Best of 2009 - Left 4 Dead 2

As one year transitions into the next, I find it a healthy and refreshing endeavor to look back upon the past year and reflect upon those experiences which touched me the most; to discover which games stood tall above the rest and, for one reason or another, made a lasting impression.

Over the next few days, I will be sharing my own personal list of the ten best games of 2009, followed by those that didn't quite make the top ten and even a few of my greatest disappointments of the year. These are in no particular order, but they are the games I found most worthy of praise. Reflecting upon them makes one thing clear: it was a great year for gaming.

Let’s ignore the controversy for a moment. Let’s ignore the fact that some think this game shouldn’t have been made. Let’s ignore the fact that it spawned countless heated debates and nearly soured the almost untouchable image of Valve as Gamer’s Best Friend. 

Let us instead try to focus on what was ultimately delivered: A full-featured, cohesive package that is truly better than the original in just about every way and makes it hard to go back to the original game - a reliable sign of a worthy sequel.

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Best of 2009 - Forza 3

As one year transitions into the next, I find it a healthy and refreshing endeavor to look back upon the past year and reflect upon those experiences which touched me the most; to discover which games stood tall above the rest and, for one reason or another, made a lasting impression.

Over the next few days, I will be sharing my own personal list of the ten best games of 2009, followed by those that didn't quite make the top ten and even a few of my greatest disappointments of the year. These are in no particular order, but they are the games I found most worthy of praise. Reflecting upon them makes one thing clear: it was a great year for gaming.

With Forza 2, I discovered that, miraculously, I could actually like a racing sim. This was something of which I was not previously aware. 

Still, Forza 2 was lifeless and not really built for the casual racer, even if it did manage to reel in a a few. The race events quickly began to drag, there wasn’t enough variety in race types or tracks, I was constantly forced to use cars I had no interest in to race on tracks I was growing bored with, and the whole thing just lacked style. I want to feel cool in a racing game, and Forza 2 was decidedly uncool.

But I give it credit for opening my eyes to the potential of the genre at least. And for being really cheap, because I got it used for next to nothing.

When I started reading about Forza 3, I got really excited. This sounded like my kind of sim game.

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Best of 2009 - Dragon Age: Origins

As one year transitions into the next, I find it a healthy and refreshing endeavor to look back upon the past year and reflect upon those experiences which touched me the most; to discover which games stood tall above the rest and, for one reason or another, made a lasting impression.

Over the next few days, I will be sharing my own personal list of the ten best games of 2009, followed by those that didn't quite make the top ten and even a few of my greatest disappointments of the year. These are in no particular order, but they are the games I found most worthy of praise. Reflecting upon them makes one thing clear: it was a great year for gaming.

Dragon Age: Origins is a dangerous game. It’s right up there with those nasty, soul-sucking titles like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion that can completely consume you if you aren’t careful. 

It’s wonderful.

Few games indeed manage to hook me as thoroughly as Dragon Age and those that do receive a special place in my heart. There’s something about diving headfirst into a game world and becoming obsessed with it, relishing every detail and every minute, never wanting to leave, and spending hundreds of hours there that’s just so much fun. Few games have the chops to do it. Most are over with far too quickly or get boring and repetitive a short way into their lengthy play time.

Not Dragon Age.

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Best of 2009 - Dirt 2

As one year transitions into the next, I find it a healthy and refreshing endeavor to look back upon the past year and reflect upon those experiences which touched me the most; to discover which games stood tall above the rest and, for one reason or another, made a lasting impression.

Over the next few days, I will be sharing my own personal list of the ten best games of 2009, followed by those that didn't quite make the top ten and even a few of my greatest disappointments of the year. These are in no particular order, but they are the games I found most worthy of praise. Reflecting upon them makes one thing clear: it was a great year for gaming.

The racing game market is a remarkably tough one. There aren’t many obvious gaps left to be filled, not many cracks remaining for innovation to squeeze from. Most categories of racing have a clear king and a lot of competition looking to dethrone the current leader, so it’s quite hard for a newcomer to make itself known.

Mario Kart leads the wacky antics category. Forza and Gran Turismo are in a battle to the death over the simulation category. Burnout has people covered that would rather crash than race. And so on.

But as much as I love racing games, it somehow never occurred to me that there was no clear leader for dirt racing. Sure there were off-road racing games, but none of them had the mass appeal, the polish, the depth, and the overall quality to truly take the crown and run with it, to declare boldly that the category of dirt racing belonged to this franchise and anyone who argues is going to damn well have to knock it off of the hill first.

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Best of 2009 - Brütal Legend

As one year transitions into the next, I find it a healthy and refreshing endeavor to look back upon the past year and reflect upon those experiences which touched me the most; to discover which games stood tall above the rest and, for one reason or another, made a lasting impression.

Over the next few days, I will be sharing my own personal list of the ten best games of 2009, followed by those that didn't quite make the top ten and even a few of my greatest disappointments of the year. These are in no particular order, but they are the games I found most worthy of praise. Reflecting upon them makes one thing clear: it was a great year for gaming.

Many games can rather easily be described by the sum of their parts. If you don’t mind shortcoming A, if you like gameplay mechanic B, and if you’re willing to accept flaw C then you should buy the game.

But sometimes you come across an enigma. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a game just doesn’t quite manage to fit your analytical template so easily. 

Games like these transcend any of their individual parts to create a whole experience that, if it manages to capture you with its magic, will amaze and enthrall despite a potential laundry list of problems that should, by all rights, be driving you nuts.

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