One of the Xbox 360′s strongest features compared to other consoles is its multiplayer gameplay, which can probably be attributed to the Live infrastructure. It is thus not surprisingly to see strong multiplayer games on this system. For today’s awards, I will be discussing the best multiplayer games released this year, and the one better than the rest.

I will also be discussing the best new IP and best sequel of the year. It’s good to see that in 2009, there were nearly an equal number of good new IPs and sequels. The moment we begin seeing only sequels releasing and new IPs no longer developed is the moment the game industry stops advancing. It’s easy to support sequels since you know what you’re getting yourself into, but this year was perhaps the year with the largest number of development studios shutting down. Continue to take a chance by supporting new IPs – the developers need this type of support to stay in business and come up with new and exciting games to push our industry forward!

Best Xbox 360 Multiplayer Game of 2009

Street Fighter IV
Halo Wars
Battlefield 1943
Halo 3: ODST
Borderlands
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 [winner]
Left 4 Dead 2

In determining the best multiplayer game of the year, I’ve considered not only whether the game itself is fun to play, but various other aspects that come with multiplayer: customization options, co-op, ease of use, appeal, etc. In short, the best multiplayer game should provide for the best overall multiplayer experience.

Street Fighter IV took several steps forward in the online multiplayer arena for fighting games – most notably the automated matchmaking while you played Arcade mode and the ability to unlock and use titles to further personalize yourself online. The big misstep in Street Fighter IV’s multiplayer was the lack of any sort of party room where multiple players could join and take turns fighting each other together. This will be fixed when Super Street Fighter IV comes out in March of 2010.

While Halo Wars was the only serious RTS game released on the 360 this year, its multiplayer was quite well done and the gameplay was simplified enough to be quite playable on the console. Matchmaking was in-place, allowing you to take on 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3 matches with either random partners or arranged teams – just like in Blizzard’s Warcraft III games. Borrowing a page from the Halo games, Halo Wars has extensive stats tracked for every game played, and you can access these stats through the website to see how you perform, what your opponents were ranked at, the results of each match, etc. In short, the game provides a very strong multiplayer infrastructure to be a competitive game. Unfortunately, not many Xbox 360 players are still playing Halo Wars these days, as arranged team matchmaking can take several minutes before you’re able to go up against another team.

Battlefield 1943 belongs up here as the only “multiplayer” only title of the list. At $15, 360 owners are able to download this Live Arcade title and jump right into a handful of online maps and play the beloved primary Battlefield mode: Conquest. The vehicular combat that the series is known for is present, as well as stat tracking on the EA website. One minor thing to consider about Battlefield 1943 is the simplification of the game by having unlimited ammo and only three distinct, yet intuitive classes. It works, and while I would have loved to see more maps, it was certainly fun for the $15 we spent playing it this past summer. Playing with friends can be a little dicey in the game though, as you can still be split onto separate teams from your squad from time to time if your squad dominates too much.

Halo 3: ODST is a controversial multiplayer package. Within the game comes a new multiplayer Firefight mode, allowing for you and up to three buddies to take on wave after wave of Covenant as long as you can stay alive – injecting an enjoyable arcade style co-operative mode to the Halo universe. But is that really enough to make Halo 3: ODST stand out as one of the stronger multiplayer games this year? Nope. This is why Halo 3′s multiplayer and every charged map to date is included with the game. This stands as potentially a fantastic bargain for those that have never played Halo 3 multiplayer before, but for 360 owners, if you haven’t already played Halo 3 multiplayer by now, you probably never will. For many of us, we bought the game, played some Firefight, and were done with it.

Borderlands gets points for the thought that was involved in implementing a RPG game like this with up to three other buddies. The enemies scale in difficulty, the loot gets more impressive, and every player can go back into their own solo games with the progress and quests they made in multiplayer. Everything seems like it’s going to be an enjoyable multiplayer game – and it is, provided that you and all of your buddies only play together when everyone is on. Unfortunately, people can’t realistically all maintain the same gaming schedules, and thus the RPG element of Borderlands hurts the game’s multiplayer component enough to make it a difficult game to enjoy with friends. This is not really inherent to the design of the game, but the mere limitations of making an RPG have multiplayer.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is Leveling Down’s vote for Best Multiplayer Game of the Year. If it’s one game that you are stuck on a desert island with but have an Internet connection, this is your best bet. The amount of multiplayer customization the series has become known for in this game is ridiculous, allowing any player to focus on his strengths when playing competitively. With so many guns, accessories, Perks, Killstreak rewards and the like, you can play multiplayer however you want. And while Modern Warfare 2 also has an addictive experience level system, it doesn’t hinder your progress in the game – it merely provides you with more options. Throw in the ability to unlock new custom emblems and logos to display in-game, over 20 co-op missions, and many different game modes besides the traditional Team Deathmatch, and we have a multiplayer game here that some players may not budge from until Modern Warfare 3 comes out. The only negative issue about the multiplayer is that Party Chat is disabled for several of the game modes, but there are manual workarounds.

