Your GOTY 2009.

[Miguel007]

GOTY:
#.1 Batman: Arkham Asylum [360]
#.2 Uncharted 2 [PS3]
#.3 Infamous [PS3]

Most Disappointing (fell short of expectation/hype):
#.1 Modern Warfare 2 [360]
#.2 Turtles In Time: Reshelled [360]
#.3

Your under-the-radar recommendations:
Puzzler World [DS], Mini-Ninjas [360]

[J0e Musashi]

GOTY:

#1. Killzone 2. I sold Demon's Souls to fund this purchase, and neglected all other games for a good month. Never before have I played a single player game to completion, then went online and played that to completion, then carried on playing for sheer fun. Great trophies too.

#2. Biohazard 5. I liked it, lots. I thought people's flaming of it was uncalled for. If you want to play part 4 then erm, play part 4 IMO. Co-op is amazing if you have someone else who knows what they are doing, especially on the hardest difficulty. Again, great trophies. I cannot wait for the Alternative version.

#3. Uncharted: Do ougon Katana to Kie ta Sendan. A second outing of mindless jumping around and shooting fun. Nothing particularly amazing in my book and I finished it in two sittings, but fun nonetheless. Superior to the first game if only for not having the latter part ruined by zombies. Plus on the JPN insert Drake looks just like my mate Dean. Oh and I suppose it does have some shiny graphics.


Most Disappointing (fell short of expectation/hype):

#1. Street Fighter IV. SF2 is my all-time favourite video game for many, many reasons. IV.Is.Not. I'm sure I have spent literally less than 3 hours playing this game. I don't know whether it was the massive hype machine or what, but I just don't dig it. Why did they use a IV and not a 4 too? Strangely I am looking forward to Super SFIV.

#2. Demon's Souls. I like the idea of it. However I do not have the time needed to be ploughed into it available. Plus I ended up with Killzone 2 by selling it, which I feel is a vastly superior title. Not actually a bad game, but it's just not for me.

#3. Bayonetta. I don't know whether I love or hate this title. It changes almost every time I play it. At the current moment in time I hate it, which is why it is here and not in the GOTY department.

Your under-the-radar recommendations:

Batman: Arkham Asylum. Repetitive and not not offering anything really new, yet I enjoyed every moment of of it. JPN version is not yet released, but I will buy it as soon as it is.

[Uli]

Heh. MW2 in both your lists.

were you never let down by something or someone you love?

[Barla Von]

GOTY:

1. Torchlight (PC)
2. The Void (PC)
3. Machinarium (PC)

Most Disappointing:

1. Super Mario Bros Wii
2. Madworld
3. Muramasa: The Demon Blade

[prinnysquad]

My GOTY 2009:

1. Borderlands - Grind, whup, thrash. Just excellent in co-op and appealed to my nerdy fascination with loot. Smashing visuals too, my type of thing totally.
2. Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising - Co-op again. In spite of the RUBBISH way it gives out campaign achievements, it's just pure tactical, nailbiting quality. You can really feel like you have a role in this game. I'm not good enough to be a sniper, but crawling around in a firefight healing people as the medic was truly excellent.
3. Batman AA - Very few things not to enjoy, bar the rubbish boss battles. Quality controls and pleasing visuals, this game is a fan's dirty mag, and fascinating for people with only a passing interest in the franchise, like me.

Other games enjoyed without being GOTY candidates ... Halo Wars, Call of Juarez 2, Sacred 2, The Godfather 2, Mini Ninjas, Sherlock Holmes, Trials, Shadow Complex, Defense Grid, Battlestations Pacific.

Most Disappointing (fell short of expectation/hype):

1. MW2 - Some superb levels, some loathsome levels. Old, old problems not ironed out. Just not as good as I wish it was.
2. PES10 - Better, but still that unhappy compromise between what it should be and what it thinks it should be.
3. FIFA10 - A great game, but Be A Pro, which should be brilliant, is excrement.

My under-the-radar recommendations:

50 Cent Blood on the Sand - Get rid of your po-face and play it co-op with a mate. Great fun, robust controls, plenty to do. A cheapy gem.
Tropico 3 - Extremely good console resource management game, with a wicked sense of humour. Nice visuals, too.

[Stoppy2000]

GOTY:

1. FIFA 10 - best football game ever.
2. Batman AA - best superhero game ever.
3. Dragon Age - 27 hours game time in just over 2 weeks must mean its got something.

Most Disappointing:

1. UFC Undisputed - the actual gameplay is ace, the menu/load times stop me playing it.
2. PES 2010 - in fairness I only tried the demo but it was awful.
3. Scribblenauts - great idea, terrible controls.

[nakamura]

nakamura on page 1 has it listed as his #1 GOTY?

Glad you noticed Fuse!

Shame on you smurfy! Read the list!

[Hartley Hare]

For 2009 alone

Uncharted 2 & Forza 3

[TonyDA]

GOTY:
#1 - Assassin's Creed II (360). Totally immersive, had the ability to keep me playing for hours, sometimes doing very little apart from buying paintings and looking for feathers!

#2 - Batman: Arkham Asylum (360). After a period of about six months, where I played no games at all due to complete boredom with gaming (!!), this was what dragged me back. Tremendous atmosphere and faithful to the Batman comics/character I grew up with.

#3 - Shadow Complex (360 Arcade). A cracking homage to the 16-bit platform/rpg genre, which was also fresh at the same time. Hope to see No.2 in 2010.

