Geekscape Picks the Best Videogames of 2009!
This year, in a shocking turn of events, geeks loved Batman. Oh wait, that is shocking, because for once they loved a Batman videogame. They also liked retro platformers, sequels and zombies, so I guess the critics can’t always blow your mind. Luckily, these videogames do blow.
Hmm…? What was that? Oh, yes. Your mind. They will blow your mind.
Here are Geekscape’s picks for the best videogames of 2009.
——- JONATHAN LONDON ——-
I’m calling this section The Best Games I Played This Year because I obviously didn’t play Arkham Asylum or I would have exploded from the ecstasy… and there’s no Drake’s Fortune 2, Ratchet and Clank or ODST to be found ‘round here… and next year is all about God of War 3!!! I can already hear the repeated calls of “ATHENA!?!?!”
1. Left 4 Dead 2
Was Left 4 Dead my top game of 2008? I think it might have been. There was a lot of griping from Left 4 Dead fanboys about such a quick follow up from Valve. “Why wasn’t this just DLC?” “We love the original characters!” “Are they going to stop supporting L4D?” By now you’d think that those same people would have learned long ago to trust in Valve. Left 4 Dead 2 proved not only to be a bigger and better game (melee weapons! new special infected! scavenger mode!), but the introduction of more entertaining characters (Ellis) and an increase in the overall atmosphere silenced all comers. Nothing in the original game compares to running the roller coaster tracks in Dark Carnival or back tracking through the flooding, witch-infested sugar plant in Heavy Rain. This is a must have for anyone who enjoys cooperative or versus modes (like the first, I can’t imagine playing this game by myself… it’s too scary?). Valve is the best in the business at creating an engrossing, cinematic atmosphere to dump the player into and Left 4 Dead 2 is them at the top of their game. I can’t wait for next year’s Left 4 Dead3r (see what I did there?).
2. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
DILLAKONG!!!
(Editor’s Note: “Dillakong” is what Bibbiani and I named this hellspawn of a creature which took so many innocent lives from us in our holy battle to thwart Bowser and his children)
(Other Editor’s Note: Jesus Christ, London, give our readers some credit.
I think they’d have figured it out.)
(Other Editor’s Note: Jesus Christ, London, give our readers some credit.
I think they’d have figured it out.)
If Left 4 Dead 2 is the greatest Co-Op experience I had this year, it narrowly edges out the SECOND most fun Co-Op experience I had this year… in which my playing partner and I wanted to kill each other about half the time. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is as frustrating as it is entertaining. As online gaming introduced us to a new age of cooperation and competition over distances, I think we all lost track of just how much FUN it is to play a game in the same room as another human being (or at least I did). Playing through this game with William Bibbiani brought it all back. We laughed. We cried. And we came millimeters from choking each other… all at the same time. New Super Mario Bros. Wii does an amazing job of taking everything familiar about gaming that you grew up with, injecting it with a brand new energy and spinning it on its head with ingenious level design, a ton of hidden secrets and exciting power ups. Like Left 4 Dead 2, I can’t imagine playing this game by myself for very long… but luckily, with the kinds of friends that will intentionally jump on your head and send you flying into a pit of magma in order to grab a mushroom, I won’t need to. Bring on Divorce Mode.
3. Shadow Complex
I can’t believe Shadow Complex was an XBox Live game. Who else out there would have gladly paid 2-3 times more for this experience? This is easily the best Metroid side-scroller since Super Metroid… and it’s not a Metroid side-scroller.
4. GTA Tales From Liberty City
No wait. I remember now! GTA IV was my top game of 2008! That being said, was there any doubt that I WASN’T going to play the hell out of both of these chapters!?! Lost and the Damned was really good (but could have been great if they hadn’t shortchanged the final confrontation and given us a goddamn cut-scene… digital wang!?! REALLY!?! THAT’S what you use your cut scene budget on!?!). The Ballad of Gay Tony was incredible. Almost every single mission in that game was better than anything (or at least on par with the bank heist mission) in the core GTA IV. Knowing that Rockstar is leaving Liberty City behind for newer locales (Vice City? San Andreas? Somewhere NEW!?!), Tales From Liberty City was a worthy send off. I’m ready for some Red Dead Redemption in 2010 now!
