Concluding The Third Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2009 - Part Four: #1 through #20

2009 was an odd and wonderful year for video games. There was a veritable flood of software for the 360 and PS3 as both systems came of age; the DS continued to reign but the iPhone began making headway as the portable system of choice; the Wii, ignored by the hardcore, offered some of the year's most critically acclaimed and financially disastrous titles; PC gaming saw a blitz of high-profile exclusives and thousands of single-creator, addictive casual flash games. While there was no clear and overwhelming GAME OF THE YEAR, few would argue that 2009 was not a very, very good year for gamers.

Coint and Plick offers a peek into the mind of a cross-section of Joe Average gamers; thirty-one guys (mostly) and gals from their teens into their forties who still enjoy a good orc rampage/brick busting/mecha flight/historical sim/plastic guitar concert. More than declaring an arbitrarily definitive "top ten", Coint and Plick is meant as opportunity for the busy gamer to acquaint him/herself with some potential missed highlights and make plans for their personal upcoming gaming year. After all, everything on here is SOMEONE'S top ten game of the year, so everything on this list bears at least a demo play.

Coint and Plick was scored in Pazz and Jop style vote/point format: all voters had 100 points to divide among any ten games released in 2009. The maximum number of points each entry could receive were no more than thirty. In the end, ninety-three games were nominated. In case of a tie breaker, I went by number of people who voted for a game first and number of people who listed the game as their #1 of the year second. Bear in mind that not every voter used the full amount of points they had at their disposal, so the numbers don’t crunch exactly. In cases where a game was available on multiple systems, I listed only the systems that voters specified they played the game on. User comments for these games come from individual ballots as well as from past ILG posts; I’ve done a bit of editing to streamline but I’ve made every effort to maintain your meaning. My apologies if you feel misquoted; feel free to correct me on this thread.

Here's what's come before:

#93: Bomberman Ultra – PSN – 1 point – 1 vote
#92: HALO 3 ODST – 360 – 3 pts – 1 vote
#91: Colin McRae’s Dirt 2 – 360 – 4 pts – 1 vote
#77: Virtual On Oratorio Tangram 5.66 – XBLA – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: 50 Cent, Blood On The Sand – 360 – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: Rock Band – iPhone – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: Red Faction: Guerilla – 360 – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: House of the Dead: Overkill – Wii – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: PixelJunk Shooter – PSN – 5 points – 1 vote
#77: Muramasa: The Demon Blade – Wii – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 – Wii – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: Forza Motorsport 3 – 360 – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: Critter Crunch – PSN – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: Need For Speed: Shift – 360 – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: DeathSmiles – 360 – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: NHL 2010 – PS3 – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: Droplitz - XBLA – 5 pts – 1 vote
#75: Way of the Samurai 3 – PS3 - 7 pts – 1 vote
#75: Anno 1404 / Dawn of Discovery – PC – 7 pts – 1 vote
#72: Madden ’10 – PS3 – 8 pts – 1 vote
#72: Infamous – PS3 – 8 pts - 1 vote
#72: Trash Panic – PSN – 8 pts – 1 vote
#61: Professor Layton and The Diabolical Box – DS – 10 pts – 1 vote
#61: Bayonetta – 360 – 10 pts – 1 vote
#61: Wordjong Daily Challenge – iPhone – 10 pts – 1 vote
#61: Style Savvy/Style Boutique – DS – 10 pts – 1 vote
#61: Half Minute Hero – PSP – 10 pts – 1 vote – Top PSP game
#61: Tekken 6 – 360 – 10pts – 1 vote
#61: Bookworm – iPhone – 10 pts – 1 vote
#61: A Boy and His Blob – Wii – 10 pts – 1 vote
#61: Ghostbusters – 360 – 10pts – 1 vote
#61: Killing Floor – PC – 10 pts – 1 vote
#61: Shatter – PSN – 10 pts – 1 vote
#59: Money Seize – Flash – FREE - 11 pts – 1 vote
#59: Games by JTMB02 (Achievement Unlocked, This Is the Only Level, Run Elephant Run, et. al. – Flash – FREE - 11 pts – 1 vote
#58: Suikoden Tierkreis – DS – 11 pts – 2 votes
#57: MLB 2009: The Show – PS3 – 12 pts – 1 vote
#56: Saint’s Row 2 – PC – 13 pts – 1 vote
#54: Fallout 3: Broken Steel – 360 – 15 pts – 1 vote
#54: Madworld – Wii – 15 pts – 1 vote
#52: Big Word Puzzle Book – DS – 15 pts – 2 votes
#52: Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes – DS – 15 pts – 2 votes
#51: Chrono Trigger (UK Release) – DS – 16 pts – 1 vote – 1 Top Game Vote
#50: Time Fcuk – Online Flash Game – FREE – 16 pts – 2 votes
#49: Wii Sports Resort – Wii – 17 pts – 2 votes
#48: Killzone 2 – PS3 – 18 pts – 2 votes
#46: Azkend – iPhone – 20 pts – 1 vote
#46: Wipeout HD Fury – PSN – 20 pts – 1 vote
#44: Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 – Wii/360 – 20 pts – 2 Votes
#44: Prototype – PS3/360 – 20 pts – 2 votes
#43: Fallout 3: Point Lookout – 360 – 23 pts – 3 votes
#42: GTA Chinatown Wars – DS – 24 pts – 2 votes
#41: Worms 2: Armageddon – XBLA – 25 pts – 1 vote- .5 Top Game Vote
#40: Henry Hatsworth in The Puzzling Adventure – DS – 26 pts – 2 vote
#39: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor – DS – 27 pts – 2 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
#38: Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story – DS – 27 pts – 3 votes
#36: Punch Out! – Wii – 27 pts – 4 votes
#36: 1 vs. 100 – XBLA – 27 pts – 4 votes
#34: World of Warcraft (2009) - PC – 30 pts – 1 vote - .5 Top Game Vote
#34: Blazblue: Calamity Trigger – 360 – 30 pts – 1 vote – 1 Top Game Vote
#33: Skate 2 – PS3 – 31 pts – 3 votes
#32: Scribblenauts – DS – 31 pts – 4 votes
#31: Metroid Prime Trilogy – Wii – 32 pts – 4 votes
#30: Canabalt – Online Flash Game – FREE – 33 pts – 3 votes – Top Flash Game – Top Free Game
#29: Mushihimesama Futari Version 1.5 – 360 – 35 pts – 2 votes - .5 Top Game Vote
#27: Battlefield 1943 – XBLA – 39 pts – 4 votes
#27: Peggle – iPhone – 39 pts – 4 votes
#26: Orbital – iPhone – 40pts – 2 votes - .5 Top Game Vote
#25: Persona 4 (UK Release) – PS2 – 40 pts – 2 votes – 1 Top Game Vote – Top PS2 game
#24: Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride – DS – 43 pts – 2 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
#23: Machinarium – PC – 46pts – 4 votes
#22: Borderlands – 360/PS3 – 47 pts – 3 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
#21: Assassin’s Creed 2 - PS3/360 – 50 pts – 3 Votes - 1 Top Game Vote

More info and commentary on all these games are available here:

The Third Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2009 - Part Three: #21 through #51
The Third Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2009 - Part Two: #52 through #75
The Third Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2009 - Part One: #77 through #93

Let's wrap it up!

#20: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – PS3 – 52 pts – 4 votes
Official Game Site

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdN9Bub58no

Antexit: FUCK YOU UNCHARTED 2 FOR MAKING MY 720p TV FEEL BAD ABOUT ITSELF

Nolan North Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXiseWmHvzM

M@tt He1ges0n: I don't post on ILG. But Uncharted 2. Holy shit.

http://playstationlifestyle.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/uncharted-2-cover-image-004.jpg

The Sexual Politics of UC2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUPAyGWKd6c

Skygreenleopard: This game is great! I wasn't sure the cover shooting system would work well in multiplayer but, if anything, it helps turn deathmatch into a movie-like experience. Close calls with snipers, ambushes, assaults, sneaking around, chaingunning madness, etc. Most times I play there are several moments that make me think, man, that was straight out of a good Indiana Jones-style movie.

Brainygamer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnru0qLBHRg

S1ocki: I'm not convinced games should try and be like big Hollywood blockbuster movies or tell stories in the same way, but if they do, they should all be as good as Uncharted 2. But more than that, this game was just gorgeous to look at, with a really skillful use of color that wasn't extraneous to the gameplay itself but rather nudged it along in subtle ways.

http://www.perezstart.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/uncharted2.jpg

Polyphonic: The longer I played this very impressive game, the more it wore out its welcome with me. But it clearly is the Dragon's Lair of this era: a visually impressive game that sometimes offers only the illusion of gameplay.

Developer Interview

http://www.gogaminggiant.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/uncharted2a1.jpg

Forksclovetofu: The Dragon’s Lair comparison is incredibly accurate, for better and for worse.

Way lower than I thought it would be, but I guess that's because it's PS3 exclusive?

#19: Shadow Complex – XBLA – 52 pts – 5 votes
Official Game Site

http://shaggy4dog.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/shadow_complex_peter_david.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-HvHPz__hw

JimD: I never played metroid, so maybe I enjoyed this more than it deserved. But it did look and feel stunning. Just a shame about the nutso storyline.

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/shadowcomplex_machinegun.jpg

Ledge: This is ok I guess but y'know what I'm just not that into platformers. Also the plot and dialogue are atrocious.

Developer Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBneXYDsLww

Forksclovetofu: The metroidvania of my dreams, fully realized and rendered and hella fun. Certainly the best looking XBLA game I’ve ever seen. This is another one I would’ve personally voted for if I had played/beaten it before the poll.

http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/shadow_complex_03.jpg

Gamasutra weighs in on ‘The Complex Question’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1etQrqrUxU

Cozwn: The best thing is that the world is very coherent, unlike most of the metroidvanias, it really feels like one complex despite the variation in backgrounds.

http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/142136-ShadowComplex_Screen20-620x.jpg

BNW: Neck and neck with Braid for best xbox live arcade game. Both criticized for their stories by people who don't understand what a book is for.

The Shadow Complex conundrum

Will M: This game managed to be incredibly amazing in spite of Orson Scott Card's involvement and that's a feat.

