Can you believe the year is half over already? At the end of the year, everyone does a ‘best games of the year’ article and oftentimes, the games that were released at the beginning of the year are overshadowed by the big holiday titles that come out near the end. So I like to take some time in the middle of the year to give recognition to the best games of the year SO FAR. Now, keep in mind that this is my list only, and no other outside opinions are present. This means my list may be a little unfair because of my tastes in games (so stuff like MadWorld, InFamous, or Prototype won’t be on here). And plus, I’m only one person so I can’t play ALL the games. But enough with the introductions, please sit back and read about my picks for Best Games of the Year SO FAR!

BEST ARCADE UPDATE/COMPILMATIONS
Since I grew up on old classic games, arcade remakes and collections are some of my favorite genres today! So there are a lot of games listed in this category.

Retro Game Challenge (DS)
This was based on a Japanese TV show where a guy plays old classic games and oftentimes gets frustrated. So we’ll probably never see it in the US. What’s neat about the game is that none of the classic titles in the collection are real. They’re made up specifically for this game. And aside from Rally King, each of the made-up games is really fun! The reason why Retro Game Challenge wins this award is because it captures the experience of playing classic 8-bit titles, even OUTSIDE the game. Experiences like talking about games with friends, and getting tips and cheat codes-not from the Internet—but from in-game fictional magazines. They’ve accurately depicted what it was like to play games back then. I doubt they’ll bring the sequel over, but I sure wish they would! I wonder if I should import it?

Runners Up:

Legacy of Ys: Books 1 and 2 (DS)
I never really got into the Ys games before, since they were on consoles I didn’t own. But I sure really did get into this classic update on the DS! It kept all the fun of the classic game with less of the frustrations that would sometimes come with that. And the music rocks. Can you guess who my favorite character was?

Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection (360, PS3)
Fantastic collection of Sega Genesis, Master System, and arcade games. And it was a good price, too. I wish more companies would do it this way rather than just sell one game via DLC.

Samurai Shodown Anthology (PS2, PSP, Wii)
A very nice collection of one of the most memorable and stylish SNK fighters around. Guess who my favorite characters are here, too!

Raiden Fighters Aces (Xbox 360)
Even though it only had 3 games, the attention to detail in the features was spectacular, and the 20 dollar price tag couldn’t be beat.

Space Invaders Extreme (Xbox Live)
Sure it was done on the DS last year, but the 360 version looks oh so good in high-def. Multiplayer modes are spiffy, too.

Bubble Bobble Plus! (WiiWare)
The last couple of Bubble Bobble updates left me cold, but this one works well because they didn’t change much. Worth the 600 points if you like these games.

BEST MUSIC GAME

DJ Max Fever (PSP)
It kind of wins by default. I thought it was neat that a super popular music game from Korea got brought to the US. Catchy music and fun videos. Gameplay was kind of hard, though. You’d think that my best music game choice would’ve been Rhythm Heaven, seeing that it was done by the WarioWare folks. But believe it or not, I didn’t like Rhythm Heaven. I never got the hang of the flicking controls, and I felt the game was too hard. So it doesn’t win anything from me. Sorry.

BEST FIGHTING GAME

Street Fighter 4 (360, PS3)
This one also kind of wins by default, as it’s the only fighting game I’ve played this year so far. I’m not really a fan of fighting games, though. Not my cup of tea. I guess SF4 is all right, but I can understand the complaints and problems people have with it. I really got SF4 because my little brothers and their friends loved playing Soul Calibur 4 so much, I thought they might enjoy playing SF4 as well. Unfortunately, they didn’t like it as much (neither do I). That’s why I didn’t get BlazBlue for them to play, plus 60 bucks is still a lot of money. Can you guess who my favorite Street Fighter 4 characters are?

I kind of feel guilty about giving the award to SF4 without playing BlazBlue, but again, like I said, 60 bucks is a lot of money and I can’t play everything! I have a feeling that by the end of the year, SF4 will be dethroned as fighting game of the year by some other brawlers. Upcoming we have King of Fighters…um…what are they on now? And Marvel vs. Capcom 2 as well as Tatsunoko vs. Capcom (provided they don’t delay it until next year, you know how Capcom is). But the fighting game I’m really looking forward to is Final Fantasy Dissidia on the PSP. I can’t wait to play as my favorite FF character and villain: Terra and Kefka, respectively.

