The Third Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2009 - Part Three: #21 through #51

Should I try out WoW one of these days? I've never tried a MMORPG.

YES

Two way Tie for #27

#27: Battlefield 1943 – XBLA – 39 pts – 4 votes
Official Game Site

http://playstationlive.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/custom_1233846817377_bf2.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K36sYJsW7rA

BNW: A fun game but too limited and repetitive.

http://cache.g4tv.com/images/ImageDb3/150234_S/Battlefield-1943-Hands-On-Preview.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTfEwcviz58

JimD: I'm bloody rubbish at it but it's great. First military shooter I've ever loved, because it doesn't actually feel military, it just feels daft.

http://www.techspot.com/fileshost/newspics2/2009/battlefield-1943.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9lcwA3z8kY

Jeff LeVine: I think what makes Battlefield 1943 the most fun is the persistent damage and the way it really feels like you're on a crazy, huge battlefield, instead of inside a Call of Duty killbox. There seems to be a good variety of stuff to do on each map: from flying planes, to driving tanks or jeeps or boats, to manning anti-aircraft guns or stationary heavy weapons, to the usual running around on foot shenanigans.

http://fakehustle.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/battlefield-1943-3.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx634GgQceg

#27: Peggle – iPhone – 39 pts – 4 votes
Official Game Site

http://touch-mania.com/wp-content/uploads/peggle-iphone.jpg

BNW: Deceptively simple, totally addicting.

Metacritic PC

Euler: All interface again: my three-year old daughter is getting pretty good at it on this platform, which tells you...something!

http://www.iphonic.tv/assets_c/2009/05/peggle-iphone-4-thumb-430x286-89824.png

If: So having an iPhone and access to the internet almost everywhere, taking over most of my waking life, wasn't enough. Can't get signal on tube journeys! So it had to go and get a definitive version of a simple yet totally addictive game to take over that time too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t5nmAFGRZk

Jamescobo: No Peggle, no peace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYX9q2Y10b4

Jeff: It may have the most replay value of any iPhone game.

http://www.downloadatoz.com/resources/200912/pic/1262162855.jpg

S1ocki: Like Drop7, the Peggle game play just meshes so well with the touch screen. After all, you're only making some small adjustments and hitting "fire"; most of the game is spent watching the physics engine do its thing, perfect for a platform where too much controlling gets in the way of seeing what's going on.

#26: Orbital – iPhone – 40pts – 2 votes - .5 Top Game Vote
Official Game Site

http://www.appsmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/0091.PNG

HIDERE: After WoW, this is my other main source of crack. I play this constantly as I travel. The concept is simple enough: shoot a bullet that blows up circles it bounces off of, which then turns into a circle itself. Each circle must be hit a certain number of times to be blown up. The addition of Supernova mode, with the ability to aim shots and blow up nearby circles, make this the most involving handheld game I've ever played. I can't wait until I break 500.

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

http://www.appsmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/005.PNG

CraigG: I shouldn't have decided to give Orbital 'a quick try' at midnight last night... Current high score on Gravity: 18! :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xukCphY6w6Y

"Everything But Sales"

http://www.appsmile.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/003.PNG

TVGB Review

#25: Persona 4 (UK Release) – PS2 – 40 pts – 2 votes – 1 Top Game Vote – Top PS2 game
Official Game Site

http://playstationlifestyle.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/persona-4-joyswag-490.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6_rl_ldcj4

If: I don't tend to have time for long games. When I see people say 'that looks like it's only going to be 6 hours' I think 'ooh, something I might actually finish'. This one takes nearly that long to get past the point where you are just pressing X repeatedly. Yet it's awesome! The story is really unusual and well told for a game, the combat when you get there has just enough twists on ancient turn-based tropes to not be a drag, and the social link mechanism is so rewarding you start wishing things actually worked like that. 'The Singles Jukebox crew also weren't impressed by Animal Collective. You feel closer than ever.'

