Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the miracle of Manning, whether Operation Chokehold will do some damage to AT&T today, or destroying all Snuggies, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
As I mentioned last week, I’ll be counting down my five favorite games of 2009 in this week’s Coffee Talk columns and I’d love for you to join me! Let me know what your favorite games of the year were in the comments section. Remember, this isn’t about what games you thought were “best”. I want to know what you had the most fun with in 2009.
What did you think I was going to pick? Halo 3: ODST
While the graphics in Dragon Age: Origins aren’t the best, pretty much every other aspect of the game is perfect for me. I love the versatile gameplay — tanking as a warrior, backstabbing as a rogue, and dishing out spells as a mage were all fun experiences that are quite different from one another. The story and writing are brilliant, especially after playing the game multiple times (five completions so far) and noticing how expertly different characters were woven into the game’s tapestry. The music is top notch. With different dialogue branches, multiple outcomes, various companion characters, and variations in gameplay, I wouldn’t be surprised if my play-throughs hit double digits.
Although I’ve logged more hours into Civilization: Revolution for iPhone, I had the most fun — by far — with Dragon Age: Origins in 2009. I swear BioWare made the game just for me.
Yep, you guess it. My #1 game of 09 is Uncharted 2. Do I need to elaborate. Those who played it will know why.
"guessed"
"Do I need to elaborate?"
Number 1 = Uncharted 2. Just plain outright fun. Best game this year, and raises the bar on a single player experience. Enough said.
My number one game for this year is The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion. I have had this game since it was released, but only after I played and beat Fallout 3 did I go back and play. My Bosmer was among the very best of thieves, and could kill from the shadows from the Dark Brotherhood..
My Nord quickly gained status as one of the fiercest warriors taking out another company before retiring.
My High Elf(I stopped playing him when Fallout 3 came out) IS one of the most powerful mages, and has closed about 30 Oblivion gates, is the reigning champion in the Arena, as well as the head of the Thieves Guild. My only quests I have left to finish are on the fabled Shivering Isles, and then I can put the game down and patiently wait for The Elder Scrolls V
I have put close to 500 hours into Fallout 3, and I know that is a tiny fraction of time I have put into Oblivion. From enchanting weapons and clothing, to defending Burma, I have enjoyed the game and the beauty that I still find there.
Honorable Mentions: Brutal Legend, Assassin's Creed 2, Mass Effect
#5 – inFamous
#4 – WoW
#3 – Borderlands
#2 – Uncharted 2
#1 – Batman: Arkham Asylum – I know. Much like the utter mystery that was RROD's and R-PAD's pick, I bet that no one, no one, could have guessed this to be mine. This game did so many things right. It captured what I loved about the cartoon series by reuniting the main writer with the main talent, continuing what are quite possibly the two best casting decisions in VO – Mark Hamill, the quintessential Joker, and Kevin Conroy, the one true voice of Batman. It gave us an epic conbat system that put us completely in control of the Dark Knight's timing and viciousness, a true master delivering counters and blows from all angles, crunching bone from every possible position. It made us the Predator.
That was the mode that captured it for me. I love the combat, the simple intuitiveness of the freeflow system. But the Predator areas are the real gems. Planning your shots, choosing either pure stealth or measured fear, all of it was at your finger tips, even if there was dynamite on some of the perches.
Take all those elements and weave them around a true Batman detective tale, and you have my number 1. Future super hero games, you are hereby put on notice. Deliver, or you will quickly find yourself hung from the bottom of a stone gargoyle, propelled over the side of a ledge/railing, or simply beaten to a bloody pulp. What's this I am spraying on the floor next to you, you ask? Your friends will find out when they get here.
definitely dragon age. i have been playing rpg's since i was final fantasy 7 came out. and rpg's are always my personal genre of choice on any platform.
#5: Brutal Legend
#4: Madden NFL 10/FIFA Soccer 10 (tie)
#3: Assassin's Creed II
#2: Batman: Arkham Asylum
Drumroll please…………
#1: Dragon Age: Origins
I'm huge fan of pretty much every Bioware game I've ever played. And I've played pretty much every Bioware game multiple times. Dragon Age is no exception. I'm currently halfway through my 4th full playthrough, having already completed the City Elf, Mage & Human Noble prologues, I'm currently playing as the Dalish Elf. I'm sitting at 1010/1100 Gamerscore for this game, and impatiently awaiting the already announced Return to Ostagar DLC for an excuse to start a 5th playthrough with one of the dwarven backgrounds, even though I'll be able to use a previous character to play the upcoming DLC.