#18: GTA IV – Episodes from Liberty City: The Ballad of Gay Tony/The Lost and The Damned – XBLA + 360 - 55 pts – 4 votes - .5 Top Game Vote – Top 360 Exclusive
Official Game Site: The Ballad of Gay Tony
Official Game Site: The Lost and The Damned
Official Game Site: Episodes

http://xboxfreedom.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/gta-iv-lost-and-damned-xbox36-screenshots-4.jpg

Metacritic - Gay Tony
Metacritic – Lost and The Damned

Antexit: I doubt this will get many votes, but I’m giving it the points I didn’t give GTA4 last year. If there were a few more things to buy and a little more diversity in the fun shit you can do, the three games taken together would be pretty close to what I was hoping GTA4 would be-- let’s hope the next GTA is more like these two and less like their pretentious older brother. It's the best game starring a Jewish biker I've played this year.

http://site.video-game-central.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/gta_ballad_of_gay_tony_screenshot.jpg

Developer Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m0QbuTrQCE

Ste: On the Gay Tony story front, I love it. The dialogue and all the characters are well done. But FFS the animations are so sluggish sometime. GET IN THE FUCKING BOAT QUICKER!!

http://gamernode.com/upload/manager///News%20Images/Microsoft/grand-theft-auto-iv-the-ballad-of-gay-tony-20090828042537720_640w1254888483.jpg

Associate Producer Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6akwQ1j74Y4

Stevie: The club seems fun as fuck and the characters are a lot more likable and charismatic than in the previous two iterations.

http://www.perezstart.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/5566-gta-iv-the-lost-and-damned-500x281.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DX5yVs91V4

dont get the "dragon's lair" thing. would you say that about half-life 2? not every game needs to be a big boring sandbox imo

#17: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – PS3/360 – 56 pts – 5 votes
Official Game Site

http://www.infoaddict.com/wp-content/uploads/HLIC/487230d9f34a90499afcbcf166696fd9.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPajlON_BFE

S1ocki: The single-player campaign is disappointingly dumb (especially after the inspired narrative tricks of the last game), but the multiplayer, as problematic and unbalanced as it can be, is crack cocaine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkuLj5uCgSk

http://www.gamesmen.com.au/catalog/blog/uploaded_images/modern_warfare_2-745753.jpg

Gamasutra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_-veQRwh6I

JeffLevine: Just an amazingly addictive multiplayer game that's hard to put down. In a way, I feel like the last two Call of Duty games are better (more balanced and less over the top). Still, on console there's no other new multiplayer that feels better and offers so much.

http://www.endsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Modern-Warfare-2-31.jpg

Busted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkr1C2k3-4g

http://www.multiplayergames.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/codmw26.jpg

One Million Banned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS8uHnGXBaw

Antexit: You can just feel your synapses fizzing when you play this game. It’s a bit of a bummer that the single player is so obviously inferior to MW1’s, which did some really interesting stuff with story and perspective, but single player almost feels like bonus content for a game like this.

wow that's low. ILG challops!

dont get the "dragon's lair" thing. would you say that about half-life 2?

I wouldn't!

#16: Retro Game Challenge – DS – 56 pts – 6 votes
Official Game Site

http://www.truegameheadz.com/blogheadz/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/939911_20081110_screen001.jpg

If: So what retro gaming needs is a cute framing that looks like Animal Crossing, and to play for achievements? Seems so!

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEKHPlqOW_A

JimD: Great concept, great format. And the fact it didn't force you to play too much of any one mini-game meant it really did feel like going over to a school friend's house to play a little bit of everything he owned that you didn't. For that, I loved it.

http://www.blogcdn.com/nintendo.joystiq.com/media/2009/02/rgc21309.jpg

Gamespite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVkjbA8d1vY

Forksclovetofu An absolute love letter to gamers who grew up in the mid-eighties. The attention to detail is superb and the insider jokes ('Dan Sock'! Engrish interstices in the faux games! The kid turning his nose up at you if you tell him you read the manual!) are evocative and spot on. It attempts to be a Madeline for Nintenerds and it succeeds spectacularly.

http://bulk.destructoid.com/ul/user/1/13625-96142-retrogamechallenge20080715002612724640wjpg-468x.jpg

Localization Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AWQ8oenilM

Abbott: This game is A+++ The manuals are so great, and it's fun having this fake sibling-type as stupid commentator. The nice thing about him is unlike an IRL sibling, he can't throw controllers at you. Those NES controllers had really sharp edges!

http://www.infendo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/rerocontrollersmash495xb-copy.jpg

Graveyard Duck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDs2mGZYwc8

Lamp: Not feeling this at all. The actual games that are played are kind of not fun versions of old games. I guess that’s the point but then it’s not really clever-clever in the best way; it’s just kind of gross nostalgia. I’m such a hypocrite I know but this is vapid and worse than paying $100 for Ar Tonelico on the game as fetish-object scale.

More tomorrow.

whoa holy shit at modern warfare placing that low

massive lol at Modern Warfare placing that low

DEATH TO FPS

easy game to play one billion hours of a week, hard game to love

yeah I'm pretty excited about seeing what's next---don't care about FPSs or MMORPGs or PS3 games, and kinda hope the top 15 are all Flash games. I wish I'd have voted for that flash basketball game that we were playing a month or so ago.

^^^ throwing down the challop gauntlet

calling drop7 at #1

fwiw I think L4D2 is now a lock for #1

FPSes 4ever

uncharted and mw2 that low seems hilariously challopsy in the true vein of ilx polls. the mw2 thread seems to be the most active thread on the board, so someone is playing it.

the uncharted=dragon's lair thing is really false. uncharted has extremely well employed triggered events but that's not the same thing at all. a closer modern equivalent to dragon's lair is a rock band/ddr style game.

so glad uncharted didn't place higher.

I'm almost exclusively a casual gamer that would rather through Frisbees at video game dogs rather than blow up aliens, but I played Uncharted 2 for a few hours the other day and it was pretty fun. I liked the sniper mode shooting parts the best, the jumping puzzles the least.

Jumping puzzles are the 2nd worst thing in games ever. FPS' that involve jumping are 1st.

Well apart from jumping in good platformers.

uncharted is not a FPS

oh, i know.

do u

uncharted has extremely well employed triggered events but that's not the same thing at all.

Dragon's Lair is like an entire game of triggered events! But yes, Uncharted also has some good gunplay parts and some (incredibly easy) puzzles.

i guess the difference is how you are able to respond to the triggered event, which in uncharted is usually a lot more open than, say, qtes (dragon's lair being the grandaddy of qte as a 'gameplay' tool). i tend to dislike triggered events because they are usually done so badly or lazily, but uncharted really makes them stitch in seamlessly. i have been very impressed, enough so that i think this aspect of the game is a huge plus instead of a potential flaw.

They are incredibly well-implemented in the game. Uncharted was in my top 5, for what it's worth.

most surprising thing about Uncharted 2 finishing so low is that it didn't get any 1st place votes.

Hate to ruin the surprise but Arkham Asylum is obv #1

tossup between that and L4D2 IMO

good games tho.

I had no idea retro game challenge existed =( seems like a fun ds game to have for long trips..

Whoa this list is shocking me now. Nice to be wrong!

Retro Game Challenge placing above GTA IV episodes, Uncharted 2 and Modern Warfare 2 = FAITH IN ILG RESTORED!

that flash basketball game

what was that?

http://www.onlinegames.com/basketball/

the real surprise was uncharted placing tht low

no MW2 is a top ten game but there's no way UC2 is not a top 3 game

easy game to play one billion hours of a week, hard game to love
― wall•egina (s1ocki), Tuesday, February 9, 2010 8:36 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

thx polyphonic

shoulda given L4D2 more love then I did, its grown on me.

Hate to ruin the surprise but Plants Vs Zombies is obv #1

skewed by casuals the fake headline reads

http://origin.aintitcool.com/images2007/cass.jpg
ws tho

I think every single person on this board used up half their points on their favourite iPhone/flash/casual game thinking heh heh this will blow their minds and now look at the shame that follows

^^ lol, YES.

top five: SFIV, L4D2, Demons' Souls, PvZ, Arkham Asylum? Why are people bigging up L4D2 all of a sudden? That game seems to have passed me right by.

Dragon's Age will be in there. FIFA maybe?

well i know what 3 of them are going 2 b because i voted for them but really im crazy curious to no who else gave a bunch of points to atelier rorona

lol @ no1 giving a goty vote to mw2 or uncharted 2 goty votes

That is funny, I didn't notice that, or expect that!

No Brutal Legend placing kinda a shock.

Not really - everybody was pretty hyped for it, then it came out and there was a huge wash of disappointment about it being an RTS or some such thing. Sounds worse than the bad platforming in Psychonauts.

I bet Dragon Age takes #1

I think every single person on this board used up half their points on their favourite iPhone/flash/casual game thinking heh heh this will blow their minds and now look at the shame that follows

― antexit, Tuesday, February 9, 2010 6:50 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol umm... why do you think that

we should post this list on digg or something just to blow every gamer nerd's mind... we'll get billions of visitors

man! i'm really amazed by these results. If I were MW2 I'd feel so... I don't know, USED.

I think # of voters really made a difference here - for example, I've given up on shooters so no MW2 and no Uncharted 2 on my ballot.

Still, with the amount of chatter on that thread you'd think ONE person would have voted it GOTY. Even Episodes from Liberty City got a half vote! Maybe everyone suddenly soured it on it the last month? TBH that's what I thought would happen with SFIV and nobody would vote for it since it came out so long ago, but that doesn't look to be the case...

Everyone still loves it! I'll bet everyone on the MW2 thread still puts in at least six hours a week. Somehow the amount people enjoy games no longer correlates to how they rate them. Imagine if this happened over on ILM! It'd be like everyone voting for the The Knife opera or whatever the eff and they secretly listen to Nickelback ten times a day.

#15: FIFA Soccer 2010 – PS3/360 – 57 pts – 4 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
Official Game Site

http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/102/1027537/fifa-soccer-10-20090923052720529_640w.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FM4UPrAjnc

EZ Snappin: I waited until now to jump into FIFA, and my wait paid off in spades. Be A Pro mode as fun as anything else this year.

http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/102/1027537/fifa-soccer-10-20090923052722201_640w.jpg

Developer Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MahxAiB_opM

If: If we're just going on what I spent the most time on this year I think this might just about get it. The temptation to go online for one game and just keep playing more is immense; especially when someone keeps offering you a rematch and you just know you could beat them again. The refinements from the already impressive 09 are really noticeable. The way that the ball bounces around and deflects off players feels remarkably realistic and pulling off an awesome long ball down the wing, Arshavin chip goal from a stupid angle, or cynical foul to avoid a certain equalizer, is more satisfying than ever.

http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/990/990305/e3-2009-fifa-soccer-10-screenshots-20090602100436495_640w.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBihHygCXE8

Sondrangerbot: I played this more than any other game. Lots of stupid flaws to it but the gameplay alone is close to perfection.

http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/989/989290/fifa-soccer-10-20090602070735176_640w.jpg

Cozwn: Messi plus 360 control is sublime.

