[General Discussion] The Gamingforce Game of the Year 2009: Use Your Vote Time

It's that time of year again; it's the time of year when everyone starts evaluating the 12 months that have just passed us, those games released and which deserves to be named the best of the year. The various critics and pundits are all having their say, but what does Gamingforce consider the best of 2009?

As with the 2008 voting here's how this is going to work: each person has 100 points to vote for games released in 2009 (doesn't matter where, but games have to have been commercially released in 2009) and you can allocate them to as many games as you like as long as it totals 100 in the end. The only rule is that you can't award any single game more than 40 points. So you could vote two 40s and a 20, or a 40 and six 10s, or any other combination of points as long as it adds up to 100.

To vote all you have to do is post a reply with your top games of 2009, how many points you're giving each, and a brief explanation of why you feel the game deserves your points.

Example:

GAME A - 40 points
Man I loved game A because...

GAME B - 20 points
I ended up playing so much of game B that...

GAME C - 15 points
Game C gets some points because...

GAME D - 15 points
I couldn't decide between this and C, so gave both points, but D rocks because...

GAME E - 5 points
Good, but not necessarily great, but I figure E deserves some points because...

GAME F - 5 points
Like E, F gets a few points because...

--------

Voting will close on Saturday 9th January at 18:00 GMT (that's Englandland time), at which point I'll add all the points together and work out GFF's top 20 games of 2009, posting the results in a new thread for discussion/people to bitch about.

Get voting.

Oh, and get other people to come vote too.

Disclaimer/Rules:
1. If you allocate any game more than 40 points your vote won't be counted.
2. If your points allocation totals more than 100 points your vote won't be counted (totals less than 100 are fine).
3. Votes for games not released in 2009 will be ignored.
4. Only official commercial releases in 2009 count.
5. No negative points. I'll point and laugh and then ignore your vote.
6. Whole integers only. Fractions and decimal places will also lead me to ignore your vote.
7. Any other such idiocy will also probably lead your vote not being counted.

And as ever, I take no responsibility for Skills fucking with stuff, which if you ignore these points he almost certainly will do somehow.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Cirno

World of Warcraft Patch 3.3 - 40
Are you fucking stupid? This patch...

Sorry Cirno, but a patch does not count as an official commercial release for 2009. The game is World of Warcraft and it was released in, what, 2005 or something. If you want your votes counted you need to rethink what you're allocating points to.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I guess I should post my votes up, and after some deliberation here they are:

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 30 points

Having thoroughly enjoyed the first Uncharted I was excited for the sequel, but even so Uncharted 2 blew me away. The first game was an assured title but every aspect has been improved for the sequel and the game does everything so well and with such confidence that you can't help but get swept up with it. The story may be fairly silly at heart, but this is a big fun adventure romp with the emphasis on the fun. This is also a game that is near impossible to put down: the pacing is top-notch and flows so well, keeping the story compelling throughout that it's far too easy to lose track of time whilst playing. Oh, and let's not forget that it's also simply gorgeous, a vibrant and stunning looking game.

Given that the amazing package also includes a load of interesting behind the scenes stuff, some fun unlocks and a pretty excellent multiplayer mode (showing how well it can be done on the PS3), Naughty Dog delivered an embarrassment of riches that everyone owes it to themselves to sample. Uncharted 2, for me, was the best gaming experience of the year without a doubt.

Batman: Arkham Asylum - 20 points

The previews always looked fairly cool so I gave it a chance with a pre-order, but man I was not expecting the bundle of excellence that this ended up being. Anyone who uses the phrase "This is a good Batman game" is doing the title a disservice as this is just a great game period, it just happens to feature Batman. The exploration, the combat, the way locations change subtly as the game progresses and the way new areas become available as your arsenal changes, the challenges and puzzles integrated to each area, it all makes for an incredibly solid core experience. Then you add in the fact that it is a Batman game that has an incredibly well realised location (perhaps the best atmosphere in a game since Bioshock) and some fantastic characterisation (that's expertly voiced too) then it's all elevated to a new level.

