Welcome to the Loading Screen Game Of The Year Awards 2009. This award is according to me so it is basically my game of the year in my opinion and is not based on sales or other critics opinions. But first lets see some of the runners up that didn’t make it.
Street Fighter 4
The Classic Beat-Um-Up bunched its way back onto our consoles this year in HD and 3D but retains its old magic.
Developer: Capcom | Publisher: Capcom
Price: £29.99 – Buy Now
Platform: XBOX 360 / Playstation 3
Ratchet and Clank – A Crack In Time
The Ratchet is back in 2009. Classic 3D plaforming action from the Lombax and a wrench!
Developer: Insomniac Games| Publisher: Sony Computer
Price: £39.99 – Buy Now
Platform: XBOX 360 / Playstation 3
Borderlands
Borderlands is an original IP from Gearbox. It mixes Role Playing with a standard Shooter that you can take on-line and play with your friends and random strangers.
Developer: Gearbox Games | Publisher:2K Games
Price: £14.98 to 37.99 – Buy Now
Platform: XBOX 360 / Playstation 3 / PC
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
A portable RPG where you take on a load of Monsters. You can team up with your friends and fight.
Developer: Capcom | Publisher:Capcom
Price: £19.99 – Buy Now
Platform: PSP
Tekken 6
We got the next instalment of best beat-um-up Tekken this year on the Playstation and XBox in HD and went portable on PSP
Developer: Namco Bandai| Publisher:Namco Bandai
Price: £20.98 – £24.98 – Buy Now
Platform: Xbox 360 / Playstation 3 / PSP
and now for I think was the game of 2009
Killzone 2
What is most likely the best Shooter since Half-Life came to Playstation 3 in 2009. The Single player campaign is massive fun and in my opinion easily gets a loadingscreen rating of 80%. Then you take the game on-line and its awesome an easy 100%. It has gone platinum now so if you haven’t played it grab a copy , grab your gun and I’ll meet you on the ground.
Developer: Guerilla Games | Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Price: £19.99 – Buy Now
Platform: Playstation 3
So I am a bit of a platformer takes me back to my childhood and the good old days of Sonic and Mario on the Megadrive and SNES. I enjoyed Ratchet and Clank tools or destruction and the PSN title Search for Booty so when I heard that there was a new title out I just had to get it. Ratchet and Clank is a fun little 3D platform game based on Ratchet a cute cat like alien called a “Lombax” which is handy with tools both repairing things with them and using them to defeat the hordes of alien creatures that seem to want to exterminate him. Ratchet is support by his friend a Intelligent little robot known to the universe as clank. Ratchet and Clank set out to save the universe from numerous Aliens that want to take over the galaxy. Along the way they meet friends that help and Guide Ratchet and Clank with there Quest. The other main character that has been in all the games is “Captain Qwark” a cowardly idiotic super hero that rather than helps the two stars normally just gets in the way. As you play through the game you collect a wide range of weapons that help you dispatch your enemies in new and unusual ways including turning them in to chickens, and Gadgets to interact with the worlds you end up on.
