Best of 2009
Shaun’s Top 9 Games

Year-end lists are nothing new. It’s a well-known fact that lists are what blog readers love reading more than anything; yes, even more than Professor Layton Deleted Scenes, apparently. While cliché, expected, and somewhat lazy, lists are still a good way of organizing thoughts. With this in mind, our 2009 lists are not necessarily about games that came out in that year, but rather games we played like crazy and loved.

Prototype

When a game gives you free reign over a city, allowing you to roam just about anywhere, there’s always the potential for the player to get a little… sidetracked. In Prototype, I spent much of my time running around the city with newfound powers of mass destruction wreaking absolute havoc upon anyone who happened to be in my way. The stealth system the game employs requires the player to first absorb the life force of the target he wishes to become. This move also boosts the player’s health. The result, then, is a system that rewards players for villainous behaviour while attempting to also punish them for this via the game’s law enforcement contingent. Unfortunately there’s no way around it; you have to be bad when playing Prototype. But damn, is it ever fun.

DJ Hero

Music games have been immensely popular for the last few years, so it comes as no surprise that many gamers might be getting burned out on them. Sure, there are the hardcore among us who still boot up Guitar Hero and Rock Band weekly (or more frequently) to rock the eff out to our favourite tunes in that clickity-clackity way. But on this side of the gaming world (i.e., the people that write about games) people seemed to have moved on to other genres to fawn over, leaving the rhythm genre less loved than it would probably like. Along comes DJ Hero, and with it my rediscovered interest in pretending to be part of the music-making experience. No, most people probably can’t pick up real turntable DJ chops by playing DJ Hero; but that’s not the point. Here we have a game that’s so fun to play and groove along to that even the more rhythmically challenged can’t help but bop their heads while tapping and scratching along. As for the music selection, it’s top-notch. The mixes and mash-ups are so outrageous that even unbearable tunes (like anything from the Black Eyed Peas, for instance) sound cool within their new homes. That’s an achievement in itself.

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

I had been looking forward to Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box since finishing the first game in 2008. The sequel did not disappoint, offering up more riddles, animated sequences, plot twists, and charming settings than the first. Sure, some of the riddles were very similar to ones from Professor Layton and the Curious Village, but the gap in time from when I played the first and second game made sure I approached the second with a fresh mind. At times surreal, the story ties itself up quite nicely, and even emotionally, while opening the door to the next adventure in the series, which I’m hoping we’ll all get to play sometime in 2010.

Street Fighter IV

I couldn’t possibly forget Street Fighter IV, a game that has seen more time in my Xbox 360 than on the actual shelf. When I first played the game in a Richmond Hill arcade, for a dollar a pop, I was hooked. The long drive and high cost per play kept me away from repeated visits to Lovegety Station but the home version packed in a whole lot of fighting action to keep me placated. The introduction of the Mad Catz FightStick and FightPad controllers only made the addiction to this game stronger, allowing for the learning of more complicated combos and deadlier counterattacks. Whether I’m delivering a beating or on the receiving end of one, the game is a blast to play, especially with friends.

Resident Evil 5

Adam and I put hours of our lives into playing and replaying Resident Evil 4 on the GameCube. Although it’s a single-player game, we took turns with the controller while the non-playing friend would shout out strategies. It was a low-fi form of cooperative gaming, and a good social experience. When Resident Evil 5 was released, we picked it up and were quickly drawn into a new way of taking on the franchise together. As Chris and Sheva, we chatted over Xbox LIVE while facing the game’s many horrors together from the safety of our own couches. Due to adult responsibilities and more pressing commitments, we couldn’t plough through the game in one weekend and instead spread the experience across a few months. But it was nonetheless rewarding and amazing. Many of my favourite moments in the game involved hearing Adam scream in terror from something that only he could see, then rushing over to where he was to freak out as well. Good times.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

As a Nintendo fan at heart, nothing comes as close for me to hitting all the right game requirements as a proper Mario title. While the little plumber’s been in hundreds of games, several this year even, New Super Mario Bros. Wii is by far the best of the bunch (although Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story comes close!). By taking the Mario formula and adding simultaneous multiplayer of up to four people, Nintendo took a challenging title and made it all the more insane. With so many ways to play, it’s amazing that New Super Mario Bros. Wii works so well no matter how many people are enjoying it at once. For purists, the single-player mode is a nice and thorough Mario platformer. But for the more adventurous, the multiplayer aspect takes an already great game and makes it better. You can either play cooperatively or competitively to achieve the same goal, and either way the fun and laughter the game coaxes from its players are unsurpassed by other party games.

Metroid Prime Trilogy

By taking the three Metroid Prime games and dropping them onto one disc in fancy packaging, Nintendo preyed on my nerdy love of trilogy box sets while appeasing my gaming budget. Yes, I already had all the Metroid Prime games as single-disc versions, but the added Wii control support for the first two titles makes the disc well worth it. Plus, the packaging is incredibly sexy and subtle.

Rhythm Heaven

I can’t even think about this game without smiling and thinking, “Peck your beak! Tap! Tap! Tap! Stretch. Out. Your. Neck!” Rhythm Heaven is by all accounts the most original rhythm game I’ve ever played. I love the art design, I love the catchy music, I love how crazy challenging it can be at times, and how rewarding it is to be able to get a perfect score on a game. I wouldn’t have thought a rhythm game would work without an on-screen display of when and where to tap, but Rhythm Heaven is done so well you wonder why that would even be necessary in other games.

Wii Sports Resort

It’s hard to choose a specific sport within Wii Sports Resort that makes the game so compelling and a must-own for Wii owners, so I won’t get into that. I will, however, say that Wii Sports Resort is exponentially more enjoyable than Wii Sports was. The increased precision of Wii MotionPlus is used extremely well in all the sports on this disc. At last, I had a somewhat practical use for the fencing skills I developed while playing with my Star Wars toys for the past 30 years.

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