Most Disappointing:
#1 - Resident Evil 5. Loved 4 on the Gamecube, but this lacked something for me.

#2 - Nintendo Wii. Yep, the whole thing - I just don't like the new, "innovative" controls, the way nearly every developer shoehorns it into their games, and the lack of HD visuals. I could go on, but am probably in the minority!

#3 - COD Modern Warfare 2. Enjoyable, yes, but not one COD game has grabbed me to the point at which I can understand the infatuation with the brand. The probable reason for this is that I only really play the single player campaign.

[MikeRox]

For me, Uncharted 2 closely followed by Arkham Asylum, damn that is a good game! Also really enjoyed New Super Mario Bros, KillZone 2 and Infamous.

Most disappointing would be Microsoft's seeming apathy towards exclusive 360 titles in 2009. Not a big Halo fan and Forza 3 doesn't a year make.

Also as above, Resident Evil 5 and I know we have to accept it with things, but also the sheer volume of sales MW2 enjoyed, while other equally worthy (I won't say better) titles struggled to shift even a fraction as many.

[pentarou]

GOTY:
1. Street Fighter IV: I've had so much fun with this game since release playing other members from the forum and random people online! Absolutely superb game, can't wait for the update.

2. Trials HD: Another game that I've had a lot of fun with trying to beat friends scores, I hope there's more DLC in the pipeline.

3. Shadow Complex: I can't think of many games that I've played through to completion more than a couple of times, just started playing this again to get all the items and it's robbed me of many hours since release. Really shows what great games are available via Live Arcade, fingers crossed for a sequel.

Most disappointing:

1. Modern Warfare 2: Really enjoyed the first one, but I just can't get into the sequel.

[Eight Rooks]

None of these would be a perfect 10, but I guess GOTY candidates regardless:

1: Demon's Souls
Peerless atmosphere, stupendous game design - tough but fair in a way few if any other games in the past decade have been - fiendishly addictive. Only From Software's usual ropey music, lack of real technical know-how and some general rough edges stop this from being as close to perfect as it gets. Dragging ancient game design kicking and screaming into the modern era, learning how to make brutally hard difficulty genuinely fun, dotting wonderful, subtle gameplay and aesthetic design decisions all the way through - the fact the mediocrity on display in Fable II gets showered with mainstream success instead of this is hugely frustrating.

2: Wipeout HD/Fury
The absolute zen of arcade racing. Still just as peerlessly fast, as hideously demanding, as mindblowingly cool as ever - looks gorgeous, plays sublime, and with the patches and the expansion more of it is finally within reach of the average nerd who can't use the Force at will like the hardcore fans.

3: Uncharted 2
For big-budget popcorn entertainment it simply doesn't get any better than this. Probably the most aesthetically accomplished release all year - an artistic and technical marvel, not to mention fantastically written and acted - and terrific fun to play, with a multiplayer mode that against all odds was almost as much fun as the singleplayer campaign.

Bubbling under:

Assassin's Creed 2 - Almost there. A huge improvement over the first, and a lesson for Dan Brown in how to write ludicrous conspiracy nonsense that's actually fun. Still way, way too easy and the technology is showing its age too much, though.

Killzone 2 - quite possibly the finest, most immersive, most thrilling gameplay in any FPS developed in the history of the medium, and no, that's not exaggerating. Shame that although Guerilla have come on in leaps and bounds, in some respects they still remain idiots who haven't a clue how to write a decent war movie with any genuine tension or drama or to create a cast who are anything other than either pure vanilla or unlikeable, morally bankrupt, murdering ****wits who'd only benefit humanity with a doubletap between the eyes.

Most disappointing:

Mirror's Edge. Got to be, really. Quite how you make a game about freerunning with no freedom, precious little sense of speed and wild over-reliance on trial and error, I'm not sure, and that's not going into the dreadful story and the terrible graphic design. I got more genuine sense of adventure and exploration and breathtaking rooftop escapes out of The Saboteur, for God's sake, let alone Crackdown, Assassin's Creed 1 & 2, Prince of Persia...

[ezee ryder]

Wasn't Mirror's Edge released in 2008?! Pretty sure I remember you ripping it apart in the first play thread.

[Ragnar004]

Goty's:

1. Batman: Arkham Asylum
2. Mario and Luigi: Bowser's inside story
3. Halo Wars

Under the radar:
Halo Wars. Not so much under the radar because people had such a big whine about it, but under appreciated is more the term I would use. Such a great game but all the Halo fanboys complained because it wasn't a shooter (at least the halo fanboys I know) and that you got to control an army of marines instead of just Mastercheif. Who cares? Well done Ensemble.

The biggest let down for me was Dawn of War 2. I absolutely loved the first one and its expansions, but this was a completely different game. In itself, I enjoyed the campaign and the gameplay, but it was far too different from the first one for me to enjoy it to a full extent. I still play Soulstorm online, so that was fresh in my mind as I played this game without my buildings...

Not a bad year, no?

[Eight Rooks]

Wasn't Mirror's Edge released in 2008?! Pretty sure I remember you ripping it apart in the first play thread.

Bitter, me? Never. <_< >_> It still hurts!

Okay, I guess I... don't have a biggest disappointment, then. Strange. There were a few rubbish games I got my hands on - Prototype, say - but nothing I was hugely looking forward to.