The 2009 GWJ Community Game of the Year Awards! - Voting Closed

Here's mine! These are just the games I actually played - I have a feeling the list will change once I backtrack to other titles of the year.

1. Dragon Age: Origins
2. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
3. Modern Warfare 2
4. Forza Motorsport 3
5. Batman: Arkham Asylum
6. flower
7. Plants Vs. Zombies
8. Shadow Complex
9. Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
10. Shatter

Is Windows 7 a game? Cause I would vote for that.
1 Dragon Age: Origins-possibly Bioware's finest game in 10 years. And the best RPG I have played since The Witcher.
2 Borderlands: Gearbox's best game ever.
3 Batman: Arkham Asylum
4 Secret of Monkey Island SE
5 Zeno Clash-Worth it for the art alone.
6 Overlord II-they mostly fixed the first one. And I beat it.
7 EA's NHL 10-adding in subtle things like on the board puck control makes a major difference.

Those are the only titles released this year that I played. I played a crap load of Mount and Blade-2008 title. Trine, I do not feel worth noting. It was pretty looking with no challenge. It was the Assasin's Creed I of Lost Vikings style games.

1) Dragon Age: Origins
2) Red Faction Guerilla
3) The Spirit Engine 2
4) NHL '10
5) Drakensang
6) League of Legends
7) Rock Band: The Beatles

1) Dragon Age: Origins
2) Modern Warfare 2
3) Forza 3
4) the Hunter
5) Shadow Complex
6) Plants vs. Zombies
7) Tales of Monkey Island
8) Panzer General: Allied Assault
9) Far Cry 2 (2008, but I played it in 2009)
10) Arma 2

1) Dragon Age: Origins
2) Left 4 Dead 2
3) Assassins Creed 2
4) Batman Arkum Asylum
5) Borderlands
6) Modern Warfare 2
7) Fallout 3 GOTY/DLC
8) Team Fortress 2
9) Shadow Complex
10) New Super Mario Brothers Wii

I've played so few games this year that my list is really short.

1) Dragon Age
2) AI Wars, based on a very short try out, I see a lot to love in this game

Everything else has been a 2008 game, or hasn't even been installed yet.

Updated.

Due to my tendency to play games a while after they were actually released, I'm struggling to fill this list with 2009 published games:

Dragon Age
Borderlands
Torchlight
DOW2
Trine
L4D2
Zeno Clash
Plants Vs Zombies
World of Goo (2008 but that pay what you want sale was awesome enough to put it down anyway)
Today I die

1. Batman: AA
2. Borderlands
3. Shadow Comlex
4. Pixeljunk Shooter (How come there isn't more love for this?)
5. Forza 3
6. Dawn of War 2
7. Uncharted 2
8. Trine
9. Plants vs. Zombies
10. Modern Warfare 2

Haven't had time to play but would have probably made the list:

New Super Mario Brothers Wii
Demon Souls
Assassins Creed 2
Dragon Age

Ok. My Top 10 for 2009

1. Dragon Age: Origins
2. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
3. Left 4 Dead 2
4. Dawn of War II
5. The Sims 3
6. Fallout 3: GOTY edition
7. Batman: Arkham Asylum
8. Torchlight
9. Plants vs Zombies
10.Champions Online

Please note the complete lack of console titles - my 360 conveniently died this year before the big releases. Otherwise, I'm sure Assassin's Creed 2 and Uncharted 2 would be somewhere on this list, knocking off the bottom ones. This was really more of a "catch-up and replay" year for me anyway, so I'll throw in the bottom list as well:

Games I loved in 2009 that were not released in 2009.
Age of Conan
Assassin's Creed
Bioshock
Civ IV: Fall from Heaven 2 Mod
Call of Duty 4
Empire, Medieval 2, and Rome: Total War
Far Cry 2
Jade Empire
KOTOR
Left 4 Dead
LoTRO
Mass Effect
Peggle
Splinter Cell: Double Agent
Titan Quest + Immortal Throne
Today I Die
Tropico
Vampire: The Masquerade

Wow. Looking back, this was a great gaming year for me. Here's hoping 2010 surpasses it! (Star Wars: The Old Republic, Mass Effect 2, Assassin's Creed 2 for the PC, and Cataclysm, I am staring in your general direction...)

1. Batman AA
2. Brutal Legend
3. Left 4 Dead 2
4. Way of the Samurai 3
5. Demigod
6. Dragon Age
7.Street fighter 4
8. DoW2
9. Ghoster Busters
10. Shadow Complex

One potential idea for next year's thread: can we possibly spoiler-tag the results in the opening post of the thread until voting is complete? I know there was already one poster earlier who mentioned that he just passed on offering a vote entirely after seeing the list...and, for those who do offer a vote, there may be a temptation to alter your ballot in response to the results that have already happened.

OzymandiasAV wrote:

One potential idea for next year's thread: can we possibly spoiler-tag the results in the opening post of the thread until voting is complete? I know there was already one poster earlier who mentioned that he just passed on offering a vote entirely after seeing the list...and, for those who do offer a vote, there may be a temptation to alter your ballot in response to the results that have already happened.

