Appetizers

Trine – Although this is a very meaty dish for a downloadable game, it was still over with a little too quickly for my tastes. The absolutely gorgeous graphics kept me riveted in place just looking at the scenery. I liked the RPG-lite aspects of character progression, but to me it seemed you could pretty much get though the entire game with just the Thief and Wizard. I’ll keep poking my head into Trine-land to work on the silver trophies and gawk at the visuals.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time – I still shake my head in disbelief every time I play this game. Can the SNES game I loved so dearly really be here on my PS3, updated in amazing HD glory? Wait, it also has trophies and online multiplayer? Was I ganked by a squad of Foot soldiers or is this really happening? The game is short, easy, and fairly shallow but I still love it for reminding me the good ol’ 16-bit days.

Main Course

Torchlight – Sometimes I wish I’d never found this game. For me, it’s like playing single player World of Warcraft. Never ending piles of rare, unique and set specific loot, a powerful and loyal pet, cool looking gear, endless random dungeons, questing that is never tedious and you can save any fricking where you want. Plus it runs like a champ on my laptop, ensuring I can get my Torchlight fix no matter where I am. I have a feeling 2010 will be filled with this excellent game as well.

Street Fighter IV – What can I say, I bought a $125 joystick and customized it just to play this game. It’s not perfect, and some of the new characters suck (I’m looking at you Rufus) but SFIV is all that I expected and more. I love the art style, I love the Super and Ultra combos and I love being the only one using C. Viper and Blanka online. And although I wish they’d have gone with DLC instead of a new release, I’m really looking forward to Super Street Fighter IV next year.

Crimson Gem Saga – This was one of my surprise favorites for the year. A truly deep turn based RPG with great graphics, interesting characters, a sense of humor and I can play it anywhere I like. It’s probably about a 40 hour adventure too, so I’m not even close to finishing it. Another perfect PSP game to pick up and play for 10 minutes, or 2 hours, and then save and go back to chasing children or pretend that I’m working.

Killzone 2 – If anyone ever tells you that PS3 and Xbox 360 games look pretty much the same, then I would challenge them to compare Killzone 2 to any 360 game and tell me it doesn’t blow them completely away. Despite a predictable shallow story, this was my favorite FPS of the year. Absolutely stunning graphics, excellent weapons and controls and addictive multiplayer. I loved this game all the way up to the final boss battle and then that cheap bastard done pissed me off. Ok, so I loved 99% of the game. For me, Killzone 2 was the pinnacle of FPS gaming in 2009.

Comfort Food

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 – MUA2 could have been an amazing game, but instead the developers were lazy and gave us a copy and paste of the first game, and then unpasted some of the good stuff and dumbed it down even further. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it could have been so much cooler if they’d at least tried. As it stands, MUA2 is a great action game, allowing you to team up more Marvel heroes and take it to the bad guys with all their special powers and new Fusion moves. There are also new characters to destroy stuff with via DLC. I particularly enjoy using Jean Grey and Ms. Marvel together, they pretty much vaporize everything on the screen. Whenever I play MUA2 I get that warm, cozy feeling that I’ve done this all before. Wonder why that is?

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Yes, this is a great game. Yes, it’s disturbing at times. And yet it’s still a pretty run of the mill FPS with great graphics and some neat gimmicks to make things interesting. I’m a sucker for a methodical take cover & shoot FPS and MW2 fits the bill nicely. It’s not nearly as great as Killzone 2 (and not as pretty either) but blowing up Russians with Predator drone missiles as if they were ants under a magnifying glass is great fun.

Guilty Pleasures

Half-Minute Hero – I’m still in love with this game. I’m over five hours into this alleged 30 second game and it’s still a blast. The last time I played I got caught in an avalanche and had to fight polar bears naked. It was epic. This is the perfect portable game, right down to the save system. If you have a PSP, dust it off for this game, you will not regret it!

