120°

The Top 10 Games of 2009 So Far

This year has turned up some innovative next-gen stunners as well as some welcome old favourites...

With the year waning, the leaves turning brown and the weather turning damp (well, damper) it must be time to take a look back at the games that tickled all of our fancies so far in 2009, before everyone buys ODST and Modern Warfare and forgets about everything else entirely.

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SpoonyRedMage5320d ago

"from the comic book style cut scenes to the graphics that squeeze every drop out of the DS hardware"

Ugh no... just no. It's no where near that level. The GBA could probably run the graphics(but probably not the physics).

EvilTwin5320d ago (Edited 5320d ago )

For a game of that size, though, it probably is. Squishing Liberty City onto the DS -- complete with pedestrian behavior, banter, random car accidents, side jobs, etc. -- with no loads was an achievement. Rock Star put more in that game than I thought possible.

You pay for having that huge open world (unless you jam loads all over the place), regardless of platform. The PS2 certainly had prettier games than GTA, but I don't think any of them were nearly as big as San Andreas.

SpoonyRedMage5320d ago

That's not really true though, GTA Chinatown Wars only used a 128 megabite gamecard. Most major games are using the 256mb cards and a lot are maxing them out. 512mb are going to be used soon as well.

I think Rockstar get more credit than they deserve for Chinatown Wars and I'd say it's obvious that it's the only DS game a lot of people have played.

EvilTwin5320d ago

I'm no tech expert, but just a cursory search brings up a little discussion at Gamespot on the 128 vs. 256 DS cards:
http://www.gamespot.com/pag...

How many games are using the bigger card? I don't know.

But if we're to believe the conventional wisdom that the DS's power is analogous to a shrunken down N64, then I don't think you could ask for much more from this type of game. Not with a full 3D world; the view is isometric, but not the cars, buildings and obstacles. If the power Rockstar had to work with is from the N64/PS1 realm, remember the old PS1 GTA games in 2D. Sure, they looked smoother than CW, but there was a lot less going on graphically.

Add in all the touch games, the radio stations, the different vehicles plus all of their attributes/physics, no loads and a steady 30 fps (until the cops show up in great numbers), and I think that's a pretty hefty amount of content to jam into the DS.

I've played quite a few DS games. I'd put GTA:CW up there with Phantom Hourglass as high water marks for the system.

...until Okamiden comes along, that is.

Jaces5320d ago

That was an....odd list.

SpoonyRedMage5320d ago

Quite a few games use the 256mb cards. I'm not sure the exact figure but I'd say the majority of the 3D games use them and FFIV was said to have maxed the card out. Level 5 have said Fantasy Life is goind to use a 512mb card.

They could have doubled that size though, easily and added so much more and have you seen COP: The Recruit? The actual game may end up not being so good but the game makes Rockstar look silly with it's graphics.

dreamcast5320d ago

Replace Tales of Monkey Island with inFamous and you've got yourself a nice list.

EvilTwin5320d ago

Spoony -- The last thing I read on COP was this from IGN:

http://ds.ign.com/articles/...

I'm intrigued, but it IS from the same people who made the farce that was Driv3R. And seriously, these people should just put this game in the Driver series; it's not really new IP if you're just renaming the old one. My nostalgia for Driver 2 is almost enough to sell me on this game (while Driv3R is what makes me doubt it).

But anywho, I think the Driver series is relevant here, because it was doing a full 3D city before Rockstar. Driver and Driver 2 were much more graphically impressive than GTA on the PlayStation, but again, there was less going on overall in those games. I think that's probably why Rockstar went with the graphics they did; they have experience with that sort of style with that technology from the Playstation-era GTA games.

Plus, GTA hasn't ever been the best-looking series. GTA IV sure isn't that graphically impressive if you put it up against KZ2 (but then again, you have to consider just how huge IV is, too).

ABizzel15320d ago (Edited 5320d ago )

Everyone has their own opinion, here's mine.

1. Killzone 2
2. InFamous (InFamous and Batman went head to head for number 2, but I choose Infamous because so many people were putting it down next to Prototype when they were first shown, but I was one of the few people who were Pro Infamous and it turned out to be one of the best games on the PS3 and Prototype was only decent so I was right they were wrong.)
3. Batman Arkham Asylum
4. Street Fighter 4
5. Flower
6. Punchout
7. Resident Evil 5
8. MadWorld
9. Shadow Complex
10. Red Faction

Honorable mentions: Plants vs. Zombies, MLB: 09 The Show, Fight Night Round 4, GTA Chinatown Wars (GTA CW was good, but the DS hampered the experience the PSP and DS version should have came out at the same time).