Sure some of the boss battles are a little cliché but when the rest of the game is so expertly put together and is so much fun can you really complain? Plus once you're done with the main story you have the Challenge Rooms to play which are ace and a fun challenge. This was definitely the biggest surprise of the year and it 100% deserves to counted amongst the very best of the year's offerings.

Borderlands - 15 points

Until a few days ago this wouldn't have featured on my list of top games, but after just a handful of days in Pandora I'm a convert and I now understand why people were raving about this game. Gearbox have absolutely nailed the feeling of a satisfying shooter, which on that level alone is a ton of fun to play. Add in the looting and chance of finding some new toy or upgrade just around the corner and there's always motivation to go exploring and the addiction level ramps up. On top of that there's a really neat class system which allows some nice tailoring of your character and it's delicious icing on an already tasty cake. Oh and the game also looks fantastic and has a lot of amusing little touches here and there. Kudos to Gearbox they really pulled off something special here.

Assassin's Creed II - 10 points

I was a fan of the first Assassin's Creed and loved the world Ubisoft Montreal created for me to play in. However, it was a bit of a divisive game and I could certainly see where the complaints came from and how the repetitive missions could rub people up the wrong way. And I would certainly understand why those people would be sceptical about giving Assassin's Creed II a chance as on the face of things not much has changed. But the work done with this sequel, structuring the mission in a cohesive story, tweaking the gameplay slightly, a few new abilitys and adding new side-missions and stuff to do and suddenly things are transformed.

As with the first game Assassin's Creed II delivers a luscious playground to enjoy and some incredibly fun toys to play around with (killing two guards with your hidden blades by leaping off a roof never loses its appeal) all wrapped around a story that keeps driving things forward to the extent that I just wanted more of it. Colour me excited for number 3.

Orbital - 10 points

I was incredibly pleased to see Crash mention this game as it means I'm not alone in my love for this little title. It'd be incredibly easy to dismiss iPhone(/iPod Touch) games, but there's a few fantastic titles out there that can easily eat your time and make excellent use of the device. Orbital is one of those games and has held my attention for a considerable amount of time over the last month or so since I picked it up. Like any such game it has that just-one-more-go nature to it as you try and push your high scores ever higher. It's also a fantastic looking little game with some really neat effects. If you own an iPhone or iPod Touch you won't regret spending the 59p on this one.

Flight Control - 10 points

Yep, a second iPhone game; between this and Orbital I put a rather large number of hours into game playing on my iPhone, which is something that rather surprised me this year. I grabbed Flight Control on a whim and thanks to being a great game, plus some superb support from Firemint, I spent a lot of time playing it trying to best my high scores. The gameplay works wonderfully with the touch controls (you draw lines mapping out a landing path for planes and helicopters) and each map offers a slightly different challenge to keep things interesting. Fun, addictive, challenging, great art style and, again, all for 59p; it's hard to think of many games that deliver quite as much bang for your buck. Another must have for any iPhone/iPod Touch owner in my book.

Street Fighter IV - 5 points

It'd been many years since I was excited about a Street Fighter game, and it'd been a while since I was in properly excited about a fighting game of any kind, but SFIV lit a fire inside me and really captured my imagination. It's easy to forget about titles that came earlier in the year, but it's near impossible to forget the anticipation for this game and just how much it delivered. Now I look forward to SSFIV.

Honourable Mentions:
Brutal Legend
Canabalt
DiRT 2
Forza 3
Halo 3: ODST
Killzone 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Modern Warfare 2
Need for Speed: Shift
Resident Evil 5
Scribblenauts
The Beatles: Rock Band

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by The Dopefish

No mention of Beatles: Rock Band? FROM YOU? Stunned.

Damn it, knew I'd forgotten something. I don't think I can justify taking points away from anything in my top few, but yeah, that was a damn fine game and one that deserves and honourable mention at least (edited in ). Whatever anyone else might say or think I'm willing to say 2009 was a good year for gaming.

How ya doing, buddy?

Voting is now closed. I'll sort out the votes and get something put up tomorrow.

I was speaking idiomatically.