After picking up Left 4 Dead 2 on a Steam sale, I finally got the one thing I’ve been missing: DLC. I’ve always been too cheap to pay for the DLC on Xbox, but reading about the Sacrifice and the Passing has always intrigued me. Finally, I got the chance to check out these two pieces of DLC. Since the DLC was free, the price was definitely right, but do these two pieces of content do justice to the Left 4 Dead name?

The Sacrifice DLC Review
The Sacrifice is the last piece of DLC for the original Left 4 Dead but can also be played on Left 4 Dead 2 with the melee weapons and all that. It’s a little shorter than most L4D campaigns, clocking in at only three chapters instead of the usual four or five. Other than the short length, The Sacrifice is a pretty strong piece of content. For starters, it replicates what makes Left 4 Dead great. There is snappy dialogue between the characters, the environments are perfectly rendered, and the experience is very intense. Playing The Sacrifice in Left 4 Dead 2 populates the campaign with specials like the Charger and the Jockey which can make life really difficult. I also like some of the interesting twists the campaign takes, which I’ll discuss in a slightly spoiler-y section below.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

In the Sacrifice, the original L4D survivors are near a harbor (ostensibly in Louisiana) trying to find a boat. Their plan is to sail to an island and live the rest of their lives there, since the zombies supposedly cannot swim. To get the boat out to sea, they need to raise a drawbridge, and the finale involves turning on the generators needed to do this. The best part of this DLC content is the little wrinkle they throw into the finale. The campaign lives up to its name, at one point, one of the survivors needs to “sacrifice” him/herself in order to save the others. It’s a cool moment, and a lot of fun when you’re playing with others. It does detract a little from playing single player, however. In the L4D canon, Bill is the one who sacrifices himself, which is sad since he’s the only one who knows how to pilot the boat. Oh well…

Spoilers End

Overall, The Sacrifice is a strong piece of content that does a nice job bridging the two main titles. It’s definitely worth checking out, and satiates any desire to play new L4D campaigns. After not playing Left 4 Dead in a long time, The Sacrifice reminded me why it’s so fun and that is one of the best cooperative experiences out there.

Final Grade for The Sacrifice: A-

The Passing DLC Review
The Passing is kind of cool – it has the survivors from L4D meeting up with the survivors from L4D2. It takes place around the same bridge featured in The Sacrifice, and there is a nice bit of plot if you are paying attention. Also, any campaign that features Ellis and Zoey flirting with each other is worth the price of admission. Seriously? ELLIS!? Zoey can do so much better…

The most notable thing about The Passing is the finale. It’s a twist on the finale of The Sacrifice, but if you play both they’ll feel very familiar. It’s a typical gas can fill finale, but it has the added benefit of the L4D1 survivors covering you from above. It’s pretty cool, but it also makes the finale a little bit easier because you have some added firepower. Overall, The Passing is nothing special, but it’s a solid campaign and has some neat moments between the survivors.

Final Grade for The Passing: B

cmfl3x’s article this week had me thinking more about computer gaming lately. Not so long ago, I felt that a lot of game companies decided that they wanted to move towards the console market due to the inherent piracy involved with computer gaming. Yet today, computer gaming is stronger than ever. I’d love to use the term PC gaming instead of computer gaming, but the truth of the matter is, companies like Valve and Blizzard have really been supporting Mac gaming.

The current gaming landscape on the computer is strong enough that I could take a vacation from both my 360 and PS3 and still be quite entertained. Hit the jump for what I consider the games that are keeping computer gaming still relevant in this supposed “console age”.

Starcraft 2
Considering how many articles cmfl3x and I have put out on Leveling Down these past few months, it should come as no surprise how big a game Starcraft 2 is. This was the game that actually got me to come back to spend more than an hour at a time gaming on my PC. The campaign is excellent, the multiplayer addicting, and it works on a variety of different computer specs for both PC and Mac. Blizzard has been supporting Mac for as long as I can remember, with their retail release discs being playable on both PC and Mac.

