My Favorite Video Games of 2009

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Playstation 3) - this is one of those games that other developers look at and say to themselves that they gotta up the ante on their own games. While the game starts off slow, once the pedal hits the metal, the game becomes fantastically paced, offering moments of stealth, platforming and action. It delivers exactly what the developers promise, basically a summer blockbuster but instead of watching it in a theatre, you play it. There are numerous impossible moments, but who cares, they make this game unique and fun! I finished this in 2 days, but that doesn't mean it's short, I didn't want to put the controller down. In the making of for this game (included with the game), the developers said they wanted to make a game where the player didn't want to put the controller down, and they succeeded. I would have finished it in 1 day if my eyes weren't getting so dry from staying up so late! All in all, it took about 10 hours, but they were 10 great hours. I'd rather play a great 10 hour game than a so-so 40-hour game. Those ultra long games that offer 50 or 100 hours of gameplay are so boring and chock full of repetitive filler material just so they can say they offer "more" gameplay. Sorry but I'm sick of random battles and library levels.

Add to that a fairly robust multiplayer component here brings some extended replay value, I say fairly because while there are about a dozen different modes, there are only a handful of maps (only 3 for cooperative mode). Of course there will be additional content released later for download. The gameplay is top-notch, the graphics are fantastic, offering some of the most beautiful environments I've ever seen in a game, the audio matches that of the best slam-bang action movies you've seen (in 7.1 no less, if you've got the equipment), the story is compelling and the voice acting is terrific. It's as close as you can get to a perfect single-player experience in games today.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo DS) - ah Nintendo, for a while there it wasn't looking so hot, but all of a sudden you make a system where people wave their arms around and look like jackasses and you become the king of the mountain again! While the Wii and DS sell like hotcakes I barely touch them today. Why? There just aren't many good games to play for them. That's just my opinion of course. Another opinion I have is that nearly all of the Nintendo produced titles for their big names like Mario, Zelda and Metroid always deliver and make it worth owning their systems. Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is no exception. This game continues the great Mario RPG tradition where you take Mario and company fight in turn-based battles in a story-based RPG. Being used to the side-scrolling platforming of the Super Mario Bros. series, this seemed like an odd departure at first, but after playing it, I now prefer the RPG games to the platformers!

The story is pretty wacky, Mario is an Italian plumber after all, but would you want it any other way really? For reasons I won't go into, Bowser manages to inhale all the inhabitants of Mushroom Kingdom and a microsized Mario and Luigi must fight inside his body while a normal-sized Bowser fights in the real world. The game design takes this story and weaves it into the gameplay masterfully. The game makes novel use of the hardware, using both screens, stylus touch controls and even the microphone. It's fun, lengthy and there's plenty of stuff to do.

The Beatles: Rock Band (Xbox 360/Playstation 3/Wii) - like Pixar with animated movies, the developers of this game, Harmonix just get it when it comes to music games. After you see the opening cinematic for this, easily the year's best for any game, you know that what you are experiencing is awesome. After the dissapointing Guitar Hero band-centric games for Aerosmith and Metallica, this is how you do the ultimate band-centric game. The game follows The Beatles as they progressed throughout their careers, following them through a small club, to a television show performance, to their giant shows in Shea Stadium and the Budokan in Japan all the way to their final days at Abbey Road studios. For those later years when The Beatles abandoned touring, instead of normal performances on stage like in your typical music game we are given these fantastic dreamscapes.

In addition to all the on-disc songs, we also have downloadable content for 3 of their greatest albums (Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Rubber Soul). It just leaves you wanting the entire catalog available (If that's not possible, can we at least get some of their greater hits like Yesterday, Hey Jude, Strawberry Fields Forever, etc.). The gameplay is the familiar Rock Band gameplay, tried and true, it works and it works well. The new innovation here is the addition of Harmonies, so vital to the Beatles work, which allows up to 3 people to sing at the same time. But the real star of this whole package are the songs and the accompanying dreamscapes. When you play this game you know that the people who made this, made it with love because like you, they love The Beatles.

Shadow Complex (Xbox 360) - this Xbox Live Arcade game costs only $15 but has better production values than some full-priced disc-based games. It's got a well-written, compelling story (think giant underground complex and government conspiracy) with great voice-acting to play it all out. The gameplay itself is classic 2D side scroller action/exploration, in the vein of classic Metroid and Castlevania. While you move on a 2D plane, the graphics and environment are in 3D and look especially great for a cheap downloadable game. The gameplay is varied and you get many different weapons and items that challenge you to mix it up to find the best way to defeat enemies. The story should take around 6-8 hours, but will probably last a little longer if you're like me and you want to explore every nook and cranny and find all the secret hidden areas and items. In addition are a bunch of short challenges that will test out all the skills you learned in the game. Most of them are a moderate challenge, but there are at least a few that will test your mettle. This is the best downloadable game released all year and well worth the money.