In Part 4 of the Awards/Shopping Guide, Leveling Down will be tackling some of the more controversial categories: Best Story, Best Value, and Most Overrated. Admittedly, these categories are VERY subjective and are only our opinions, and on some counts even espion4ge and I don’t see *exactly* eye to eye. Nonetheless, controversy is a lot of fun, so might as well give it a shot!
Best Xbox 360 Storyline of 2009
Batman: Arkham Asylum [winner]
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Halo 3: ODST
Brutal Legend
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Assassin’s Creed II
As I’ve stated before, I love a good yarn, so if a game’s got a great story, I’ll forgive a lot of its flaws. I originally got into video games because of story, which is why I was so into role playing games when I was a kid. There were some games with great stories this year, so if you are interested in a game with a good story, this category is your best bet.
All six of the games above have great stories, but I loved Batman: Arkham Asylum the most. It’s challenging to take a character who has been used in so many other mediums and create a new, unique, and gripping story, but the writers in Batman: Arkham Asylum did a marvelous job of pulling it off. The premise of the story is awesome: the Joker gets himself arrested so that he gets locked up in Arkham in order to hatch his diabolical plan. It’s a classic comic book story, but the story is paced extremely well and features a lot of guest cameos from classic villains. The island of Arkham comes alive as you make your way through it, and I wanted to keep playing to see what happened in the end. Sure, you know you’re going to defeat the Joker, but the ride was one well worth taking.
The Secret of Monkey Island is an old classic that was re-released with redone graphics and voices for XBLA this summer. Its story is great because it’s so unique: you are a wanna-be pirate who gets caught up in a zany adventure that pits you against a zombie pirate.
Halo 3: ODST is on this list because it had such a unique take on storytelling. The game is set in an open hub world and you find yourself separated from your squad-mates. You gradually discover what happened to them by reliving (playing) through their memories. It’s a great way to tell a story, and probably would have won the category if it were not for weak characterization. I couldn’t really tell the difference between the ODSTs…not a good thing.
Brutal Legend is my runner-up in this category, and as I’ve stated elsewhere, it is a well-written heavy metal epic. The story is much deeper than it has any right to be, and there are some instances where I was genuinely shocked by what happened. It’s a bit weird that you can’t have more than one save game, which is really unfortunate, since I would love to replay the game and story again without resetting my stats.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been praised enough on this site and elsewhere, but its story is to be noted for its absolute insanity. It is a roller coaster of a thrill ride that is not to be missed.
Last, but not least, Assassin’s Creed II tells a great story about revenge. The main character, Ezio, is much more likable than Altair was, and he actually shows growth throughout the course of the game…albeit not much. The intertwining of Ezio’s storyline with what’s going on in the contemporary world with Desmond Miles is pretty cool too. The biggest drawback of this game is they somehow completely messed up Kristen Bell’s character model…unacceptable.
Honorable mention goes to Dragon Age: Origins and Ghostbusters: The Video Game, two games that we haven’t had the chance to play through yet, but that we’ve heard great things about. Dragon Age: Origins is supposed to have a great storyline affected by your choices, though I’d expect nothing less from Bioware. Many also claim that Ghostbusters is practically a sequel to the movies. Expect our impressions on both games in the coming months when we get through our backlogs.
Best Xbox 360 Value of 2009
Battlefield: 1943
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Borderlands
Dragon Age: Origins
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 [winner]
Left 4 Dead 2
When thinking about best value, I always think about how much gaming and enjoyment I can receive for a title relative to the amount of money I spent on it. Since multiplayer-focused games have the most legs, usually they end up being the best value (since you never “beat” the game, there’s rarely a reason to stop until you get bored). But to be a good value, a game also has to be worth all the hours you pour into it. All of the games in this category will give you plenty of gaming for one fixed price.
Unsurprisingly, the one XBLA title in this list is a multiplayer game. You can pick up Battlefield: 1943 for the low price of $15 and get a nice pick up and play multiplayer first person shooter. The three maps are pretty well balanced, and the vehicles are very fun to use. DICE’s Frostbite engine is holding up nicely: huge explosions and breakable cover prevent people from camping too much, speeding up the action. Unfortunately, most people have moved on to Modern Warfare 2, so this train has more or less left the station.
Batman: Arkham Asylum is a single player title with a good amount of re-playability. The story mode is lengthy, but where you will really find a lot of value is in the combat and predator challenges. If you want to get 3 bats (stars) on each challenge, it will take you much longer than the story mode. You also need to be a bit of a glutton of pain, so it’s not going to be for everyone. But if you love a hefty challenge, there is a lot of value to be found in Arkham Asylum.