One thing that Left 4 Dead 2 excels in on the multiplayer side that the other games nominated in this category can’t touch is co-op. Left 4 Dead 2′s primary campaign focuses on just you and three buddies trying to make your way through over 20 well-designed levels and specifically for this aspect, the game cannot be beat. There’s no experience levels you need to worry about in this game (like Borderlands) – grab three other guys and start killing some zombies. On top of that, Left 4 Dead 2 has a few more competitive modes if co-op isn’t enough. There’s a Survival mode where you compete to stay alive the longest against ridiculous odds, and a Versus mode & Scavenge mode where you and up to three other players can take on four other players with one side playing as the Survivors and another side as the Infected and the two sides switching every round. From what I understand, new to Left 4 Dead 2 is team matchmaking, allowing you and your buddies to go up against other teams within the Versus mode. The adversarial modes in Left 4 Dead 2 don’t play as well as they do in Modern Warfare 2, due to a lack of customization, unlocks, and even simple stat tracking. Still, Left 4 Dead 2′s co-op makes it still a game worth considering for multiplayer fans.

Best Xbox 360 New IP of 2009

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
Shadow Complex
Batman: Arkham Asylum [winner]
Brutal Legend
Borderlands
DJ Hero
Dragon Age: Origins

While some companies are content to release sequel after sequel for minimal risk, others take a chance and decide on something completely new. Ironically, these games themselves have potential to spawn sequels, so my criteria in determining which game is the best new IP is the one that I am anticipating the sequel from most.

In a fighting game world populated with sequels such as Street Fighter IV, Soul Calibur IV, Virtual Fighter 5, Tekken 6, and King of Fighters XII, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger stands alone as one of the only new fighting game IPs to the market. It’s also a very good fighting game with fresh character design, an innovative gameplay style that keeps all the characters very unique, and excellent presentation. If you tire of all the other fighting games on the market and want something completely fresh, BlazBlue is the one to check out.

Some consider Shadow Complex their game of the year, and while I may not feel that strongly about the game, I believe it does deserve a spot here on the best new IPs list of 2009. Shadow Complex successfully combined a “2.5D” Unreal graphics engine with Metroid style gameplay, and the result was a modernized version of the beloved classic. Unfortunately, its primary drawback is that the story was practically non-existent. I also don’t see how a sequel to the game could work – will you find yourself in a new abandoned base and unarmed, only to look for new gear upgrades in order to unlock new rooms? Shadow Complex is a great game, but whether it can be a great franchise is yet to be determined.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is our Best New IP of the year. This was somewhat of a technical call, as the Batman IP has been around for quite a long while. However, this particular Batman gaming IP is new, and it looks very promising. The graphics engine was phenomenal, the combat system perfect, and the amount of lore in the Batman universe can easily lend itself to more sequels. Of all the nominees in this list, I’m most anticipating a sequel to Arkham Asylum, with the hopes that the investigation gameplay is more refined (Batman is the world’s greatest detective, after all) and the bosses more unique and better designed next time around.

Brutal Legend was an interesting “experiment” for Tim Schafer. It combined action/adventure with real time strategy, and infused that combination with heavy metal and humor. The storyline, voice actors, and presentation were well regarded, but the gameplay itself fell a bit flat. Apparently the mixing of the action/adventure and RTS genres left out enough aspects from both genres to not really please fans of either genre. Fortunately, Tim Schafer has been building a fanbase with every new game he designs, and whatever he designs next is sure to keep the charm that all his games have had. To be honest, I’d be more interested in seeing a completely new game from him rather than a sequel to Brutal Legend. Does he even do sequels?

Borderlands is one of the bigger new successful IPs this year, and for good reason: it is one of the first games to successfully combine FPS with RPG. While its multiplayer suffered due to the inherent limitations of RPG aspects in general, the combination was solid from a single player standpoint and I’m sure there are many new fans of not only the game, but the genre. My hopes is that in future sequels, the weapon types are a bit more varied and items are less randomly generated.

DJ Hero is also one of the new interesting IPs created this year. It actually had a lot going for it: an exciting track list, a new peripheral, and innovative gameplay. But perhaps people have already tired of music peripheral games, and the lack of any sort of real party mode for DJ Hero led to its poor sales and probably the end of the franchise. One also has to wonder at this point whether or not the Hero name in the title helps it or hinders it due to the over-saturation of Hero games nowadays.