5. The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition
If you don’t own this game on your 360, your iPhone, your PC or your ANYTHING, I think you’re an asshole and I want you to get off of my website right now. Christian’s have the Bible. The Na’vi have a white Christmas tree. I have my Monkey Island. Playing through the Special Edition of this game was like reliving my childhood, complete with old friends. The new artwork, music, voice work and controls just make what was always great that much greater.
6. GTA Chinatown Wars DS
Everyone said it couldn’t be done for such a non-hardcore system. Well, it was done… and it was done REALLY, REALLY WELL. Too bad none of you bought it. I loved this game.
7. Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
It’s not a boat this time! It’s a train! And even though you DO have to return to the same temple a few times, there’s almost zero backtracking! Not only did Nintendo fix the few things that were wrong with The Phantom Hourglass, they added a lot more features inherent to the DS that really make this a fully interactive and engrossing experience.
RESPECTABLE MENTIONS THAT I PLAYED A LOT OF: Punch Out Wii, Scribblenauts, Tales of Monkey Island, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, Mad World, Brutal Legend
——- WILLIAM BIBBIANI ——-
BEST GAME OF THE YEAR
1. Batman: Arkham Asylum
If anything about Batman: Arkham Asylum bothers me, it’s why it took this long for somebody to make a decent superhero game in this particular console generation. Sure, Spider-Man 2 was amazing – at least, the web-swinging was – but Batman: Arkham Asylum took a popular character and married him to solid, involving and even somewhat original game mechanics while actually telling a decent story. It had a few problems – the Killer Croc level probably worked better on paper, most of the boss fights were too repetitive and the super soldier plot point has been tired for years – but all those valid criticisms only manage to hinder a tiny fraction of a 15-20 hour game. Batman: Arkham Asylum is hands down the finest gaming experience of the year and gives hope to all of us comic book geeks who just want to pretend to be a decent superhero on our XBox 360s.
2. Assassin’s Creed 2
Apology accepted. UbiSoft’s ongoing efforts to perfect the free-running genre – spanning Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Mirror’s Edge, Just Plain Prince of Persia, and the first Assassin’s Creed – finally paid off in this stellar sequel that makes good on all of the original’s broken promises. With the increased number of assassinations and assassination techniques, unique locales, a strongly-motivated protagonist, clever new Shakespeare in Love-styled historical fiction plot points, and an ending that actually concludes the damned game, Assassin’s Creed 2 proved itself one of the best games of the year and one of the most exciting franchises to anticipate in the future. Now if they could just make the combat a little less repetitive…
3. Super Mario Bros. Wii
It’s Super Mario Bros. Again. And it’s good. AGAIN. No points for originality but bonus points for crafting a highly playable 2D adventure that makes even the most jaded videogamer feel like a kid again… when they’re not screaming obscenities at Jonathan London for HOGGING THE WHOLE GOD DAMNED PLATFORM and causing me to lose my LAST MOTHERFUCKING LIFE…
4. Left 4 Dead 2
Although the concept of special ammunition really takes me out of the game and I’m not entirely sure how someone went around collecting “Boomer Bile” and apparently lived to tell the tale, Left 4 Dead 2 deserves credit for honing Valve’s original Left 4 Dead’s already brilliant level design with improved “crescendo moments” that increase the intensity of a franchise that already gave me high blood pressure. The melee weapons are a good touch too. Now bring back Zoe so I can feel whole again.
