X-Play Presents "The Best of 2009 Awards"

[Aragorn]

Winners in bold. Watch the clips and comments on G4tv.com.


Game of the Year:

• Assassin's Creed II
• Borderlands
• inFamous
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Best Original Game:

• Borderlands
• Brutal Legend
• Flower
• Scribblenauts
• Shadow Complex

Best Gameplay Innovation:

• Borderlands - gun tech
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - death perks
• Demon's Souls - multiplayer
• Red Faction: Guerilla - new geo-modding
• Scribblenauts - vocabulary

Best Action/Adventure Game:

• Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• Assassin's Creed II
• inFamous
• Batman: Arkham Asylum

Best Shooter:

• Borderlands
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Halo 3: ODST
• Killzone 2
• Left 4 Dead 2

Best New Character:

• Ezio Auditore da Firenze - Assassin's Creed II
• Chloe Frazer - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• Claptrap - Borderlands
• Eddie Riggs - Brutal Legend
• Cole MacGrath - inFamous

Best Art Direction:

• The Beatles: Rock Band
• Borderlands
• Assassin's Creed II
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• Brutal Legend

Best Animation:

• Assassin's Creed II
• Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time
• Fight Night Round 4
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• Street Fighter IV

Best Writing:

• Assassin's Creed II
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Brutal Legend
• Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Best Original Soundtrack:

• Assassin's Creed II
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Flower
• Halo 3: ODST
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Best Sound Design:

• The Beatles: Rock Band
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Killzone 2
• Left 4 Dead 2
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Best Downloadable Game:

• 1 vs. 100
• Battlefield 1943
• Flower
• Shadow Complex
• Splosion Man

Best Downloadable Content:

• Burnout Paradise - Big Surf Island
• Fallout 3 - Broken Steel
• Fallout 3 - Point Lookout
• Grand Theft Auto IV - The Ballad of Gay Tony
• Grand Theft Auto IV - The Lost and Damned

Best Racing Game:

• Dirt 2
• Forza Motorsport 3
• Fuel
• Need for Speed: Shift

Best Role-Playing Game:

• Demon's Souls
• Dragon Age: Origins
• Mario & Luigi: Bower's Inside Story
• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
• Torchlight

Best Music/Rhythm Game:

• DJ Hero
• Rock Band Unplugged
• The Beatles: Rock Band
• Guitar Hero 5
• Lego Rock Band

Best Fighting Game:

• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
• Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny
• Street Fighter IV

Best Handheld Game:

• Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
• LittleBigPlanet
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
• Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
• Rock Band Unplugged

Best Sports Game:

• FIFA Soccer 10
• Fight Night Round 4
• MLB 09: The Show
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10
• Wii Sports Resort

 

[BigFoot]

Yay for Uncharted 2.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

How on earth did Broken Steel beat the two GTA IV DLCs? I mean, it was great and all, but the sheer content of both the GTA ones was staggering.

 

[Skywalker]

Mario & Luigi beats Dragon Age for Best RPG?

I call shenanigans.

 

[Sephiroth]

wow, how much did Jack Black pay for that?

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Mario & Luigi beats Dragon Age for Best RPG?

I call shenanigans.

Well, one thing about Dragon Age that may have held it back is that, as great as it is, we've all played it before back when it was called KOTOR and Mass Effect.

 

[Skywalker]

KOTOR and Mass Effect wipe the floor with Dragon Age. But it was still an excellent game.

 

[Aragorn]

How on earth did Broken Steel beat the two GTA IV DLCs? I mean, it was great and all, but the sheer content of both the GTA ones was staggering.

I just bought the two GTA4 downloads and thought they were boring. The effort put into the new storylines was impressive, but the games are more of the same. I also feel like the storyline cutscenes actually bring the game to a grinding halt rather than enrich the experience.

I like GTA4 on the whole but it was quite the overrated and repetitive game.

 

[dragunzng]

Most of the list I'm fine with, but I really don't see how Flower won best soundtrack, beating out Uncharted 2!

Best art direction should have gone to either Uncharted 2 or Assasin's Creed II, I think Brutal Legend's art direction was pretty darn by the numbers for the subject matter.

 

[Kegg]

Mario & Luigi beats Dragon Age for Best RPG?

I call shenanigans.

Well, one thing about Dragon Age that may have held it back is that, as great as it is, we've all played it before back when it was called KOTOR and Mass Effect.

So what? He's right. SHENANIGANS!

Not to sound like a Dragon Age fanboy, but that game was really very, very fun. It's pretty much everything Bioware's done ever, then done again, done more, and done better, and done with Claudia Black.

I rest my case.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Mario & Luigi beats Dragon Age for Best RPG?

I call shenanigans.

Well, one thing about Dragon Age that may have held it back is that, as great as it is, we've all played it before back when it was called KOTOR and Mass Effect.

So what? He's right. SHENANIGANS!

Not to sound like a Dragon Age fanboy, but that game was really very, very fun. It's pretty much everything Bioware's done ever, then done again, done more, and done better, and done with Claudia Black.

I rest my case.

No argument from me there. I'm currently on my third play through, and still finding new stuff. I'm merely trying to get inside the head of the reviewers.

And yeah, having Claudia Black is a huge, huge plus.

 

[donners22]

Broken combat AI, some generic world elements (ie Tolkien cliches) and in-game DLC shilling could have held it back, I suppose.

Haven't played the others, so I don't know how they directly stack up, but I wouldn't have regarded DA:O as a lock for the best game of its genre.