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2009/02/persona_4_teddie.jpg

"Sexuality and Homophobia in P4"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxL5U7ZJtCo

http://www.gameandplayer.net/images/inset/inset2_09_0126_persona4.jpg

"The Most Fulfilling Game I’ve Ever Played"

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

http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2008/03/pers4top.jpg

Atlus Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYQ8ali63jY

Zappi: Finally, a JRPG with a story that i didn't find painfully embarrassing! could have done without Teddie really, but the detective story setup, dungeon crawling through peoples' psyches (very reminiscent of Psychonauts), the fun battle system - it improved in almost every way on Persona 3. It also gave us this brilliant webcomic.

NO

#24: Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride – DS – 43 pts – 2 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
Official Game Site

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/947/947891/dragon-quest-v-hand-of-the-heavenly-bride-20090123025947465.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NaWI8KEX98

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/952/952928/dragon-quest-v-hand-of-the-heavenly-bride-20090210095816245-000.jpg

Localization Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dmb7QQN9dk

Nera’s Dress as a paper doll

Alan N: Dragon quest V was probably my fave DS of the year. Pretty hard not to like if you're into jrpgs.

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/953/953411/dragon-quest-v-hand-of-the-heavenly-bride-20090211021640849.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvoMZh89ShI

Lamp: It's a pleasurable rerelease of a classic 90's RPG; doesn't really do much, but what it does, it does really, really well.

MAYBE

what're you all up in arms about Jim?

Haha! I just meant "don't try Warcraft". No xpost warning on iPhone though, it seems.

#23: Machinarium – PC – 46pts – 4 votes
Official Game Site

http://www.trashbag.com.ar/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/machinarium__large.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLTyxcxDUH8

Abanana: Great art style and some good inventory puzzles. I could do without the minigames.

http://static.arstechnica.com/assets/2009/10/machinarium-thumb-640xauto-9157.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5tNmVjGCgs

Jjjusten: Really beautiful game, charming and lush in a way that Braid pretended to be but never was. It's really an homage to ye olde point and click adventures, which carries with it the unfortunate caveat that you'll probably be running to the walkthrough time and time again because let’s face it, some of the puzzle solutions make no logical sense. It's a stunningly pretty and adorable movie that you get to poke at and live in a little bit, and that’s worth something though.

http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/152301-review-machinarium/hires_Machinarium_dno-noscale.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKjG0K7ulBs

Mordy: Great, gorgeous, and brutally difficult.

http://www.endsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/machinarium_02.jpg

Designer Interview

Polyphonic: A great point-and-click Flash game with beautiful art and a lot of style.

#22: Borderlands – 360/PS3 – 47 pts – 3 votes – 1 Top Game Vote
Official Game Site

http://gamingbolt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/borderlands-1.jpg

Metacritic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quxei5I533w

Jjjusten: Yeah so we all saw the annoying endless "EIGHT BAGAZILLION GUNS WAHEY LOLOMGWTF!!1!" ads and the driving sections are tacked on and sub halo warthog quality control wise, and storyline and characters need not apply. None of that matters though, because the game is one endless effort at FUN without bothering with all that wheedling "how do we make this a compelling tale of loss and redemption?" This is a game about how fun it is to shoot shit and loot corpses, no soul-searching about yer motivations, because let’s face it, yer a merc dick out to make a bunch of $$$ by plowing through any unfortunate schlubs that happen to be standing between you and some stuff you want, or carrying a cool gun that you like. There's a palpable sense of humor about the carnage too, and amazingly the wacky claptrap robots are funny, not irritating (as you would expect). A lot of noise has been spent on the online co-op (which is kind of broken in a lot of ways), but this is a 100% rewarding, surprisingly difficult and hardcore single player as well. And those bagazillions of guns? Believe the hype; the weapon looting is endless and full of so much weird insane shit that it honestly never gets unexciting to examine some new weapons spec list. Seriously.