Rounding out the top new IPs for this year is Dragon Age: Origins, a new RPG from the makers of Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Mass Effect. While this looks to be a solid RPG (and winner of our best RPG of the year), the game doesn’t seem to bring many new innovations to the table as an epic fantasy RPG and a spiritual successor to the beloved Baldur’s Gate series. With this first game being titled “Origins”, sequels in the Dragon Age franchise are bound to be released. Note that some complain that the game is too long and it has too many moral choices with game-channging consequences, so perhaps there’s such a thing as too much RPG in an RPG!

Best Xbox 360 Sequel of 2009

Street Fighter IV
Resident Evil 5
Guitar Hero 5
Tekken 6
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Assassin’s Creed II [winner]
Left 4 Dead 2

In determining the best sequel award, I’ve evaluated the winner based on how much better a game is than its predecessor(s). If the jump is significant, it has cause to be considered an amazing sequel. But what if the game before it was already amazing? That begs the question of whether the sequel is even really necessary. Regardless, let’s get to the list.

Street Fighter IV is our runner up for Best Sequel. It’s tough to really think what Street Fighter IV is a true sequel to: Street Fighter II or Street Fighter III. Unlike the other games in this category where their predecessors are on the same console generation or only one console generation prior, both Street Fighter II and Street Fighter III were on consoles several generations prior to the Xbox 360. While each of these earlier Street Fighters stood out strongly on their respective console generations, it wasn’t until Street Fighter IV was released that many fighting game fans finally felt that Street Fighter had caught up to the present. Let’s face it: Street Fighter IV closed the generation gap by wowing fans, and for that it is recognized as an outstanding sequel.

Resident Evil 5 is a pretty good game in its own right, but an example of a sequel that is worse than its predecessor. Of course, being the sequel to a game that many considered game of the year (and even game of the system for the Gamecube), meant Resident Evil 5 just had too much pressure to live up to. If you can deal with the AI partner or find a friend to play it through with, the game is actually quite enjoyable.

Guitar Hero 5 – while rated pretty highly and many call a definite improvement over Guitar Hero World Tour, the question that many of us are wondering about is whether this was even a necessary sequel. Sure it was slightly better than its predecessor, but when the bulk of the enjoyment for these types of games falls merely on the songs, implementing a Rock Band based DLC store may be a better way to go than to churn out sequel after sequel onto disc with limited export functionality. Still, it looks like Neversoft is finally catching onto what Harmonix has been trying to accomplish. Perhaps there won’t be the need for a Guitar Hero 6. Wait, who am I kidding?

Tekken 6 is also starting to get a bit guilty of the “over-sequel” syndrome as it’s a sequel that plays it safe and continues to satisfy the fans. But does it reinvent itself? Does it succeed in driving new players to the genre? No. The core gameplay is present, with tons of characters (the character select screen is actually pretty overwhelming!), and Namco is again off to their old antics of creating some single player beat-em-up mode that sucks. I feel like they’ve been experimenting with this since maybe Tekken 2, and they still haven’t gotten it right. Fortunately, the fighting game itself doesn’t suffer so I’ll simply conclude that it’s a decent game, but not a huge improvement over its predecessor.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 actually did everything right for a sequel. It continued the over-the top yet captivating storyline of Call of Duty 4, while introducing a completely new Special Ops mode for co-op. On the multiplayer side, the amount of improvements may seem minor for those that haven’t been following the series, but Call of Duty 4 fans do notice everything. Now the question I ask myself with this game is, “Is Modern Warfare 2 that much more awesome than Modern Warfare 1?” I can’t help but say no. Modern Warfare 1 was a phenomenal package when it was released back in 2007, and Modern Warfare 2 is no different when it was released this year. It just continues the high standards set forth by its predecessor.

It may be surprisingly for some of you, but Assassin’s Creed II is our pick for Best Sequel of 2009. In a way, our Best Sequel award is also comparable to a “Most Improved” award, and Assassin’s Creed II improves over the original Assassin’s Creed in many ways, making the sequel far better than the first. While the first game polarized players, the sequel is unanimously applauded. Take cmfl3x for example – he couldn’t even get through the first game before getting bored, but he’s already gone through the sequel in the span of practically only a week and loving it! This game deserves a look from those that had problems with the first as it’s not only an excellent sequel, but a lengthy and enjoyable game in its own right.

Rounding out the Best Sequel category for this year is Left 4 Dead 2. Left 4 Dead 2 falls into a similar problem that Modern Warfare 2 does when being considered for the Best Sequel category: the original one was awesome during its time already and the sequel, while quite good, doesn’t quite put the first one to shame. I would argue that the Left 4 Dead 2 sequel lacks the charm of the first, but from a technical standpoint, Left 4 Dead 2 provides lots of new enjoyable content and is well recommended for anyone that is eager for a new setting in the Left 4 Dead universe.

