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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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SpoonyRedMage - 75 days 7 hours ago

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"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).

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EvilTwin - 75 days 6 hours ago

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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.

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SpoonyRedMage - 75 days 4 hours ago

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1.2 -

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.

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EvilTwin - 75 days 2 hours ago

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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.

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Jaces - 75 days 1 hour ago

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1.4 -

That was an....odd list.

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SpoonyRedMage - 75 days 1 hour ago

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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.

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dreamcast - 75 days 1 hour ago

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1.6 -

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

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EvilTwin - 75 days ago

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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).

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ABizzel1 - 74 days 22 hours ago

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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).

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RadientFlux - 75 days 6 hours ago

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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

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guitarded77 - 75 days 1 hour ago

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2.1 -

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

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bishop-br - 75 days ago

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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.

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gijsbrecht - 75 days 5 hours ago

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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.

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kingdavid - 75 days 5 hours ago

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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.

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kapedkrusader - 75 days 1 hour ago

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4.1 - Not monkey Island...

...but Battlefield yes.

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SuperStrokey1123 - 75 days 1 hour ago

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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.

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kingdavid - 74 days 17 hours ago

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

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jeseth - 75 days 3 hours ago

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5 - This List has fail written all over it.

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.

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EvilTwin - 75 days 1 hour ago

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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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strickers - 75 days 1 hour ago

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Batman best single player,edging out Infamous and Killzone 2 easily best multiplayer.

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itchy18 - 75 days 1 hour ago

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where's infamous?? it's one of the best games i've played this year along with killzone 2!

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jleack - 75 days 1 hour ago

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I agree with the list, but Batman: AA should be #2 imo.

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emk2004 - 75 days 1 hour ago

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9 - wtf

imo infamous should be #1. kz2 is ok but im a big story diven gamer and to be honest kz2 story sucked, good online tho. infamous got story/gamplay/graphics and replayablity at for both good/bad sides of the story.

why is monkey island on that list.

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Panipal2005 - 75 days 1 hour ago

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No InFamous = FAIL.

PS3 exclusive space marine shootie game in the top slot = FAIL.

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bjornbear - 75 days 1 hour ago

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10.1 - You haven't played KZ2 have you =P

Trust me, its far beyond any shooter you've experienced...it's quite unique once you give it a few mins ;) Myabe not top slot though, but hey its def top 10 of this year

Agree though, No Infamous = FAIL =)

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bjornbear - 75 days 1 hour ago

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Infamous!!! everything else rightful place =) maybe demon's souls, haven't played but def looks like one of strongest games this year!!! @ above: KZ2 story doesn't "suck", its just safe =) a mere structure to give you enough reason to play through the war =)

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emk2004 - 75 days 1 hour ago

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11.1 - ok

kz2 story was not terrible it just didn't set itself apart from most other sci fi type shooters. it was pretty dry and predictable.

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bigjclassic - 75 days 1 hour ago

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12 - That list sucks

KZ2
BlazBlue
Batman: AA
SFIV
Infamous
Shadow Complex
MadWorld
The Conduit
Madden 10
Wii Sports Resort or Tiger 10 (Wii)

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foxtheory - 75 days ago

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Killzone 2, Infamous, and Batman are the only ones I really care about. Why Infamous didn't make it is beyond me...

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DiffusionE - 74 days 23 hours ago

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Does RE5 really deserve to be on that list? And SF4 at no.2? WTF....seriously, WTF....I don't even need to mention Chinatown Wars, do I?

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matm666 - 74 days 20 hours ago

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I think SF4, RE5 and KZ2 are overrated but I agree with Infamous as one of the top games this year. The list is OK I guess, to each it's own.

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