#14: Street Fighter IV – 360 – 58 pts – 5 votes - 1.5 Top Game Vote
Official Game Site

http://janisgodins.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/street-fighter.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnvVNfqqkZ4

Antexit: What a drag that I suck at this gorgeous, balanced and deep game as bad as I do, and that I was too busy playing the ten games on my list along with twenty or more to get any better at SFIV.

http://www.threesixtyvault.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/streetfighter-iv.jpg

Sirlin would like to say

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClmJErV9lBE

Cozwn: SO PSYCHED YOU GUYS!!

http://www.thekoalition.com/wp-content/gallery/super-street-fighter-iv-oct-2/super-street-fighter-4-oct-2-7.jpg

SFIV Snuggie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3AXAfX1Ef8

JeffLevine: While a less than perfect online system was a bit of a disappointment, overall, Street Fighter IV showed me what a great deep, challenging experience a 1 vs 1 fighter can be. It's definitely a case where the more you put in the more you get out. I've put in a over a hundred hours and feel like I barely scratched the game's surface. It seems like a timeless classic, except one has the sneaking suspicion 2010's Super Street Fighter IV will be an improvement.

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/techno-techno-techno/css/Street%20Fighter%20IV.jpg

Producer Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlpsvq0k4MI

HIDERE: I don't play this nearly as often as I should but it's still fucking boss. DHALSIM FOREVER

soccer games lulz britisher gamerz

#13: Flower – PSN – 59 pts – 7 votes - Top PSN Game
Official Game Site

http://media.crispygamer.com/screenshot/Title904/flower_19-640x.jpg

Metacritic

Antexit: This and Canabalt, best one-button games in years. Beautiful and ethereal and stoner-y and like nothing but itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJam5Auwj1E

Jamescobo: I pretty much love this. I'm not quite know sure how to talk about it without sounding like one of those Games As Art turds, but this game is so great and I apparently haven't even gotten to the revelatory part yet (fortunately the game gives you a trophy for sitting at the start screen for 10 minutes, which is conveniently just enough time to write furious emails/posts to e-bros to get off they asses and buy this game NOW NOW NOW) that it may be unavoidable. It pretty much single-handedly justifies the purchase of a 1080p tv.

http://gamer.blorge.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/ps3-flower.jpg

Forksclovetofu: PS3 showing up the Wii pretty badly here. Much better after a few drinks but don’t watch if someone else is playing; U WILL BE SICK.

http://playstationlifestyle.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/flower.jpg

Polyphonic: Cool interactive screensaver, bro.

Gamasutra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUC2tpY5gb4

Edgertor: Better in concept than execution, but still unusual and fun.

http://media.crispygamer.com/screenshot/Title904/flower_33-640x.jpg

Webber : The game ended up being more linear than I hoped, but playing the first few levels where nothing can hurt you and there's not much of a point was incredibly relaxing. More games that aren't really games, please!

Developer Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA015AkJ8vY

Jeff LeVine: A very unique experience. I've certainly played no other game like it. The art, music, motion control and vibration worked together really well. As original as it is however, I just didn't find it terribly compelling. There's really not much game there. It's also way fucking schmaltzy.

Not sure, but I think #12 had the highest point per vote average.

#12: Rittai Picross / Picross 3-D – DS – 60 pts – 3 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
Official Game Site

http://www.theicecave.org/damage_control/multimedia/picross3Dpic_061409.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=808s-6hYuew

http://www.romulation.net/files/screenshots/roms/NDS/26600/sd0cee316f2f273fe83c94c45af7e996d.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACFi8CKEHSA

Forksclovetofu: As killer as apps get; easy to pick up and play and immediately engaging. I'm expecting this to take over America the instant it’s released here.

http://whengamessuck.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/f0045321_499502a76f3e3.jpg

Siliconera

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBfE0r3Uqbg

JimD: Picross in 3D stops being a pen and paper logic puzzle and turns into a hammer and chisel logic puzzle! Chipping away at a big block until you're left with a little 3D sculpture is just hugely satisfying. And the chewiness of the puzzles is just right too, they're consistently challenging, sometimes infuriating, lots of fun. Even the time limits are perfectly judged (man, the number of times I've lost a star by being 5 seconds too slow...). So somehow this has ended up being my game of the year.

Risque Picross

when is that getting a Western release? I want want want it but I don't do the r4 thing.

oh i didnt even know that was a THING

cool

#11: Left 4 Dead 2 – 360 – 60 pts – 5 vote - .5 Top Game Vote
Official Game Site

http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/left-4-dead-2-200907070957099851-580x328.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-8NSjJ7Fq4

BNW: Slightly disappointing. While there's new content here, none of it seems as inspired as the original.

http://favoniangamers.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/left-4-dead-2.jpg

Scratch that boycott

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kk46sGMuro

Jjjusten: So it's 2009, and big shock, we're all still out here shooting virtual zombies. Fortunately, unlike shooting virtual nazis, zombie killing never gets old. Lots of people got all bent out of shape about this one because of Valves longstanding "give you shit-tons of stuff for free forever" approach, but they can all shut up - this is not just some map pack bullshit, this is a whole different game. WAY improved over the original in every way, AI director is leaps forward, melee weapons are a game-changing addition, maps are far more intricate, replayablity is endless. I'm not even sure how they had the time to make a sequel this good in such a short period of time, but there's no question, this is worth every penny. So boohoo indignant fanboys, go back and play Counterstrike for the 4 billionth time and shut the fuck up.

http://cache.g4tv.com/images/ImageDb3/168371_S/Left-4-Dead-2-Spitter.jpg

The Wire Connection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W3vSBUDOSM

Polyphonic: Best cooperative video game experience ever. Valve took a great game and made it even better. My buddy John has a setup where we have two 360s in one room, and we play four-player campaigns together. There is a great deal of collaborative hysteria.

http://favoniangamers.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/left_4_dead_2_jockey.jpg

Developer Interview

AYO SUCK IT XBOXERS

the challops continue!

Yeah, didn't think L4D2 would go top 5. Too much like L4D imo.

On Picross 3D - just came out in Europe, won't come to the US til August or September apparently.

Hold on, you can play Rittai Picross in english!? Mine's all in japanese, haven't worked out how to change the language. And yeah, it's still my game of the year, heh.

oh, xp, that explains it then.

ok, it looks like March 5 for Picross 3D in Europe.

Guys, remember when PS3 fanboyz claimed Killzone 2 was the greatest game ever made?

soccer games lulz britisher gamerz

SFIV (on PC, forgot to mention that in my ballot) was my GOTY, can't wait for Super SSFIV.

also I antipicate AND fear the Top 10 with each and every post

good run of games there. Love picross but had no idea this picross 3d existed. V surprised abt sf4 not placing higher, it'd pretty much be my goty if i could have afforded to buy a proper joystick or even something that worked like a saturn control pad for it, xbox controller is dreadful.

A lot of my guesses for the top10 have already placed, so I'm sure I'll be surprised at some of this top 10. Uncharted 2 still hasn't placed, right? And Arkham seems like a lock for #1. Dragon's Age... Plants V Zombies, not sure what else.

This is far and away the most interesting Top Games list I've seen. Well done people! (and thanks again, forks)

Oh nm. Uncharted 2 already placed. Super Mario Bros Wii in top 10?

I live in hope that ANY console fanboys will happen upon these threads as googlers and proceed to blow the fuck up.

jamescobo i liked your comments on flower

Oh, weird. Rock Band Beatles hasn't placed yet. Can't believe we're gonna make that a top 10 game.

and wait, did Fat Princess place AT ALL? I will be furious if it's top ten and I take back all the nice things I thought about this community

I forgot to say in addition to shooters I don't play music games. I don't get the appeal. So Rock Band can suck it.

xpost

lol'n @ alla this wtf ilx

still no atelier rorona????????

Oh, weird. Rock Band Beatles hasn't placed yet. Can't believe we're gonna make that a top 10 game.

If that happens, I will ban everyone fronthis forum.

It's gonna happen. I gave it 3 points on my ballot and I notice it hasn't placed yet.

What's wrong with Beatles Rock Band? Do you hate life?

Nothing wrong with it, I just don't think it's a top 10 game.

For almost spurious reasons, I made it my worst game of 2009.

:( Beatles RB is certainly the game I'm most looking forward to playing once I get back to console gaming this autumn.

Every voter was given the option to list their most disappointing game of the year on their ballot. For some, this meant their least favorite game; for some, the one that didn't live up to their expectations; for some, the reasoning was completely personal.

There was a definite consensus "most disappointing game", but several games pulled single votes. Let's start with those.

HIDERE – I pick BEATLES: ROCK BAND, not because of the game itself, but because the Rock Band peripherals (especially the guitars) are so incredibly fragile that leaving them alone for only a few months at a time causes them to stop working. I have two guitar controllers and they are both utterly broken despite not abusing them in the slightest. Yes I DID change the batteries, no that DIDN'T make any difference: one controller doesn't respond at all and the other registers a strum if a light breeze wafts across it. This renders all of the Rock Band games completely unplayable and that's really a shame because I love the concept and general execution of these games and would have bought Beatles: RB if the controllers actually worked. As it stands? Fuck this overly-fragile shit that costs nearly as much as an entire game system.

WillM – CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 - It wasn't the game itself that disappointed me, but the utter mess leading up to its release. Certainly the loss of dedicated servers for PC was a blow; there's nothing better than renting a server for you and your friends to always guarantee a good game. For me, it was the whole F.A.G.S. scandal that really put it over the top. I have a hard enough time dealing with that shit on Xbox Live, but for a company to put out that kind of hate speech in their advertising completely put it over the top. I don't know if I would call it a "boycott," but that nonsense certainly determined that I did not care how good this game was: I wouldn't be paying for it.

If – KATAMARI FOREVER was a real bummer. "If it ain't broke" is all well and good with something as awesome as Katamari, but _literally_ the same levels as the 360 version from a couple of years ago? Daaaaaamn.

Euler – More than anything it was NOT HAVING ENOUGH TIME TO PLAY video games this year.

Two way tie for THIRD MOST DISAPPOINTING GAME

PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2010 - 2 Votes

Roberto Spiralli – PES 10 was a terrible, terrible piece of shit. FIFA 2010 is also quite bad but got C+P points from me on account of at least being playable.

Sondrangerbot – I really wanted this to be the FIFA 2010 of 2009, but it was more like the FIFA 2006 of 2010.

BRUTAL LEGEND – 2 Votes

EZ Snappin - I love Tim Schafer (Psychonauts may be my game of the decade) and I love metal (\m/). The problem is that I hate RTS games and despite everything Schafer said in interviews, Brutal Legend is a goddamn RTS at heart. I finally ended up watching a friend play so I could enjoy the humor without hating the experience. It just isn't the same.

Mordy – What a shitty year for games.

