Rorschach.net

• Opening the floodgates. I have a few Google Wave invites for friends. Let me know. #

Here’s some thoughts on the games I’ve played in 2009 in executive-bullet-point style. Lists are in no particular order.

There’s some big games missing from this list. As you probably know my birthday is 12/24 and I have a reasonable amount of disposable income. So it’s around this time of year when all the holiday game releases come out that I’m banned from the store or else I ruin gift giving opportunities.

The Great - Highly recommended

• Warhammer 40k, Dawn of War II – Impressive twist on RTS conventions.
• Plants vs. Zombies – Tower defense with Popcap style. Fun casual game.
• Section 8 – Great take on class based multiplayer FPS. The next Tribes.
• Red Faction: Guerilla – One of my two most favorite games this year. Everything should blow up this good. Takes the crown of open world destruction from Mercenaries.
• Brutal Legend – Other favorite game. Don’t let Jack Black, Metal, or the RTS scare you. Great story, great gameplay. Try something different instead of Call of Duty 6 or Madden 10.
• Forza Motorsport 3 – If you’re a car nut, get this game. If you like Top Gear, get this game. If not, then get this game anyway and you will be.
• Sword of the Stars: Argos Naval Yard – My friends made the perfect send off for 3 years of expanding and tweaking a great game.

The Good - Not bad, worth your time

• Left for Dead 2 – New maps, new weapons, new special infected. $50 for something that could have been dribbled out through DLC.
• Shadow Complex – Metroidvania in 2009. If you like that kind of thing.
• Splosion Man – Silly puzzle platformer. Chuck Jones kinda style.
• The Beatles: Rock Band – Beautiful tribute to an amazing band. Refines the Rock Band experience even further.
• Torchlight – Methadone for WoW addicts, something to tide you over until Diablo III.

The Meh - Dissapointing, some redeeming qualities

• Puzzle Quest: Galatrix – None of the charm of the previous Puzzle Quest.
• Arma 2 – Massively ambitious, too bad it’s broken in many ways.
• Hearts of Iron III – See Arma 2.
• Empire: Total War – Big leap forward for the Total War series. Too bad the AI doesn’t know what to do with water among other problems.

• Assaulted by Jackson 5 Xmas music at the food court. Trouble keeping lunch down. #

• RT @FortZombie Fort Zombie confirmed for Halloween 2009, Oct 30 (via @PdxInteractive) [So. Surprise! -fz] #