5. Shadow Complex
The second best side-scroller of the year was this 2.5D Contra-esque affair from Chair Entertainment and Epic Games – makers of Gears of War, the Manliest Videogame Franchise Ever – about a guy whose girlfriend gets kidnapped whilst spelunking, forcing him to steal a power suit and… Okay, the plot was a low-point, and it did commit one of my cardinal sins of open world videogaming – not warning the player when the last level was coming – but with a likeable protagonist, surprisingly diverse action and a stellar control scheme, Shadow Complex is easily one of the best XBox Live Arcade games so far.
6. Red Faction: Guerrilla
I had problems with Red Faction: Guerrilla and I stated them in my review – the ending is kind of junk, the storytelling sucks and I have nitpicks with things like the mini-map and inventory options – but few gaming experiences were more thrilling than using high tech demolitions technology to kill faceless fascist space marines in endlessly diverse ways. I said it was better than GTA IV in that review, and I stand by that statement now.
7. Brutal Legend
Brutal Legend had the Best Videogame Writing of 2009, the Best Videogame Characters of 2009, the Best Videogame Production Design of 2009, and was a pretty neat videogame to boot. Although too short – it feels like a third of the game got cut for time, leading to an unnecessarily rushed climax – Brutal Legend had impressive attempts at innovation, but just didn’t quite nail it. Here’s hoping a sequel is in the cards, and that – like Assassin’s Creed 2, for example – they can work out the kinks. Hey, maybe The Kinks could even do a cameo!
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Plays like a dream, but the story has gone from “Crazy Ass” to just plain “ass.” Dial it down a notch, guys. And while the online multiplayer is robust and those “Spec Ops” are kind of neat, not allowing split-screen multiplayer for either of the most in-depth game modes is still a slap in the face to anyone who can actually make friends without a wi-fi connection.
9. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
Take another wonderful trip to the Hayao Miyazaki-ish world of Professor Layton, who lives in a fantastical parallel universe in which the only form of entertainment in England is, apparently, puzzles. With more of those beautiful hand-drawn cinematics and more and more puzzles – which are either getting easier or making me a lot smarter, which either is way a bit of a detriment compared to the original – this franchise is one of the best reasons to open up your DS.
10. Beatles: Rock Band
It’s Rock Band. Again. And it’s good. AGAIN. But now it has the Beatles, and that’s a dream come true. With a measure of respect for the band that puts Rock Band’s competitors to shame and beautifully rendered cinematics that are every Mop Top’s wet dream, the only way this could have been better is if they didn’t make you buy most of the Beatles catalogue separately. Cheap bastards…
——- JAKE 108 ——-
BEST XBOX360 GAME OF THE YEAR
1. Batman: Arkham Asylum
Why is Batman #1? Understand that this is the first well-done superhero-based game. I’m talking actual comic book heroes here. Sure you have the Spidy games but we all know that none of that lives up to what’s presented in Arkham Asylum. With a killer story, smart riddles, and loads of other things a fan would love scattered across the island, this game got every geek to have a nerdgasm.
2. The Ballad of Gay Tony
The Ballad of Gay Tony not only feels like a new game altogether, but it can be argued to 1-up the original GTA IV story. Everything it brought was new to GTA IV’s table and honestly, who doesn’t like dancing?
3. The Lost and The Damned
Lost and the Damned brought everything that was cool about motorcycle gangs and made a video game about it. I don’t remember putting the controller down on this one…
4. Left 4 Dead 2
It’s Left 4 Dead. We’ve got melee weapons, new infected, and new DLC that promises to put all the survivors in one campaign?! How can you go wrong?!?! If that’s not enough to get you to play this, both co-op modes and multiplayer modes will give you good memories.
5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
“WHY ISN’T THIS #1?!” I figured most of you would disagree with the placement of this game, but lets be honest here: the campaign was short and not done as well as it could have been. You can prestige in multiplayer in one day, so what’s the point of the leveling system? Sure, the gameplay is fun, which is why it’s on this list, but it’s not game of the year material when it falls short in so many categories.