The first person shooter WoW-type game Borderlands needs to be mentioned in this category because if questing and looting is your type of thing, there are 50+ hours of gameplay for you in this game. Grab three friends and run around Pandora killing everything that moves and looting every chest you find. Then, after you finish the game, do it again until you hit the level cap! Borderlands features addicting gameplay that is slightly marred by some curious design decisions, but is a good value for your money nonetheless.
Dragon Age: Origins is this year’s Fallout 3 and this category’s runner up. You’ll pour 60+ hours into the game’s main quest and then you will be tempted to play it again to see what happens as a different character! Though the game is better on the PC, Bioware did a good job with the 360 port (with Achievement support!). If you are a solo gamer who nonetheless wants to get a lot of playtime into one game and one game only, you could probably survive all of 2010 with Dragon Age. Unfortunately, Dragon Age isn’t for everyone, which is why it came in second to…
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Would you expect anything else? You’ll spend 6 hours on the campaign. Then you’ll spend another 10 doing it on Veteran. Then you’ll spend another 10-15 hours trying to get 3 stars on every Special Ops mission. Then, if you feel like it, you can dip your toes into multiplayer. Oh, and if some of those things don’t sound appealing to you, you’ll STILL get your money’s worth from the aspects that are appealing to you. I’ve poured over 36 hours into this game, and I’m not even halfway to my first Prestige in multiplayer. Modern Warfare 2 is the perfect game to bring with you to a deserted island…provided that deserted island has a high speed internet connection. (Note: I wrote this BEFORE I saw espion4ge used the same analogy yesterday – great minds think alike I guess.)
In case you don’t feel like fighting humans, you could always pick up Left 4 Dead 2. It features the same addictive gameplay of the original, but with more game modes and more maps. You can pick up the game for $40 in most places now – an amazing value. The only thing is, you really want to be playing this game with friends, so make sure you party up!
Xbox 360 Most Overrated Game of 2009
Street Fighter IV (Metacritic: 94)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Metacritic: 92) ["winner"]
The Beatles: Rock Band (Metacritic: 89)
Left 4 Dead 2 (Metacritic: 89)
This is a tough category to call, and definitely controversial. To me, an overrated game is hyped more than it deserves or scored higher than it deserves. Obviously, it’s a very subjective category, but it’s also a lot of fun to think about. So every game on this list is a game that I, cmfl3x, believe isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. For the record, I love all four of these games, so before you flame me, consider that!
Don’t get me wrong: I think Street Fighter IV is a great game. I also think it benefited from being the most mainstream Street Fighter game since Street Fighter 2. The game is very well done and well balanced, but are the new characters that great? Do I really care about Rufus and EL FUERTE!? The online multiplayer’s lack of quarter matches is also inexcusable and just detracts from the fun. So despite all its great qualities, I think Street Fighter IV was definitely overrated.
Street Fighter benefited from nostalgia, while the “winner” in this category, Batman: Arkham Asylum, managed to become overrated due to the relative mediocrity of its competition. Outside of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and a few other exceptions, there haven’t been many good superhero games, so when Batman came out, it blew people away, and rightfully so. Yet the game does have flaws which all the positive press managed to ignore. There really isn’t a lot of exploration to be done, and some gameplay sections are a bit repetitive and oversimplified. For example, the Scarecrow portions of the game are awesome story and setting wise, but incredibly lame gameplay wise.
The Beatles: Rock Band is a pretty amazing experience, but the fact of the matter is, it’s just too short. There are 45 songs, but remember, many Beatles’ songs are under 4 minutes long. Compared to other music games, there is much less re-playability. And of course, if you don’t like The Beatles, you are out of luck. The game is great, especially for fans of the Beatles, and its presentation is top notch, but you’re still paying top dollar for a much shorter experience.
Finally, after all the hype, controversy, and anticipation, Left 4 Dead 2 unfortunately feels like an expansion. An excellent expansion, no doubt, but the game still is a bit overrated. There are some new modes, maps, and weapons, but does that justify a full-on sequel? I guess I’m kinda of biased, because I still wish Valve had taken more time with this game (and not released it after Modern Warfare 2). Regardless, the game is definitely worth playing, just be aware that it’s basically a refined version of the first…without Louis.
Our 2009 Xbox 360 Awards/Holiday Shopping Guide will wrap up tomorrow with both espion4ge and me sharing our own nominees and winner for best game of the year. Stay tuned!
There’s a story to MW2!??! I thought it was just about spending endless hours online getting sniped by 12 year olds. Don’t forget about the added bonus of enjoyment using the night vision goggles.
I am shocked you don’t have Borderlands in your “Most Overrated” section. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that I know you didn’t.
Haha, I was going to, but I decided I was too biased.