Top 5 Games of '09

[ila]

I'm a bit late, but there is still time to make up our own self-important top 5 lists of games from the previous year! So lets do it! I'm omitting worst 5 because my list would just consist of Dragon Age Origins about 20 times over.

Bare with me here, my list is distinctly "ila" this year.

5. My World, My Way (Nintendo DS)

A fun little RPG where you play as a spoiled princess trying to win over the man of her dreams. Due to being a spoiled brat, you can you "pout points" to change anything that you don't like. Want new scenery? Pout. Enemies too strong? Pout. Hell, just want the enemies to go away and give you the money? You can pout for that too. The game is fun, and I enjoyed it.

4. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (Nintendo DS)

I actually had mixed feelings about the game. Sometimes I found some of the battle conditions to be incredibly unfair, other times I just found some quirks with the battle system to be outright bizarre. Still, the game is a solid strategy game with a SMT flavor, and for that I enjoy the game a lot.

3. Castle of Shikigami III (Wii)

Yes I am aware this came out in 08 but I missed it. In summary, it is a bullet hell. Yeah. Its fun, its challenging, and all the character play pretty differently. So its kinda like a Brawl of shoot em ups? I don't know, point is, I love the game and its a great co-op experience.

2. Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 and Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires

Some people may recall that I'm one of the few people in the world who still enjoys Dynasty Warriors. I'll leave it at that.

1. Borderlands (PS3 version) and Hatsune Miku: Project Diva

I keep going back to this game. I'm not even good at FPSes, but Borderlands keeps bringing me back. Sure the plot is barebones (like a certain overbudget James Cameron movie) but the experience of the game is pure fun. And I'm tired so I'll think of more reasons why I find this game fun later, but the game is fun.

As for Project Diva, its one of the most fun rhythm games I've played, particularly on the PSP. The song list is huge, you can import songs, and all the accompanying music videos are fun to watch. Also. Sega made the game, so its sort of a miracle or something.

Bonus what the hell is this doing here: Style Savvy (DS)

Friend forced it on me, but somehow I ended up making it to the end credits and I still pick the game up once a week to see what this week's contest theme is.

And other games I've enjoyed to varying degrees: Demon's Souls, Disgaea 3, BlazBlue and Arkham Asylum.

[Ristar]

Silent Hill Shattered Memories (Wii) - amazing game, and considering I hate the Wii with all my heart, I loved every second. There are some odd mechanics in there but for once it's as though a western developer is actually doing their own thing with the SH franchise, rather than copying everything that has been done before.

Resident Evil 5 - clearly Resident Evil 4 with better graphics and a more preposterous storyline but that's exactly why I love it. It's so bloody daft I can't help but keep playing it, I'm all about OTT games and Resi 5 does it for me.

Tekken 6 (360) - Amazing from head to toe. The only thing missing is Tekken Bowl Mode

Saints Row 2 - Can't remember if it was 08 or what but I got it this year. I screwed up a whole uni project because I stayed in and played this game till I finished it. The only problem is I didn't want to replay it as I was way too fond of the character I'd made (based him off Neil Young).

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box - Oh my god I played this game every night until I finished it. Some of the puzzles had my grinding my teeth to nothing but it was all worth it for the soundtrack and fight sequence at the end.

[Slingerland]

These are the only games that I got this year (and two of them, I got for Christmas last month). I only have a top 3:

1) Zelda: Spirit Tracks

2) New Super Mario Bros. Wii

3) Excitebike: World Rally

[Pheonix Gamma]

I'd like to make a motion to strip ila of his rank on the account of him being an 8 year old girl.

1) Street Fighter 4: my friends and I play it almost every day. It's the last game I played during New Years with my buddies. Also, Cammy's ass.

2) Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Didn't expect much. Turned out to be phenomenal. It was something the whole suite would watch. Terrific use of Wii controls, great atmosphere, lots of cool moments that freak you out, and a great ending that ties everything together in a nice package. All you assholes need to play this.

3) Dissidia. Why the fuck can't more fighting games let me flip around and run on walls and grind on shit? I don't even like Final Fantasy. I just like not touching the ground for extended periods of time and shoving my sword down Squall's throat.