SECOND PLACE FOR MOST DISAPPOINTING GAME

SCRIBBLENAUTS - 3 Votes

CraigG - Maybe if you're not lazy and unimaginative as I am, this is a good game? I had watched the videos and was drawn into the widespread hype of this amazing database where you could conjure up anything and solve puzzles in any way you can think of. Then I played the game and discovered two things:
1) If I tried to think of a Rube Goldberg way of solving a puzzle that it couldn't understand (which was more often than not), it wasn't going to work.
2) Once you solve the first twenty or so levels in the most obvious way possible, you no longer feel the need to be bothered being creative.
And since this game is about the joy of being creative, I put it away forever.

Antexit –What a load of crap. It’s like a Resident Evil puzzle that has 50,000 pieces and only five of them do anything.

JimD – Woah, it's all true! I can spawn, like, ANY OBJECT I CAN THINK OF! This RULES! Oh, except none of them really do anything. And everything looks ugly. And suddenly I can't really think of anything other than LADDER or GUN.

#1 MOST DISAPPOINTING GAME OF 2009 - NOBY NOBY BOY – 5 Votes

JeffLevine - To say I was really looking forward to Keita Takahashi's follow up to Katamari Damacy would be an understatement. After all, it was Katamari Damacy that got me back into gaming and/or finally got me to take gaming seriously as a hobby. It was the reason I got a PS2, the very first console I ever bought by myself. That this LONG anticipated game ended up being some kind of pointless, interactive screen saver that didn't hold my interest for an hour; yeah, that's what I would call a disappointment.

Polyphonic - I don't know what I was expecting, but I definitely was hoping that this would be a game and not just a doodad.

S1ocki - This has got to be a practical joke.

Also voted for Noby Noby Boy: Edgertor, Abanana, Forksclovetofu

Dan, I guess it's too late to recommend this now, but Rock Band game discs + Guitar Hero guitars is really the way forward. Oh, plus Lips microphones, if you can bring yourself to buy those.

oh man dudes beatles: rock band in the top 10 is so rong

RE4 not only didn't make the top 75, it didn't even make the most disappointing list! One of the most anticipated current-gen games of all and it makes an impact like the sound when you let the air out of a balloon.

RE5, you mean? Yeah, no one mentioned it so it didn't even make the list of nominated games!
The Third Annual Coint and Plick poll - Vote for ILG's best games of 2009! (VOTING CLOSES TODAY!)

I actually bought it so I could try it before I voted, that's what kind of nerd I am, and halfway through the 45 minute HD loading sequence I said fuck this where's borderlands

I was gonna wait to do these on Friday, but you know what?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khbel2p7ou0
Here's your top ten.

nice

#10: Drop7 – Iphone – 71 pts – 4 votes – 2 Top Game Votes – Top iPhone Game
Official Game Site

http://www.touchmyapps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/drop7_9.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP8xSb9PqUI

BNW: Deceptively simple, totally addicting.

http://www.inspiredm.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/drop7.jpg

Try it online

S1ocki: I have to be 100% honest and make my number one vote the game I played most this year. Totally simple, not very deep, but utterly, strangely addictive and a perfect fit for the iPhone's interface.

http://www.touchmyapps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/drop7_5.jpg

Programmer Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfx_xd0p72Y

Dyao: I stopped playing Drop7 after realizing that no matter how well you play, there's always going to be an element of randomness that controls how successful your combos are; it’s just not as satisfying as Tetris IMO.

hey forks are you saving my most disappointing hate screed for later?

yep, it's a mint before the top five because it's so damned amusingly aspie

#9: Torchlight – PC/Mac Emulation – 72pts – 5 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
Official Game Site

http://media.curse.com/CommunityServer.Components.PostAttachments/00/00/48/20/60/ss6.jpg-720x540.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhrNZZf-dOk

Euler: Definitely not a game that easily justifies its value to non-gamers---it's just point and click and kill and level and repeat. Even so, it hits a sweet spot that reminds me why I can never allow myself to play WoW. At least Torchlight goes to sleep when I do.

http://www.frictionlessinsight.com/prevpics/Torchlight/TorchlightB.jpg

Developer Interview

BNW: The amount of inventory shuffling and identifying gets annoying. They put in vendors to do just about everything except identify your shit. I have been playing this as an alchemist summoner who runs from battle and makes his minions kill everything. Sometimes it gets so chaotic I can't tell what I have summoned that is still alive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EryqB-Yt-C4

Webber : Prettier Diablo with mods. I really like clicking on monsters and then watching them die and then clicking on the things they drop and putting them on and then doing it over and over again.

http://imtalkingames.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/torchlight.JPG

The Art of Torchlight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P13tEVSKaGQ

Dyao: This takes everything annoying about Diablo 2 and smooths it out.

http://media.moddb.com/cache/images/games/1/13/12266/thumb_620x2000/12.png

Forksclovetofu: As a longtime proponent of the theory that Diablo 2 is the best game of the past decade, this was a no-brainer of a pick. Sure, it wears thin after about twenty hours and in retrospect I almost wish I'd spent my vote points on Shadow Complex/SMT: Devil Survivor/Arkham now that I played them, but no real regrets.

Zero Punctuation Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWFmP3csMDY

Dyao's 100% correct re Drop 7 and randomness, I played it for months but ended up hating it for that reason.

yeah i think i gotta go cold turkey on it.

that zero punctuation on torchlight is hilarus

#8: Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks – DS – 73 pts – 5 votes - .5 Top Game Vote – Top DS Game
Official Game Site

http://garedux.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/zelda-spirit-tracks-shot.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ihjsLrBZvM

If: Very much Phantom Hourglass all over again, but PH is one of the better realizations of the Zelda series so it's hard to feel too aggrieved.

http://www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/134961-LegendofZeldaSpiritTracksMainImage.jpg

Iwata Asks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6dgiMig8Bk

CraigG : I'm just starting the second temple, which may be a bit early to be adding this to my best games of 2009, but I can tell I'm going to like it. That said: I hate the train and I am amazed they managed to find something worse that the boat (dear Nintendo; stop with the shitty vehicles and stick with Epona). Ultimately, the game seems like more of the same from Phantom Hourglass, so I'm pretty certain I'll continue liking this as much as I did that.

http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/zelda-spirit-tracks.jpg

Eurogamer Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6dgiMig8Bk

Euler: My first Zelda since the SNES... maybe even the NES? Of the few 2009 releases I played, this one has maybe the highest production values and it's certainly fun. Still, I'd appreciate more depth.

http://th02.deviantart.net/fs42/300W/f/2009/087/a/6/LEGEND_OF_ZELDA__SPIRIT_TRACKS_by_Whynne.png

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUU

Salsa Shark: Sometimes I think this is fun, other times I am annoyed beyond belief. I am especially angry right now after some very aggravating attempts to buy a shield that involved trying to get Beedle's stupid air balloon to the ground, trying to board it while being shot at by pirates, having the balloon float away, subsequently dying and then repeating the process. I am SO tearing up my Beedle membership card.

oh man i love this list so much, i want it to hit the gamer fanboy tumblr radar and make people apoplectic.

#7: Plants vs. Zombies – PC/Mac – 84 pts – 7 votes – 2 Top Game Votes – Top PC/Mac Game
Official Game Site

http://i543.photobucket.com/albums/gg444/bangsatkeh/1-21.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC4E7hd3Gj8

Forksclovetofu: PVZ kept me up past three in the morning two nights in a row. $20 might seem expensive for a desktop defense clone, but damn is this ever polished. Never stressful! And the music is incredible!

http://www.gamerdna.com/uimage/AyypsPb/full/plants-vs-zombies-zen-garden.jpg

Developer Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lg8mcPOPjI

Antexit: One of the most perfectly balanced and endlessly satisfying games I’ve ever played. It's also the only game this year that every single person I showed it to went nuts over. Almost every one of the fifty or so plants in it was my favorite at one time or another-- when does that happen with the weapons in other games?

http://noaddedsugar.ie/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/plants-vs-zombies-big-05.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98v7Jq6IFrE

Interview with sound designer Laura Shigihara

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r95TAEmnPKE

Ledge: Does this game get hard, ever? (ed. note: Nope.) I am on stage four and I think I've let a grand total of two zombies through, pretty much by accident. I have 2000+ sun power left at the end of every game.

http://ve3dmedia.ign.com/images/04/56/45606_orig.jpg

Gamasutra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqykKOl8TA4

JimD: Hard to even remember what I loved about this, but it's here cos I know I spent a big chunk of my year on it and really enjoyed it at the time. I guess this is a great example of a relatively new game design trend: games that don't need to challenge you to keep you entertained. They can just keep giving you new toys and that'll have the same effect. It's only valid because it's true... well, at least until you've seen all the toys and then that's it and there's little point of ever playing it again. But hey, that's not the end of the world: who has time to replay games these days anyway?

sooo fuckin lame

a crappy desktop tower defence clone (with all the lack of intelligence that implies) that wouldn't be a challenge even for the titular zombies.

Tower Defence games - another thing I don't see the appeal of. Come to think of it, I don't really like games.

do not get PvsZ at all, always loved fieldrunners on my ipod tooch tho.

#6: New Super Mario Brothers – Wii – 91 pts – 8 votes – Top Wii exclusive
Official Game Site

http://gallery.thatvideogameblog.com/cache/new-super-mario-bros-wii/NewSuperMarioBrosWii_03.jpg_626.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnkgU5sxwek

Zappi: People are downplaying this one because it doesn't "push gaming forward" or whatever. Pfffffft. It’s got what I want: clean simple graphics, responsive controls and brilliant level design. Nobody does this better than Nintendo.

http://wiimedia.gamespy.com/wii/image/article/994/994647/new-super-mario-bros-wii-20090615031123443.jpg

Iwata asks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNinTucBxJA

CraigG : This has managed to slightly delay my desire to sell my Wii. I loved New Super Mario on the DS and this is just more of the same. While most of the power-ups are re-skinned from previous Mario adventures, there is a great variety that (like SMB 3) helps keep the game fresh. I guess the main appeal here is nostalgia; I got Mario Bros 3 on the NES for my birthday at an impressionable age. It's just so endlessly fun to have the same gameplay mechanics in the familiar desert, ice, air, etc, scenarios but with all new levels!

http://gallery.thatvideogameblog.com/cache/new-super-mario-bros-wii/NewSuperMarioBrosWii_10.jpg_626.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8NlHpoRyHs

If: Would be on my top ten for the frenzied, hotly contested multiplayer alone, even if it didn't have a single player with its share of classic moments as well.

http://darkzero.co.uk/asset/2009/06/new-super-mario-bros-wii.jpg

Miyamoto talks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNI2yimhzec

JeffLevine: A 2-D Mario game? For most gamers, that's probably all I need to say. If it hadn't released in the middle of a crowded holiday season when there were so many other games to play and without online, I certainly would’ve ranked it even higher.

nsmbw basically kinda sux fu ilg

my reaction:

STAGE ONE: rad!!!!!! a reason 2 use my wii!!!! man i sure do love mario!!!!
STAGE TWO: this is p fun... yeah. sure are lotsa coins. hmmm need 2 get my bf 2 play this w/ me multiplayer
STAGE THREE: wow the controls on this cld use some work but its just like playing classic mario... except uglier and sloppier. but its still fun
STAGE FOUR: excited for some new ideas... mb new kind of lvl or a new mechanic. more jumping... idk.
STAGE FIVE: fuck this game im playing smw

As promised, before we do the top five I wanted a little palate cleanser. So here is the final "biggest disappointment of the year" vote. It is presented unedited and in HD.

