Game of the Year, 2009

Hey guys,
I'm currently sitting at a laptop in a random house in Reunion, a small French-owned island near Mauritius, off the coast of Madagascar. The keyboard I'm using looks like this, so it's taking awhile to type this out. Anyway, as a result of my current geographical location, I won't be involved in anything possibly until February comes around, apart from this; my top 5 games of 2009. Enjoy (or don't).

5- Plants vs Zombies
Popcap was introduced to me through this game. I now own, in one form or another, every Popcap game, but only Peggle is as good as this. I spent countless hours on Plants vs Zombies, growing my Tree of Wisdom higher than I would like to say. I have no idea why this game is as fun as it is, or as addictive, but there you go.

4- Dragon Age: Origins
Mark and Michael love the shit out of this game. And despite what may seem, so do I. I've always enjoyed RPG's, and Dragon Age is a fine example of a traditional video game refined and turned into something extremely enjoyable. A nicely original story and a brillantly realised world combine with challenging and enjoyable combat, and the best party interaction I have ever seen, to create what may well be the most replayable RPG of all time.

3- Flower
Many of you may not know what Flower is. A downloadable title put out on PSN by thatgamecompany earlier this year, Flower was on release heralded as a brilliant example of how the Sixaxis could be used well as a control device. It is also, however, a brilliant game. I recommend you go and watch a video because it will explain it far better than I do. Flower really wins the award for best experience with a game I've had this year, and also the award for most beautiful.

2- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Nathan Drake is fucking awesome. The first chapter of the Uncharted franchise was, in my humble opinion, an excellent game, but it really doesn't compare to Among Thieves. I enjoyed every minute of Uncharted 2; one could say it's a rollercoaster ride in digital form. Uncharted 2 also sets the bar for story telling in video games, and it raises it pretty high. Finally, it looks quite pretty.

1- Assassin's Creed 2
Somebody always calls each and every year the ''Year of the Sequel'', but I would bestow upon 2009 a different title; the ''Year of the Sequel that is really fucking good''. Assassin's Creed 2, in my mind, is the perfect example of just what I sequel should be. In every way improved over the first game, AC2 wins my game of the year because it not only does a lot, it also does everything right. I don't really feel like I need to say anymore; Assassin's Creed 3 will have to be really good to keep up.

Sweet.

So we have this guy called Albie now. And he can actually draw. It's the best thing ever.

This has nothing to do with games. It's just awesome.

...Fine. I've been playing pretty much what I said before. Uncharted 2 will be the first game I get all achievem- sorry, trophies(dude they're totally different), for.
Borderlands in 2 days, Dragon Age a few days after that... I may also have exams at some point, but there are more important things to do.

I feel like recommending some iPhone/iPod Touch games:

Peggle (you -need- this one),
Bloons Tower Defense,
GeoDefense,
Fieldrunners (you may notice a theme),
Dungeon Hunter,
FlightControl,
WordFu,
Worms,
Pocket God,
Zen Bound,
GeoDefense Swarm,
Mass Effect Galaxy,
Crayon Physics.

There are, of course, many more. Those are just some of the gems in the huge tidal wave of shit that is the App Store.

Uncharted 2 again..

Finished it. The feeling that game gives you when you finish it is akin to a very very good film. Suffice to say I liked it a lot. And you should go and buy it. I'll play some more multiplayer and talk more about it later, but it's 1 AM. I need to sleep.

Uncharted 2 thoughts.

So I've been playing Uncharted 2 since Thursday (it's Sunday now), and man... That game is pretty good. I'd been messing around in the multiplayer beta for a while before launch, but have yet to go back to it. Why? The single player experience is amazingly well crafted; it's the first Uncharted, but better. In every way.

For a start, the graphics. I'm not a graphics whore (or at least I don't admit that I am), but wow. They're quite something. The claims of "best looking game ever" are not true; that's still Crysis in my humble opinion. That said, some of the stuff it does is really impressive; the way Drake gets wet, or covered in snow. The depth of field effect also looks pretty; focusing on something close up, then switching to a far away object can remove one's breath. The character animation is fantastic, too, adding even more personality to the fantastic Nathan Drake.

This is really where the strength of Uncharted lies; Nathaniel (is that his real name?) and his supporting cast. The story is actually pretty good, but it's really a by the numbers swashbuckling tale, and it's the characters that draw you in. The movie like presentation of the whole piece is just done so well; I would say no game has ever told a story this well.

The action is pretty fantastic too, and such a huge improvement over the first game; enemies no longer soak up bullets, but go down "realistically". The number of guns is just about right to give each a different feel, but still has enough that Nathan isn't stuck with one weapon for multiple hours.

Not that he could hang on to them anyway; the game is really about the continuous stream of more and more ridiculous action sequences; running from a helicopter, fighting dudes on a train, or running from a tank. The game doesn't stop (much), and it really is a blast to play.

But hey, I've still got 3 chapters to go, and they might be shit.