4) Mario and Luigi 3. Probably in my top 5 favorite RPGs of all time. Fantastic story. Hilarious script. Superb gameplay. The only thing that stops it from being perfect is the "meh" platforming Mario and Luigi do at the beginning of the game. Once they're able to enter and exit Bower's belly freely, the game's doors are blown right open. Bowser ends up pretty likable too, and the fights that use both the Brothers and Bowser are lots of fun. Really, really awesome final boss. Best Mario RPG by far.

5) A Boy and His Blob. So fucking cute. Hard as balls, too.

Would have put Spirit Tracks on here if the train segments weren't so long. The dungeons are really well done, the items get used a lot, and the story is surprisingly funny. And the finale was a pretty great mix of Wind Waker's and Ocarina's final bosses.

[Cyber Rat]

Haven't played that many games from 2009, so my list isn't exactly inspiring:

4) Champions Online. If I were objective, this wouldn't be nowhere on a top games list of mine, but it's a love/hate game, and I really enjoy it. It's one of the rare MMOs I like, and I've tried a few.

3) Torchlight. Simple, fun, and addictive. I think I will lose my soul to this one.

2) Left 4 Dead 2. I got pissed that this was being released, but the price/quality ratio was justified (for a 4-pack pre-order discount). I'm not playing it that much now though.

1) BlazBlue. It might be a lite version of Guilty Gear, but dear lord, do I love it. I still love GG more, but compared to this year's fighting titles, this was the only one I enjoyed. (I never liked Street Fighter 2, and SF4 felt like a 3D nostalgia trip. I tried Tekken 6 only one night and it seemed above average.)

[Guest Shadix]

Phantasy Star Zero is the only new game from this year I seriously got into, but thats mainly because I haven't bought anything lately. Borderlands seemed appealing but I wanted to get a taste test before I dished out money for it. I'm also looking forward to getting Bayonetta and Darksiders.

I've been playing alot of older stuff that I never had the chance to play lately, like the Metal Gear Solid series, Conkers Bad Fur Day, and Space Channel 5 (I love this game to bits).

[ila]

I should note thats also a ton of other stuff I played, but if I list anymore it just turns into a "What I played this year" thing.

[shadowgoten]

1) Blazblue (PS3) - I've played this game for at least a weeks worth of play time going against friends, and it's still holding its replay value.

2) Street Fighter 4 (PS3) - Brings back my childhood, and simply amazing!

3) Batman Arkham Asylum (PC) - Storytelling was AMAZING, combat was new and made you feel like a badass, and even the stealth bits weren't nerve wracking!

4) Borderlands (PC) - FPS diablo, it makes NO effort to hide this fact, and multiplayer with a good group of friends is pure bliss.

5) Left 4 Dead 2 (PC and 360) - some will cry about paying for a second game, and whatever, if you're frugal, yes go ahead and cry about it. The game is completely updated however, new infected, harder difficulty, and melee weapons do change the game up considerably. And scavenge mode turned into my favorite quickie mode ever, hopping into a game of scavenge takes maybe 10 minutes of your time and is a complete blast to play.

Honorable mentions:

DJ hero, Dragon age, Resident Evil 5, Modern Warfare 2, Monster Hunter Unity, and others.

Disappointments:

New super Mario Bros: Now I don't hate this game, but it just wasn't executed with enough gusto IMO. It feels like Mario has gone backwards from what he had going for him in Mario 3, SMW, and even SMW2. The co-op while some may love it, for the most badass of Mario players it just leaves too much room for people to jump on each other and fuck up certain things (and don't get me started on bringing in that friend you have that likes to piss everyone off). The level design was mediocre, and because there's almost no vertical power ups, everything goes in a horizontal fashion, with very little verticle room on most levels. Also, the fact that you can't bring yoshi with you to each level is kinda a huge bummer (make your levels harder if that's the reason you take him away on the like 3 stages he's in.)

[Asuma]

• Tales of Graces:
  This was actually a pretty good Tales games, even the story. I love the battle system and it's nice to see Team Destiny to a 3D game. Despite it's sell 143,000 in the first week, it was still pretty good. Atlhough Final Fantasy it's hard to complete a Final Fantasy game.
  
• Left 4 Dead 2:
  Loved it. Absolutely awesome. It's much better than than the first one, which I played once. I will most likely map for this as well.
  
• Torchlight:
  It's pretty fun game. A nice time waster. I'm also interest in it modding capabilities.
  