Jjjusten: FUEL

Oh you jerkoff goddamn dirtbags.

This game is maybe the biggest missed opportunity of the decade. What makes is worse is that all the pieces are there for this to be great, which made me wait in vain for the patch that never arrived. It is hard to believe that this broken piece of crap didn't get some post-release developer loving, because the problems are so glaring that they really arent up to debate. A shortlist:

1. Ok, so you have huge freeroaming postapocalyptic wasteland. Awesome right? Well, it might be if there were ANY OTHER PEOPLE LIKE YOU DRIVING AROUND. Instead, with the exception of a very few chase cars, all you get is big fuck off instant crash you heavy earthmovers and trucks. In what world does this decision even begin to make sense.

2. So the races are pretty great. Except for when they are completely broken and unwinnable. For example, when you hit some mystical spot on a dirt hill where no motorcycle can manage to get up it (well, with the notable exception of all the mortorcycles getting driven by the other AI dudes). Oh and by the way, if you fuck up even once, you can't win the race. Ever. (Apparently Codemasters decided NOT to include the rewind function in this because uh) Which brings us to:

3. FUCKING LOAD SCREENS. Before every race. After every race. Also, whenever you restart a race. Long boring load screens with the same looped terrible music EVERY TIME. Yet, this is a game where there are no load screens when you are out driving randomly over a supremely detailed sandbox open world. Again, how is this even possible? What manager didn't stop this at the design stage. IT'S MADDENING.

4. The open world, which I am sure took the majority of game design time is utterly and completely pointless. Outside of some weird achievement mining, there is no reason whatsoever to go outside of the camps where the races occur. Ever. And if you're thinking that if nothing else, driving to the next camp on the world map will have some purpose, sorry, no, you are wrong. Because the people who made this game hate you, and apparently themselves, because the drive to the next camp will take approximately 20 minutes, unless you manage to hit some huge impassable unmapped canyon that will require you to backtrack and add another 10 minutes to that. On the way, if you are really lucky, you may have the opportunity to run into some of the random gas cans scattered about or crash into a wrecked vehicle that gets you a new horrible livery for one of the cars you may or may not have.

5. Oh and yeah, those gas cans? One assumes that they are a means to keep your car going, and so you have to keep on the edge of your seat making sure you don't run out of fuel, right? Nope. FUEL is actually in game money, so hitting those gas cans gets you incrementally closer to buying some new piece of shit car that despite its superior rankings in the stats department might be far worse than the one you are driving. Oh yeah, and by the way, most races require you to pick from a shortlist of specific cars, so if you pick the wrong one, you dont get to play. Not the right KIND of car, but the actual specific model of 4 wheeler with the exact dumbed down road warrior name. For no reason. So guess how often you bother buying a car because it looks like fun vs. waiting until you hit the next roadblocked race and buying the required vehicle. yep.

I tried, good lord I tried to make this game have some tiny shred of value, some playability, any reason whatsoever to grind through the terrible parts to get to the good stuff. But you just can't do it, the flashes of enjoyability are so sparse that it just can not justify the terrible endless hours you have to sink into it.

Never buy this game, no matter how cheap it gets.

Aaaaand let's pause for a few hours to let you speculate on the finals and bitch about current placement.

forks, asperger's doesn't exist anymore. you should have called jjjusten's post "amusingly reminiscent of one suffering with a social dysfunction on the autism spectrum

oh man dudes beatles: rock band in the top 10 is so rong

TOP 5!

I kind of feel bad for voting for it now. It's the only thing I did vote for which hasn't already been listed, and NO FUCKING WAY was it the one that deserved to place highest. It's just rock band. With beatles songs.

RB: Beatles, Dragon's Age + Arkham Asylum. What are the other 2?

but beatles are the GREATEST BAND OF ALL TIME ergo..

as long as FUEL doesnt make it

forks, i forgot to vote. can i give 100pts to FUEL pls?

lol lamp. and that quote attributed to me is a rewritten version of what i said. thats ..... odd.

zappi, "I’ve done a bit of editing to streamline but I’ve made every effort to maintain your meaning. My apologies if you feel misquoted; feel free to correct me on this thread."

BTW, the following games did NOT receive a vote. Anybody wanna rep for them?
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!, Band Hero, Brutal Legend, Fat Princess, God of War Collection, Guitar Hero 5, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Little Big Planet PSP, Little King’s Story, Lostwinds, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Noby Noby Boy, Peggle DS, Phantasy Star Zero, Pixeljunk Monsters Zero, Ratchet and Clank:Future, Resident Evil 5, Saboteur, Sam and Max, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Sims 3, Tales of Monkey Island, Trine, Wet

not me

Lamp - re: NSMBWII, did you ever try out the co-op (thought it was pretty fun that way too & changes up the way the game works quite a lot)? Also what control scheme were you using? I thought just the wii remote on its side felt pretty nice... admittedly, I still haven't played as much of the game as you did - keep meaning to go back to it...

Tales of Monkey Island really should've been my greatest disappointment. So not fun to play.

i put beatles rock band on my ballot just as filler. starting to feel real guilty over here...

just remember: YOU DID THIS

we've made a terrible mistake

Super Mario Bros Wii is delightful. I think I played it for like 6 hours straight the other day.

Lamp - re: NSMBWII, did you ever try out the co-op (thought it was pretty fun that way too & changes up the way the game works quite a lot)? Also what control scheme were you using? I thought just the wii remote on its side felt pretty nice

i did although not extensively. at least not while i was sober. the mutliplay just felt like a hassle rather than an advancement. i was using the same control set-up and thought it was a little loose and unresponsive. lol @ fighting game nerds here tho mb

my biggest beef i guess is like main console smb releases used to push boundaries both mechanically and visually. they felt like deeply considered attempts to improve/expand/reconsider the franchise and platforming generally. nsmbw is incredibly lazy in that sense but its also really sloppy. compare the castle in smw where u are riding the snake blocks at the start to similar lvl in nsmbw ~ the placement of obstacles the timing the layout the choices offered the player are all better, more intuitive, more careful, more cunning in the older game.

smb games used to have the ~best~ level layouts around nswmb is blocky and random and uses space poorly. aerial levels in smb3 feel like they were designed by god on some instinctive preordained shit. whereas nsmbw feels like kids playing w/lego sets.

couldn't disagree more but whatevas

Ratchet and Clank: Future is probably the best R&C game.

i may be overstating my dissatisfaction - kinda working thru some things w/r/t to the nostalgia impulse and conservatism in games rite now - its a perfectly serviceable mario game really.

The only time I played the Mario game, it was three player, and we kept bouncing off each other and unwittingly leading to each others' demise. The mood in the room was not good.

Drop7 was a Flash game I got bored of years ago. No way is it better than even some of the other casual games on this list.

nsmbw basically kinda sux fu ilg
― Lamp, Wednesday, February 10, 2010 5:43 PM (52 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

u sux

go play style savvy u lumpen nerd

never has my d-name been so apt btw

The only time I played the Mario game, it was three player, and we kept bouncing off each other and unwittingly leading to each others' demise. The mood in the room was not good.

― Your body is a spiderland (polyphonic)

The first sentence I understand. However, for me the followup would be:

It was hilarious, with everyone yelling, "Oh my god! Dude, you are such a dick!" and then peals of laughter rang out until the next exclamation of, "You bastard! You're gonna pay for that!"

Didn't ever get very far but had a great time.

Lamp - I definitely agree that the older, original Super Mario Bros games are better and feel better than the wii one, honestly I don't know if anything can compete with the near-perfection of those classic games - shit nothing on this list does, that's for sure. Still think the Wii game is fun / propeller hats!

RE5 was pretty epic in hype/disappointment. Game was okay but Dead Space was all "I fucked yr girl already lol."

^^^otm

re: brutal legend - when its good, its v fun, but that isnt much of the time. at first i thought that i was just disliking it because thanks to tim schaeffer disappointment, but then i realized that probably the only reason i was playing it in the first place was because of him. take away that mystique and you've got bargain bin at the gamestop written all over it.

true story: last night when playing it i was thinking "well at least if i finish it then i'll probably unlock the whole soundtrack and thats pretty cool, i can let it play in the background when i want a metal mix" which pretty much sums up the problems here.

how did i manage to leave drop7 off my list

Anybody wanna rep for them?

You know, The Sims 3 was good. It's the first Sims game to come out since I became part of a little 2xparents+boy family myself, and making little versions of ourselves then trying to coax them into acting like we do was real FUN TIMES.

It was on my ballot at one point, but got forced out by something else (can't remember what, probably beatles fucking rock band). The other game which was on my initial ballot but then got dropped was the Barclay's Fantasy Premier League. Both deserved a place on the overall list really.

btw i promise not to go all Mad Men/Inglorious Basterds on yall when beatles places, this poll has been a charming bastion of non haterade compared to the other seven polls that are winding down on ILX this week

we're pretty relaxed on the book poll. except when whiney showed up.

http://snp.bpb.de/referate/mk4.gif

#5: Trials HD – XBLA – 98 pts – 7 votes – 1.5 Top Game Vote – Top XBLA game

Official Game Site

http://ve3dmedia.ign.com/images/05/17/51704_TrialsHD-Screenshot-01_normal.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhsusQvTab8

Sondrangerbot: I really enjoyed beating ILXors' records, even if it didn't happen that often.

Polyphonic: This game completely took over my life in 2009. In a just world, this would disappear and be sent into outer space and instead I would've written three novels or something.

Tech Interview

CraigG: It's a nice simple concept, and the HD treatment makes it all the better. It's absolutely brutal on Extreme though; I've only managed to complete two of the tracks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-7yvOO5yrs

Forksclovetofu: Trials is basically the most super awesome flash Excitebike clone ever, but I think I need to never play this again. It's an ugly one-more-play obsession and a hair pulling stressball. Plus I'm not very good at it!

http://www.totallygn.com/wp-content/gallery/trials-hd/Trials_HD_screen_07.jpg

Goole: Ledge has earned enough Trials cred to be crap at every other game forever without shame IMO.

Developer Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AkyLv5zors

Cozwn: Fuck this game in the fucking fuck. IN THE FUCKING FUCK.

http://koti.kapsi.fi/~watchman/journal/wp-images/trials_hd/trials_hd.jpg

JeffLevine: Very addictive and fun at times but equally frustrating and aggravating... to the point of steam shooting out of the ears and controllers (almost) being broken.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hht0HeNPhuI

Will M: I like it when the little man hurts himself.

