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

Wow, I hardly bought any new games this year it seems.

GTA - Episodes from Liberty City - 40 points

I was seriously disappointed by GTA IV. Sure it was technically incredible but in making such a technical masterpiece, it seemed to me they forgot to make the game actually fun. With the episodes however, needing to spend no time on the engine or city, they concentrated on making a really good, fun couple of games. The missions are so much more varied, the characters are better realised, riding in a convoy of bikers is wicked, the new weapons in Gay Tony are hilarious, if a little OTT and the world they created in GTAIV just seems so much better realised. Having played the episodes, I once again have hope for the series. To be fair, I thought GTAIII was pretty dull too whereas Vice City and San Andreas were both great so I'm optimistic for the future.

Sacred 2 - 30 points

Loot 'em ups are all about endless farming, something a lot of people find pretty dull but I rather like them when they're done well and Sacred 2, though light on originality and suffering from a few technical flaws, delivers a ridiculously large game world and hundreds of quests, meaning the potentially boring task of killing monsters forever is made 100 times more interesting as you explore Ancaria. I played this for 180 hours, managed to finish it once and didn't really explore the last two chapters properly. Massive, massive game and a hugely enjoyable time-sink.

Gran Turismo PSP - 20 points

Yes it's at least four years late and yes it has it's limitations but as a way to pass the time on long journeys, for my money GTPSP takes some beating. Huge variety of cars, all the tracks you could wish for and the legendary GT physics model. There are better racing games certainly but no better driving games in my opinion.

Guitar Hero Metallica - 5 points

The only GH game released this year I own, GHM is awesome, assuming you're a Metallica fan. I know it's cool to rag on Guitar Hero and suck the Rock Band cock but the only difference between them really is the song selection and when I'm with a bunch of mates, pissed up and wanting to pretend to be in a band with plastic instruments, we want to pretend to be in Metallica because singing harmonies along to the Beatles is gay. I'm not actually that good at GH so Medium mode presents something I can play along to comfortably whilst needing to concentrate and hard mode presents a genuine challenge. Nobody can really sing like James Hetfield and the drum tracks are ridiculous on anything above easy but that's kinda why it's fun when you're drunk.

Soul Calibur PSP - 5

The best beat 'em up on PSP. Classic Soul Blade gameplay, loads of retarded outfit customisation options, tons of blocking challenges to hone your reactions and Soul Blade has always and will always be better than Tekken.

Jam it back in, in the dark.