It’s that time of the year again…as 2009 draws to a close and the holiday season is upon us, cmfl3x and I decided that we wanted to do our own “Leveling Down” gaming awards for 2009 where we choose winners in several categories for Xbox 360 games that have been released in 2009. At the same time, we also wanted to preserve the holiday shopping guide that Leveling Down produced last year but felt that the awards and the shopping guide were too similar.

Instead of separate 2009 awards and holiday shopping guide posts, we’ve decided to combine them this year into one. Every game we’ve nominated within our awards are games worth considering for the holidays, but at the same time, we’re also declaring the winner. Consider the awards as, if you can only buy one game from the nominees of the category, buy the winner. But if you are further interested in other games from the category, you should definitely pick them up as well as they have aspects that all make them worth considering. Game boxes have been provided for all nominees, and all of them link to Amazon, our gaming retailer of the year due to not only their ridiculous gaming deals, but their constant vigilance in price matching practically all competitors.

Our 2009 awards/shopping guide will span all week, with cmfl3x and me alternating posts and writing about a few categories each day. This will culminate on Friday when we both share our own nominations for Game of the Year, and our picks for Game of the Year. I will kick things off today with three categories: 2009′s Best Fighting Game, Best Role Playing Game, and Best First Person Shooter for the Xbox 360.

Best Xbox 360 Fighting Game of 2009

Street Fighter IV [winner]
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
Marvel vs Capcom 2
Tekken 6

It’s hard to believe that Street Fighter IV released this year since it was back in February that the game came out. Compared to the other fighting games that were released in 2009, Street Fighter IV reigns supreme. It is THE sequel to Street Fighter II for many of us that grew up with the game, and jumped off the band wagon once Street Fighter III came out. It unites fans of the classic Street Fighter games with fans of the more current Street Fighter games – a remarkable feat. The roster is huge and full of fan favorites, the gameplay is simple to learn yet deep enough to be played at a competitive level, the graphics are truly revolutionary and fitting for this generation, and the excellent matchmaking allows fans to play the game competitively from the comfort of their own homes. In short, it’s easy to understand why Street Fighter IV is our 2009 fighting game of the year.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is our runner up for fighting game of the year. Developed by the makers of Guilty Gear, BlazBlue came out of nowhere for me and after I picked it up and played it, I had a great time. The game is fresh with completely new characters, contains very functional matchmaking, and a single player mode that has players really learning about the storyline and background of each character. I would have liked to see more characters, as BlazBlue’s playable roster doesn’t compare to Street Fighter IV’s, but the game should be next on your list to buy if you’re a fighting game fan and Street Fighter IV has lost its appeal for you.

Marvel vs Capcom 2 is a $15 Xbox Live Arcade title, and while it’s worth mentioning here as a fighting game to look into, it is beginning to show its age. All the craziness of the game is still there and matchmaking works online, but at this rate you’re either still a fan or have moved on. Today’s fighting games are a bit less frenetic, but if jonesin’ to play as Spiderman and Wolverine once again, Marvel vs Capcom 2 will deliver. Just be aware that the character list is quite unbalanced and you may get frustrated playing online against others that have been playing it for many years.

Tekken 6 is the last fighting game to be released in 2009 worth considering for fighting game fans. At its initial launch, the game’s online was terrible but over Thanksgiving Namco has since released a patch to alleviate the problems. I haven’t played the Tekken games since the PS2, but I have picked up Tekken 6 and plan to delve into it later this month. The game has a huge roster of characters, but for some reason or another, its core gameplay has never really resonated with me compared to other fighting games. Tekken tends to focus more on juggling combos than traditional combos, and has single-player departures that tend to suck. Tekken 6 appears to be no different. I don’t see much innovation in this game compared to Street Fighter IV and BlazBlue, the other stronger titles in this category. Still, it’s the only 3D fighter released this year, so if you prefer that to 2D fighters, this is the game to get.

Best Xbox 360 Role Playing Game of 2009

Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel
Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition
Magna Carta 2
Dragon Age: Origins [winner]

2009 was a tough year for role playing game fans on the Xbox 360. After the deluge of titles from Mystwalker and Square Enix in the past, we’re left with just one pure Japanese RPG released in 2009: Star Ocean: The Last Hope. I actually owned this game for a while, and tried it out for a bit. It’s not a bad game, as it follows traditional J-RPG classic RPG design. If you like J-RPGs and the idea of spending hundreds of hours in a sci-fi based one, Star Ocean 4 is worth considering – even if the reviews of the game are less than stellar. It seems like American reviewers don’t really enjoy J-RPG games much these days, as they didn’t score Lost Odyssey too highly either so if you liked games like Lost Odyssey, perhaps Star Ocean: The Last Hope may also provide you with similar enjoyment.