#4: Beatles: Rock Band – PS3/360 – 138 pts – 11 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
Official Game Site

http://www.360sync.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Beatles2.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-qt5szlQ_U

Geir Hongro: This may be what causes me to invest in a gaming machine.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2009/10/beatles-rb-102009.jpg

Developer Interview

Antexit: What a drag it is that the release of this game coincided almost perfectly with my getting completely and probably permanently bored with the GH/RB mechanic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgPUqMQU7Vk

S1ocki: Not innovative, but making the package infinitely more tasteful and less crass than the horrible Guitar Hero games made all the difference to me. Also, a soundtrack way more consistent than any other music game.

http://fidgit.com/assets_c/2009/10/Beatles_Rock_Band_Abbey_Road-thumb-550x309-26663.jpg

JimD: I didn't really like the Beatles until this year. Paul's bass parts FTW.

NYT Feature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNoTA7mb900

Polyphonic: Here is the ideal way to play this game: my friend Robert is singing, I am on guitar and primary harmonies, my friend Adam is on drums, Robert's wife Sara is on bass, and our friends Tim and Diane are on secondary harmonies. We are playing either "Revolver" or "Abbey Road" from start to finish. If we're playing "Abbey Road", I get to sing the medley.

http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/988/988734/the-beatles-rock-band-20090601004936777_640w.jpg

Wired Feature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klv_fEyw9kg

Webber: This game could only be better if it were motion capture and you got bonus points for doing Paul's head wiggle.

(at this point i wish I could hide everything but the pic results in the film poll)
(btw rock band is for karaoke gaywads)(plus you agree with geir)

trials HD and demons' souls, huh? ILX board in fun-hating obsessive-compulsive contrarianism shocker

Do we have a thread about OCD gaming?

i was ocd for trials like no-one else, but when the d/l content came out i could barely stand it, it was like i'd overdosed without even realising.

I am a huge karaoke gaywad, there is no getting around this point.

i was ocd for trials like no-one else, but when the d/l content came out i could barely stand it, it was like i'd overdosed without even realising.

I golded all of the d/l content. :(

i had a go, and then found myself restarting tracks again and again and again and again, just like the first time, but HATING it!

also i am so sad i haven't got to sing harmonies on beatles rock band yet.

After I golded everything I made a concerted effort at getting platinums on as many tracks as possible.

also i am so sad i haven't got to sing harmonies on beatles rock band yet.

Harmonies are easily the killer app of RB:B.

hahaha A+ on pulling that geir quote

trials HD and demons' souls, huh? ILX board in fun-hating obsessive-compulsive contrarianism shocker

― antexit, Wednesday, February 10, 2010 3:17 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

then how do you explain beatles rock band??

still no atelier rorona????????

― Lamp, Wednesday, February 10, 2010 4:06 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

also Trials HD is on the very short list of 360 games I desperately covet

cobo - do you have a PC?
http://store.steampowered.com/app/16600/

#3: Dragon Age: Origins – PS3/360 – 143 pts – 8 Votes - 1.5 Top Game Vote
Official Game Site

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2009/07/dragon_age_xbox.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzRDYOgwFWc

Will M: Games like this make working for 3@ a little less painful.

http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/981/981331/dragon-age-origins-20090508042056686_640w.jpg

Eurogamer Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1d2ARd3K08

HIDERE: So once I submitted myself to the taint, I put this down and went back to WoW. That doesn't change the fact that this game is gravy and I fully intend to finish it, probably when I retire from raiding entirely (so... in about three years). Also I love the dog.

http://playstationlifestyle.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dragon_age_origins_profilelarge1254530090-685x385.jpg

FanFic out the wazoo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS2pAvntfms

EZ Snappin: I love old-school RPGs, and this is one that even works on a console. Good world, good gameplay and no creepy emo kids anywhere.

http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/9/2009/12/ostagar.jpg

Gamasutra

BNW: Gigantic RPG with solid production all the way through. What it needs: more locations, more variety in monsters, more randomly triggered events, wandering monsters and less prolonged dungeon crawls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD58eSZ_2Xk

Webber : My dwarf has had sex with many many people.

#2: Demon’s Souls – PS3 – 156 pts – 9 votes – 4 Top Game Votes – Top PS3 Exclusive – Most Top Game Votes
Official Game Site

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ji8_owi4g2g/SbwInZAC0oI/AAAAAAAAAAU/S7K5BfisM_w/S1600-R/ha-ha-you-died-logo.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awTag3BWc80

HIDERE: HOLY FUCK THIS GAME IS HARD

Gamasutra

http://selectstartgames.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/demons-souls.jpg

Developer Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypMFqL4ximo

Hamildan: The only thing worse than playing Demon's Souls is not playing Demon's Souls.

Eurogamer

http://www.theplaystationetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/demons-souls-pic1.jpeg

Antexit: I was going to put Retro Gaming Challenge on the list but I realized this pretty much covers it. This year I really like games that embrace their essential game-ness, without aspiring to other media-- I love Uncharted but I still want movies to be movies and games to be games. Demon’s (or Demons or Demons’) Souls reminded me for the first time in forever what it felt like to play incredibly hard games when I was a kid -- how inexplicably rewarding progress can be just for its own sake and without all the little cookies games today give you for taking every step.

Famitsu interview translated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smvnfSzaGvI

Forksclovetofu: I started playing this during the infamous “black Halloween weekend” and the first three hours were SO FRUSTRATING, but when the game opens up and shows you its depth and payoff it's totally worth it. When I found my first complete set of armor in a back room I was literally dancing on the couch. It's like playing dungeons and dragons with a very very pissed off DM who knows what they're doing. Astonishingly atmospheric and demanding but never unfair. It may be the game I’m most proud of having beaten and was absolutely my favorite game of the year.

http://i.neoseeker.com/p/Games/Playstation_3/Role-Playing/Fantasy/demons_soul_profilelarge.jpg

"More like tantric sex with a slide rule"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88Hc85xHMA4

Aarrissi-a-roni: It is the kind of game where you are guaranteed to have that dark night of the soul moment where you have to ask yourself if you are really going to do that same goddamn level for the 25th time, but a bit of perseverance will get you through. And the blue phantom mechanism is a get out of jail free card if there is a boss that you really get stuck on, as happened to me twice. I couldn't recommend this game enough. It is really a step beyond.

The world of Demon’s Souls vs Assassin’s Creed 2

Polyphonic: I am only on World 1, Level 2 and it is already very clear that this is a deep and very cool game. Every decision that was made with the property was the right one. When I bought it at Gamestop, the dorks at the register said they hadn't played it because they were afraid of it. Cowards.

Lamp: Technically amazing, even if it isnt particularly loveable.

#1: Arkham Asylum – PS3/360 –189 pts – 13 votes – 3 Top Game Vote – Top PS3/360 Game – Most Points – Most Votes
Official Game Site

BNW: Very well done. Slightly overrated but still high quality and fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02utCE9AQB4

Metacritic

EZ Snappin: A good Batman game? Whodathunkit?

http://media.gamesource.it/gallery/xbox360/68301/BatmanArkhamAsylum-8287.jpg

Kevin Conroy discusses voicing Batman

Adam: Watching goons get progressively more freaked out as you take down their buddies one by one is pretty satisfying. Also the way that pushing the left stick all the way forward doesn't make Batman run--dude just walks… and very confidently so for a guy wearing a cape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei2aYcsF7rA

MPX4A: Best thing I've done so far:
1. String thug up
2. Spray proximity-triggered explosive gel below thug
3. Wait for thug's buddy to notice and run towards him
4. Cut thug down with batarang onto explosives

Gay Gamer thoughts

Polyphonic: Fun game and certainly the best superhero game ever.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/12/batman-arkham-asylum-dropdown-490px.jpg

MP3 of David Chen’s lively Harvard Media class on Arkham Asylum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-D33XpzQsA

Arkham Asylum's Sophisticated Story

S1ocki: Not only a great game, but one that managed to incorporate the character's mythology in a way that surprised and impressed me. The flashback scenes were more artful and interesting storytelling than I'd ever seen in a video game, rivaling the Batman movies in their interpretation of the endlessly re-told tale of the Caped Crusader's origins, and—without giving too much away—at points using the familiar conventions of video gaming in really innovative ways. As I said about Uncharted 2, I'm skeptical of video games' ability to replace, or even mimic, cinematic storytelling, but this pointed to some interesting new directions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb8fWUUXeKM&hl=en_US

Arkham Asylum Slash

CraigG : I just found this game satisfying in pretty much every way. The story line was good without feeling the need to get overly complex, the fighting is really great and you get a warm glow when you manage to wipe out over ten guys without taking a single hit. The stealth sections, wiping out a room one by one, watching them panic… it’s all so satisfying. Everything is well balanced in terms of combat/stealth and I feel the only thing letting the game down IMHO are the boss battles, which are mostly only fun because they fill the fight with lots of fighting against regular grunts too. Overall, easily the best game I played all year.

http://ps3thevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/batman_arkham_asylum.jpg

Forksclovetofu: Less groundbreaking and more that it just does everything perfectly right. I appreciate the ridiculous depth; it’s an adventure, button masher, stealth, puzzle hunter, fighting game jammed into one. Never really hits a slow point; I found it amazingly well balanced and engaging.

NYT Review with obligatory ‘Confederacy of Dunces’ reference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W2RdF5ifDU

Mordy: This is one of the best things I've played this year. I don't know if that's high praise for the game, tho, or just a good indication of how disappointing 2009 has been for gaming.

"There are 314 breakable TVs on Arkham Island."

Antexit: Arkham does some great stuff with the Batman story and there are some amazing Psycho Mantis-level mindfucks. Not only is it the first superhero game that makes you feel like you're the hero in his every aspect (as opposed to the Spidey games, which got swinging and crawling great and everything else sucks) but it's a better stealth game in a lot of ways than Metal Gear. I love how balanced the combat is! The bad guys seem to be able to take about as many hits as you, and you really get the sense that you're up against a room full of bad guys and the reason you come out on top is not that they're all really weak or that you have some artificial advantage but that they're a bunch of thugs and you're BATMAN.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osg3R0AURRo

Rocksteady Post Mortem

http://www.dasgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/batman-arkham-asylum.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZafl__TXnQ

Jjjusten: This is 80% great, but drops in the ranks a little bit in retrospect for the fact that it's way too easy. The boss battles are the worst aspect of that; I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the Killer Croc level is, no joke, ONE OF THE DUMBEST AND WORST LEVELS IN MODERN GAMING. Whoever decided that replacing challenging or difficulty with easy, mindbending tedium needs to get a pink-slip. That said, when the game is on, it's on. Plus, it looks great... except everyone I talk to plays 90% of the game in detective mode, so we never actually see much of it.

http://elmundotech.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/highres_screenshot_00142_resize.jpg

I am about to play the Croc level and jjusten is harshin' on my mellow.

