A Decade of Gaming: 2009
By Chris CesaranoFinally I reach the year just past, where I look to the games I feel were the best and made the greatest impact. Of course, only time will tell which make a great impact, but for now these are the events and games I feel will linger longest in the collective consciousness.
Even if they do not, they were more interesting than most anything else that came out this year.
Acquisitions and Closing Doors
Long-time strategy game developer Ensemble Studios was closed down after the release of Halo Wars. The studio that had founded Age of Empires was being dismembered so that Microsoft could do some shuffling around, their final title being an experimental spin-off of another franchise.
Square-Enix acquired Eidos, the most unlikely of studios, so that they could increase their appeal to western markets. An interesting move, as most of the products Eidos pump out are mediocre titles. Only one title this year would stand against the poor design and glitched play of games like Kane & Lynch and Tomb Raider.
Finally, Midway had officially closed its doors, selling off major assets to Warner Bros. Interactive. It is one thing to see small studios get swallowed up and shut down each year, but Midway has always been there. They’ve been around as long as Activision, but somehow never managed to obtain enough successful IP to remain a success.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope
This game? This is precisely why I avoid big budget JRPG’s now.
I liked Star Ocean: Second Story on the original Playstation. The characters and story weren’t too bad, and despite a ton of anime emoticons and expressions the game had its own unique art style and writing. However, somewhere down the line the entire entertainment industry of Japan decided they hated me, and now Star Ocean is a horrendous mess.
The gameplay was fun, certainly. At least, the combat specifically was fun. Dungeons were way too big, but the combat was excellent.
Where the game crumbled was the horrific story. Trying to tie events between the three earlier games together, there was a lack of coherency and purpose. The characters were either idiots or the victims of retardation (I am not joking!). The plot involves going back in time to an alternate past, blowing up the Earth, and then returning to proper modern universe where the hero sulks because he destroyed his alternate home planet.
Believe me, it’s just as retarded as it sounds.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope is on this list as a testament to why I hate big budget JRPG’s. The problem is, even a lot of the smaller ones are going for this style littered with idiotic teenagers, archetypal characters and horrible plot lines. It makes one wonder if the entirety of Japan has gone illiterate or not. After all, this is allegedly the same country that spawned the excellent novel Battle Royale.
Resident Evil 5
One might wonder just how Capcom could possibly go downhill after the excellence of Resident Evil 4. Turns out, pretty easily.
Since online co-op and competitive has been so big, Capcom wanted to make sure they were keeping mainstream and giving customers what they wanted. Unfortunately, that meant screwing up a lot of what made the Resident Evil franchise great. That is, screwing it up even more. The levels were even more linear with no real puzzles to speak of. The entire draw was co-op combat, and if you didn’t have a partner to play along side with you were stuck with the A.I.
Now, the A.I. isn’t really bad, but it’s not good enough to really help out adequately. You give them a pistol and shotgun and they’ll always use the pistol until it’s out of ammunition. You could be fighting a giant boss and they’d never stop shooting the pistol unless you took it away or commanded them onto a turret (if one is available).
This isn’t to say the game was bad. However, it was perhaps the greatest disappointment of the year. Players were expecting a sequel about as refined and long as, say, Dead Space, and they got “a fun shooter”. Whereas there was such hope for the future of the franchise, it has now died down into a general shrug. Sure, the game’s fun, but it’s nothing special.
Oh, I almost forgot all of those terrible Quick Time Events and the horrendous annihilation of anything that made Wesker a cool villain. No, Resident Evil 5 isn’t a bad game, but some times it feels like it’s down right terrible.
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Everyone knows about this game by now. It’s been nominated for best game of the year and has been declared by the Guinness Book of World Records as greatest super hero game ever. Of course, Batman isn’t actually a super hero, but we can forgive them for that mistake.
Turns out to make a really good Batman game you just have to think about what makes him the Dark Knight. Rather than shoe-horning the caped crusader into a specific genre the developers at Rocksteady thought of everything Batman does in the comics, films and cartoon and apply them to game design. While elements from several other popular games are implemented into Arkham Asylum, it manages to feel original, cohesive and, most importantly, like Batman.
Just as Dead Space the previous year, it may be a game that doesn’t necessarily do anything new, but the writing, gameplay and activities presented within make it one of the greatest packages released. It’s one of those rare titles that feels like it is worth the full price point, and even after you’ve beaten it you wouldn’t mind going through a second time.
The fact that it’s all a Batman game starring the original writers of the animated series (not to mention Mark Hamil as the best Joker) is just gravy.
Shadow Complex
I may despise Nolan North starring as every generic brown-haired male aged 25-35, but I still love Shadow Complex. Of course, I couldn’t help but at least like the game because of its similarities to Super Metroid, an all time favorite game of mine. However, I don’t merely like it. I absolutely love playing it just as I would a 2-D Metroid game.
On paper, this game is a total rip-off of Super Metroid. In fact, honestly, it is a rip-off. However, the studio was able to create enough of their own weaponry and tools that it still manages to feel like it’s own monster. Instead of treading the subterranean halls of the military facility going through the same old motions I had on the Super Nintendo, I find myself taking different approaches to combat, doors and blocked off passages. Even concepts pulled right out of Metroid, such as the speed dash, have a unique twist in Shadow Complex.
