It’s VGRepublic’s Best 5 Games of 2009! (and one stinking disappointment)
What a rollercoaster of a year! It all started slowly, with a trickle of titles, which continued on to the drout of summer. But with the cold months came steller title after steller title. I’ve narrowed it down to a top 5
I Picked this title up out of curiosity (and boredom), but came away pleasantly surprised. It’s story isn’t great. The mission format is repetitive. The graphics aren’t amazing. The lead character is just another potato headed soldier… BUT, the game play is just simple destrutive fun. Pretty much every structure in the game is destroyable, but they collapse in an intelligent, organic way. This is big fun and NEVER gets boring.
I expected great things from Assassins Creed 2, and thankfully it delivered. Ubisoft addressed most of the issues from the first game, and ended up creating a fun and rewarding gameplay experience. The biggest improvement was without a doubt the way the story progressed, and the lack of repetitive mandatory tasks. This time around everything seems to fit together a lot better, rounded off by a player character with actual personality. The added customisability from buying weapons, armour and different coloured clothes makes you feel even more part of the experience, and gives you something to strive for. And if you fancy wandering away from the main story, there are a number of items and secrets to collect.This game would have easily been my Game of the year if it wasn’t for the numerous other quality titles this year, but all things considered
Being a pretty serious gamer i felt obliged to buy Modern Warfare 2. It’s easy to get hyped up by the big publisher’s marketing machines, but this game deserves every perfect score it gets *COUGH* unlike Halo 3 ODST *COUGH*. The story isn’t amazing, but it’s not important, the game play is, and that’s as good as ever. The set pieces and missions in the single player campaign are as brilliant as ever, and the multiplayer keeps you coming back like a crack starved junky to a dealer. The multiplayer is improved this time around, making it quicker to level up and unlock new items, as well as giving you a fighting chance with multiple good weapons to choose from when you start at level 1. The new special ops mode adds even more to the experience, allowing you and a friend to play through new individual missions and challenges. If you embrace all 3 modes you’ll see why this game deserves all the good praise it’s received.
Uncharted 2 might not be the most original game ever, but it’s certainly the most cinematic gaming experience. The level of detail in the environments is just un-matched by any game, and constantly leaves your wondering how the f**k they’ve done it so well. So many moments in the game I just paused to take in the environments and spectacular draw distances. The game play is polished to perfection, mixing up combat, platforming and puzzle solving in a well paced storyline, constantly throwing you in exciting situations. One of the best thigns about this game though is the characters and the voice acting. It all just feels real, like your watching real people interact with each other on screen. The game also includes a multiplayer mode, and co-op missions, which are pretty close to Modern Warfare’s.
So here it is, the game of the year… Batman was the biggest surprise in gaming of the year, and blew away every preconception i had about it. If you haven’t played it yet, then your seriously missing out. It’s reborn batman in a brilliant way which combines the over-the-top stories and characters of the comics, with the dark and gritty reality of the 2 recent films. It’s setting, environment, visual style and story create an engrossing game, which is just as good as the master piece Bioshock. The game play varies between beautifully fluid hand-to-hand combat, stealthy action, platforming and puzzle solving. There are also some truly unique moments in Arkham too, which haven’t been done before. Many leaving you in awe, or think WTF. To learn more about this awesome game, see my mini-review. Surprisingly, this game has become one of my all time favorites, which i will play again, again and again in the future. If you haven’t played it, and still aren’t searching online for the best price, then your just plain retarded 
Before i justify this choice, I want to make it clear that i’ve never played a Tim Schafer game. This should automatically set me apart from the hoards of game reviewers trying desperately to justify this game, because his previous games were good.
Right then! From the get go, I found myself loving the way the main-menus looked, and the intro movie when you start a new game. i didn’t however like the game play. The first actual game play experience of some combat felt clunky and old-school. After that I didn’t really understand what was going on, and was soon put into a vehicle, which also felt clunky. The voice acting and cut scenes seemed up finished, and sometimes included very awkward long pauses with motionless character faces. The graphics aren’t bad, but they’re definitely not anything special. The main gameplay is bassicly an RTS, with open world questing inbetween. And it’s not fun. it just isn’t. I also constantly felt like I was missing the joke with a lot of the scripted humour. The only good thing i can say about Brutal Legend, is the creativity in the setting, characters and environment, which are all fantastic.
It’s all just a shame that Brutal legend’s game play is the worst aspect of the whole package. If this wasn’t made by Tim Schafer i doubt it would have gotten the attention it received. As for me? I think this game would be better suited to die on the Nintendo Wii….. Happy New Year!