It's really not that bad. Or that lengthy.

great performance by a PS3 exclusive on a board that seems to have slightly more 360 owners

he's so right xxp

*FORKS APPLAUSE*

So some quick parting thoughts:

This project ended up being more of a handful than I thought (over 72 single spaced pages!) but gave me an idea of how broad the boundaries of the hobby have become. It also reinforced how impossible it is to keep up with what's out there; even in a wii/ps3/360/ps2/PC/DS/PSP household, you'd be forced to play each game on this list for only four days apiece to be done by 2011.

As for myself, I still want to play (or play more of) Scribblenauts, Henry Hatsworth, Uncharted 2, Way of the Samurai 3, A Boy and His Blob, Pixeljunk Shooter, Dragon Age Origins, Muramasa, Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes, Little King Story, Aaaaaaaa, Afrika, Wipeout HD, New Monkey Island, New Sam and Max, New Super Mario Brothers, 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand, Trine, Borderlands, Professor Layton, Red Faction Guerilla, Nostalgia, Fat Princess, Metroid Prime Trilogy... and that's just for starters! I've still got years-old games to play and more coming out every day.

This glut of options is why communities like ILG are so very helpful; speaking with real, quirky and opinionated folks about their tastes, decisions, purchases, frustrations and obsessions provides the editorial filter that 99% of gaming journalism doesn't. This, more than headshots and perfect combos, is what social gaming is really about for me.

Alright, now I'm gonna try to take back on Valkyria Chronicles.

v good show forks. one of the better done ilx polls for sure.

Post complete list for lazy poly

Thanks forks. Job well done and greatly appreciated.

top job.

Who voted dragon age as the #1 game. Because I think it should have been me... I wanted to see if my votes ever got sent. I might be having problems with ILX mail

then again I might have picked Spirit Tracks

great list Forks

ya good work forkinator.

cool poll -- really strange results to me, as all the difft systems really seem like different universes to me

yah "forkinator" thanks for doing this. it really is an... idiosyncratic list.

lampinator otm

the s1ockster

in tha house

forkinator x

casual gaming lurker here to say thanks, enjoyed following the list, already found a few interesting games to check out as a result of it - much appreciated

(my "systems" are basically PSP and flash games at this point, no consoles and PC too lame for hardcore gaming, so it's ALL an alien world to me!)

A+ jobs forks, thx!

my ballot

Demons Souls - 30
Mushihimesama Futari Ver 1.5 - 10
New Super Mario Brothers Wii - 10
Half Minute Hero - 10
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes - 10
Style Savvy - 10

good job john!

15: Trials HD (360)
15: Demon's Souls (PS3)
12: Left 4 Dead 2 (360)
12: Rock Band: Beatles (360)
11: UnCharted 2 (PS3)
10: Prototype (360)
10: Arkham Asylum (360)
5: Punch-Out! Wii
5: Machinarium (PC)
5: Flower (PS3)

Demons Souls - 30
Mushihimesama Futari Ver 1.5 - 10
New Super Mario Brothers Wii - 10
Half Minute Hero - 10
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes - 10
Style Savvy - 10

<3 <3 <3 <3

my ballot:

Borderlands - 25 (360)
Left 4 Dead 2 - 15 (360)
MadWorld - 15 (wii)
Arkham Asylum - 10 (360)
Ghostbusters - 10 (360)
House of the Dead: Overkill - 5 (wii)
Red Faction: Guerrilla - 5 (360)
Machinarium - 5 (mac)
50 Cent: Blood in the Sand - 5 (360)
1 vs 100 - 5 (360)

my ballot:

Assassin's Creed 2/PS3 (25 Points)
Dragon Age/PS3 (20 Points)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2009/Wii (10 Points)   
Prototype/PS3 (10 Points)
Arkham Asylum/PS3 (8 Points)
Wii Sports Resort/Wii (7 Points)
Skate 2/PS3 (5 Points)
NHL 10/PS3 (5 Points)
FIFA 10/PS3 (5 Points)
Metroid Prime Trilogy/Wii (5 Points)

my ballot. curious to know who shared votes with me on the jap stuff:

01 - 30 - blazblue: calamity trigger (arc system works; xbox360)
02 - 20 - dragon quest v: hand of the heavenly bride (square enix; nintendo ds)
03 - 10 - demons souls (from software; ps3)
04 - 08 - smt: devil survivor (atlus; nintendo ds)
05 - 07 - anon 1404 (related designs; pc)
06 - 05 - plants vs zombies (popcap; pc)
07 - 05 - muramasa: the demon blade (vanillaware; wii)
08 - 05 - suikoden tierkries (konami; nintendo ds)
09 - 05 - street figher iv (capcom; xbox360)
10 - 05 - virtual on: oratorio tangram 5.66 (sega; xbla)

Yeah forks, you are the man! thanks for putting in all this work for another year. These threads are really enjoyable.

Final list:
#93: Bomberman Ultra – PSN – 1 point – 1 vote
#92: HALO 3 ODST – 360 – 3 pts – 1 vote
#91: Colin McRae’s Dirt 2 – 360 – 4 pts – 1 vote
#77: Virtual On Oratorio Tangram 5.66 – XBLA – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: 50 Cent, Blood On The Sand – 360 – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: Rock Band – iPhone – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: Red Faction: Guerilla – 360 – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: House of the Dead: Overkill – Wii – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: PixelJunk Shooter – PSN – 5 points – 1 vote
#77: Muramasa: The Demon Blade – Wii – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 – Wii – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: Forza Motorsport 3 – 360 – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: Critter Crunch – PSN – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: Need For Speed: Shift – 360 – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: DeathSmiles – 360 – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: NHL 2010 – PS3 – 5 pts – 1 vote
#77: Droplitz - XBLA – 5 pts – 1 vote
#75: Way of the Samurai 3 – PS3 - 7 pts – 1 vote
#75: Anno 1404 / Dawn of Discovery – PC – 7 pts – 1 vote
#72: Madden ’10 – PS3 – 8 pts – 1 vote
#72: Infamous – PS3 – 8 pts - 1 vote
#72: Trash Panic – PSN – 8 pts – 1 vote
#61: Professor Layton and The Diabolical Box – DS – 10 pts – 1 vote
#61: Bayonetta – 360 – 10 pts – 1 vote
#61: Wordjong Daily Challenge – iPhone – 10 pts – 1 vote
#61: Style Savvy/Style Boutique – DS – 10 pts – 1 vote
#61: Half Minute Hero – PSP – 10 pts – 1 vote – Top PSP game
#61: Tekken 6 – 360 – 10pts – 1 vote
#61: Bookworm – iPhone – 10 pts – 1 vote
#61: A Boy and His Blob – Wii – 10 pts – 1 vote
#61: Ghostbusters – 360 – 10pts – 1 vote
#61: Killing Floor – PC – 10 pts – 1 vote
#61: Shatter – PSN – 10 pts – 1 vote
#59: Money Seize – Flash – FREE - 11 pts – 1 vote
#59: Games by JTMB02 (Achievement Unlocked, This Is the Only Level, Run Elephant Run, et. al. – Flash – FREE - 11 pts – 1 vote
#58: Suikoden Tierkreis – DS – 11 pts – 2 votes
#57: MLB 2009: The Show – PS3 – 12 pts – 1 vote
#56: Saint’s Row 2 – PC – 13 pts – 1 vote
#54: Fallout 3: Broken Steel – 360 – 15 pts – 1 vote
#54: Madworld – Wii – 15 pts – 1 vote
#52: Big Word Puzzle Book – DS – 15 pts – 2 votes
#52: Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes – DS – 15 pts – 2 votes
#51: Chrono Trigger (UK Release) – DS – 16 pts – 1 vote – 1 Top Game Vote
#50: Time Fcuk – Online Flash Game – FREE – 16 pts – 2 votes
#49: Wii Sports Resort – Wii – 17 pts – 2 votes
#48: Killzone 2 – PS3 – 18 pts – 2 votes
#46: Azkend – iPhone – 20 pts – 1 vote
#46: Wipeout HD Fury – PSN – 20 pts – 1 vote
#44: Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 – Wii/360 – 20 pts – 2 Votes
#44: Prototype – PS3/360 – 20 pts – 2 votes
#43: Fallout 3: Point Lookout – 360 – 23 pts – 3 votes
#42: GTA Chinatown Wars – DS – 24 pts – 2 votes
#41: Worms 2: Armageddon – XBLA – 25 pts – 1 vote- .5 Top Game Vote
#40: Henry Hatsworth in The Puzzling Adventure – DS – 26 pts – 2 vote
#39: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor – DS – 27 pts – 2 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
#38: Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story – DS – 27 pts – 3 votes
#36: Punch Out! – Wii – 27 pts – 4 votes
#36: 1 vs. 100 – XBLA – 27 pts – 4 votes
#34: World of Warcraft (2009) - PC – 30 pts – 1 vote - .5 Top Game Vote
#34: Blazblue: Calamity Trigger – 360 – 30 pts – 1 vote – 1 Top Game Vote
#33: Skate 2 – PS3 – 31 pts – 3 votes
#32: Scribblenauts – DS – 31 pts – 4 votes
#31: Metroid Prime Trilogy – Wii – 32 pts – 4 votes
#30: Canabalt – Online Flash Game – FREE – 33 pts – 3 votes – Top Flash Game – Top Free Game
#29: Mushihimesama Futari Version 1.5 – 360 – 35 pts – 2 votes - .5 Top Game Vote
#27: Battlefield 1943 – XBLA – 39 pts – 4 votes
#27: Peggle – iPhone – 39 pts – 4 votes
#26: Orbital – iPhone – 40pts – 2 votes - .5 Top Game Vote
#25: Persona 4 (UK Release) – PS2 – 40 pts – 2 votes – 1 Top Game Vote – Top PS2 game
#24: Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride – DS – 43 pts – 2 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
#23: Machinarium – PC – 46pts – 4 votes
#22: Borderlands – 360/PS3 – 47 pts – 3 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
#21: Assassin’s Creed 2 - PS3/360 – 50 pts – 3 Votes - 1 Top Game Vote
#20: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – PS3 – 52 pts – 4 votes
#19: Shadow Complex – XBLA – 52 pts – 5 votes
#18: GTA IV – Episodes from Liberty City: The Ballad of Gay Tony/The Lost and The Damned – XBLA + 360 - 55 pts – 4 votes - .5 Top Game Vote – Top 360 Exclusive
#17: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – PS3/360 – 56 pts – 5 votes
#16: Retro Game Challenge – DS – 56 pts – 6 votes
#15: FIFA Soccer 2010 – PS3/360 – 57 pts – 4 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
#14: Street Fighter IV – 360 – 58 pts – 5 votes - 1.5 Top Game Vote
#13: Flower – PSN – 59 pts – 7 votes - Top PSN Game
#12: Rittai Picross / Picross 3-D – DS – 60 pts – 3 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
#11: Left 4 Dead 2 – 360 – 60 pts – 5 vote - .5 Top Game Vote
#10: Drop7 – Iphone – 71 pts – 4 votes – 2 Top Game Votes – Top iPhone Game
#9: Torchlight – PC/Mac Emulation – 72pts – 5 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
#8: Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks – DS – 73 pts – 5 votes - .5 Top Game Vote – Top DS Game
#7: Plants vs. Zombies – PC/Mac – 84 pts – 7 votes – 2 Top Game Votes – Top PC/Mac Game
#6: New Super Mario Brothers – Wii – 91 pts – 8 votes – Top Wii exclusive
#5: Trials HD – XBLA – 98 pts – 7 votes – 1.5 Top Game Vote – Top XBLA game
#4: Beatles: Rock Band – PS3/360 – 138 pts – 11 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
#3: Dragon Age: Origins – PS3/360 – 143 pts – 8 Votes - 1.5 Top Game Vote
#2: Demon’s Souls – PS3 – 156 pts – 9 votes – 4 Top Game Votes – Top PS3 Exclusive – Most Top Game Votes
#1: Arkham Asylum – PS3/360 –189 pts – 13 votes – 3 Top Game Vote – Top PS3/360 Game – Most Points – Most Votes

Glad you're digging it; next year I may need help.

sounds like you already need help!