6. Halo Wars
That’s right, Halo Wars. This is the first successful console RTS, no, not because it’s Halo, but because the fluent controls and multiplayer keep it alive among fans of the genre. Make no mistake here, this was worth the buy.
7. Dragon Age Origins
Dragon Age Origins is every geek who played D&D dream game. Sure, its not appealing to all audiences, but Bioware did a hell of a job with the production of this game.
8. Shadow Complex
This side scroller revolutionized the Xbox Live Arcade. Need I say more?
9. Gears of War 2 (editors note: I thought this was a 2008 too but Jake 108 still plays it nonstop)
Sure, the story kinda sucked, but the multiplayer held it’s own. Who can forget all the memories made in Horde mode? IT’S A GIANT WORM PEOPLE!!!!!!
10. Halo ODST
If you’re questioning why ODST is on this list, either you have no friends or you don’t understand Halo. Playing campaign with 3 friends was a blast, not to mention paying through each firefight map against wave after wave of Covies. Read Tbag Prevention for tips!
——- IVAN KANDER ——-
BEST GAME OF THE YEAR
1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
It’s sort of sad that the folks at Naughty Dog managed to make a better Indiana Jones movie than both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas combined. It’s even sadder that this is better than any adventure experience that has hit cinemas in the past decade. Three cheers for amazing pacing and storytelling. Three more cheers for one helluva’ game.
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
While I don’t necessarily think that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 lives up to the enormous praise it’s been receiving, it’s hard to deny that it is in fact a very good game. The word “intensity” is thrown around a lot in video games, but few titles really encapsulate the true sensation. Call of Duty gets it just right. War may be hell, but it’s also a heck of a lot of fun to play.
3. Batman: Arkham Asylum
It’s crazy to think that Batman has never fared well in the realm of video games (even the NES Batman game was impossibly difficult). That changed this year with the release of Arkham Asylum. Combine a smart story with great gameplay and wonderful voice acting, and you end up with one of the most impressive games of the year. Heck, this just may be the best superhero game of all time. Kudos, Eidos. Kudos.
4. Shadow Complex
Proving that downloadable content can play with the big boys, Shadow Complex was an old school send back with a new age twist. Built in the powerful Unreal engine, the game plays as a 2D shooter. It’s an odd stylistic choice to be sure, but surprisingly, it works. Quite frankly, never has 2D platforming looked so damn good. And, while the story may have been as ridiculous as a philosophy lecture given by Gary Busey, that doesn’t change the fact that it was a blast to play.
5. Super Mario Brothers Wii
Occasionally, I wonder why I even bought a Wii. I hardly play it – I find the motion controls to be more distracting than fun and the game library is seriously lacking. Then, a game like Super Mario Brothers Wii comes out and suddenly I remember why Nintendo holds such a special place in my heart. While I found the multi-player to be more annoying than fun, the single-player platforming was like a glorious trip down nostalgia lane. I was ten years old again, bopping koopas on the head and collecting hallucinogenic mushrooms. Sure other games may be prettier, but when it comes down to it, this is the type of game I was born to play.
*Note I didn’t play that many video games this year. I’ve been too busy, and thus my list is constrained to five. Real life sucks.
——- JIM PELLEGRINELLI ——-
Game of the Year
Batman: Arkham Asylum
If you’ve been wondering what it might be like to wear the cape and cowl and strike fear into the hearts of criminals, play this game. Then you’ll know. Arkham Asylum and its inmates are rendered in such grimy detail that you feel like you’ll need a tetanus shot after visiting there, and Batman himself is the stealthiest, most prodigious ass-kicker you could ever hope to wield with a controller. With starring turns by Batman mainstays, nods to just about every villain who’s ever plagued Gotham, and killer voice work from Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin, this is the superhero game to beat them all, and the yardstick by which all others will be judged. At least until Rocksteady and Eidos unleash the sequel they just announced.