Starcraft 2 is the sequel to the best RTS of all time. Is it better than the first? Time will tell, but it’s easy to say that it is at least the best RTS out on the market today. With Blizzard releasing the Zerg and Protoss campaigns hopefully sooner rather than later, perhaps we may see new multiplayer units as well in these “expansions” – keeping the game relevant for years to come.

Civilization IV & V
Making big news these days is the recent release of Civilization V. Reviews have been favorable, and while the game isn’t as complete as the current Civilization IV and all its expansions, fans of the 4x strategy games can have fun with the newer Civilization V or the more polished Civilization IV. Sadly, only Civilization IV is available on Mac at this time, but V should release in the future.

If you love strategy games but find it difficult to compete in the real-time nature of Starcraft 2, consider either Civilization IV or V. I remember discovering the Civilization series with Civilization III several years ago. I would play that game and suddenly it would be time for bed. Those of you that have yet to try out Civilization, definitely check out either Civilization IV or V. Steam often puts the complete Civilization IV pack on sale for about $15, so look for that if you can’t afford Civilization V yet or can only game on a Mac.

Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 is in such an interesting position for me. This is a game I own on both the 360 and the PC, yet the only experience I really have with the game is from earning all of the Achievements on the 360 version. From what I’ve read, there’s no comparison between the console version and the computer version of Team Fortress 2. While no changes have been made to the original release of the console version, the computer version continues to get support and free updates. These updates include new maps, class changes, new weapons, new gear, random drops, crafting, and most recently, the ability to actually buy items with real money. What Valve has done is taken the computer version of Team Fortress 2 and added all sorts of MMORPG elements to the game for an even more addicting experience while not charging players anything. Some may grumble at the new storefront that Valve has created for selling items, but the strongest argument in favor of this is that without a store, players would just end up selling their items on eBay anyway so might as well let Valve make the money instead of the players themselves.

The Mac version of Team Fortress 2 was just released, and Team Fortress 2 continues to go on sale very often at the Steam Store – sometimes $5 and sometimes $10. Even its $20 price tag is well worth the price. For those gamers that miss the days of PC FPS gaming where you actually connected to servers and got to know the players on a server, the computer version of Team Fortress 2 is what you should call home. Console FPS games and even the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 do not allow for dedicated servers, so consider looking into the computer version of Team Fortress 2 if you want to be more social in your FPS gaming.

Left 4 Dead 1 & 2
Left 4 Dead 1 and Left 4 Dead 2 both continue to get new campaigns and updates on both the 360 and PC. However, while you have to often pay for this DLC on the 360, it’s always free on the PC. Valve just released the Mac version of Left 4 Dead 2, and is planning to release the Mac version of Left 4 Dead 1 by this Halloween. With them both on sale this past week for a little over $10 together, each game is practically cheaper than the DLC that you have to pay for on the 360.

There is no other FPS series out there that relies on co-op as much as the Left 4 Dead games, and only the computer versions allow players to continue downloading all sorts of new maps for free courtesy of the map-making community. While the difference between the console and computer versions of the Left 4 Dead games isn’t as stark as the Team Fortress 2 comparison, if you enjoy getting new content for free and playing on new maps created by fans of the game, the computer version of this series is the way to go.

World of Warcraft
How could I write an article marveling at how strong computer gaming still is today without the behemoth that has always kept computer gaming relevant? World of Warcraft is the most popular MMORPG in the world, and for good reason: it’s very well designed, enjoyable for gamers of all types, does not require high-end computers, is playable on both PC and Mac, and continues to provide new content. The newest expansion, Cataclysm, is set to launch on December 7, and with the expansion going back to changing the original gameplay world, many ex-World of Warcraft players such as myself are intrigued.