LOL

comedy.
lorax, i'm getting your ilxmail. i got your ballot. i placed all your votes.

Just ask next year, you got it for sure dude.

Also just to give the cartoon bug eyes again - WTF w/Drop7 (2 top game votes! Wow!) and Trials HD. Can I say that enough? Even Flower in the Top 20 was a shock! I do love the increasing popularity of digital distribution and the low priced, smaller scale games that have come along with it.

Thanks forks-- I really loved reading this and it's a trip to see how much changes when you see games ranked according to how much the dudes who buy and play the games have actually enjoyed and valued them. This list may be totally unique in that way! I think the top five would still be just as good if you picked them up and played them in five years, at the end of this generation and when they've been bit to death by what follows-- compare that to something like Gears of War or other recent critical faves. Who wants to play that?

Plants Vs Zombies - OSX - 18 points
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City - XBOX 360 - 15 points
Demons’ Souls - PS3 - 11 points
Modern Warfare 2 - PS3 - 11 points
Flower - PS3 - 9 points
Uncharted 2 - PS3 - 9 points
Arkham Asylum - XBOX 360 - 8 points
Trash Panic - PS3 - 8 points
Beatles: Rock Band - XBOX 360 - 6 points
Street Fighter 4 - XBOX 360 - 5 points

drop7 would've been much higher if i had my shit together

maybe next year when i can vote for the ipad version

here's my ballot. i do own a ps3 but those games are expensive new, you know...

Dragon Quest V DS - 23
Henry Hatsworth in The Puzzling Adventure (DS) - 16
Machinarium (PC) - 16
Retro Game Challenge (DS) - 16
Money Seize (online) - 11
Time Fcuk (online) - 6
Plants vs. Zombies (PC) - 6
Metroid Prime Trilogy (Wii) - 6

World of Warcraft (ongoing) - 30
Orbital for iPhone - 30
Wipeout HD Fury - 20
Street Fighter IV - 8
Dragon Age - 7
Demons Souls - 5

lol at my point distribution pushing my hobby-horse games way up in the rankings

i would have probably given orbital more points but I HATE WHAT IT HAS DONE TO MY LIFE

but i still love it so. sigh.

the croc level was fine for me; my main issue with Arkham was the MIND NUMBING REPETITION of voice over stuff. I knew I was frustratingly stuck on a level when I had to listen to joker or harley or gordon or thug #12 or a warden say the same shit 99BAZILLION times. They drastically underestimated either how many variants they needed or when the time was to cut off the talking. Having it go on forever sometimes made me have to play it on mute when hunting for riddles.

Idk, the croc thing was this maddening combo of really easy and really slow and really unfun.

Biggest problem I have w/the game is kind of the zero replayability factor.

That being said, like bioshock, worth it for how great a single playthrough can be when in the right hands.

23 Left 4 Dead 2
23 Trials HD
14 Battlefield 1943
12 Beatles Rock Band
10 Orbital Iphone
8 Drop7
5 Guitar Hero Iphone
5 GTAIV TBOGT

yrs a mostly casual gamer

= 1) GTA IV - The Ballad of Gay Tony
= 1) Worms 2: Armageddon (XBLA)
3) Rockband: Beatles
4) GTA IV: The Lost And Damned
5) Pro Evolution Soccer
6) Time Fcuk
7) Battlefield 1943

in all fairness Worms 2 isn't the same game as the worms armageddon from a decade ago

1. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (19 POINTS)
2. Dragon Age: Origins (13 POINTS)
3. Trials HD (12 POINTS)
4. Games by jtmb02 (achievement unlocked, this is the only level, run elephant run) (11 POINTS)
5. Killing Floor (10 POINTS)
6. Shadow Complex (9 POINTS)
7. Arkham Asylum (8 POINTS)
8. 1 Vs 100 (7 POINTS)
9. Suikoden Tierkreis (6 POINTS)
10. Droplitz (5 POINTS)

In retrospect I would've made some changes, added & dropped some things, but... yeah that was my list.

Forks if you need some help next year definitely, definitely let me know, I am totally in. Awesome work. What a bizarre top 10 though-- I guess I forgot how many Ps3ers are on here.

yeah - amazing work forks this was a pleasure to read!

1. Arkham Asylum - (20 points)
2. Skate 2 - (18points)
3. Fallout 3 - Broken Steel - (15points)
4. Fallout 3 - Point Lookout - (15points)
5. Trials HD - (10points)
6. New Super Mario Brothers Wii - (9points)
7. Bowser's Inside Story - (8points)
8. Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks - (5points)

Disappointment - Scribblenauts

I probably would have tied Arkham Assylum and Borderlands at top, and bumped Zelda off the list if I had played Borderlands before the ballot.

Thanks again Forks!

5 Guitar Hero Iphone

lol this doesn't even exist you twonk.

oh yeah, i meant rock band, don't worry forks cleared up my confusion for me :)

i didn't vote (i played, like, three of these games) but yeah well done forks

i voted for guitar hero android

kinda amazed arkham asylum finished #1. sure the demo was fun but far from legendary... anyway, great job obviously forks!

If even 60% of the demo's fun quotient carries over through the rest of the game, it will unambiguously be my #1 game of 2009 (even tho I didn't even touch the demo until 2010).

i have the feeling a bunch of people warmed up to borderlands just after they voted in the poll, obv craigG upthread and i think mordy as well?

xpost oh dan you are in for a treat, the rest of the game is way more fun than the demo, it goes in lots of directions that you def will not see coming, plus - SO MANY GADGETS

i am working thru borderlands hells slow because i am doing it coop with a friend and we can't get on as much as we we would like. anyhow, we only recently got past the first area and the game has finally kicked in now. before i was thinking that it was a super average game that i was only playing cos of the coop but now i am loving it and thinking of starting over 1p to quell the frustration of our glacial coop progress.

in all fairness Worms 2 isn't the same game as the worms armageddon from a decade ago

The only major difference is online play, right?

a bunch of new weapons/tech too, and new single-player campaign (also you could play the original worms armageddon online)

cobo - do you have a PC?
http://store.steampowered.com/app/16600/

fuck, guess I'm'a have to take the plunge

also my ballot:

1. Demons Souls (15 points)
2. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (14 points)
3. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (14 points)
4. MLB 09: The Show (12 points)
5. Uncharted 2 (12 points)
6. Canabalt (8 points)
7. Way of the Samurai 3 (7 points)
8. Retro Game Challenge (7 points)
9. Metroid Prime Trilogy (6 points)
10. Big Word Puzzle Book (5 points)

games I regret leaving off: Bayonetta (although I'll just vote for it this year instead), skate 2, Sword & Poker ON IPHONE, Wolfenstein RPG ON IPHONE, Puzzler World (maybe even instead of the controversy magnet Big Word Puzzle Book)

man last year owned so hard.

also GOOD JOB FORX. if you wanted I would be happy to help start/populate a Wordpress blog w/ all these entries for archival/nerd-trolling purposes.

wolfenstein RPG?!

Oh yeah, I've got that game. If I had realized it came out this year I would've voted for it.

go for it jamescobo!

just bought trash panic btw, will report back

I reluctantly accept this high-paying, largely ceremonial position

http://cointandplick.wordpress.com

someone make a logo. also if anyone wants on the blogroll holla at yr boy.

voted 5 stars!

also (pedant) if you want to fix the spelling of my name in that first post, i will not be angry

intersting

So I guess I'll give batman a second chance. I hated that demo so much though, I was REALLY BORED within five minutes. Clearly I missed something. Going to grab it again today and give it another go.

Forks, u hero. I'd like to buy you a pint! Paypal? :-)

still haven't bought batman ;_;

might go grab it today actually

Oh, and my votes were:

Plants vs Zombies - 5pts
Fallout 3: Point Lookout - 5pts
Beatles Rock Band - 5pts
Retro Game Challenge - 5pts
Tekken 6 - 10pts
Bayonetta - 10pts
1 vs 100 - 10pts
Battlefield 1943 - 10pts
Shadow Complex - 10pts
Rittai Picross - 30pts

Should've finessed my scoring a bit really, kinda nuts that I gave tekken 6 the same score as bayonetta.

(In other news, I fiddled around in some of the deeper menus of Rittai Picross last night, trying to get the text to turn english...and managed to delete my savegame and my 235 completed puzzles, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO). Will wait for the euro one before I restart, I think.

cozen how did you log 600 hours on SFIV and not then vote for it

keen observation lol

i played an assload of NHL 10 and didn't vote for it. some games you play because they're a sickness.

MW2 IMO

that site is awesome!
I'll take you upon that pint sometime.

btw I will be adding in the comments I was too lazy to include with my ballot into the results here. EDITORIAL DISCRETION~

when you're driving, you can make detours.

omg I missed so much by having images off

those would be good last words

ayo jamescobo, if you want to add the hi dere and jjjusten collaborative and inactive blog to yer blogroll, cool. http://jjjusten.blogspot.com/

done and done

The blog looks awesome btw!

standing on the shoulders of giants, etc.

also if'n anyone wants to make a ILG/C&P logo I'll gladly put it up top

i say keep it text-exclusive, like this board

Guys, I played Hatsworth and it's bonkers amazing. So much fun, such innovative mechanics, etc, etc. I'm loving it.