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 5320d ago
RadientFlux5320d ago

Not a bad list overall, though there are a few games that I enjoyed more than some of choices on the list.

+ Infamous
+ Fear 2
+ Sacred 2

guitarded775320d ago

Infamous is a must, I'd put Fat Princess on there also.

BISHOP-BRASIL5320d ago (Edited 5320d ago )

Bad list indeed...

No Infamous, Fat Princess or Halo ODST (ok, it's out today, but why wait to the day of a big release to put out a top list and don't consider it? Not my cup of tea, but probably better than some crap in this list)

While having fillers like Red Faction, Madworld and half crap GTA CW, not to mention Monkey Island that don't hold a candle to it's ancestors and BF 1943 that felt pretty old.

gijsbrecht5320d ago (Edited 5320d ago )

I so agree with the number one spot ( for now ) for Killzone 2. I still do not think that enough people realize how much this game does when it concerns the sheer beauty of the graphics, the lighting, all that is going on at the same time, the insanely clever AI and the beauty of the hit response system; I have never seen such a satisfying animation when you it some one. Yep, I have very strong feelings about this game.

kingdavid5320d ago

Battlefield 1943 shouldnt be in there, same with tales of monkey island.

Shin megami tensei: devil survivor, mario and luigi bowsers inside story, infamous, halo 3 odst, nhl 10 should be in there. Theres a few dubious decisions.

SuperStrokey11235320d ago

ODST just came out today, likely the article was written before today so i wouldnt count that in the list either. That being said if it game out months ago (as it should have) i wouldnt have put it on the list either.

Infamous should be on that list instead of monkey island.

kingdavid5320d ago

Why battlefield? Its a 3 map watered down version of bad company which came out last year. Why can none of you see that?

jeseth5320d ago

inFamous, Batman and Killzone 2 are the best games so far this year. The fact that inFamous doesn't make the list and Monkey Island and GTA China Town Wars does is laughable.

Mad World deserved more attention this year. I think its Wii's most stylized and exciting games.

EvilTwin5320d ago

Different strokes for different folks.

I loved Chinatown Wars. One of my favorite games of the year, and a pretty ambitious effort overall. It's the highest-rated DS title on Metacritic, and it's not like it's on a system wanting for good titles (the DS has an enormous library of cool games).

OTOH, I thought MadWorld was overrated by the critics. Awesome visual style and fairly good motion controls aside, it's a 6-hour long old-school brawler at heart. A good one, but content and control-wise, I don't think it tops No More Heroes (and NMH2 will one-up them both soon).

But that's JMO.

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80°

The 7 Best Street Fighter Games: Exploring the Franchise

The Street Fighter series has a long history, but which are the seven best games the franchise has yet offered to gamers?

350°

PlayStation 3 Games That Desperately Need a PS5 Remaster

The PlayStation 3 may not have been the strongest generation for Sony, but there were still some diamonds in the rough that deserve a revisit as PS5 remasters.

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wealthofgeeks.com
OtterX39d ago (Edited 39d ago )

Even if they could just remaster and put on PSVR2, some would still look great as VR titles and could do a whole lot to bolster the headset w these exclusives! I'd imagine the investment of reworking these titles into VR would be way less than building new games from the ground up, and they could be amazing experiences, and VR often makes flat games feel fresh again. The Resistance and Killzone games are particularly what I want to see!!

Rude-ro39d ago

I played killzone 3 in 3d and it really changed the game per being immersive.
In vr, that would be even more awesome.

darthv7239d ago

Funny you mention that... my son wanted to play some PS3 games in 3d on my PS tv and he was blown away by how good KZ3 was. It really was a great addition to the game. Im surprised there have not been more 3d games from that era being ported to the PSVR/VR2.

_SilverHawk_39d ago

resistance 1-3, killzone 1-3, uncharted 1-3, uncharted golden abyss, folklore, socom 4 , motorstorm, twisted metal, MAG, heavenly sword

Cacabunga39d ago

Killzone 2+3
Sly Thieves in Time
Crack in Time
God of War Ascension
Motorstorm
Modnation racer
Infamous 1+2

Profchaos39d ago (Edited 39d ago )

Killzone trilogy in VR would be amazing bonus points if they offer shadow fall.

There was a psvr1 Killzone project that supermassive was working on at one stage which wasn't up to scratch and Sony brand it back in house I was hoping we would see that on psvr2 eventually.

Personally I'd love to see some more love or acknowledgement of psvr2 from Sony in general it was a expensive headset and Sony barely acknowledge it's existence

seanpitt2339d ago

The amount of work needed to remaster these games wouldn't be beneficial on a financial and business sense.. MGS4 would probably be the best bet as it would need the least amount of work!