http://brutalgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/borderlands_09.jpg

Developer Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huCbX4b2d7U

Cutty: Krangor elicits respect from all.

http://scrawlfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/borderlands-e3-shots.jpg

Producer Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkmLE6n8bH0

Mayor Jingleberries: Only thing really RPG about it is character classes, fetch quests, experience points, damage shown in numeric form and a progression tree for your skills.

http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/152281-borderlands.jpg

Gamasutra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmUJrKGN3C0

Antexit: I am having remorse about not including Borderlands on my ballot. :(

#21: Assassin’s Creed 2 - PS3/360 – 50 pts – 3 Votes - 1 Top Game Vote
Official Game Site

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Qz9ah8cKQ

Metacritic

BNW: A sandbox Prince of Persia grounded in actual history. More gameplay outside the simulation would be nice.

http://www.dasgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/assassins_creed_2_dive.jpg

Fail Early, Fail Often is the wrong approach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct2kbLBuSOg

EZ Snappin: Fixed everything that was wrong with the first one, added more stuff and still ended up with one of the more polished games of 09. Instant classic.

http://360gamercast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ac3.jpg

Creative Director Interview

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

Jeff LeVine: An interesting example of the range of experiences currently available in big games. The only turn off so far is some of the facial animation (particularly noticeable with the women characters), it really looks surprising ass. The city atmosphere and pulled back stuff is great though.

http://loot-ninja.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/assassins-creed-2.jpg

New thread tomorrow. Yak these up now.

borderlands deserved better. ac2 is obviously a victim of its release date. extremely interested to see what crazy entries pad out the top 20 in front of them.

Wow, thought AC2 would be top five. But I've not actually played it yet.

the rest of the things i voted for rundown:

#34: Blazblue: Calamity Trigger – 360 – 30 pts – 1 vote – 1 Top Game Vote (01)
lol @ me tryna defend the game balance (dont think its thaaaaaat bad but w/e) only game of 09 that i really love

#25: Persona 4 (UK Release) – PS2 – 40 pts – 2 votes – 1 Top Game Vote – Top PS2 game
didnt vote for this because it was an 08 release but <3 <3 <3 this game and this better than the 60th place it landed last year

#24: Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride – DS – 43 pts – 2 votes – 1 Top Game Vote (02)
really, really surprised only one other person voted for this. fuk u ilg

yep, this poll definitely doing what it should ie telling me which games to play this year. think i'll start with borderlands.

also, you guys otm about canabalt (even if it placed at 30), did not get the hype

thought peggle would be top 10 easy. that is my go to stress relief/time kill.

AC2 was my #1. Half of its points are from me.

Seems a mixed bag of recommendations for WoW. My big concern is I just wouldn't put the time in or find a group to play with. Looks hella dull as a single player experience.

It looks like my entire ballot is going to place. What's left should be near the top.

everyones entire ballot is getting listed?

Seems so, with all those low pointers at the beginning.

Especially since forks pointed that out at the beginning. Note to self: Reading Is Fundamental!

For a moment there I felt securely part of the mainstream, unlike in the film poll (where I'm at 7 of the first 60).

Prototype and AC2 have a lot of overlap in design. which is weird b/c Prototype is very dumb and AC2 tries (and often succeeds) to be pretty intelligent. The biggest drawback is that its so crammed with mini-events (like prototype) that it takes away from the story. Also those mini-events are way too repetitive. But its hard not to root for a game that states proudly how it was designed by a multicultural team, and one that is actually trying to make history cool for gamers.

Five out of my ten votes have yet to show up. And two of those were for games I'm amazed have even made the top 60, let alone the top 20.

Whoa, we're already up to #22!