Sacred 2 was a 360 port originally released on the PC. I tried out the PC demo and while it was decent, I wasn’t going to seriously play it enough to get it. It’s gotten mixed reviews, but it resonates strongly with the right crowd. If you’re a Diablo fan and enjoy collecting loot in an action-RPG style game, Sacred 2 is the only game you’ll be able to play this year on the 360 that can handle that. However, there are inherent technical issues with the game, with complaints such as slowdown, interface problems, and other minor things that account for a lack of presentation. Players also complain about the lack of a pause feature. But, if you want an action-RPG game to play on the 360, this is most likely the primary replacement to Too Human.

Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition I mention here only because it was released this year. With it being our pick for 2008′s game of the year, it cannot seriously be considered as a competitor for this year. Having said that, if you have not played the game yet, this is the definitive title to get as the game of the year edition contains all five released downloadable content that would have cost players $50 or so alone for just downloading. The most important part of the DLC is that it raises the level cap from 20 to 30, ensuring a much lengthier experience you can enjoy in the world of Fallout 3.

Magna Carta 2 is a Korean developed J-RPG game, and I say “J-RPG” because the developers have created it specifically adhering to Japanese RPG game design. However, the game actually plays more like an action-RPG, and is very reminiscent of Infinite Undiscovery. Sadly, Infinite Undiscovery and Magna Carta 2 were devastated by american reviewers. I personally enjoyed Infinite Undiscovery a lot, and because of that I’ve already picked up Magna Carta 2. There are still fans for both games, and there seem to be more fans of Magna Carta 2 than I would have thought. So with Magna Carta 2, perhaps it’s worth not listening to the reviewers if this type of game interests you.

The final nominee we have for best 360 role playing game of 2009 is Dragon Age: Origins. Compared to the other games, it was easy to realize that Dragon Age: Origins would be our winner even though neither cmfl3x and I have even played through it yet. It’s in my backlog (like practically every other big game released this holiday season), but I’ve read enough about it and even played the web-based game to understand what it’s going for. To be honest, it wins by default because Fallout 3: GotY is ineligible, and the other three RPG games are good for only certain types of RPG fan types, while Dragon Age: Origins brings it all together. If you are simply a general RPG fan, Dragon Age: Origins is the game to buy. The game is quite lengthy, has a deep storyline, and is developed by the team behind RPG greats such as Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, and the game is considered the spiritual successor to the PC franchise Baldur’s Gate. The one big negative to the game appears to be the graphics. The game looks gorgeous on the PC, but on the 360 version, complaints seem to condemn the game as having Xbox 1 level graphics. I’m sure they can’t be that bad, but that is perhaps the biggest thing to consider. Most people recommend picking the PC version if possible but if the 360 is all you got, it’s still the best RPG game of this year.

Best Xbox 360 First Person Shooter of 2009

Battlefield 1943
Halo 3: ODST
Borderlands
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 [winner]
Left 4 Dead 2

What defines what is the best first person shooter of the year? Of course it would have to be played in first person, but what I’m thinking about is when one is shopping for a gamer who doesn’t have any of this year’s top FPS games and is a FPS fan, the winner of this category is the game to get. Which is the overall package that will delight a FPS fan?

Battlefield 1943 is an Xbox Live Arcade only title, and while it has a hard time comparing to the other games on this nominee list, it holds its own as quite an enjoyable Live Arcade title. The game released in the summer of 2009 for $15, and prior to that, there had been no other online FPS game for fans to engage in. Battlefield 1943 definitely scratched the itch, as it brought the core Battlefield Conquest gameplay back, with three different land maps and an air map. Does it still hold up compared to this holiday season’s titles? Not really, but for a fraction of the cost, it’s still worth checking out for multiplayer FPS fans.

Halo 3: ODST did not release to rave reviews like its predecessors. It did some interesting things with the “open world” campaign and Firefight modes, but many felt that its $59.99 price tag was far too high for what it provided: a 6 hour campaign, co-op Firefight without matchmaking, and all of the Halo 3 multiplayer with all DLC maps and three new ones. Most fans of Halo already had Halo 3, so while it sounds like a good deal for those completely new to Halo, people were upset that they were spending $60 to complete a short campaign and play Firefight. The game did not have legs, and many players have already moved onto either Modern Warfare 2 or Left 4 Dead 2. Is it a good game? Sure it’s worth playing if you’re a Halo fan and the Firefight mode is a lot of fun with friends. But with no truely new multiplayer component, it’s a game that will most likely gather dust once you’ve gone through it.

