good training mode! People may ***** and moan about the online play, but it basically set the gold standard for online fightan pre-BlazBlue. Also, while this isn't directly to do with the strength of the game itself, it's basically revived fighting games as a genre and brought me a whole new bunch of buddies now that I get the opportunity to venture out to tournaments almost weekly. Without SFIV, fighting games would still be obscure as ****
The Beatles Rock Band: Yeah yeah its still the same Simon Says **** but jesus christ the production values on this game were insane and it basically shat all over everything the GH franchise has tried to do with their band-centric titles. Beautiful animated intros to each era of the Beatles' careers, trippy as **** dreamscapes and a bunch of small but welcome improvements like a countdown timer after unpausing made this easily the best pretend guitar game yet. I wanna convey how awesome the visuals are in this game to anyone who hasnt played it:
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Games that were good but not good enough for me to write paragraphs about:
Shadow Complex: Cool Metroidvaniaesque adventure platformer but what kind of sick **** blocks off 30% of the map and doesnt give you a way to undo it if you're going for 100% completion??
Borderlands: Game started out with great promise but it was obvious 2k kicked it out the door without sanding off the rough edges. Good combat and levelling system, though the talent tree and weapon mods could have been a little more diverse. Voice-acted dialogue with random quest giving NPCs at the beginning of the game, but no narration for the ****ing finale? Poor show.
Halo ODST: Hella sweet co-op campaign with an amazing musical score but jesus christ I ran through it a second time on solo and it took me 2 and a half hours. Good thing I didn't pay full price for this.
The Lost and ****ed: Good to finally play a next-gen GTA with a cohesive and focused story. The new weapons and Road Rash style races made this hella tight.
Retro Game Challenge: Maybe this game is only really worthy of checking out if you like Game Center CX but there are some really well-crafted retro games in here with their own little manuals and cheat magazines. Good ****.
Professor Layton & The Diabolical Box: It's a puzzle compilation dressed with a story but *** **** the ending was moving.
Skate 2: Realistic skateboarding game adds a bunch of new stuff, runs headfirst into Tony Hawk ridiculous country but is still p. fun to play.
Tekken 6: The scenario campaign was kinda fun but the controls were diabolical. The actual fighting itself is the most solid a Tekken has ever been, but no local comp means I can't appreciate it to its fullest.
Games I haven't played yet but will probably give due credit to:
- Assassin's Creed 2
- The Ballad of Gay Tony
- Dragon Age
- Spirit Tracks (I've started it but I've only done a couple dungeons)
- New Super Mario Bros
Horrible games I regret touching:
- King of Fighters XII
you dont have to write as much as i just did...... i just like talkin about games
Dragon Age: Origins and Demon's Souls are my choices. I haven't beaten either one yet, but they're both extremely addicting. I really enjoy coercing people and being an ******* in Dragon Age, and Demon's Souls is extremely challenging and has cool bosses like Tower Knight. I have some other **** to play, but who knows when I'll actually get around to it.
I'm gonna have to say its Dragon Age for me. Followed Closely by either Modern Warfare 2 or Left 4 Dead 2, yes I said Left 4 Dead 2 lol
Modern Warfare 2. Reasons are obvious.
Demon's Souls, because its ****ing awesome.
Rune Factory Frontier was my favorite game released this year. Best Harvest Moon game ever made, and likely to be made for some time to come. Playing through it for the third time and I can't get enough.
Monster Hunter: Freedo Unit
I've spent most of this year catching up on old games and buying hardly any new ones, but this is definitely the coolest thing I've done with my free time in two thousand and nine.
Rune Factory Frontier
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure
Half-Minute Hero
Blazblue: Calamity Trigger
Modern Warfare 2
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Shadow Complex
GTA: The Lost and ****ed
UFC Undisputed 2009
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
I can't think of much else, as I really didn't play too much this year. I'll be getting GTA: The Ballad of Gay Tony here soon. I have the MS Points, just too lazy to download atm.
Oh, and Skate 2 was pretty decent.
I am having a hard time remembering what I've played this year that actually came out this year. I think the only three are The Conduit, The Legendary Stafy and Mario and Luigi 3. The only one of those I might consider one of my games of the year is Stafy, and maybe M&L.
For awhile, I thought Crystal Bearers might be a contender as well, but alas it is flawed. Still fun, but would have been more enjoyable with a good ol' fashioned sword and shield to go along with the telekinetic powers.
Yo Linko if you like the DS Stafy you should emulate the GBA ones that were never localized. They're loads of awesome and cute fun.
I had a chance to actually play a lot of games this year, not sure how many were from this year though. If borderlands had better weapon rewards, I'd enjoy it more, and I'm agreeing with the ending. It felt halfassed. Batman is fun, I actually enjoyed the wolverine game that came out around june.
I'm still abusing CODMW2, but I also enjoyed prototype more than I thought I would. My main problem with it was the level design. Being from new york, I found it funny how the liveliest areas in the city managed to look like harlem and the east side. Not much else to say really :cool:
You either really like Freedom Unite or you absolutely hate it, and I am in the latter camp. In fact, pretty much all of the games I played this year didn't compare to last year's big games- so I'd hardly call any of the games on this list "masterpieces". Anyways, here are the games I considered worthwhile purchases:
1. Batman Arkham Asylum
2. Majesty 2
3. Modern Warfare 2
4. Left 4 Dead 2
5. Borderlands
Games that weren't worth it are a much longer list, but include the Persona remake for the PSP (holy hell that game was bad), Stalin vs Martians, and Serious Sam HD. Yeah...
Modnation Racers. :o
For real though, it'd be tough to pick one out. I think I'd have to first look at my collection and remember which games actually came out this year. My most immediate choice is Dragon Age: Origins. I've clocked in 35 hours, and I'm not even halfway through. It's insane. As a game though, it doesn't really do anything special in the way of innovation or technology. It's fun, but I feel like it's not much I haven't seen before. In that regard, I think a game like Infamous would come closer. It's a shame I haven't gotten to play Uncharted 2. I think I have yet to hear a single bad thing about that game in its entirety.
i forgot about prototype, that game owned