Plants vs. Zombies – This game didn’t hold my interest as much as I expected but it’s still a very fun distraction. I fire this up on the laptop and play it with my 10 year old daughter, she loves finding out about the new types of zombies as we move through the game. Crunchy!

There were other games I played in 2009, many of them being 2008 releases that I was late in playing. I’m still working on the DLC for Valkyria Chronicles. Prince of Persia was one of my favorite games of the year. I’m slinking my way though Dead Space and loving it so far. I also have a stack of 2009 games that I won’t even be able to touch until sometime next year. Games like Ghostbusters, Dead Space Extraction, Dragon Age, House of the Dead Overkill and Uncharted 2. This was such a great year for games, I can’t wait to play the goodies that 2010 will have to offer us.

The premise of Half-Minute Hero sounds sounds simplistic but essentially the goal is to save the world from the Evil Lord in 30 seconds. Doesn’t sound like much of a game from that description but I assure you, there’s much more to it. The game is broken up into three main chapters and with some challenge stages that can be played separately. Each chapter is made up of several episodes, and yes the goal is to complete each one in 30 seconds. Every episode is set up so that it feels like you’ve played an entire game, the credits even roll after you complete an episode. The next episode starts up with a recap of what you just accomplished and then sets the stage for the next Evil Lord you must defeat.

I suppose the best way to describe the gameplay is to say it’s a mini-RPG, with minimal user input. You can acquire gear and weapons with your standard RPG stats, and each item nicely affects your performance. You are then dispatched to defeat the Evil Lord and the 30 second timer starts ticking away. However, there are a few caveats to the time limit. Time stops when you enter villages or towns. You can also buy more time from
the Time Goddess (who is wickedly funny) but your funds have to be closely managed between purchasing healing items, buying the necessary weapons and gear or extending your time. You may not always have the money to extend the time limit and will have to hustle or watch the Evil Lord destroy the world when time runs out. Of course, the Time Goddess has ways of putting you back in the action but this makes every episode require a different set of strategies. Do you buy more time or pick up that Fly Swatter that will let you defeat insect enemies in one hit? So many decisions, so little time…

Once you set out on your adventure, you’ll run around on the world map looking for the Evil Lord and will then bump into any number of random encounters. Combat switches to side view and is automatic (hey, you really can’t do turn based or hack ‘n slash in just 30 seconds) so you’ll plow through enemies or be kicked back to the world map. You’ll also level up based on these encounters, sometimes 2-3 levels per fight, which is required for when you face the toughies at the end of each episode. There may also be side quests that have to be completed before you can tackle the Evil Lord, almost requiring that you buy extra time. Defeating the Evil Lord pops up a flag on his castle, Super Mario Bros. 3 style and then you’ve saved the world. For now.

Graphically the game is very different from what you’d expect from a PSP game. You get a top down world map view ala The Legend of Zelda (yes, the NES version) and then combat is sidescrolling ala Super Mario Bros. (again, the NES version). If my hints didn’t already tip you off, the game is presented in an over exaggereated 8/16-Bit style. It’s done in such a way that you can tell they’re making things purposely blurry or pixelated to poke fun at the adventure games from days gone by. I really like it, cracks me up when you get close-ups of your hero or the Evil Lords and have to try to figure out what you’re looking at.

I really enjoy games that don’t take themselves too seriously and Half-Minute Hero surely knows how to make fun of its gameplay gimmick. About 10 episodes in, the game pits you against a crocodilian Evil Lord and admits it’s having a hard time coming up with new Evil Lords for you to fight. Sometimes after battles on the world map you’ll get the message “You > Evil”. Another of the Evil Lords is an afro’d wizard that stole a
ship’s sails for bedsheets, complete with groovy disco music in the background. Even the gear and supporting characters are all in on the joke.

For a handheld game, this one hits on all the right levels. You get some quick, fun gameplay, with enough adventure and RPG elements to keep you coming back time after time. For a game that sells 30 seconds of adventure, I’ve spent nearly three hours with it already and I’m still on the 1st chapter. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to save the world and the clock is ticking.