What really stands out about this game is the amount of content offered. If you assume the average FPS is a 10 hr game, you've got roughly 6 games worth of content on this one disc for the same $60 price.
Ok, now it should be noted that I left some really good games off of my list. I've played pretty much every AAA multiplatform title available this year, as well as most of the 360 exclusive titles. And this year was really the first time that a couple of really impressive looking PS3 exclusives made me consider buying a PS3. This year, overall, was a GREAT year for video games.
A couple of non AAA titles that bear an honorable mention:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine: Uncaged Edition
Ghostbuster: The Video Game
Jeez, I didn't realize I was writing a book at the time of that post…….lol….
I haven't decided what game I should talk about today so I will just give you my thoughts on the Games On Demand for Windows Live. The only issues I had with it were the download times, which seemed longer than Steam, and install times. I don't know how fast I downloaded RE5 because when you download it does not tell you the MBPS. It only tells you how much has been downloaded and how much is left. It also took for ever to install RE5 last night. I've never had an install on Steam last for more than a couple of minutes. RE5 took about 30. However, their service does warn you about DRM in the games and it also shows you your game code to activate your games from the download page. Price wise it seems to be fair. I didn't see anything that was drastically cheaper on another service. All in all it is a very complete product that doesn't feel like it is missing anything major. If you want to play crossplatform with 360 players, it isn't a bad way to do it.
It's all good… I do it all the time… welcome to the club… I would offer you a t-shirt but I am currently to busy typing to design one… Did you see Dudikoff in the other thread… I think he was staring at me…
My #1 is also Oblivion since that is what I'm playing now… and I can't remember what games I played earlier this year at this moment. Wow, Hrolf, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one that's a little behind. You made me feel better.
I had a feeling that Mr. Padilla's #1 pick would be Dragon Age. In fact, I would be extremely worried about anyone who frequents this site and did not see that coming.
-M
@RROD
I would like them to do a really good Spawn game. Just my preference though.
LOL
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/12/18/wiicked…
@RRODisHere Every few days I bother my friend at Marvel's videogames division about making a Quasar game.
@Smartguy
I never got into Spawn, but I would like to see them do Spider-Man. I think that they can capture the atmosphere and feel of Spider-Man like they did with Batman.
@RROD
Spiderman would be great. A Captain America game could be done very well.
I think Spawn could have a very good shot at being a great game. The material can be explored and created without worries of censors.
@B:AA: I couldn't get a handle on the brawling combos required to get the Freeflow challenge room achievements. I figure I'll go back and play it through again on hard when the next inevitable lull in the gaming cycle comes along…..unless of course I'm playing my 10th playthough of Mass Effect 2 at the time….
Had to google Quasar.
@RRODisHere I actually pitched his boss on a Quasar game too — kept a straight face and everything. Ha!
A Recap
#5 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
#4 Ratchet & Clack Future: A Crack In Time
#3 Killzone 2
#2 inFAMOUS
&
#1 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Uncharted 2 has taken up most of my gaming time. It is the first game I show people when they ask about PS3. Even if you don't play the game it is still fun to watch and take in the storyline.
@Ray – Quasar would be awesome.. but would probably run into the same problems that Superman would.
@RROD – Which Marvel character would you like to see them do? I think there approach to another super hero would be great, but now that you mentioned it, I really don't know which one I would like to see.
@Larcenous
Captain America.
Guys, true story. I've been married to my wife for almost 7 years now and every time I'm upstairs playing a game and she has something to tell me she'll come up and tell me and leave not even looking at the tv. But when I played Uncharted 2 she came up one time to tell me something and for the first time she looked at the screen and stood there after she was done telling me what she wanted to tell me and then she actually sat down and watched for a while. That never happened before.
@Larcenous (amended)
Capt. America if it has to be a Marvel character. Otherwise, my vote goes to Spawn.
@LarcenousLaugh
I would like to see them do Spider-Man. I think that they can capture the atmosphere and feel of Spider-Man like they did with Batman.