BEST SPORTS GAME

We Ski and Snowboard (Wii)
Another default winner. I’m not too big into sports games so I rarely play them. While the sequel to We Ski is more of the same, it’s still lots of fun for everyone and the play control is so good that you don’t even need the balance board to have a good time. Namco really knows how to make family friendly sports games.

You might be wondering why there’s no Wii Punch Out on my best sports game list. I haven’t gotten around to playing it yet, and I’m not in a rush either. I don’t HATE the Punch Out games, but I’ve never really gotten into them. I played the NES game a few times at a friend’s, and I rented the SNES one once. Never really played the arcade game as I was more into Pac-Man type stuff, and the bigger kids hogged the Punch Out machine most of the time anyway. I’m sure the Wii Punch Out game is good, but eh, it just doesn’t interest me that much.

I have a feeling that Wii Sports Resort will probably dethrone We Ski and Snowboard by the end of the year, though. The first Wii Sports was great and it took over NES Super Dodge Ball as my favorite sports video game. To this day, Wii Sports is still the best example of the Wii’s strengths (which is both good and bad in a way). So I’ll be looking forward to Wii Sports Resort a lot.

BEST PUZZLE GAME

Boing! Docomodake DS
It’s a 2-D platformer action puzzler starring a mushroom mascot for a Japanese cell phone company, so I’m really surprised they brought it over here. It’s not too terribly challenging or anything, but it is fun, and worth the low price. And it helped stave off some of the boredom on the down times when I was visiting family in Alabama last time I was there.

Runners Up:

PictoBits (DSiWare)
It’s a fun and original downloadable game on the DSi. It’s pretty hard, though! I do like all the classic NES references and themes.

Mighty Flip Champs (DSiWare)
Another fun (but hard) downloadable DSi game. It’s a single screen 2-D romp where you can flip the ‘pages’ to progress. I wish WayForward would make another Shantae game.

WEIRDEST GAME

Treasure World (DS)
All you do in this game is search for Wi-Fi signals to collect stuff to show off online. It’s a pretty interesting idea, and rather weird, too. Even weirder is the fact that this game wasn’t even made in Japan, but right here in Austin, TX. I used to live there when I went to college!

Runners Up:

Gardening Mama (DS)
The Cooking Mama games are naturally weird. This is pretty much the same idea except with a gardening theme.

Major Minor’s Majestic March (Wii)
It’s the one and only marching band game, so that’s pretty weird. Also made by the folks who did PaRappa and the same character designer even did the characters here, too.

BEST RPG

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years (WiiWare)
A lot of the reviews for this one are rather negative, and I can understand some of the complaints. Like having to pay a few points for each chapter, for instance. But if you’re as big of a FF4 fan as me, I think you can look past some of these complaints and have fun with the game anyway. People griped about how they used the same graphics and locations, and that’s true. But in those same locations are new surprises and enemies and strategies. Folks have also said how it’s nowhere near as good as the original FF4. Now, the original FF4 is oftentimes on many people’s top RPG lists, including mine (alongside FF6 and Chrono Trigger). So that’s a pretty tall order to expect this to be as good. For what was originally a cell phone game in Japan, I think it’s pretty darn good, myself. I like to think that Square Enix was nice enough to release it here to give the US an opportunity to play this, although they probably really did it to make more money with the Final Fantasy franchise. But sometimes I think it’s OK to be a little bit naïve and look at the best of things and people. I’m having fun with FF4: The After Years and that’s all that matters, so that’s why it gets the award. Since I don’t play RPGs much anymore, After Years probably won’t have too much competition for the rest of the year, except for one game. I’m really looking forward to the next Mario & Luigi game on the DS: Bowser’s Inside Story. That has the potential to beat out After Years.

Runner Up:

My World, My Way (DS):
It’s not the gameplay that grabbed my interest on this one, but the premise. You play as a spoiled princess who goes on a quest to show an adventurer that she’s not a spoiled wimpy brat. But the princess has the power to pout her way through any situation (yes, there’s pout points and a pout menu). If enemies don’t give you enough gold or if you don’t like the area you’re in, pout and you can change it. The game really requires that you pout a lot if you want to get anywhere, either. Lots of cute lines and funny fourth wall breaking moments, too.

BEST POINT AND CLICK ADVENTURE
I think it’s awesome that I can even have this category, since this is one of my favorite game genres. And I have more than one game on the list already! Granted they’re all from the same company, but hey, I’ll be happy with it.

Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures (PC, 360)
All of TellTale’s games are great, but as a big Wallace and Gromit fan, I’ve been really enjoying these. They’re a bit easier and shorter, so kids can enjoy them, too. And they’re just plain charming games.

Runners Up:

Sam & Max Save the World (360)
This is actually my favorite, but since this was technically released before this year on other platforms, (PC first, then Wii a year later), I really can’t put it too high on the list. It’s the same game as before, but if you don’t already have it on the PC or Wii, you should definitely give it a try if you have a 360.

Tales of Monkey Island (PC, Wii)
Only the first episode has been released, so I may like it better as time goes on. I was really into point and click adventures as a kid, but I never played much of the Monkey Island games. The sci-fi themes of Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken interested me more.

BEST 3-D ADVENTURE

The Maw (Xbox Live)
This hidden gem by an upstart game company was quite a fun Xbox Live surprise. You’re an alien boy who totes around a monster who eats everything and grows bigger. It’s one part Banjo-Kazooie, one part Katamari Damacy, and one part A Boy and His Blob. Only problem is the game is incredibly easy. There’s NO way you can die! But because of that, it makes The Maw a great game for kids, and good kids’ games on the 360 are hard to find.

Runners Up:

Ghostbusters: The Video Game (360)
I nearly gave this game the award, but I decided to give it to The Maw instead. But it was close. I decided to root for the underdog, and the one player game on Ghostbusters was kind of short. If I had a ‘best movie’ game category, this would definitely win. I still want to play this online, so let me know if you want to do that with me.

The Munchables (Wii)
I hate to copy other reviewers’ descriptions, but calling it a cross between Pac-Man and Katamari Damacy is right on the money. You control a round ball and eat everything in sight, but you grow as you eat and the world gets smaller around you like Katamari. The characters have a Digimon/Tamagotchi vibe to them, too, so that may be the Bandai influence going on there. Not a very hard game, but it’s still fun and that means it’s also great for kids. Only problem I had with the game is that the only motion control was to flick the remote to jump. That’s so stupid! It’s just as easy to press a button to jump. Luckily, Namco was smart enough to put classic controller support, so I just did that.

Marble Saga: Kororinpa (Wii)
It’s another ‘tilt the maze to roll a marble’ Wii game, but this one’s a heck of a lot better than the Wii Monkey Ball game (which is a shame since the GameCube ones were so great). Even though it had less stuff, I think I actually enjoyed the first Kororinpa game more, but the sequel is pretty slick, too.  I want to get the new Steambot Chronicles game on the PSP since I loved the first one so much.

BEST 2-D ADVENTURE

Loco Roco 2 (PSP)
It may be more of the same, but when the first game was so much fun, that’s okay. Loco Roco is one of the few Sony properties left that I still go ga-ga over. How can anyone hate such a cheerful and happy game? There’s actually a 2-D game that I liked better than Loco Roco 2, but it’s getting an even bigger award so I decided to let Loco Roco 2 have the spotlight here.

Runner Up:

The Legendary Starfy (DS)
It’s a great game for kids and platformer beginners, but I’m just glad a Starfy game finally made it to the US!

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Taiko drum roll, please…

CARY’S BEST 2009 VIDEO GAME OF THE YEAR SO FAR AWARD

Klonoa (Wii)
Hey, what can I say? It was my favorite game on the PSOne, and the Wii remake does everything right. If you want a good example of the kinds of games I like, here you go. It may be short and easy, but even hardcore gamers can appreciate the solid gameplay, bittersweet story, imaginative characters and worlds, and all the hidden secrets. If you missed out when Klonoa was on the PSOne, don’t make the same mistake again! If there’s one game deserving of a second chance, it’s this one. Yeah I know I’m off my rocker for giving Klonoa the best award, but hey, remember what I said at the beginning. It’s my awards show and I can do what I want. But Klonoa will face some stiff competition by the end of the year if it wants to keep the title. Even from upcoming 2-D games like Muramasa and New Super Mario Bros. Wii! And who knows what other surprises may come out. Pardon me for being so positive, but it looks like we have a lot to look forward to.

And that’s all for now. In the comments section, feel free to speak out on my picks. Do you agree with them or am I off my rocker? What were YOUR favorite games of 2009 SO FAR? –Cary

Tags: Game Reviews