Borderlands is more of a mixture between FPS and RPG, as you play the game in first person and shoot guns but you have to adhere to RPG principles like finding new weapons for damage upgrades and taking into account damage increases and reduction due to player and enemy level differences. Borderlands proves that this mixture between FPS and RPG works brilliantly, and for fans of both genres, the game is worth picking up. Unfortunately, like Halo 3: ODST, it doesn’t seem to be a game that has legs. It’s quite lengthier than Halo 3: ODST (at about 25 hours for each playthrough, with 2 playthroughs required to max out at level 50), and even provides 4-player co-op, but the RPG limitations prevent co-op from really being possible unless you have a dedicated crew that will only play it together at the exact same time.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the juggernaut in this list, and easily the winner of this category due to it being a more complete package than any other FPS on this list. If you want to play the game’s multiplayer, it’s awesome and has so many things going on that you could be engaged with it for months or years. There’s so much going on that I’ve even had to write a guide for it, and it’s so fun that even when you die you can’t help but keep coming back. At the same time, the campaign, while a bit on the short side at 6 hours, is also quite a thrillride from start to finish with a storyline that has you on the edge of your seat at practically every level. Still on top of that, if you wanted even more from the game, there’s an entirely new mode called Special Ops that consists of over 20 levels that you can play through co-op with a friend. These levels are quite enjoyable, ranging from one player in an AC-130 covering another player as he makes his way across the map to both players holding out together against several waves of increasingly difficult enemies. In all, Modern Warfare 2 is the First Person Shooter of 2009, and should not be missed. It has practically everything a first person shooter fan could ever want.

Left 4 Dead 2 was released one week after Modern Warfare 2, and amusingly enough, I am now writing about it in the paragraph after gushing about how amazing Modern Warfare 2 is and why it won. Left 4 Dead 2 actually pulls second in this category for 2009, as it brings more to the table over its predecessor: more special infected zombies, more weapons, more levels, longer levels, more adversarial modes, increased difficulty, and the list goes on. Of course, whether it was all necessary is questionable by fans of the original but I will definitely admit that if I ever get tired of Modern Warfare 2, I can see Left 4 Dead 2 carrying my FPS burden until Battlefield: Bad Company 2 releases in March. My recommendation is to pick up Modern Warfare 2 & Left 4 Dead 2, but if it can only be one for your FPS fan, it’s Modern Warfare 2 all the way.

Stay tuned tomorrow when cmfl3x presents our next categories!

While Blazblue doesn’t have a good automatching system, it has several features that I applaud.

1) Quarter matches for up to 6 players
Quarter matches are already kind of a given, in this day and age for online fighting games but it’s definitely nice that it’s here. The only tricky thing is joining a room before a game starts since once a game is already in play, you can’t join and it basically means you have a 5 second window to join a room.

2) Disconnects listed on player profile
For a while, Street Fighter IV didn’t list disconnects in a player’s record. Thus, when they’re close to losing a match, they simply reset their console to avoid either getting a loss, or simply just to prevent you from getting a win. A later patch put the disconnect % in, but I’m glad that BlazBlue has it in from the start. Listing a player’s disconnects helps to dissuade players from disconnecting, since you don’t have to play people with high disconnect %’s.

3) No “ranking down” upon losing
In Street Fighter IV, if you lost a match against someone at your level or lower, you would lose a relatively signficant amount of points to your ranking. This would in turn contribute to high level players disconnecting if they’re about to lose to lower level ones, or higher level players just not wanting to play lower level ones at all since they practically gain nothing if they win, but lose a lot if they lose. In BlazBlue, you can never go down in ranking, so if you’re a high level player and lose to a level 1, you lose nothing. At the same time, the level 1 player that defeats the high level player gets a lot more points and moves closer to his true level. So in a sense, the ranking in BlazBlue is accurate because it takes into combination skill and experience and should be the way to go for all fighting games.

4) Hidden character selections
I wish this was done more often in online fighting games. In games such as Street Fighter IV, in a ranked match one player will often try to wait until the other player has chose which character to be and then he chooses a character to counter that player. In a sense, the player that picks second always has the advantage, and I always felt it was unfair. Well, in BlazBlue, when you choose a character to play for online, it won’t show you who the opponent has picked until after you’ve both selected – then it displays the matchup. Genius and fair.