@B:AA Combo Rooms: The room challenges came down to two real ideas, working the camera like a pro, and minimizing damage to yourself. Yeah I know, both of those things can be pretty difficult. The easiest thing I can suggest it keeping it simple. Work on striking and countering first and foremost, hit takedown/throw everytime it comes up, and try to ground takedown the last few thugs. Takedown animations take time, so use that to reorient yourself to the crowd around you to determine where you want to go next. Knowing where everyone is located is essential.
When I hit the extreme rooms, I buckled down even further, as survive takes over the don't get hit mentality. Countering is mandatory, as are takedowns everytime they pop.
Hardest Room by far is the "Shock and Awe Extreme". The countdown until the floor pops is ridiculous, especially when the thugs bolt for the 2nd level and the gun.
@RROD – thanks. I think I spent the majority of the first weekend I had it going through the challenge rooms. I think the last two brawl rooms probably ate up about 4 hours or so.
@Nightshade – Hard is a challenge, and the only thing they do differently is removing the attack warning from the thugs. Max your combo points and health first, everything else is secondary.
@RROD – I would have laughed at that Uncharted story had the same thing not happened to my step-son. He was completely mezmerized and taken in, so much so that he was able to correct me when I accidently called Elena Chloe.
@Marvel – A B:AA type spidey would be really cool, especially one that wasn't tied to any of the material. Getting a good voice for him would be the hardest part, some of the cartoons have been good, but I can't recall any standouts. That would be the hardest job in VO if done right, cause you would have to keep the jokes flying through combat, and that's something that none of the spidey games have been able to capture so far.
@Smartguy – I could roll with a Capn game, but Spawn has always been kind of meh to me. I can't admit to reading an awful lot of the comics, and if they were able to break away from the movie ideas that were set out, I would certainly give it a shot. The chains and the cape were always cool.
@Larcenous
To be honest, I thought the comics went a bit overboard later in the Spawn mythology. The damn HBO animated series might be the best work of the Spawn IP. I think a spawn game that is as gritty with great voice acting and some good violence is very doable. His stories were pretty good for a good while…my opinion anyway.
lol, while writing this my Mac chose to play "Love Gun". Ah…Friday.
I actually like whomever it is that does Spidey's voice for Marvel Ultimate Alliance. I feel like he sounds like he fits the part.
@Nightshade – I think I used Spidey for like 10secs in the first UA. Haven't played 2 yet. Whoever they get though, it needs to be like non-stop banter. Beginning to end. In fact, if they could pull off 5-10 mins without repeating, I think I would get more of a kick out of that then anything else.
@Larcenous: I admit it, I tended to use mostly preconcieved groups in those games, like the Fantastic Four or the X-Men. I got annoyed that there weren't even 4 Avengers in MAU2 to form a squad with, because they didn't seem to count the new Avengers as "The Avengers."
a bruce campbell type of voice fits spidey
@Smartguy: I like Bruce Campbell a lot, but his voice wouldn't be a good fit I think. There's a youthful exuberance to Spidey that would get lost with that choice I think. Personality wise, great fit. Voice….I don't think so.
hehe, he and Leslie Nielson are the only two guys I know that can shoot off one liners and keep a straight face without laughing.
I'm sure Dudikoff is an influence.
http://www.bruce-campbell.com/pilot.asp
That's right…Bruce Campbell's website.
@Spidey-voice: thinking about it, the first two names that popped into my head were Justin Long (Accepted, Live Free or Die Hard, and the Mac guy) and Jeff Anderson (Randall in the CLerks movies).
Bruce is has the quipiness but not the youth behind it.
@ Spawn game
In order to be done right, it almost has to be like Scribblenauts where you could do ANYTHING with that suit.
@ Dream comics (overall) game
I've said it before… Preacher would be outstanding.
@ Dream Marvel game
That's tough… but I think Blade deserves a rework.
@ Why is it such an impossible task to make a good Superman game?
SERIOUSLY!
@ Batman AA Chalenge rooms
Yeah, the combat rooms crippled me as well. I got through the Predator rooms easily enough, but the Combat rooms… I never could string the combos right. I'd always miss a counter or try to hit one of those guys with the cattle prods… fail.