I agree. Also, I would add a Biggest Dissapointment of the Year Vote. For me, it's Empire: Total War. This is the first one of all of the Total War games to be merely...ok. It doesn't suck, but Creative Assembly has produced great game after great game, and this one was the first that had the scope exceed managability IMO.

Updated.

Here's mine - since I became a father for the first time this year, I actually didn't play 10 new games. So here's how I rank the games I did play:

1. Dragon Age
2. Borderlands
3. Demigod
4. Dawn of War 2
5. Plants Vs Zombies
6. Lord of the Rings: Siege of Mirkwood (latest expansion)
7. Champions Online
8. Empire: Total War

There's an awful lot of games that I didn't get to yet. I think these "game of the year" lists should be done in February, given how much releases at the very end of the year.

1) Left 4 Dead 2
2) World in Conflict: Soviet Assault
3) Battlefield 1943
4) Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
5) Plants vs. Zombies
6) Torchlight
7) Dragon Age: Origins
8) Wipeout HD Fury
9) Fight Night: Round 4
10) Uncharted 2

*Legion* wrote:

There's an awful lot of games that I didn't get to yet. I think these "game of the year" lists should be done in February, given how much releases at the very end of the year.

I would agree with this, especially when you consider that some people may be coming around to these games as holiday gifts. PixelJunk Shooter, in particular, seems to be a notable title that may be in position to be down-voted a bit, just because it came out so late in the year.

Let's see:

1) Batman: Arkham Asylum
2) Plants vs Zombies
3) World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
4) Dragon Age: Origins
5) Assassin's Creed II
6) Street Fighter IV
7) BlazBlue
8) Suikoden Tierkreis
9) Halo: ODST
10) Phantasy Star 0

1) Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
2) Dragon Age: Origins (initially I wasn't sure, but it's so much more fun on easy)
3) Halo 3: ODST (a big surprise for me, the singleplayer was a lot of fun despite it's weak points)
4) Brutal Legend
5) Plants vs. Zombies
6) Zeno Clash

That's basically all the games from '09 I played this year, still got quite a few on the pile though.

Updated.

Last day for voting, now or never folks.

Ok, better throw mine in there. Some games I haven't put enough time into yet (ie. Dragon Age)

Assassin's Creed 2
Uncharted 2
World of Warcraft WotLK
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Modern Warfare 2
Torchlight
Trials HD

Aries wrote:

Ok, better throw mine in there. Some games I haven't put enough time into yet (ie. Dragon Age)

Assassin's Creed 2
Uncharted 2
World of Warcraft WotLK
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Modern Warfare 2
Torchlight
Trials HD

So, since you listed Dragon Age before everything else, that's your #1, correct?

My votes, taken from the games I've played:

1) Demon's Souls
2) Street Fighter 4
3) Halo 3: ODST
4) Borderlands
5) Resident Evil 5
6) Tales of Monkey Island
7) Dawn of War 2
8) Trine
9) Dissidia: Final Fantasy
10) Plants vs. Zombies

I had completely forgotten that RE5, ODST, and SF4 all came out this year, since it feels like I played them ages ago.

My top 10

1) Batman: Arkham Asylum
2) Left 4 Dead 2
3) Torchlight
4) Plants vs Zombies
5) Super Mario Bros. Wii
6) Borderlands
7) Dragon Age: Origins
8) Street Fighter 4
9) Dawn of Discovery
10) Empire: Total War

What a great year for PC gaming.

I wrote a nice long post with all my picks and reasons for them, but my browser ate it, and I don't feel like typing it again. I didn't play many new games this year. I either skipped for awhile or skipped forever many of the bigger AAA titles, but there were a few smaller games that caught my eye. They're my picks for this year.

1.) The Path
2.) Machinarium
3.) Solium Infernum
4.) Canabalt
5.) Bonsai Barber

1) Dragon Age
2) Borderlands
3) L4D2
4) Batman
5) Overlord II
6) X-men - Wolverine

Looking forward to playing AC2, Brutal Legend, and Drake's. They're all in my rental queue. I'd vote for L4D1 again if I could as I've put more time into that game than all others combined this year.

This is the year where I really found Steam and bought a variety of games I wouldn't even expected to buy at the start of 2009 as well as gaming more on my PC than console.

1. Plants Vs. Zombies
2. Left 4 Dead 2
3. Dragon Age: Origins
4. Team Fortress 2
5. Halo: ODST
6. Dawn of War 2
7. Torchlight
8. GTA IV: TLAD
9. World of Warcraft: WotLK

A little late to the party, but here are mine.

1. Team Fortress 2 (Updates count... Right?)
2. Batman: Arkham Asylum
3. Dawn of War II
4. New Super Mario Bros Wii
5. Valkyria Chronicles
6. Resident Evil V
7. Uncharted 2
8. Dragon Age: Origins
9. Men Of War
10.Red Faction: Guerrilla

I've got 5, in no order:

Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad
WET
Dishwasher: Dead Samurai
Zombie Apocalypse
Peggle