Seriously – the only thing holding me back from jumping back into World of Warcraft these days is that I don’t think I could maintain a good “game and life” balance were I to start World of Warcraft again. Considering you don’t have to really ever play anything else if you start playing World of Warcraft, I feel that the only way I could probably play World of Warcraft again is if I somehow won the lottery and did not have to work any more. My day job would probably end up being to play World of Warcraft. The expansion looks great, and having played the game for a couple years, I have to say that it’s quite addictive. Too addictive is the problem, and it’s not a game I recommend if you want to have a life outside of gaming as well.

Computer Gaming Not Dead Yet
So there you have it – the best RTS game, the best MMORPG, the best 4x strategy games, the best co-op FPS series, and arguably the most addicting teamplay adversarial FPS game are all either only available on the computer or are better supported on the computer. With this heavy lineup of computer games still going strong, if you were interested in playing 1 or 2 of these games, how would you have time to even play games on the console?

Today is President’s Day in the United States, so we’re off (and I just woke up). I’ll use today as a short entry to recommend you gamers see the film Zombieland – especially if you’re a fan of the Left 4 Dead games. Zombies seem to be popular in both films and video games, but they’ve become very popular in video games as of late and it looks like they’re also seeing a “resurgence” in film as well.

The movie is a little on the short side, but it has a lot of humor and it’s done quite well. It’s surprising that the people who created Zombieland did not mention taking any influence from the Left 4 Dead games, since it has so many things that we’ve experienced in both Left 4 Dead games. One thing that we’ve experienced in the Left 4 Dead games that seems to also occur in Zombieland is the lack of a plot. The plot for the film is not much better than the plot for either of the Left 4 Dead games. Well – maybe a tiny bit better. But all you need to really know is that these 4 survivors are trying to make their way across the United States, which is now basically Zombieland since everyone has pretty much turned into zombies.

Zombieland really is for us gamers, as the main character is the young guy on the left in the shot above and his narration is what guides us through the film. His thoughts and mannerisms are easily identifiable for gamers, as he comes up with all sorts of rules to survive such as always checking the backseat when entering a new vehicle. We even see him spending time playing World of Warcraft in his apartment before the zombie infection begins, which is a nice little touch for fans of the game.

This honestly feels like a Left 4 Dead movie. 4 survivors come together and team up to take on a zombie horde that has ravaged America, all with their own distinct personalities and traits. I don’t want to give too much of the film away, but definitely check it out if you enjoy Left 4 Dead!

Please Valve, do not release Left 4 Dead 3 in 2010!

With cmfl3x and me going on a blogging holiday break starting tomorrow, this entry will be our last post for 2009! Similar to cmfl3x, I also several holiday wishes for 2010 but I’ve narrowed it down to three possible wishes that would make me a happy gamer next year and they all relate to sequels: BioShock 2, Starcraft 2, and Left 4 Dead 3 (well, Left 4 Dead 2, to be more exact).

1. BioShock 2 Turns Out to be Just as Good as the Original
BioShock was my favorite 360 game of 2007. The combination of action, storytelling, RPG, and length made it the perfect single player gaming experience for me. With the game being released  only about a month and a half from now, I’m trying to get more excited about the sequel but at the same time, “bracing” for impact in case it falls short. What worries me is that BioShock 1 was led by Ken Levine, the Creative Director at 2K Boston. The sequel is not being developed by 2K Boston, but instead by the newly formed 2K Marin without any of Ken Levine’s input. Furthermore, BioShock 2 will have multiplayer modes developed by Digital Extremes, a company that isn’t exactly making a huge name for itself with its only recent title being Dark Sector.

A new studio behind a sequel to many players’ 2007 game of the year along with multiplayer modes being added to a game that should not have multiplayer has me worried. If I had three gaming wishes for 2010, one of them would be for this game to be just as good as the first. Often times a good sequel to a game is the result of the developers of the original game learning what worked and didn’t work in the original, and using their intimate knowledge of the original game to craft a better sequel. After all, the sequel really should just be an extension of the first game right? Now that a new studio is taking over the sequel, there’s a lot of odds against it turning out just as well so I’m hoping it doesn’t come out as a dud like Devil May Cry 2.

2. Starcraft II Releases in 2010 (and consequently, the beta arrives by summer)
For many Blizzard RTS fans, it was a tough year in 2009. We started getting all of this information about Starcraft II, saw videos of different matches, and there was indication that we would have been playing the Starcraft II beta in the summer of 2009. Apparently Blizzard was too ambitious with what they wanted to do in the total redesign of battle.net, and thus we are now waiting with baited breath until the new battle.net releases so we can hear word about the Starcraft II beta. If the beta doesn’t hit by summer of 2010, we may not see the retail release until 2011.

For me, the release of the Starcraft II beta is practically the release of the game. I remember playing the betas of Warcraft III and World of Warcraft months in advance of the retail releases, and the transition from beta to retail was practically seamless – I just needed to go out and actually buy a physical copy of the disc. Please Blizzard, get your new battle.net working so all of us can enjoy Starcraft II in 2010. And if we’re enjoying Starcraft II in 2010, it’s possible we could then be enjoying Diablo III in 2011!

3. Left 4 Dead 3 Is Not Released in 2010
For my final gaming wish next year, I’ll wish for Valve not to release another sequel to Left 4 Dead. This is somewhat of a loaded wish though. What I’m honestly wishing for is that Valve devotes its Left 4 Dead franchise resources to improving upon the two games already out before putting out another sequel.

Left 4 Dead 2 is a great game. Valve, can we have more time to enjoy it before it becomes obsolete like the first one? If Valve continues to pump out Left 4 Dead sequels, that honestly means not enough effort is being put into supporting the original games. I don’t care if Valve claims that it’s possible to develop both downloadable content for the existing games and work on Left 4 Dead 3 at the same time. If you’re putting your resources on the sequel, that’s less people being devoted towards making new content for your existing products and I would argue that Left 4 Dead’s “content” suffered for that same reason.

The announcement of the Left 4 Dead 1 survivors appearing in a Left 4 Dead 2 DLC campaign next year is a step in the right direction, but is far from a full integration that many Left 4 Dead fans are dreaming of. Instead of churning out sequels, why not figure out a way to bring the two worlds together? I know it’s too much to ask to put the Survivors from each game in each others’ levels and even mix the Survivors together (too many new lines), so my more “reasonable” desire is to see Left 4 Dead 1 and Left 4 Dead 2 stages all being selectable in Left 4 Dead 2. If you pick a Left 4 Dead 2 stage, you have to play using Left 4 Dead 2′s survivors, and if you pick a Left 4 Dead 1 stage, you have to play using Left 4 Dead 1 survivors. Just getting everyone to be able to play all nine campaigns (or 10, with Crash Course) with the same disc would be the ultimate Left 4 Dead experience, much like being able to play Rock Band 1 songs in Rock Band 2. I feel that this is a reasonable way to unite the two games and it would go a long way towards making fans see that Valve is putting as much effort into supporting the Left 4 Dead franchise as it is with Team Fortress 2.

Although 2009 wasn’t as awesome as 2008, it was still a great year for gamers. Looking back, I’ve enjoyed all the titles I’ve gotten to play and am really looking forward to next year. There were some new things we saw this year that I hope will continue in 2010. Hit the jump to find out what!

1. More Avatar Awards
I’ve written about this elsewhere, but I really love how some games included avatar awards this year. Both Halo 3: ODST and Left 4 Dead 2 feature avatar awards that you can unlock via challenges of varying difficulty. Some of these were linked to achievements, and some not, but I love customizing my avatar to represent what games I’ve played, not just random clothes, or worse, Assassin’s Creed outfits that I need to pay for. I hope this is something Microsoft starts encouraging developers to do, and that more and more developers do so. After all, it’s win-win-win, advertisement for the game, a renewed emphasis on avatars, and fun for gamers!

2. Less console exclusives
I’m really bummed out I missed out on Uncharted 2 this year, and I’m sure PS3 owners may feel like they missed out on Halo releases this year. But I was really happy to hear that Final Fantasy XIII is NOT going to be an exclusive on either console. This is a trend that I hope continues, and I think it will (see: Bioshock, Braid, Ninja Gaiden 2, wait that’s all going PS3′s way!) But still, even with price drops, I don’t feel like I want to pay for owning two systems, and the less exclusives there are out there, the less I will feel like I’m missing out. Exclusives will always exist, I know, but is it too much to ask for fewer?

3. More New IPs and more great sequels
Sequels are what make the money, but new IPs are what keep gaming fresh. I felt like there weren’t too many great new IPs this year, Borderlands and Batman excepted, although the sequels that were put out, Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, etc. were very strong. With Mass Effect 2, Battlefield Bad Company: 2, and Bioshock 2 all due within the first few months, 2010 looks promising for sequels. But what I’m really hoping for is some brand new IPs that will help gaming continue to evolve. I’m talking to you, Alan Wake and Heavy Rain!

World of Warcraft & Team Fortress 2 continue to give PC gamers updates

It’s interesting for me to see the “evolution” of the PC gaming landscape. Growing up on Doom, Quake, and Duke Nukem, I’ve lived through the rise and decline of the PC gaming scene, from the introduction of first person shooters, real-time strategy games, online multiplayer, 4X strategy games, and now MMORPGs. If you’ve also grown up with fond memories of Doom & Quake, I highly recommend checking out the book, Masters of Doom. It’s a well-written book that chronicles how John Romero and John Carmack met, formed id Software, and completely shook up the gaming industry. Having said that, today’s entry will contain my more general thoughts on the PC gaming landscape, and why I’m still excited for its present and future.

It’s funny to see how the last twenty or so years in gaming went – PC games spawned new PC games such as FPS and RTS games, and introduced multiplayer gaming. I remember the days of 3DFX, Voodoo cards, and OpenGL. Since then, consoles have really grown up. FPS gaming and multiplayer on consoles have pretty much caught up to PC games, albeit the lack of certain extras among many of them such as free content updates, dedicated servers, etc. RTS games and 4X strategy games are still in their infancy on the consoles, and I can’t really see them taking off too much due to the fact that while the lack of a mouse for a FPS game is not nearly as bad as a lack of a mouse in a RTS/4X game where you’re just navigating around a map. Still, games like Halo Wars and Civilization Revolution are trying. I’ve yet to see a true console MMORPG yet on the 360 outside of Final Fantasy XI (ugh), so maybe we have a ways to go before that starts happening.

In any case, it looks like the PC gaming scene has changed drastically, forming silos around specific companies and their storefronts. Whereas the 360 has the Live Marketplace and the PS3 has the PSN store, there is no real unifying Windows store. Microsoft finally released a Windows Live Gaming store this past week, but it’s far too late and the Windows “Live Gaming” scene is practically dead anyway. I’m appreciating what each of these major PC companies are doing to not only keep PC gaming alive, but to really set themselves up to be the saviors of PC gaming.

The first and most prominent company to keep things going is Valve. If you’ve played Half-Life, Counter-Strike, etc. then you’re probably someone that  can’t dislike the company. Nowadays PC gamers have Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 to play, and while Valve has not quite delivered what they promised in their support for the Left 4 Dead franchise, Team Fortress 2 just continues to ridiculously grow. You can pick up Team Fortress 2 for only a couple dollars these days on the PC, and yet the developers keep adding more and more content. I played through Team Fortress 2 on the Xbox 360, and that was just a barebones version. On the PC, new updates come out all the time, with new weapons and customizable gear for each class, maps, hundreds of new Achievements, and all sorts of gameplay/balance changes. With the newest update, Valve is giving players the ability to customize their hats and weapons for their equipment slots, bringing this FPS game more and more into the realm of MMORPG. It’s fantastic and if you’re a Team Fortress 2 PC gamer, this is a game that just keeps on giving. Kudos to Valve, as Team Fortress 2 on the PC really demonstrates the difference between a PC FPS and a console FPS.

The other company that has been keeping PC gaming relevent for as long as I can remember is Blizzard. People still play Starcraft, Diablo II, and Warcraft III today, and excitement continues to build for the future releases of Starcraft II and Diablo III. While I’ve mentally moved on past World of Warcraft, the newest patch and the upcoming expansion are really making me reconsider jumping back into the game, as the most recently released patch adds full-on matchmaking for dungeons, which means you can easily find a pickup group through an easy to use in-game interface rather than going to town and shouting “LF1M healer”. The upcoming expansion has the developers revisiting the core gameplay world and changing many aspects of that rather than adding in a new continent like Lich King did. In a sense, it is going to bring the WoW population back to the core world, which has been a ghost town since the Expansions. Perhaps when the Cataclysm expansion hits, I may have to check WoW out again.

Stardock is a company that isn’t as strong as Valve or Blizzard but still has PC gaming relevance. In fact, outside of Blizzard, Stardock may be among the last major PC gaming companies that has not started making console games. I’m playing through Galactic Civilizations II Ultimate now, and while it’s not exactly a new game, it’s one of the best 4X strategy games I’ve ever played and I can’t imagine seeing a game of this depth and strategy on a console. The competition that Stardock’s Impulse store gives to Valve’s Steam storefront is a boon for us gamers, as it not only makes the two storefronts compete for our gaming dollars, but each store continues to introduce new features that make you feel more like part of its community. While I didn’t feel that Sins of a Solar Empire had as much depth as Galactic Civilizations II, Stardock continues to work on expansions to this game, to the pleasure of its many fans.

Another company that seems to support the PC gaming scene surprisingly is EA. Of course, the entire Sims franchise has been a huge moneymaker for EA, so they can’t be that against PC gaming. I have the new Command & Conquer 4 Beta installed on my PC, perhaps the last of the franchise that will be coming out in March. Also in March is Battlefield Bad Company 2, a PC FPS game that will support servers – something that the Modern Warfare 2 PC version took away. Let’s also not forget about Dragon Age: Origins, the new RPG game that supposedly plays a lot better on the PC than either of the console versions. So as much as anyone may dislike EA, we can see that the company is still keeping the PC hardcore gaming thriving with their string of varied PC titles: a RTS game, a FPS game, and an RPG game.

Finally, this past week I’ve written about a couple different DotA games, and aTOM boomb has shared his impressions on a couple as well. In any case, I feel like the DotA genre will continue to grow like the Tower Defense genre did. Both genres originated as custom mods in Blizzard’s RTS games, and they will most likely do quite well for PC gaming. I would be interested in seeing a FPS + DotA combination game on the 360, but that may be a few years out.

In any case, while I do tend to spend more time on the 360 than the PC for my gaming, the PC gaming scene is far from dead and I have not only these major companies to thank, but all of the others that still recognize PC gaming and continue to provide us with solid titles that not only play best on the PC, but make use of the PC’s strengths as a gaming platform as well. 2010 looks to still be a big year with PC gaming, as Starcraft II has to come out…right?!

I originally set out to write about how Left 4 Dead 2 is too hard to enjoy (it still kind of is sometimes), but now I am enjoying myself so much I want to write about that too! I think the tipping point came when I was playing through the Hard Rain campaign, which is an amazing gaming experience that is not to be missed. In a clever level design, you make your way out to a fuel station only to return with fuel on your back for your boat. The problem is, it’s dusk when you start, dark by the second stage and by the end you are in a raging maelstrom. The weather effects are awesome and for the first time in a long time, I was scared because zombies I couldn’t see were popping up right in front of my face. Kudos to Valve for thinking of such an awesome level.

Still, the game is downright evil in parts. There are sections where zombies are coming in waves and you just need to fight through them, I’m convinced the Spitter is married to the devil, and even though the levels are generally shorter, the campaigns still take about an hour to complete just because they are so difficult. Originally I was turned off by the extreme difficulty, but now I find myself enjoying the campaigns so much that I am just looking beyond it. Still, Normal feels like Advanced and Expert is downright impossible. I expect to have to put some serious work into finishing this game.

An illustration: in the Swamp Fever Finale, 3 skilled friends and I set out to make it to the boat rescue. However, this was harder than we had imagined, as we ran into TWO tanks (not one) at the climax of the second half of the finale. We thought we were golden after we killed one, only to find that in pairs we had been fighting two different tanks! The remaining tank managed to incapacitate all of us before going down, save one. As the remaining survivor ran to the boat, he ran into a THIRD tank and we thought it was over. Luckily, the tank PUNCHED HIM 50 YARDS TOWARDS THE BOAT, allowing him to limp on and save himself. It was cause for great celebration, but also cause for concern. Why? This was on NORMAL.

Anyway, I guess Valve wants us to really commit to the killing of zombies. And though I probably don’t have that kind of time, the variety of the campaigns, the cohesive game progression, and unique quirks of different levels are really pulling me back in. Originally, I thought I was just going to play through on normal and call it quits, but maybe I still have something to prove after all…

We’ve finally reached the last day of our 2009 Xbox 360 Awards & Holiday Shopping Guide, culminating in our Game of the Year. For those following the awards throughout the week, you may have a good guess as to what game will be our game of the year. Is it the same as your pick?

In any case, please remember that while we’ve chosen only one winner from each category, all games nominated within each category are all worth considering, depending on how much you enjoy that category. This week’s feature has doubled as a shopping guide as well as an awards “ceremony”. With that, let’s draw back the curtains for the finale…

Summary of Awards so far:

2009 Xbox 360 Best Fighting Game: Street Fighter IV
2009 Xbox 360 Best Role Playing Game: Dragon Age: Origins
2009 Xbox 360 Best First Person Shooter: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2009 Xbox 360 Best Action/Adventure Game: Assassin’s Creed II
2009 Xbox 360 Best Music Game: The Beatles: Rock Band
2009 Xbox 360 Best RTS Game: Halo Wars
2009 Xbox 360 Best Live Arcade Game: Shadow Complex
2009 Xbox 360 Best Multiplayer Game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2009 Xbox 360 Best New IP: Batman: Arkham Asylum
2009 Xbox 360 Best Sequel: Assassin’s Creed II
2009 Xbox 360 Best Story: Batman: Arkham Asylum
2009 Xbox 360 Best Value: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2009 Xbox 360 Most Overrated: Batman: Arkham Asylum

And for good measure, I’ve been playing the 360 since 2006 so here are my Xbox 360 GotY picks for the past three years:
2006 Xbox 360 Game of the Year: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
2007 Xbox 360 Game of the Year: BioShock
2008 Xbox 360 Game of the Year: Fallout 3

Counting up the tally, we have Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 leading the pack with 3 awards, Assassin’s Creed II with 2 awards, and Batman: Arkham Asylum with 2 awards (and 1 “negative” award). Street Fighter IV, Dragon Age: Origins, The Beatles: Rock Band, Halo Wars, and Shadow Complex all earned 1 award in their respective categories. Let’s see which game gets propelled to the top.

Xbox 360 Game of the Year 2009

Street Fighter IV
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Assassin’s Creed II
Left 4 Dead 2

I’ll start with the least likely candidate for game of the year from the list of five games above: Left 4 Dead 2. Compared to the other 4 games in this category, Left 4 Dead 2 is the only game on this list that did not win any awards at Leveling Down. However, it’s here and recognized for two reasons – the first reason is that if there were a Best Co-Op Game of 2009 award, Left 4 Dead 2 would have won that. The second reason is that Left 4 Dead 2 is a game that does many things correct in its execution, but it just kept coming in second place compared to the other games on this list. It never truly trounced any other game among our major categories. Suffice to say, being nominated for game of the year on this site means we recognize how good of a game it is, but Left 4 Dead 2 just doesn’t have enough to pull in the gold.

Up next is Street Fighter IV, our winner for Best Fighting Game of the Year. Does being the best fighting game of the year make it deserve the game of the year award? It’s debatable. On the one hand, fighting games are only a small subset of the overall 360 fanbase, compared to say, FPS games. But on the other hand, Street Fighter IV was a revolutionary title within the fighting game genre – taking the classic series and injecting it with an amazing graphics overhaul while keeping the gameplay accessible yet competitive. It practically did everything right for a fighting game on the console (including having minimal lag!) except the curiously missing party mode. Unfortunately, if you’re not a fighting game fan, Street Fighter IV is not going to change your mind and thus, falls short of winning Game of the Year.

Third place for our Game of the Year this year goes to Batman: Arkham Asylum – our winner for Best Story and Best New IP, but also the winner of our “Most Overrated” award, taking it down a notch. I agree with cmfl3x’s assessment that Batman: Arkham Asylum was the most overrated game of the year. It seemed that reviewers were drunk with the fact that they were actually playing a good licensed title and were quick to hand out practically perfect scores to a game that had glaring gameplay negatives. I still argue that if the game didn’t have the Batman license on it, it would have been scored lower. In any case, it’s still one of this year’s best action/adventure games due to its enjoyable story, familiar cast of characters, and a well designed combat system.

Coming in second place for Game of the Year at Leveling Down is Assassin’s Creed II – the winner of our Best Action/Adventure Game award and Best Sequel award. Assassin’s Creed II truly improved upon its predecessor, and does a fantastic job of letting you take on the role of an assassin in Italy during the Renaissance. Unlike the original game and its questionable required boring submissions, Assassin’s Creed II’s story progression was overhauled to be a lot more in line with Grand Theft Auto. In fact, I would go so far as to say Assassin’s Creed II is basically Grand Theft Auto IV in the Renaissance era. There’s a main quest-line you can follow, but there are always optional sidequests you can take on such as assassination contracts and deliveries for fun (and extra money). It’s one of the longer action/adventure games this year, and is definitely worth your money.

Does it come as any surprise to us that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is our 2009 Game of the Year? The winner of our Best First Person Shooter, Best Multiplayer, and Best Value awards had such high expectations, yet Modern Warfare 2 filled every one of cmfl3x’s and my hopes for the game. It delivered a thrilling campaign, dozens of co-op missions, and a multiplayer mode that just keeps on giving. If you think back to the “Most Overrated” category, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is basically the only highly scoring title this year that we did not feel was overrated. I would even argue that it’s underrated with it only scoring a 94/100 average on Metacritic. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is basically gaming perfection on the Xbox 360. Put it up against any other game released this year and there’s really no competition. If you have a Xbox 360 (or even a PS3), you must own this game as it’s the pinnacle of a multiplayer first person shooter done right on the console.

That concludes our awards/holiday shopping guide this year. Feel differently about your game of the year? Please share! Have a safe and happy holiday season enjoying the best of what 2009 offered us in gaming. While 2009 didn’t seem to offer us much until November 2009  when Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed II, and Left 4 Dead 2 released, the first quarter of 2010 is shaping up to be very promising with many titles I’m looking forward to playing such as: Bayonetta, Army of Two: The 40th Day, Mass Effect 2, BioShock 2, Dante’s Inferno, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Lost Planet 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Resonance of Fate, Final Fantasy XIII, Crysis 2, and Super Street Fighter IV. All of these titles are scheduled to be released in the next 3 months so if there’s no other games you want for Christmas this year, start asking for gift cards. You’ll be burning through them pretty quick in the next few months!

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!

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.