Of course, BlazBlue’s online isn’t perfect – I’m not a fan of awarding ranked points during player matches or the lack of real matchmaking (you have to try to join rooms), but it makes several strides forward in how online fighting games should be. And maybe this is specific to me, but when you want to start playing as a new character, you’re stuck with your “high ranking’, so it’s hard to find decent matches. Lower level players think my level is too high, so they just kick me from rooms even though I’m trying a new character, and higher level players try fighting my new character once before kicking me thinking I suck. I wish I could just reset my rank back to 1 given I can’t rank down, but I guess I still prefer the ranking system here than in Street Fighter IV.

For the record, I loved the game back in college when my buddies and I spent hundreds of hours playing it on the Dreamcast. In fact, we loved playing all of the versus games back in college, but back then, we were all just college kids playing for fun and there were always a lot of us to play with so there was a ton of variety in our matchups.

Now that Marvel vs Capcom 2 has been released on the 360 and is getting pretty good reviews (unlike King of Fighters XII, which is apparently getting destroyed in reviews), I’m considering purchasing it. I downloaded the demo to check it out, and it features just 2-player offline combat with six characters. Not really enough to be a game, but enough to see how the engine holds up in this new generation of TVs and I will say that it looks fine. The gameplay is really frenetic though, and I’ve forgotten how over the top it was with air combos into supers and all that.

The reason I’m most interested in the game is nostalgia. I loved the Marvel vs. Capcom fighting game universe that Capcom created, and enjoy playing with characters like Jill, Omega Red, and several of the X-Men. It’s disheartening to see that of the 50 or so selectable characters, only a small fraction of that number is actually considered playable at a competitive level. So while I want to reminisce with characters I enjoy, if I were to play the game long enough, all I’d probably end up seeing are Magneto, Cable, Storm, and Sentinel. This game is 9 years old – and it’s pretty much established already. At this point, if I want to invest enough into the game, I will have to either figure out a way to beat Magneto’s infinite with my low-tier characters, or learn to play Magneto myself. Not a huge fan of either decision. Blah…

But it’s only $15 right? Hrm, even after writing this, I’m still on the fence. Maybe I should get through BlazBlue first before picking up another fighting game. And maining Carl Clover is certainly helping with the possible transition to Marvel vs Capcom 2.

My brother was in the NYC Chinatown arcade this past weekend, and noticed that the Street Fighter IV cabinets were practically empty while players were crowded around the Tekken 6 and BlazBlue cabinets. I’m a little surprised to hear that myself, but if BlazBlue is popular in the arcades, then it obviously has something going for it. This game is basically the sequel to Guilty Gear, with interesting character design, great presentation, memorable rock music, and a deep fighting engine. It’s a great fighting game if you’re willing to take the time learn it.

Before buying the game, I was reading impressions from different buyers of the games and everyone practically loves it. Even casual players were gushing compliments about the game and I found the character designs interesting so I jumped in. I told my brother I picked it up and the first thing he said was, “Wow – you know that it’s a pretty difficult game right?” After playing it for hours now, I have to agree. It’s more difficult than Street Fighter IV. I’m guessing this may be due to us playing Street Fighter games for over a decade now, making Street Fighter IV quite intuitive. But BlazBlue is something else. It’s safe to say that this is NOT a good game for fighting game newbies to pick up, as cool as it may seem. I’d even go so far as to recommend Street Fighter IV for fighting game newbies over this one. BlazBlue is very offensive oriented, with lengthy combos, air juggles, and traps and penalties for blocking too much. It’s almost like a cross between Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs Capcom 2, blending some of the simpleness of the former with the craziness of the latter.

The selection of 12 characters in the game seems meager, but each one plays very uniquely so it’s not like half of them are shoto characters. Sadly, I’d go so far as to say that some of the characters are a bit overpowered, and it’s probably why they’re used so often online. There are four attack buttons: a light, mid, and strong attack and a Drive attack button. The Drive button is what completely differentiates each character, as it functions quite differently depending on the character’s unique trait or weapon. For example, one character uses the Drive button to control his mech that accompanies him, similar to a helper in the Marvel vs Capcom games. Another character uses the D button to control wind, altering the direction that the players move on screen. A third character uses that D button for special attacks that allow him to steal life from the opponent. The list goes on. All in all, very drastic differences in how each character plays based on their Drive ability.

