{"id":2381,"date":"2010-01-05T11:30:37","date_gmt":"2010-01-05T17:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lungfishopolis.com\/?p=2381"},"modified":"2009-12-22T09:06:04","modified_gmt":"2009-12-22T15:06:04","slug":"lungfishopolis-best-of-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greghowley.com\/lungfish\/2010\/01\/lungfishopolis-best-of-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Lungfishopolis Best of 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a tough call, but I’d probably have to say that my favorite game of 2009 is Dragon Age: Origins<\/a>. The game’s difficulty<\/a> has certainly been a struggle at times, but the setting, the story, and the characters are amazingly well done. More so than any other game I’ve played before, it’s easy to feel like the characters in Dragon Age are real people. I feel that my character has such a strong brotherlike kinship with Alistair. And when I see a conversation option to tell Leliana that she should leave the party, I shudder at the thought of how badly it would hurt her feelings.<\/p>\n

I spent a lot of time playing Street Fighter 4<\/a> earlier in the year. According to Raptr, I only played for 34 hours, but it felt like a lot more. Based on my prowess in the arcades playing Street Fighter 2, I expected to play online and kick everyone’s ass. Sadly for me, that isn’t how it turned out. The level of online play is way higher than I’d have guessed. And while I was able to generally hold my own with Guile and Dhalsim, there were plenty of players online that stomped me into the ground. Mostly Ryu and Akuma players. Of course, the fights that were the most fun were the ones that were very close.<\/p>\n

Another game that I’m absolutely loving is Trine<\/a>. The Playstation 3 release was delayed to the point of absurdity, but it was worth it to get a 3-player game that I can play with my wife on our big TV. It’s fun single-player, but it’s much better multiplayer.<\/p>\n

The game is a beautiful 2D sidescroller with a lot of depth. Your characters gain abilities as they go up levels, and the loot you can pick up along the way is really useful. I’m slowly getting more and more trophies. I’m going to try to get them all. I’m having a lot of trouble with the “Master Ninja” trophy, and I’m dreading the “Better Than Developers!” trophy, but I’m going to give it the old college try.<\/p>\n

Plants vs Zombies<\/a> is a game that I had not expected to love. I downloaded the demo<\/a>, and ended up liking it so much that I purchased the game. The tower defense in Plants vs Zombies is done in lanes, like in a bowling alley. This is one of the things that had initially turned me off about the game, but in practice it ends up being far more fun than I’d expected. The game has three different screens, and each has a daytime and nighttime cycle. Each introduces a new gameplay element that complicates things: tombstones, the pool, the angled roof. To this day, Plants vs Zombies is the only game in which I’ve gotten 100% completion on achievements.<\/p>\n

There are a number of games that I played this year that I’d like to add to this list but just can’t. Ghostbusters<\/a> was good, but I don’t think it’s game of the year material. Ditto for Prototype<\/a>. And I’d like to include Dead Space<\/a> and Okami<\/a>, which I finished playing this year, but I’m not because they weren’t 2009 games.<\/p>\n

Make sure to come back later this week for Brandon and Frank’s take on the games of 2009.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"