That's about all I played.

[Shonumi]

4) Star Ocean: The Last Hope (360). The latest SO game with the worst plot. I can't take a game seriously where the main character is named Edge Maverick. Despite that, the graphics were top notch and music was pretty kickin' thanks to the prolific Motoi Sakuraba. The reason I enjoyed it so much was the final dungeon. You'll spend 3-4 hours making your way through with no save points and then fight the game's hardest boss, which the battle itself can take up to an hour on higher game difficulties. If you lose the battle, you gotta start all over again, minus 4-5 hours of your life. Intense.

3) Kingdom Hearts 357/2 Days (DS). A decent 3D Adventure/RPG on the DS. Square Enix really outdid themselves in the graphics department on this one. Granted it's as good as the PSX way back when, on the DS screen it looks pretty good. Lots of missions makes me feel like I got my money's worth too.

2) Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS). I just got this for my B-day last month, so I'm still playing it. I wanted this game solely for Fawful's dialog.

1) Knights In The Knightmare (DS). Probably one of the most overlooked games for the DS this year. The gameplay is simply mind blowing when you see what Atlus did. It's like battle chess but in real time. Graphics are amazing for 2D effects and the sprites are varied. The music is very memorable too. Plus, for some reason, it's one of the games out there that I find it easier to play with the stylus in your left hand as opposed to the right.

Eh, didn't make 5. I only typically get RPGs anyway. All the other games I played weren't from '09.

[shadowgoten]

4) Star Ocean: The Last Hope (360). The latest SO game with the worst plot. I can't take a game seriously where the main character is named Edge Maverick. Despite that, the graphics were top notch and music was pretty kickin' thanks to the prolific Motoi Sakuraba. The reason I enjoyed it so much was the final dungeon. You'll spend 3-4 hours making your way through with no save points and then fight the game's hardest boss, which the battle itself can take up to an hour on higher game difficulties. If you lose the battle, you gotta start all over again, minus 4-5 hours of your life. Intense.

That's not really intense what if the boss has a very specific insta kill move and cheeses your party, i'd throw the game across the room.

[Serephim]

Havent played too many from 2009, but...

5)Dissidia. Didn't really think it'd be much, but they packed a crapload of stuff onto that UMD. It was really welldone. Only issue? Battles are extremely quick endgame, with a simple break ending the match, really. It'd have been all good if HP would have broken 9,999 though.

4)Crisis Core, another SE game i didn't expect much of due to it being mostly fanservice, but damn i enjoyed that game all the way through. Only issue was how not fun the free missions were. Square Enix knows for sure how to work the PSP hardware, seriously.

3)Resident Evil 5. Just beat it, and immediately after i beat it i started the storymode over. RE4 and RE5 are the ONLY games ive been able to do that witih lately. I know for a fact i wont be replaying Ninja Gaiden 2 over thanks to how fucking annoying its difficulty was. RE5 killed me more than enough times, but damn i had fun playing it. I enjoyed it more than the fourth too, which is a big plus.

2) Blazblue. This game should be number 1 for me. Its online mode is amazing, and the game is extremely deep. Ive never had so much fun with a fighting game before, really.

1) Phantasy Star Portable 2. Main reason i put this over Blazblue is because the game is in japanese and im still enjoying it more than any game ive played....well, since PSOepI&II. They fixed so many things wrong with PSU it literately doesn't feel like the same game. It actually has 200 levels worth of content, tons of stages and new enemies, FAR harder difficulty and WAY better class/weapon upgrade system (you can actually change the rank of your weapons), Challenge Mode, Battle Mode, and network Infrastructure mode. Not to mention they fixed the lame framerate problems both 360 and ps2 had through better programming and Autoframeskip for tough areas.

If a console version of Phantasy Star Portable 2 is released with upgraded graphics and stacked content, i'll jump on it about as quick as i will FFXIII when its released over here. I dont know if it was the help of Alfa Systems or the fact Phantasy Star Portable 1 sold so well, but damn its the best game sonic team has had their name on since Phantasy Star Online.

[Jamworld]

1) Marvel Vs Capcom 2 YES!

[Midiman]

didn't play enough games to make 5

4.) Street Fighter IV - if you've ever played street fighter you already know why this is amazing. if you don't im not going to explain it since video clearly does this far better than text does.

