by thesilentgod
Another year and the next gen had completely solidified itself as the current gen. The 360 and PS3 were roaring away as my go-to platforms, and the PS3 was staging an incredible comeback this year with a slew of releases that demanded I pull myself away from Halo and Gears multiplayer. It was a year with a lot of shooters, a lot of unexpectedly great games and a lot of diamonds in the rough. 2009 is actually one of the best years I have ever had with games, and when I look at this list I can see why.
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My love for Bioware was already well established, with the incredible Mass Effect, the unique Jade Empire and the excellent Kotor. However, Dragon Age took it back to the setting style I was most fond of – a fantasy setting with original lore and background. It was definitely a less refined game than Mass Effect, but Dragon Age Origins had incredibly well written characters, a brilliant story and world, and a scale that had not really been attempted in fantasy outside of the Elder Scrolls and the old Baldur’s Gate. It was a difficult game which punished lack of planning, and it did not shirk from political or difficult themes. I loved its soundtrack, its design, its combat and just the whole game. Yes there were bugs and glitches, and the Fade section was boring, but these problems pale in comparison to how good the rest of it was. They don’t make them like this anymore.
This was completely unexpected for me. A new developer making a Batman game that I believed would be a movie tie in was my expectation. What I got was one of the most carefully crafted, best presented and gorgeous games ever made. The combat system was simple yet elegant and empowering, the depiction of Batman was superb and the entire claustrophobic nature of the Asylum and sense of familiarity you have with it by the end put it up there with Shadow Moses, Spencer Mansion, the Ishimura and Rapture as one of the great environments of gaming legend. It had a slightly disappointing ending, but overall Arkham Asylum was a dream action game, and those Scarecrow moments were pretty amazing.
Assassin’s Creed II showed how to improve in everyway on a previous game, and Uncharted 2 repeated that success. It retained the action formula of the first game but lavishly improved on the details and mechanics. This was a monumentally better game for its shooting, platforming and environments. The graphics were among the best I had ever seen, and the story was genuinely powerful with much deeper and more meaningful character interactions. It was a showpiwce for the Playstation 3 and cemented Uncharted as a flagship for Sony in my book. What an incredible game.
I really enjoyed the first Assassin’s Creed, but it certainly had issues with repetition in missions, a lack of direction in story and simplistic goals. It’s sequel had none of these problems. Assassin’s Creed II provided a game that was better in every way, with a stunning soundtrack, magnificent setting, beautifully written and delivered story and the most fun gameplay I have ever had in this series. Ezio was introduced for the first time here, and what a great lead character he was. The ending was a great wall breaking moment, and the variety and scale of everything had just been increased to the point where it was obvious this game meant business. Still my favourite game in the AC series by a landslide.
Call of Duty really caught my interest with the first Modern Warfare in 2007, but World at War went back to the WW2 setting, which was fine, but not exactly what I was looking for. Modern Warfare 2 brought things back to a direct follow-up of the first game with an increased scale featuring a full scale Russian invasion of the US, rogue generals and airport massacres. It was a bombastic ridiculous and fun campaign. The multiplayer wasn’t bad either!
Fighters had been pretty much dead for 5 years at this stage, but Street Fighter IV singlehandedly brought them back from the grave. Important to note that I am effectively considering all its later DLC/Ultra versions as one category here, because they are all the same game with updates. I had actually never been a big Street Fighter guy before this, but the 2D field of combat with 3D character models was a revelation to someone who was still playing mediocre Tekken and Mortal Kombat games from the PS2. The speed, the responsive nature of the controls, the reward that I felt with pulling off a competitive win – these were the things that made me love Street Fighter IV. I played for literally hundreds of hours against a few close friends, and they are some of the best times I have ever had with a video game. Blanka for the win!
I loved the Condemned games from Monolith, but I was much less warm on the first FEAR, so I didn’t expect much with Project Origin. Boy was I wrong. With a campaign that I consider more exciting and thrilling that Modern Warfare 2, with gunplay more smooth and responsive than Killzone 2, and genuinely frightening horror and psychological elements thrown in, FEAR 2 was an absolute gem to play. It was short but the devilishly tough AI, the attention to pacing and the visceral nature of the game just combined for an amazing time.
Originally advertised as an expansion pack, and that is pretty much what ODST actually turned out to be. However, it struck a very different and more sombre tone than any other entry in the series, with distinctive jazz music and a lonely atmosphere. The gameplay was still Halo 3, and the addition of the fantastic Firefight mode for multiplayer was great fun. The story left a lot to be desired and it actually contradicts the established canon in the main trilogy at times, but overall ODST was a wonderful shooter with a lot to love.
Kicking off a new series in style was exactly what the first Borderlands achieved. While it certainly did not have the amount of guns that it promised and the actual plot was silly, I had immense fun and joy playing it. Its art style was an inspired choice, escaping the dull realism that is so popular, and the actual gun play was responsive and fun to spend hours with friends just killing skags. The loot was great to collect and I really enjoyed building up my characters over time.
So yes, this is a much older game than 2009, but as far as I am aware Chrono Trigger never actually released in Europe prior to the DS version, so that is why I am including it here for 2009. This was the first time I had ever played it, and wow did I enjoy my time with it. A simple but rewarding combat system combined with a well written story, some lovely music and a captivating art style make Chrono Trigger quite exceptional. It helps that its as smooth as butter and really did not show its age to me at all. Yes I found other games more impressive experiences than it in 2009, but as my first time with an older classic and I believe its first ever European release, Chrono Trigger left a very good impression.