BlazBlue’s online is better and worse than Street Fighter IV’s online. On the better side, it allows for 6 player rooms for Player matches, allowing groups of buddies to “quarter match” it up, something drastically missing in Street Fighter IV. In the ”meh” side, you have a ranking level based on experience tied to both Player Matches and Ranked Matches. So even if you were to just play Player Matches, you would still level up. There’s a “Trueskill ranking” as well, and perhaps that is what is used for Ranked Matches but I’m not sure. I’m not a fan of any sort of “rank progression” based on unranked games, as it defeats the purpose, but it’s not a deal-breaker. What kind of sucks is when you play someone in a ranked game, both player’s stats for both ranked and unranked matches are displayed, which again, annoy me since unranked should just be that: unranked and not counted in any way. And on the bad side, it seems to take quite a long time to find ranked games, especially so if you’re just looking for  a match in the low ranks. It looks like now that the game has been out for over a month, not many low level players are left in the game but that seems to be the case with many hardcore fighting games. I do miss Street Fighter IV’s auto-matchmaking mode where you could play while waiting to get matched up.

While I believe BlazBlue to be a great fighting game, the only issue I have is that the game is perhaps too tough for me. However, my brother is starting to dig it as he’s been devoting time to understanding the nuances of the game and he’s been helping me get better too. I’m lacking in so many fighting game fundamentals that it helps considerably when he is able to go over my character’s moveset and tell me what’s good for poking, what should be my bread and butter attacks, etc. I’ve never been able to figure that stuff out on my own but I’m thankful that he’s around so I’m catching onto the game. If I were just playing this by myself, it would probably already be thrown back onto the shelf by now! So I guess I can conclude my impressions of the game as this: if you’re willing to devote your time to learning this game, you won’t be sorry as it has practically everything a serious fighting game fan could want: interesting characters, top-notch presentation, and a functional and lag-free online mode.

After recently picking up BlazBlue, I decided to go check out the Achievements available for the game. While I’ve sort of given up on trying to earn Achievements hardcore, I like to see how the developers envision we should play the game. And look at one of the Achievements I found for BlazBlue:

Pretty amusing reference to the Karate Kid and definitely one of my favorite songs from the era. Of course, it’s only really good when paired with the Karate Kid movie footage of the tournament – which I have conveniently included here. Keep your sound on to experience the full power of the video!

At the same time, I started playing the Survival modes in my recently reacquired copy of Left 4 Dead on the 360, and have had a great time there and want to keep continuing it until I can get the Gold time on all the levels. In contrast to my enthusiasm for Survival, the Versus mode is just terrible. While there’s new maps to play Versus on, I tried playing with a buddy and the lack of any sort of matchmaking or stat tracking really drags it down.

The amount of time it takes to even join a Versus game with your friend(s) can be like 15 minutes, as each of you frantically tries to join a game in the lobby and invite the other before the room fills up and you both can be on the same team. And if you’re playing with randoms, it’s definitely not fair at all when you get paired with split screen teammates that don’t even use mics. If it’s one thing that I wish for in the sequel this fall, it’s a Halo/Call of Duty like matchmaking and stat-tracking system that allows you to play on the same teams as your friends and also level up so that when you play in random public games, the teams are more balanced. There isn’t even functionality to start a Public Versus game so you can invite your friends right away before the room fills up – instead it’s all on the server side whether you are forced to create a new game or join an existing one.

On a brighter note though, I tried out the Battlefield 1943 demo and liked it so much that I ended up buying it. I guess I’ll be playing that for my adversarial online gaming and stick with just Survival in Left 4 Dead. And finally, of course there’s BlazBlue, the game that I thought I would devote the next couple of months to getting competitive at before Left 4 Dead’s Survival mode and Battlefield 1943 started crowding my gaming time. But after the drought for the past couple of months, I guess this is only a good thing…

Looks like this month is the biggest 2D fighting game month of the year, and that’s saying something considering Street Fighter IV’s console release back in February kicked off the year. Why is July 2009 so significant for 2D fighting game fans on the 360/PS3?

07/01: BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Limited Edition
07/21: King of Fighters XII
07/29: BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Regular Edition
07/29: Marvel vs Capcom 2

I was on the fence about purchasing the recently released BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. While it’s scoring highly in reviews, I know that deep down I’m just not a hardcore fighting gamer. I tried for a couple months to get competitively good at Street Fighter IV, but as I expected, I just didn’t have enough patience or drive to learn it. And if Street Fighter can’t get me to want to play competitively online, can anything else?

Still, I like the fresh start that BlazBlue will give me: completely new characters so I won’t be stuck with a shoto or fighting shotos, a fresh new combat system to learn, and while 12 characters seems like a meager list to choose from, it should allow me to learn the game a lot quicker so it’s a boon in a sense. I am also digging the artistic style to the game – reminds me a little bit of Darkstalkers but of course this game is running on the Guilty Gear engine.

After reading Sirlin’s Playing to Win though, I was inspired enough to buy BlazBlue. Maybe this game will be the 2D fighting game that I can actually get into and excel at. Or if anything, it’ll at least be another game my younger brother can come kick my butt in when he visits next month.