3.) BlazBlue - Arc System Works pretty much topped their guilty gear formula and made it far more diverse and detailed. It felt like a new experience, and was far more old school than I would have expected. The fact they also went new-school ( a whole mechanic for each character based on one button is nice, along with some characters using that mechanic for movements ). refreshing take of the tried-n-true fighting formula that actually worked

2.) Forza 3 - A driving nuts dream, and a great medium between simulation and arcade, and I haven't even played tha tmuch

1.) Modern Warfare 2 - I didn't actually think an FPS would actually be this good especially in next-gen but wow. even though the campaign was short, and the story a bit sparse, it was fantastic every minute of the way, even when the game was basically bumrushing you. Special Ops and Multiplayer gives it tons of replay value.

etc.

[Shonumi]

That's not really intense what if the boss has a very specific insta kill move and cheeses your party, i'd throw the game across the room.

Funny you should mention that, because she does. The Ethereal Queen's Super Nova takes up some 60% of the fighting arena and basically wastes anybody there in 2 seconds, even big bruisers with 90K of HP. But part of the strategy in surviving is having the healer stand far away as possible, resurrect a character, and then continue to fight on. I must have died well near hundred times (no joke, accounting for all party members) when I fought her in her highest level, which also sets her up with about 6.6 million HP. That's a ridiculous amount of HP for any boss in any game, except maybe Disgaea. Besides, there's an item that literally lets you revive your entire party (full health too) so long as someone lives to use it, so it isn't exactly easy to get mopped up.

That's all part of the reason I liked the game so much. It's the perfect challenge for RPG freaks like myself. Of course, maybe that hour long battle took so long because I'm no good at the game? Dunno, but it was fun. Even funnier still was that the first time I did try it, I lost in like 5 minutes flat and I did throw the game. Such rage it was.

[DJ espeed]

2.)Forza 3 - A driving nuts dream, and a great medium between simulation and arcade, and I haven't even played that much

A fellow Forza 3 player here in the forums? Nice.

[shadowgoten]

total shocker for me, I'm JUST now playing through assassin's creed 2, it's making the first one look like a very shitty tech demo. It's SO good! It probably would've made my list if I had beaten it already.

[sonicyoda]

In no particular order, my faves:

1) House of the Dead Overkill

The silliest, most violent, profanity-laden game I've ever played. It's beautifully stupid.

2) Skate 2

Played this a lot this year. Who thought EA could make skateboarding fun and relevant again?

3) inFamous

Open world games are getting a bit bland nowadays. Glad inFamous came along and did everything right again.

4) Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars

Haven't been a big fan of GTA's move to 3D. It certainly has its' moments but the old school, top-down stuff always held my attention longer. Very happy to see this come out. It plays brilliantly for a DS game as well.

5) Outrun Online Arcade

Outrun 2 is still brilliant whatever it gets released on.

6) GTI Club +

Seeing this get re-released on PSN was a dream come true. And it was handled by Sumo Digital! I loved the original in the Arcade and this update is superb.

7) Bleach Dark Souls

Treasure don't make bad games. Period.

8) Dead Space Extraction

I love on-rails shooters. A Dead Space one is pretty much gaming heaven in my book.

9) Let's Tap

Yuji Naka's debut Prope title is a little thin on content but is still immense fun. Brilliantly simple fun as well.

10) Fuel

I've put a lot of hours into this open world racer and despite it's barren game world, I love being able to go where I want in some of the most ridiculous vehicles ever created.

[Aaron C-T]

5) Left 4 Dead 2 (PC and 360) - some will cry about paying for a second game, and whatever, if you're frugal, yes go ahead and cry about it. The game is completely updated however, new infected, harder difficulty, and melee weapons do change the game up considerably. And scavenge mode turned into my favorite quickie mode ever, hopping into a game of scavenge takes maybe 10 minutes of your time and is a complete blast to play.

Less about being frugal and more about how if it couldn't be DLC, they could've easily just put the characters and maps from the first game into this one and improved the playability so much more by allowing you to select from a wider range of characters and not have to play the same levels over and over. Variety, variety, variety. But no, I don't think it's worth the money because of the aforementioned reasons. ;P

Eh.. who am I kidding. I'm cheap as hell. But even so, I don't see why the two games can't just be one massive zombie-killing heaven rather than two separate affairs.