Iceball200039d ago

YEAAASSSSS! I miss this franchise and wanna play it so bad again.

Father__Merrin39d ago

The time is perfect for a resistance fall of man game campaign coop multiplayer

InUrFoxHole39d ago

The resistance series is str8 trash to me. Socom 3 I would welcome. Or killzone MP.

Marcus Fenix39d ago

A Resistance reboot will be awesome

Michiel198939d ago

That's what Bungie should make, Ill keep saying it until it happens

1Victor39d ago (Edited 39d ago )

Resistance was ok but Warhawk and Starhawk was better and kept me coming back for almost a decade of fun and petty revenge on the loud mouth unskilled players 🤣
Edit I loved capture the flag dropping the pot on the flag carrier was extremely satisfying as well as transforming your plane in bot form and stumping them to death 😱

39d ago
Michiel198939d ago

Resistance was the best co-op fps I ever played after L4D2

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140°

Resident Evil 5 - 15 Years of Being the Most Misunderstood Resident Evil

Resident Evil 5 launched 15 years ago today - and it continues to stand as a stepping stone from the good to the bad.

TheBrainZ41d ago

One of my favourites because of the co-op. Then Resi 6 arrived and the series nosedived further.

Knightofelemia41d ago

I enjoyed the game co-oping with a friend I know the game in solo the AI can be an idiot but RE5 is way better then RE6. I played RE6 with a friend if it wasn't cheap when I got I would have avoided RE6.

thesoftware73041d ago (Edited 41d ago )

5 was excellent, still play Mercs with my brother.
I would love a fully remastered RE:5, with some added, reworked content. The DLC for 5 was also excellent.

6 was awful.

CrimsonWing6941d ago

I never understood why the game was misunderstood. It was a fantastic game at launch and is still fun today to play. It’s as action packed as Resident Evil 4 was, yet that’s regarded a masterpiece 🤷‍♂️

chobit_A5HL3Y41d ago

it was "misunderstood" because they introduced co-op into the franchise at a time when people loved to have fake rage about co-op. like, you could play the game as a solo experience, but people chose to have their bandwagon rage because it was cool at the time lol

-Foxtrot40d ago (Edited 40d ago )

What the hell are you talking about? Fake Rage? Bandwagon? Come on.

You can play it solo but you are forced to carry around a shitty AI partner you have to micro manage. It wasn't as fun solo.

Co-op sucked all the horror, tension and suspense from the game because having a partner covering you was like a safety net. Enemy trying to sneak up on you? No sweat the AI will just automatically lock on, alert you while they shoot first telling you where they are basically.

It was the start of Capcoms fall with the Resident Evil series where it basically become an over the top generic action game which betrayed it's own survival horror roots. Least RE4 had a good blend of both but Capcom just went the wrong way with RE5, especially going off what they were going to do during the RE4.5 beta phase before co-op was added.

franwex40d ago

At least the game was a ton of fun tho. If the game was bad, the outrage would’ve been justified. They simply pivoted for a couple of games. At this point it’s bad because it’s called Resident evil 5? But if was called something else it would’ve been good? Please.

chobit_A5HL3Y39d ago

like i said: fake baby rage and bandwagon hate. res4 wasn't really that scary, either, and was already taking the series into more of an action-oriented direction at the time. 5 was a good game that people fake-hated because of co-op that you didn't even have to play lol hence the fake rage and bandwagon hate. i mean, it obviously did well enough for capcom to go ahead and make 6 the way they did, right? if 5 was so bad, they would have changed what 6 was during development. the difference is that 6 was actually just bad.

people "hate" 5 because res4 was so good, and 5 was just unfortunate enough to be its successor. like i said, 4 wasn't scary, either, and relied more on tension than horror, but it was already more of an action game. if you don't wanna like 5 because it's not scary or whatever- that's fine, but it wasn't meant to be strictly a horror game anymore at that point anyways. the gameplay was a lot faster-paced than 4, so saying that the ai helping you by potentially shooting someone that was sneaking up behind you is a moot point. there were more enemies that were more aggressive, along with newer threats.

5 isn't as good as 4, but it's not a bad game by any stretch.

Tody_ZA15d ago (Edited 15d ago )

What? I always thought RE5 had fake controversy because it was set in South Africa and you shot a bunch of black zombies. I live in South Africa and thought the game was absolutely awesome, played the whole thing co-op with my brother.

@Foxtrot I think you're confusing the garbage Dead Space 3 with Resident Evil 5. Resident Evil 4 was already a hyper action game and had zero fear factor other than the grotesque appearance of some enemies.

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