Another year, another year of playing a shit ton of amazing games. We as a gaming society are becoming so high-strung and spoiled from the quality of games compared to a decade ago, it’s mind boggling.
That said, developers are getting a lot of money from us to create something better than the last generation, and we should expect nothing less. I guess.
So what are my 5 favorite games this year? iPhone game of the year?
Read on to find out, and to be pissed off when I list the Worst Game Of The Year. Controversy FTW!
5: Borderlands

I really didn’t play enough of this game to really give this game the time it deserves. But the fact remains that the game is fantastic. It’s a hybrid of many of the most popular games out today, and it works remarkably well. It uses the basic MMORPG system for quests, a solid FPS system that out performs Fallout 3, and vehicular mayhem not unlike Halo. It’s a strange game all-around, something that’s not found much this year: A unique game. Until next year, of course, when Borderlands 2 comes out.
4: Resident Evil 5

As solid a single player experience can be, it only gets better with adding a friend to take control of your buddy. Consistent action, some great gaming moments, and plenty of replay value are just a few reasons why everyone I know doesn’t play this game.
Did I say “Doesn’t play this game”? I’m sorry, I meant… Oh nevermind. No one I know has beaten this game other than me.
Now if we can just get ONE MORE remake of RE 1, in the graphical prowess that this game has, I’d just might wet my bed at night.
3: Left 4 Dead 2

I haven’t played nearly enough of this title to slap a GOTY on it. Oh wait, I played a ton of the previous game, and this game has improved absolutely everything about it. I guess that’s all I need to know!
Among the dozen notable improvements, the versus mode in particular is even more fun than before, simply due to the new special infected. They break apart tightly-knitted teams into a panicked and desperate hunk of meat within seconds, and the survivors have a whole new arsenal of weaponry to battle against it with. Best of all, the scoring is much more balanced, and having a health kit at the end no longer makes a massive point diffrence.
2: Rock Band 2 (whaa?)

What? Didn’t this game come out last year? Well, yes, it did. Did about 100 songs become available for download in-between this time? Yes. And that’s a rough guess.
What’s important is that truly, Rock Band 2 is an icon of modern gaming. Something that isn’t fresh off the shelf that will collect dust in a year, but rather a title that is always fun, and always ready to challenge anyone that wants one. For that, I nominate RB 2 (2nd best) Game of The Year, even if it was “officially released” last year. If you don’t like it, kiss my ass.
GOTY: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Yeeah, who didn’t see this one coming? Before you get all (oh, it just came out, you’re biased) bullshit on me, hear me out.
For 60 bucks, you have one of the best deals in gaming since The Orange Box. You have a complete, and dare I say amazing campaign to play through. You have SpecOps mode, in which alone or with a buddy can tackle dozens of scenarios, complete with explosions and everything else you would ever want with a co-op game. You have the complete, thorough multiplayer that everyone is playing and exploiting at this very moment. You have everything you would ever want in a FPS, right in this box. If you want to disagree that this is GOTY, I’ll ask if you can point out a more complete game, I’m all ears.
iPhone GOTY:

I don’t need to explain the crack of this world that is peggle, and why it’s iPhone’s best game this year. Really, I think this reused image is all that is needed.
Worst game of the year:
The Beatles: Rock Band (DOUBLE WHAA?!)

No really, this sucks.
No one knew what would come out of this game, and I feel like I’m the only one with the balls to say it out loud. This game sucks.
Yes, I said it. Why, Jebus, why did I just scold The Beatles? I myself really enjoy their music, and was very, very excited for this game to come out. Then what happened? The game sucks. No seriously, it does. You want to know why it sucks? You’re not playing it, because the game is boring as hell.
Underlying concepts aside, you’re playing as one of the greatest rock bands to ever exist. You’re trying to emulate songs that are already “perfect”, so the best that you can ever do is match the song that you could simply listen to on your stereo. The same might be said for regular Rock Band, but half of those songs aren’t in mono.
What about the amazing visuals? I can’t see them, because I’m reading a note chart. The same note chart, I mind you, that is not very exciting to play. Playing as Ringo is about as fun as being Ringo; a total bitch. You’re not using any freestyle sections to use “BeatleMania”, because that would ruin “the perfect song”. It’s a constant reminder of the fact you are never immersing yourself into a rock band, but playing rock band with The Beatles in the background, that you can’t really watch.
In short, it’s nothing what I expected, it’s boring, and its one of the most disappointing games I’ve ever bought. It’s not a failure that can be placed directly onto one developer or producer, but rather, it’s something that had to be tried out, and simply didn’t work.
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Posted in
Good writeup bud. I can’t say I agree with TB:RB being the WORST GAME OF THE YEAR, but I can’t argue many of your reasons either.
And man, I tried REAL HARD to play RE5. Just couldn’t get into it. Needed more Master of Unlocking.
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:38 am
You know I exaggerate with RB: Beatles. The game does piss me off, and I thought of no better way. I’m sure Tony Hawk: Ride, GH 9 or G.I Joe are worse games, but you can EXPECT disappointment from any of those
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:59 am
As for RE5, I agree it’s hard to get into. You know what the RE franchise has gotten away from? Scary. If they got back into making their games terrifying, rather than action packed, it will draw more of the old-school crowd in.
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:03 am
LOL @ worst game of the year, funny shit. I think it’s a great game but yeah, as I’ve already said, I think the timing was just bad. I certainly don’t regret buying it or anything, just a game that’s only getting popped in with friends (and myself) are in the mood.
I need to play more RE5 with ya too.
December 23rd, 2009 at 1:02 pm
You make a good point there, on both comments. RE5 wasn’t scary at all (well, the first half of it that I did play wasn’t). As far as action/run around/shoot things goes, Uncharted just did it better. Agree totally they need to go back to their roots.
And yeah, I agree with The Beatles too. It should have been much much more, but it wasn’t. So, I can’t argue it.
December 24th, 2009 at 8:52 am