The Gaming Experiment

So, I have definitely taken some time off of the site, life has been extremely hectic, but the New Year is here, and that only means one thing. Lists, and lost of them!

Consider this first list the re-launch of the site with more content.

We’ll start the New Year off right with my games of the year. Before you read the list, please know one thing, these are only the games that I have actually finished. For the games that you think should be on my game of the year list, please look out for my top 5 2009 games I hope to finish in 2010. That should be later this week.

5) Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward)

I was damn frustrated with the single player portion of MW2, I still haven’t even finished it. Yeah, I know, the campaign is only 5 hours long or so, but I just couldn’t muster enough desire to finish it. I found that the pacing and the level design just wasn’t fun enough for me to coming back. I was getting extremely frustrated with the infinitely spawning enemies and their unparalleled accuracy. Who would have known that some enemies that are wearing soccer shirts could not only take 5 bullets to the chest, but also kill a special ops soldier with 1 bullet?

But it was the multiplayer that earns MW2 a spot on my year end list. Let me start out by saying that I didn’t play any COD4 (the first Modern Warfare) multiplayer. That was the year that Halo 3 came out, and I hitched my wagon to Master Chief. I stand by that choice, but now looking at Halo 3: ODST vs MW2, there is no choice, it has to be MW2.

What can I say; I’ve put more than 40 hours into the multiplayer offering and can’t wait to put in some more time into it. MW2 has a genius approach to multiplayer, reward you for everything. When I say everything, I mean everything. There are rewards for most time watching the kill cam to most time in the prone position to your standard most kills etc. There is a leveling up system too, which allows for more guns to be unlocked and more perks to be available.

One of my favorite parts of the MW2 multiplayer are the killstreaks. Once you get a certain number or kills in a row without dying, you have the ability to call a whole myriad of battlefield game changers like an UAV for surveillance of the battlefield to attack helicopters to a tactical bomb that ends the game.

One complaint people have with the leveling system is that it rewards people who play more and unbalances the game for more casual or novice players. I certainly see where those people are coming from, but I have to disagree, leveling up a weapon with the essential attachments (ie red dot sight or grenade launcher) would take even the novice player an hour or two to achieve.

And these upgrades, attachments, and killstreaks really make for my favorite online experience this year. If the single player was better paced, and an overall fun experience, it would have been higher on my list.

4) The Beatles: Rock Band (Harmonix)

Like I’ve mentioned on the site, time and time again, I love The Beatles and I even took a class about them while in college. So this game really spoke to me. This was definitely my most anticipated game of 2009, and it really delivered. When I initially wrote my review I was blown away by the visuals, the song list, and it’s accessibility to people who just don’t game all the time. Looking back on it now, I still really love the game, and it’s definitely a game that I’ll be coming back to over and over again.

The songlist was amazing, a very accurate slice of The Beatles catalogue that was incredibly fun to play. I also picked up the complete set with Paul’s bass and Ringo’s drums. This was a fantastic game that really belong in any Beatles fan’s game library.

The visual style of the game was really unmatched by any other game of 2009. The dreamscapes were fantastic and the recreations of the Beatles venues were beautiful.

Not many games really moved me and made me have a smile on my face like The Beatles Rock Band did. Because I was somewhat knowledgeable with The Beatles career, the game made even a heavier impact on me.

I also think that The Beatles Rock Band was a signal of the beginning of the end of the popularity of rhythm based games as we know it. How can you top The Beatles?

3) Plants vs Zombies (PopCap Games)

Plants vs Zombies was a big surprise for me. I was a fan of most of PopCap’s other games, but PvZ totally sucked me in. Before MW2 came along, I had piled the most time into PvZ.

What a crazy idea for a game, plants fight off the zombie apocalypse. But it worked amazingly. The game was funny and the characters, even the zombies, were endearing and a blast to watch.

The gameplay is simple to pick up, but it’s the different plant configurations that make PvZ tough to master. There are a lot of different plants, zombies, and levels which really help keep the game fun and fresh.

Definitely a great game to pick up whether you are a core gamer or more casual.

2) Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)

Where do I start with this game? I really struggled with the placement of this game on my list. It was very close to being my Game of the Year. Sure, a bit of my love for this game is the nostalgia factor (I’m a huge Batman the Animated Series fan).

Batman: AA is a phenomenal game. A must play game. The voice acting of the original animated series cast really helped bring this game to the next level.

In the past, Batman games haven’t been the best, but Batman: AA changes that. The boss fights are fantastic and the locations, though all on Arkham Island, are gorgeous and unique.

One of the biggest features of the game was the new detective mode. This allowed Batman to see through walls and detect objects that can be interacted with in the environments. This was an extremely cool and helpful addition, but unfortunately, it is so helpful, that keeping it of often causes the player to miss out on the fantastic graphic of the game.

Batman is the kind of game that should be played by everyone because of it’s pacing and overall gameplay. The story is great, the voice acting is unmatched and I can’t wait to see the next game, which Rocksteady announced at this years VGA’s!

1)Red Faction Guerrilla (Volition, Inc)

This even surprised me as my Game of the Year. Red Faction Guerrilla really left a great impression on me. Red Faction was the first game I bought for my PS2 with it’s revolutionary GeoMod system that allowed for destruction of the surrounding environments. Guerrilla kicked that concept into high gear. Now everything is destructible. You don’t like how that building is looking at you? Walk up to it with your sledgehammer and bring it too the ground.

That idea was really fundamental to how this game played, and why I really loved it so much. The story was simple, Mars is colonized, and you need to make some money, but when you arrive you realize that an evil corporation has other plans. You must stop them.

Volition tells you this story, and then leaves you to your own devices to bring them down. The different mission types were great, including an interesting building demolition when you have a scarce number of supplies to bring down your target.

I felt that the game really handled it’s open world in a way that we freeing to the player, but still enough structure to not get lost, which can definitely be a problem with some open world games.

Another part of the game that I really enjoyed was the multiplayer. I wasn’t able to play as much as I would have liked, but I certainly would love to go back and play some more.

This game did well in 09 and there will definitely be a sequel which I will be getting day one. Red Faction really personifies why I love open world games, it works in the same vein as another one of my favorites, Crackdown, and that’s why it’s my game of the year.

What are your games of the year? Let me knwo what you think of my list in the comments! Have a great New Year!