@RROD:
Your story just gave me a great scenario in my head. You should consider opening up a marriage counseling business…
RROD: "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Smith. What can I help you with today.
Mrs. Smith: "He never pays attention to me."
Mr. Smith: "That's not true. What about when I called you up at work that one time?"
Mrs. Smith: "That was my sister, not me."
Mr. Smith: "Whoops. Well, you always have a headache when I want to make love to you."
Mrs. Smith: “Well, maybe if you lasted more than 20 seconds…”
RROD: "Mr. and Mrs. Smith, please, please! Let's not get caught up in attacking each other over trivialities. Instead, why don't you two try to do something together and bond to reestablish that connection you shared before you were married to see if you can rekindle that spark you had all those years ago?”
Mrs. Smith: "What do you suggest, Dr. RROD? Should we role play as naughty Pokemon or go out and try to re-create our first date?"
RROD: "Heavens, no. That's retarded. Just have your husband play Uncharted 2 and you watch him play. You can thank me later."
Marriage crisis solved.
-M
LOL @ Iceman
@superhero game
Nightcrawler/Portal game = win
1-Assassin's Creed 2 (I love history and freerunning and assassinating)
2-Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (simply EPIC)
3-Left 4 Dead 2 (Killing zombies….did I ever mention that I'm ready for the zombie apocalypse?)
4-Team Fortress 2
5-Team Fortress 2 (again)
Comic book character game:
Captain America
Doctor Doom
Deadpool
@Iceman
the Dr. RROD was perhaps the funniest thing in that great scenario. I seriously laughed at it.
@N8R
Yeah, having the cape either be VERY context sensitive or you having the ability to use a mechanic like scribblenauts would indeed work very well.
You know why a good superman game can't be made? Because the tech isn't there for it. Think about it…what stops Superman besides Kryptonite? A good superman game would have him simply beating the living hell out of anything that isn't a villain. I want to destroy buildings and mountains like Red Faction. Really…if they were to somehow take the City of Heroes engine update the hell out of the visuals, allow complete destruction of anything on the map including terrain and have the boss fights be the highlight of the game like Shadow of the Colossus….it would indeed be epic.
5 Ratchet and Clank Future ACiT
4 Infamous
3 Assassins Creed 2
2 Killzone 2
1 Uncharted 2
@ Smartguy
Throw Doomsday in there, have Luthor distributing kryptonite bullets to street thugs, maybe a little Darkseid action… it can be done, just nobody has taken the time to do it right yet.
1. FIFA 10
I love footie and Chelsea so this one is a no-brainer, plus the gameplay is the best of any fifa to date.
2.Borderlands
Looting and huge amount of guns, do I need to say more
3.Scribblenauts
The game is loads of fun
Everyone who sees me playing it, plays it and loves it
4. Yugioh 5D Stardust Accelerator World Championship Tour
I played a lot of yugioh 7 years ago when I was in middle school and gave this game a try and it's actually a lot of fun if you're into card games.
5. Left 4 dead 2
"oh no a witch"
i always liked moon night…thought so much more could have been done with that character
a sandman game/movie would be interesting as well
top 5…and i had to revise this, cause i couldnt choose 2 as a tie, thats a cop out
5. infamous
4. mw2
3. assassins creed 2
2. dragon age
1. uncharted 2
and that leaves out fight night round 4, arkham asylum, mlb the show, and killzone
a top 5 is a tall order, this was a great year for gaming
top 5 for 2010
5. modnation racers
4. gran turismo
3. MAG
2. God of war 3
1. Heavy rain
lol@those are all ps3 exclusives
fanboy snicker*
i didnt mean for it to work out that way
if final fantasy 13 vs should come out next year, that list is totally in need of revision :)
@thundercracker Most wanted of 2010 is a future article. Stay tuned!
@Larcenous
Yeah, I picked UC2 as my #1, but AA would be 1b really. AA really surprised me.
“stop staring at me damnit!”
@LarcenousLaugh
I noticed that you have the Batman: AA Platinum trophy. Much respect sir. Those challenge rooms kicked my butt. I never could get the hang of it.
Also, I don’t know if you are into the Marvel super heroes but I would love for Rocksteady to take on one of the Marvel characters for a game not tied to a movie like the did with the Bat.
@Raymond Padilla
??????