Cutty: Krangor elicits respect from all.

lol why is this in the borderlands entry?

well it was in the thread and i haven't played borderlands so i assumed it meant something game related. No?

it's my PSN tag!

i've never even played the game - i guess we were talking about something else?

re:BF1943 bnw is a fun poster but too limited and repetitive

Assassin's Creed 2 looks like a really cool game. I'm going to get it when I've beat the unplayed games in my pile and my other commitments slow down, in approx 2071. Will M did you actually attempt any of those Scribblenauts challenge modes?

lolling @ "krangor elicits respect from all" -- slocki on the borderlands thread you pointed that out as a truth bomb so it must have seemed extra important to the discussion of the game

same here re. Assassin's Creed 2. Was the first one really that boring? B/c I prefer its milieu.

Glad to see Borderlands placed high. I tend to wait for games to come down in price before buying them, so only just got it a couple of weeks ago, but it would definitely have been top 3 for me if I had played it before the ballot.

Seems a mixed bag of recommendations for WoW. My big concern is I just wouldn't put the time in or find a group to play with. Looks hella dull as a single player experience.

Blizzard has done a lot to address some of these issues; they've added in an automatic dungeon-queuing system that lets you continue questing while the game builds a dungeon group for you, something that helps you meet ppl and teaches you more about how group dynamics work as well as greatly reducing the amount of time it takes to level a character. Also, depending on which server you pick, there is likely a guild out there that matches your gaming goals who would be more than happy to accept you and help you level, or at least distract you with goofy guild chat as you grind levels/gold.

i played an hour of assassin's creed 2 and i know it gets better but the beginning is so, so bad. like in every way. also i really resent that you have to hold down TWO buttons to run/parkour. it's like the most important control element of the game and they can't even map a single button to it?!?

AC2 is on my eventual list of games to pick up. Also I am totally jumping the gun but I just ordered Arkham Asylum from Amazon (thankig u, gift certificates!)

or at least distract you with goofy guild chat as you grind levels/gold.

See, this is a game where you need something to distract you from the tedium of playing the game. Goofy guild chat could do that, sure. But so could playing a different game.

also i really resent that you have to hold down TWO buttons to run/parkour.

yeh i rented the first game & only played for a couple of hours, but seem to remember you had to hold down two buttons and move the analog stick just to move through a crowd? seemed so stupid.

xp lol!

Please note that said tedium only really sets in if you can't get into dungeons, which used to be a huge problem but has (in my experience) gone away with the most recent update. I used to spool up side characters and then abandon them because finding other people to play with while leveling was a soul-crushing chore; I've since leveled two side characters and am well on my way to a third.

Not claiming WoW is for everyone but they've certainly fixed a lot of what made it only cool for people willing to devote their lives to it.

(lol making it easier to devote your life to it, um)

I dunno, I think there's something to be said for soul-crushing tedium in gaming.

Persona 4 is pretty much the only thing that stops me packing my ps2 away into a cupboard. The whole tv world, psychology thing is far superior to traditional JRPG save the world fantasy nonsense and the social link / life simulator bit is an excellent mechanic fr jrpgs. More games should be like princess maker.

Also wow placing started my withdrawal symptoms again. I really wish i had the time to play it again.

The storytelling conceit in both Assassin's Creeds that you're a future guy embodying a guy in the past really annoys the shit out of me. Also, the voice work is pretty hackneyed. But some of the gameplay is quite fun, and climbing around is bitchin'. Mixed bag.

I HATE the framing device

why could they not just like, make a game set in old timey times

I always figured the framing device was something which allowed them to wall off sections from the player. does the new one work like that?

if so that's the most contrived, time-wastey thing ever

like, people are used to conventions like that in video games. you don't need to build a giant apparatus that's just as unbelievable as "a big wall you can't climb" to get around it

the travels-thru-time stuff gets more fleshed out in ac2, so the device at least seems to have a point, even if it is an utterly retarded one, and there is some fun with it along the way. the future sequences are fewer but just as terrible. it does all come off as a convoluted excuse to make a series of sequels in different eras, tho, and they didn't really need an excuse, cos that would've been okay on its own.