If it weren’t for some of the games I’d play later, I’d swear this was the best title released that year. Considering that aspects of the map were built specifically for players that wanted to “break the game” for speed runs, I’d say it’s the most well polished piece of entertainment released. Here’s to hoping we see more like it in the future.
Brutal Legend
A video game themed entirely around Heavy Metal? Hell yeah! Designed and written by Tim Schafer’s Double Fine studios? Hell yeah!
Yet people were expecting a platformer, and the second they realized it was a strategy game (sort of) they hated it.
Look, I understand the surprise. I tend to suck at strategy games and was pretty uncertain what to think at first myself. But if you wipe away all expectations of what the game will be, you’ll see that it’s awesome and you are just a whining and crying nancy-boy.
Despite a lousy first-half of the year, Brutal Legend was the first title I had gotten to play that felt like it was worth all of my cash. I fell in love with the characters, the setting, and yes, even the strategy gameplay. The world was massive and full of objects to find everywhere (many easy enough to stumble upon by accident), providing upgrades to your character as well as points to upgrade your car and weapons. Over half the game takes place outside of the strategy fights, and even those you are forced to do often have interesting gimmicks and are, well, not too hard.
After the single player story is completed there is plenty to do with the multiplayer. Unfortunately the net code is a bit laggy and you’ll probably be forced to take on Fire Baron spewing players, but if you can get together with friends or set the A.I. to a moderate intelligence you’ll find that the strategy elements are well executed and fun. Simple enough that anyone can learn, and also requiring the mind of an action-meat-head to properly execute. After all, if you’re not down with your units slicing up baddies and shredding out solos, you are going to lose.
It’s a well put together package, just like Arkham Asylum. For some reason players were just too big a bunch of pussies to give it a fair chance.
Yeah, I said it. You, who bitched about it not being enough like Psychonauts. You’re a pussy! Go back to your Beatles: Rock Band. You don’t have enough hair on your chest for this metallic juggernaut of a game.
Knights in the Nightmare
You’ve probably never heard of this title, and even if you have the title is likely to turn you off to it. However, it was one of the first tactical JRPG’s I have played that actually sucked me in like Final Fantasy Tactics. Since it was a title released by Atlus, though, it received no marketing and therefore no one heard of it to go out and buy it.
If you want a fun title for your DS and are in the market for something you can sink your teeth into, definitely give this game a whirl. The story is…written in a very nonsensical manner, but you won’t really care since you’ll be too busy enjoying the combat. Using the stylus you must avoid enemy attack patterns while using your warriors to strike down enemies when they are in range. The attacks and patterns are divided between Law and Chaos realms, which also effects how much experience is gained from an attack.
It might be best to play through on easy first, but even if you get stuck on Normal and must start over it’s fun to replay. It was a surprising experience and satisfying to anyone that is sick of the current state of RPG’s.
Dragon Age: Origins
For most, Dragon Age was a call back to Baldur’s Gate. I never played it, so I was looking for a really good fantasy RPG to sink my teeth into. I was afraid of the combat being terrible, I was afraid of so much of the game being like Mass Effect, and, well, I just wasn’t sure I would enjoy it.
Despite my long list of problems, it is an incredibly satisfying game to play. Yeah, the level adjustment gets wonky at times and the difficulty really needed more adjustment. However, the different character backgrounds provide some additional flavor to each play of the game. Character classes are highly customizable with the large selection of abilities to choose from, and the characters all feel unique and relatively deep (except for Wynne, who frequently reminds you that she’s old).
The game has some of the biggest emotional moments this generation with excellent writing, is full of decisions that may cause members of your party to fight you or leave, and concludes with some pretty epic decisions. The ending is incredibly satisfying, informing you how even the smallest choices effected the world as well as the other characters in the game.
It was a hugely satisfying experience that left you feeling happy when you beat it, as if something had been accomplished. This is rare in video games, as the ending is just a quick thirty second cut-scene that provides no closure before skipping to credits (see: Modern Warfare 2).
Other noteworthy titles of 2009:
inFamous, Prototype, Muramasa: the Demon Blade, Forza 3, Uncharted 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, Halo Wars, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, Street Fighter IV, Ghostbusters: The Video Game, The Sims 3, Killzone 2, Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 2, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Guitar Hero 5, The Beatles: Rock Band, Empire: Total War, Left 4 Dead 2, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, Little King’s Story, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles, Dead Space: Extraction, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, Red Faction: Guerrilla, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, Painkiller: Resurrection, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, The Conduit, DJ Hero, Tony Hawk Ride, Tenchu: Shadow Assassin’s, Deadly Creatures, TMNT: Smash-Up, House of the Dead: Overkill, Oneechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad, Flower, Rogue Warrior, WET, MadWorld, H.A.W.X., EndWar, Braid, Velvet Assassin, Plants vs. Zombies, Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, ‘Splosion Man, Punch-Out!!, Bionic Commando, Fuel, Overlord 2, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, Fat Princess, Hearts of Iron 3, Wolfenstein, Champions Online, Section 8, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Scribblenauts, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Demon’s Souls, Afrika, Magna Carta 2, Borderlands, Torchlight, Ninja Blade, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
2009 in video gaming on Wikipedia
What do you remember from 2009?
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