Welcome to Why, Gamer's best of 2009. The console in parenthesis following each game title refers to the platform on which the game was played.

GAMES OF THE YEAR

10) Retro Game Challenge (DS)

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.

9) Skate 2 (X360)

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.

8) 1 vs. 100 (X360)

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.

7) Wii Sports Resort (Wii)

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.

6) Demon’s Souls (PS3)

Later in this article, I’ll be writing about Assassin’s Creed II and the approach that Ubisoft is taking in trying to capture the casual gaming crowd. The developer of Demon’s Souls, From Software, doesn’t pander to anyone. 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.

5) Gran Turismo (PSP)

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.

4) Killzone 2 (PS3)

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.

3) The PSPgo and PSP minis (PSP)

By far the most surprising inclusion to this list. I bought the PSPgo accepting that it was bound for my drawer of forgotten electronics, but I just couldn’t resist the beauty of its design. It’s the curse of being trained in Human Factors engineering. It’s been almost three months since I bought it, and I still derive an unbelievable amount of joy from simply sliding it open and close. But it’s not just the hardware. Somewhere, somehow, the PSP has managed to gather together a relatively strong catalog of games. A good selection of classic game collections from Sega, Atari-age Activision, and Capcom; a strong lineup of made-for-PSP titles like God of War, Killzone, LBP, Gran Turismo, Beaterator; add the ever-growing number of PSP minis, and you have a strong platform.

I want to bring up the PSP minis in particular. This is the first thing Sony has done this generation that I can get behind. I have an iPod touch, and though some of the games on that platform are definitely good, it’s never going to overcome the fact that the control scheme does not work for classic arcade-style games, which is what should be the bread-and-butter of handheld platforms. The PSP is made for this. I only wish that Donkey Kong and Jetpac---my two favourite arcade-style games---weren’t owned by Sony’s main competitors.

2) Borderlands (X360)

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.

1) Street Fighter IV (X360, PC)

I’m not a big online gamer. I don’t have the time or the interest to take part in an organized online community, and jumping into random online FPS matches where I continuously run around killing people, dying, and then respawning only to start that cycle all over again does not appeal to me. But Street Fighter is completely different from this traditional online gaming experience. One-on-one. How well you do is completely dependent on how good you are compared to your opponent. Getting a close win in an elimination tournament is a feeling I haven’t felt since I played basketball in high school. Strategy, reflexes, and knowledge about the game is what matters. SFIV is old-school gaming at its best.

DIDN’T MAKE THE CUT

Modern Warfare 2 (PC, PS3)

I don’t play all that much online, so MW2’s position on this list is all about the single-player experience. I enjoyed it, but forgot about it almost immediately afterwards. Combine this with the bad taste of their ‘FAGS’ campaign and their disregard for PC gaming, and MW2 lands outside of my game-of-the-year category.

Assassin’s Creed II (X360)

I cannot understand how this game has reviewed as well as it has. It baffles me. I’d love it if someone could explain to me its appeal. As far as I experienced, AC2 is just an extension of the gameplay model that was laid down by AC1 and Prince of Persia---it’s a game that wants to be played on auto-pilot. You could make a zen koan out of it: Why would critics give a game with absolutely zero challenge a 92 aggregate metacritic score? Not the catchiest koan, but it’ll do ya. You do either of two things the entire game: hold forward and A or right trigger and X. That’s it. To make up for the obvious lack of gameplay, the developers threw in a shitload of collectibles, and try to distract the player with the empty allure of filling your virtual home with all of them, which is a pointless challenge because earning money is laughably easy and you buy almost everything for your home from stores.

Uncharted 2 (PS3)

Another game who’s hype I do not understand. Yes, the shooting is competent and much improved over the first game. And yes, the graphics can be stunning. But what else does this game give you? Much like Assassin’s Creed II, the platforming doesn’t even try to present any challenge to the player, so why is it there? All of the platforming felt like busy-work. The stealth also wasn’t executed well. I wanted very badly to sneak through the game snapping necks and raising no alarms, but the game just wasn’t designed for you to do this, even though it creates the illusion that it might be. The multiplayer is surprisingly strong though, and it will probably be my go-to online shooter (even though I rarely play online, I do sometimes get the urge to shoot people, and this takes top spot over MW2).

Dragon Age (PC)

I really wanted to love this game, but I don't think that I'm made to like MMORPG-style tactical RPG combat. I'm sure the combat could be wonderfully dynamic if you were willing to experiment with different combinations of characters and skills, but when I found a set of skills with good synergy (two casters with Cone of Cold and Stonefist and two melee characters with a few ways to crit), I blasted through fights without much tactical thinking aside from being sure to have enough health and mana potions in case I needed them in a pinch.

I was so excited about this game pre-release that I read the two prequel novels before playing it, and I enjoyed those more than the actual experience of playing the game. This is because I have a fundamental problem with the way that BioWare does their storytelling. The long breaks in their games where you walk around huge town environments listening to lines and lines of dialogue from stiff NPCs gets very tiring very quickly, and so my urge to keep playing dies each time I reach one of these sections of the game. Every time I enter one of these environments for the first time, I need to take a break and gather myself before slogging through them. With all that said, I still put over 60 hours into this game, though I didn't manage to finish it.

Batman Arkham Asylum (PC)

Adding Arkham Asylum to this list may not be fair because I’m only a few hours into it, but with the trouble both this game and the God of War Collection are having with making me interested enough to play them, I’m starting to realize that I just don’t like beat ‘em ups. I quickly tire of the button-mashing and the ultimate lack of strategy and skill these games require next to games like Street Fighter IV. Why spend time learning how to beat up dumb AI opponents when beating human opponents in Street Fighter is oh-so-much-more satisfying? Combine this with my indifference towards the Batman universe, and I’m not sure that I’ll be making any more visits to Arkham Asylum.

inFAMOUS (PS3)

Crackdown did it better. From navigating the city, to looking for orbs, to the satisfaction of scaling really tall buildings and looking down at the city below. The repetitive combat, the silly way that the black and white moral choices link to your powers in an all-or-nothing fashion, and the boring story all gave me good reason to stop playing after the first island.

Scribblenauts (DS)

Got real boring real fast.

DID NOT PLAY

The list of major games that I didn’t play. If they weren’t on the lists above and aren’t below, I probably played it and didn’t feel particularly strongly about it either way (Dawn of War, Empire: Total War, Saints Row 2, etc.). 

Red Faction: Guerilla
Forza 3
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Rock Band: Beatles
Brutal Legend
Shadow Complex
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Halo ODST
Resident Evil 5
Dead Space: Extraction
Punch-Out!!!
UFC 2009 Undisputed
Fight Night Round 4
Need for Speed: Shift
NBA/NHL/Madden/FIFA
Risen
Left 4 Dead 2
Wolfenstein
Bionic Commando 
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin