2009 in review

Since we are a couple weeks into 2010, I thought it might be nice to look back at 2009 and reminisce about some of the games we played. There were a lot of good ones, likely a few disappointments, and some hidden gems we discovered along the way. So, with that said:

1. What was your favorite game of 2009?

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game?

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game?

4. What did you discover? it doesnt have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009.

As for myself:

1. Batman: AA. I know there was a lot of hype surrounding this game, but I could not believe how good it was. I dont expect much from comic/movie based games, either, but Batman just nailed everything it did, and nailed it good and hard. The fighting was amazing, the voiceacting on par with Hollywood, and the gadgets were just so much fun to use. As I said, it was extremely hyped, and for once such a hyped game managed to suprise me beyond what people said.

Other games included: Dragon Age, Red Faction Guerilla

2. I really am getting a lot of fun out of Mini Ninjas (a cute adventure game; simple, but a lot of fun) and Anno 1404 (a really immersive city builer/trade simulation)

3. Torchlight. Dont get me wrong, its a great game but...idunno, I can only click so many times and hour lol. Despite the fact that it nailed the fundamentals of your typical dungeon crawling action rpg, it was just too shallow. But hey, cant complain, it was only 10 dollars.

4. I discovered Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War. Got this with the THQ pack, man its fun. I am playing Dark Crusade at the moment, cant wait to try out the other games. I also got the Eidos pack from Steam and played Tombraider for the first time; its...fun, havent played it enough to pass a good judgement.

OK, your turn!

1. What was your favorite game of 2009? Grand Theft Auto 4 was building up to be my favorite game of the year for 2009, however my save files were reset which withdrawed me from completing the game due to I migrated my data to a new hard drive. Trine was a game I enjoyed thoroughly so I think I'm going to go with that for my pick.

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game? Again my pick will be Trine. The atmosphere was wondrous, great dialogue/voice acting, solid performance and refreshing gameplay that is dynamic.

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game? Crysis Warhead was a big disappointment for me. Crytek could of just distributed the first level in the game and I would of been fulfilled enough to avoid the huge car wreck ahead of that level.

4. What did you discover? it doesnt have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009? An older game that I've purchased in 2008 that I've discover only until 2009 was Dawn of War. I finally started playing DoW and the game is simply marvelous! Really admire the sense of brotherhoodfrom Dawn of War.He who stands with me shall be my brother.

1. What was your favorite game of 2009 ? Resident Evil 5

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game ? Risen

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game ? Red Alert 3

4. What did you discover ? it doesnt have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009 ? Company of Heroes

1. Risen. i don't mean it's the best of the year, but it's the only game in 2009 that fully met my expectations.

2. Risen.

3. Dragon Age. it promised to be a spiritual sucessor of the DnD classics, but imo it failed to deliver.

4. I learned that i may have reached a stage in my life when gaming is starting to seem like a waste of time. i don't know...

cool, some great replies so far. I like the love for Risen, definately one of the better games of 09

1. What was your favorite game of 2009 ? Bordrlands.... Dragon Age a close second...

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game ? Cryostasis... A,azing game par the technical glitches

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game ? The PC port of GTA 4

4. What did you discover ? it doesnt have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009 ? Vampire - The Masquerade Bloodlines..Simply superb.... :)

1. What was your favorite game of 2009 ? Bordrlands.... Dragon Age a close second...

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game ? Cryostasis... A,azing game par the technical glitches

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game ? The PC port of GTA 4

4. What did you discover ? it doesnt have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009 ? Vampire - The Masquerade Bloodlines..Simply superb.... :)

k_ozz

Yea, GTA IV was a horribly optimized port. It still amazes me how a 360 runs it fine, yet my PC does not.

And OMG! congrats on Bloodlines, your life is now changed forever.

1. Dragon Age:Origins - The class system was way too shallow IMO, but the characters more then made up for it. The side quests were fun, the game had tons of content, and the combat was pretty satisfying as well.

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game? COD:MW2 :D Seriously, I honestly don't have a pick for this one. At least nothing comes to mind at the moment.

3. RE5 - I waited for the PC verison and I wish I had just rented it for my 360 instead. Actually, scratch that, I wish I hadn't even rented it. I heard it wasn't that great for a RE game, but I don't really think it's that good for any game. I've played to the 3rd chapter and I just have no desire to continue playing.

4. Mount & Blade - just plain fun.

1.Hmm, gotta be mw2 on the pc and uncharted 2 on the consoles (ugh, ugh damn, stop throwing keyboards at me..) Well Batman AA was definetly AAA but i have not finished it yet, so maybe i will put Batman on number 1!! Also Resident evil 5 was pretty damn good!

2. Bionic commando. The game is fun for the most of its part and feels pretty epic upart from the last levels. i would give it an 8-8.5 for trying something diffirent, sadly its very underatted like it sucks terribly!!

3. Operation flashpoint 2, i thought it would be better than arma 2 but after a while i realises that there is no story or charactes or a decent intro and the game is just random missions. Multiplayer is dead, quick missions and editor are also meh and lack content, even the graphics are meh and the simplyfied controls did not help when you die with 1 bullet but enemies take up to 4 bullets, reallistic my ass!! Its pretty sad because in the beginning i thought it will pick up and get more interesting later on, but it was the same all over and before you know it, it ended right there!!!

4.Fallout weapon mods... they where just epic!!! Also an old game called Vietcong, fun game but for an old fps it could have been better. Also some graphical enchaments for duke nukem 3d..:(.sigh you can tell that i want Duke nukem forever, cant you?

1. What was your favorite game of 2009?

Batman: Arkham Asylum. I prayed that they wouldn't make a mess of it, and they didn't.

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game?

Zeno Clash and Ghostbusters.

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game?

Got what I expected from all the games I got, and in some cases more. Nothing really stood out as being my least favourite.

4. What did you discover? it doesnt have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009.

Vin Diesel is more endurable in a game than in the movies. Hadn't got round to playing the original EfBB before, so I got it with Dark Athena. Pretty good.

Favorite: Arkham Asylum

Underpreciate: Need for speed shift (excellent game for me)

Dissapointments: dirt2 even though is a good game i was expecting more tracks. its very repetitive

Discovered: world of goo :) :) :) SIMPLY AMAZING

1. What was your favorite game of 2009?

I played a lot of games this year but I'd have to go with Batman: Arkham Asylum. I'm not much for beat-em ups or even Batman games per-say but this game had me engrossed for hours on end. I found myself trying to pull off larger combos and even search for the riddles, which I'd normally ignore or avoid like the plague.

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game?

Red Faction: Guerilla. Sure it isn't Crysis or a massive title but it was fun and down to the point. It may not run on everyone's computer the best or have the most intriguing storyline but the overall gameplay was very enjoyable.

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game?

My biggest disappointment has to be Empire: Total War. Let me just say I love the Total War series. I have played the series since Shogun and was enjoying every game since. However, Empire had a few issues that ruined the overall gameplay for me. First off, they promised a multiplayer campaign shortly after release. Almost 9 months later they finally released the beta for it. Then add in the amount of glitches regarding sound, the units, gameplay, and the such. In the end, it could have been an awful lot better but failed to impress.

4. What did you discover? it doesnt have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009.

Evil Genius. This game was something I saw in store for years but thought "Great, a bad tycoon game". Well was I ever wrong. I grew up playing Dungeon Keeper and after hearing that this game was similar in style I decided to get it on sale. All I can say is that I wish I got it sooner.

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game?

Red Faction: Guerilla.

Cdscottie

1. What was your favorite game of 2009? Mirror's Edge. I didn't get a hold of most of the more popular games last year, but this one drew me in with a beautiful cityscape, unique gameplay, and a short yet satisfying story. While most have put this game away, I keep coming back to it. Whether it's to see how I can improve my speed runs and time trials or to just play through the story again and take in the art style, I've gotten the most enjoyment out of this title last year.

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game? Tropico 3. It's pretty much the original Tropico with updated graphics and some other notable changes, but it certainly hasn't lost any of its appeal. Even if you're not into city builders or 'tycoon' simulation games, there's an undeniable appeal to being 'El Presidente' over a tropical island nation.

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game? Modern Warfare 2. It's not a bad game by any means, but its appeal to me was worn thin by an overly ambitious and muddled single-player campaign and an all-too-familiar multiplayer that I was already burned out on from the first game. Spec Ops mode was a very redeeming aspect, though.

Also, Torchlight. Keep in mind that I've never really played any hack-and-slash games. This one was just too repetitive with no other qualities to draw me in. After putting 20 hours into the game and crawling through the same-looking randomly generated dungeons over and over again, it became more of a chore instead of fun. Still, for its price, I can say that I got my money's worth.

4. What did you discover? it doesn't have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009. Saints Row 2. It goes to show that there can be a good alternative to Grand Theft Auto. While most of the core gameplay is the same, it sets itself apart from GTA IV in that it never takes itself too seriously. The story and side missions are hilarious and make the game supremely enjoyable. Too bad that it was about as lousy of a port as GTA IV was.

1. Batman: AA i had such a great feeling about this game. No one ever gave it a chance. But the passion was there because they said that it was the Batman game they always wanted to make. A good writer also helped a lot. 2. I still think Batman was underappreciated at least when it first came out. No one thought it was going to be good. And if it weren't for UC2 it might have got GOTY on some other sites. 3. Biggest disappointment - no news for EP3 still. I only bought 4 games this year. biggest_loser

1: It's a toss up between Borderlands and Dragon Age. I had been looking forward to Borderlands eagerly since it was announced, and Dragon age was one of those "I'm sure it'll be good but i'm not too excited for it" games for me which then turned out to be fantastic. I think overall though I'd say I got more enjoyment from Borderlands.

2: Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, I picked it up on sale on steam for £7 or so (which was annoying because the next day the page glitched and you could buy it for £5) and it was definitely worth it. This game completely flew under the radar for me, especially as I've never played the original. But it turned out to be an interestingly unique merger of RTS and Sim, with a great single player campaign and fun multiplayer too. However it still seems like lots of people don't know that it even exists, which is a real shame.

3: Dawn of War 2 was definitely the most disappointing game of 2009 for me. It removed most of the actual strategy from the single player, and all that remained was a mediocre Diablo-esque team based action-rpg. The multiplayer was fun though. And despite the single player's Diablo-ish gameplay not being particularly good, the Last Stand mode was surprisingly fun using it!

4: Overlord. I always liked the idea of the Overlord games, I mean a pikmin-ish game set in a world written by the daughter of one of the greatest authors of our era? Yes please! But I never got around to playing them, until they were on sale on Steam. And I bought the whole pack. And completed the first game, enjoying every single moment of it. I've yet to start the second one, but I'll get around to it soon :P

Special mentions: Fear 2: Project Origin, one of my favourite games of the year and undoubtedly the best FPS of this year. Shame the online is dead though.

^^What about bionic commando kieranb2000?dakan45

1. What was your favorite game of 2009?

Dragon Age - It's the best work Bioware's done in my opinion.

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game?

Shattered Horzion - I love this game and no one is ever playing online.

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game?

GTA4 PC (bought in 09) - It just runs like crap and looks terrible no matter what I do.

4. What did you discover? it doesnt have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009.

1. What was your favorite game of 2009? Borderlands, I love fps/rpg hybrids and this scratched the itch.

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game? Plants vs. Zombies maybe, it looks too casual to be as fun as it is.

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game? My biggest disappointment was how the PC gaming community wouldn't shut up about the whole Duke Nukem fiasco, just let the bloody game die already. As for games, I found Torchlight rather disappointing. I can't even really put my finger on why I don't like it, it just didn't seem to have any soul.

4. What did you discover? it doesnt have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009. Absolutly nothing, but when you read about gaming as much as I do, it's hard to "discover" anything.

