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

#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

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.