I was so excited when I loaded the game up and I was not disappointed. You do have to play without your good friend Clank which is sad because you don’t have from the start all the skills that you had in the other titles. The one that I missed the most must be the ability to glide when you jump it is amazing how much I had learned to depend on that skill to get out of trouble. Without spoiling it to much you do get gadgets that compensate for your missing companion. Playing through the game I did feel and have heard that others feel that the game play is very similar to other games in the series. I personally don’t see this as a down point as the new weapons , gadgets , worlds and the story are more than enough to keep you drawn into the game and want to keep playing. This similarity also allows for you to be able to pick up the controller and play without a large learning curve ( or any learning curve ). Its kind of like a old friend that you know very well , you don’t have to fuss with the pleasantries you can just get on with the adventure. Saying that new players to the game will quickly pick it up. The game play in this outing is however different in my opinion they have made space a lot more sand box like. Once you are in space you are free to explore the moons and help ships in order to complete mini quest these normally lead to the collection of “Zoni” ( Having the “Zoni” with you upgrades your ship allowing you to get further in the game ). The other major difference is you play a lot more of this game as Clank who is given his own powers these allow you to complete much larger quests than you had to in the other games. I find that these sub-quests could be very frustrating as they mainly involve solving logic problems in some form. The frustrating part is that these problems involve doing a certain set of tasks in the correct order to open a door and proceed with the level these can get very repeative. The exciting thing as always is the array off new gadgets and weapons that you are able to buy in order to defeat you enemy. I was sad though that so far I haven’t found the crazy gun like the one that turns your enemies in to chickens. This is however made up by some of the other awesome and powerful weapons that you are able to purchase ( and of course do every time a new one appears ). you have also been able to modify your weapons by collecting “mods” throughout the levels these allow you to change the behaviour of the weapon and by using certain mods in the right order you can completely change how a weapon works making it more suited to the enemy you are fighting. You also receive what must be the most awesome gadget of all time I wont tell you what it is because I don’t want to give away too much but you will know it when you get it.
This is another awesome game in the Ratchet and Clank series don’t expect something that is very different to the other games in the series but if you have enjoyed the previous outings then you will certainly enjoy this one. It does include some new game play features with the weapons modifications and the extend time playing as clank who has a much more important role in this game.
I finally got round to playing through what is properly the pinnacle game on the XBOX 360. The sad fact is that I got this game with the XBOX when I brought it and didn’t get round to playing for nearly a year as I had so many other games to play. Ok so lets talk Halo 3 , for you people that have been hiding under a rock for years you play the part of a cybernatically enhanced human called a Master Chief. Assisted by well more leading a bunch of marines you fight an Alien Race called the Covenant ( Ok yeah its not the most original story I know ). I am a massive fan of the shooter games and this is a very good one at first glance. You get a number of weapons but like other shooters now days you can only carry 2 at any one time along with a selection of grenade style weapons. I know right? What happened to the good old “Half-Life” or “Doom” games where you could carry loads of weapons in your pockets. You can also drive a number of vehicles both human and alien.
I really got in to this game how could I not it is a SCI-FI shooter that looks wonderful and has a good story but after playing it for a fair few hours I began to feel a little let down. There are a number of issues with Halo 3 firstly if you are not driving a vehicles ( you can play the role of the gunner or a standard passenger ) then you don’t always go any where I got stuck going round in circles. Next the missions get very repetitive even for a shooter game there is basically only two classes of enemy that you fight through most of the game intermingled with a boss here and there. Saying that it does keep drawing me back into it. I am not sure if that’s the game play or the fact I want to know the story or is just the idea of it is so appealing I want to like it. Don’t get me wrong it is a fun game , it is an alien shooter and what is better than an alien shooter I do however think that with halo 3 they may have lost the edge over the other games on the platform.
I think unlike the XBOX which lead title was the Halo series the XBOX 360 will better known for the “Gears of War” games. I know that it is a bit unfair comparing it with “Gears of War” or “Killzone 2″ on the Playstation 3 as they came out later but it does lack something compared to those titles. You can however pick Halo 3 on XBOX 360 on XBOX classics for around £20 and I have seen it around far cheaper especially pre-owned so it certainly a game worth getting your hands on. I am also going to say that because I am playing “Gears of War” on-line I didn’t take Halo 3 on-line which apparently is a whole different experience so I may have been kind of missing the point here. I will of course let you know what I think of the on-line experience when I do get round to playing it on-line before Halo Reach comes out and no one is on Halo 3 any more. The Halo series will carry on strong and with the recent releases of Halo ODST and the upcoming Halo reach as well as the brunch in to the real time strategy genre with Halo Wars ( which I have also had a go on)
Published: December 27, 2009
Tags: 2009, awards, best games, game of the year, great games