[QUOTE="dakan45"]^^What about bionic commando kieranb2000?kieranb2000

[QUOTE="kieranb2000"][QUOTE="dakan45"]^^What about bionic commando kieranb2000?dakan45

1. What was your favorite game of 2009?

Dragon Age: Origins. I was waiting for it some decent time. And it worth the wait. It gave methe perfect RPG adventure! I'm not really into RPGs but that one totally got me addicted.

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game?

Mmm... Risen. I mean it was one hell of a fun RPG and it only got 7.0. And the score sometimes influences people not to buy the game. While it was much better than some other crap games... Definitelly deserved more attention.

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game?

Batman Arkham Asylum. Yes, hate me. Most boring game I played in 2009. I've never liked games made on Marvel basis. The combat was lame (maybe because I'm super freak) and I didn't like the whole bat thingy. Marvel heroes should stay where they are meant to be - in the comix.

4. What did you discover? it doesnt have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009.

Crysis Warhead. I didn't like the first part and I thought it's because of my weak PC. Now I upgraded it and bought the expansion but yet again I didn't like it.

1. What was your favorite game of 2009?

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game?

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game?

4. What did you discover? it doesnt have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009.

1. Cryostasis, although I played the Russian version which was released in december 2008.

2. Wolfenstein gets trashed way too much.

3. Empire: Total War. I only got it this November, I thought it was finally fixed after so many updates. The game is enjoyable, but there's something wrong about it. I can't really say what's wrong, but I can't shake off this feeling. It's like it's barely holding together, I'm getting quite nervous when I play it because I'm expecting it to fall apart. It's broken. It's not just the bugs, CTDs and imbecile AI, everything feels sloppy and, well, in alpha. Even the UI feels wrong to me. I've only played it for 12 hours since November, but I spent hundreds of hours with the previous games...

4. Two insane adventure games, Time Gentlemen, Please! and Ben There, Dan That!

1. What was your favorite game of 2009?

hmm....pretty difficult to answer as while I do liked quite a few games, nothing stood out above the others. If I had to choose maybe, just maybe - Anno 1404

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game?

* Elven Legacy - While a bit simple in mechanics, it was still pretty tactical, challenging and fun. Most of the reviews just moaned about the difficulty

* Men of War - Amazing tactical game with a gritty battlefield

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game?

Justdisappointments:

* Majesty 2 : While being a different approach to RTS, it was really simplified, with not much variety and really poor AI -- which really took the fun out of the game after some time

* Mata Hari - Expected much more from a game designed byHal Barwood & Noah Falstein

4. What did you discover? it doesnt have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009.

* Civilization 4 - While I was never a big fan of the game , I did enjoyed it a bit but got turned off by the fact that all the civilizations were too muchsimilar. But then I started trying Civ 4 mods this year, kept playing it on and on

* Discovered adventure games a lot more. Tried a lot of adventure games and and enjoyed quite a few of them like Machnirium, Book of Unwritten Tales, Tales of Monkey Island, Time Please Gentleman .. and to a lesser extent Ceville, 3 Cards to Midnight, Mata Hari etc

1. What was your favorite game of 2009? Hmm, I cant thinkof one off the top of my head, however, I haven't heard a review for Dragon Age that isn't full of praise, so I guess I'll go with that.

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game?Not from 2009, but Killing Floor, such a brilliant game for the price, it has some of the best shooting mechanics I've seen.

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game? Rogue Warrior, just pure ****

4. What did you discover? it doesnt have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009?Age of Empires III, I thought this was a truely excellent game, along with the other AoEs, they got me into RTS you could say...

1. What was your favorite game of 2009? Borderlands, via lan. Great, great times.

2. What do you think was the most underappreciated game(s)? Street Fighter 4, Saboteur, Cryostasis, King Arthur, Call of Juarez Bound in Blood, Kings Bounty Armored Princess

3. What was your biggest disappointment, or least favorite game? Of course the dropping of ded's on modern warfare 2, along with the dropping of pc co-op on ghostbusters. My least favorite game would definately have to be Damnation.

4. What did you discover? it doesn't have to be a 2009 release, it could be as old as you want, but just bought in 2009. Finally grabbed Biowares Jade Empire and finally tracked down a copy of Mafia 1.. love both!