AWARDS SEASON: BEST GAME OF THE YEAR 2009

Overall winner

Assassin's Creed II

Honourable mentions

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Battlefield 1943

ASSASSIN'S CREED II

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version.

GAMEPLAY


GRAPHICS

SOUND


VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL

LEFT 4 DEAD 2

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version.

GAMEPLAY


GRAPHICS

SOUND


VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL

LEGO INDIANA JONES 2: THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

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version reviewed.

GAMEPLAY


GRAPHICS

SOUND


VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL

STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT: ELITE SQUADRON

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version.

GAMEPLAY


GRAPHICS

SOUND


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OVERALL

BAYONETTA

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Switch version .

Bayonetta is a game published by Sega and developed by PlatinumGames for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Nintendo Switch and PC.

GAMEPLAY


STORY


GRAPHICS

SOUND


VALUE FOR MONEY

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RATCHET & CLANK: A CRACK IN TIME (2009) REVIEW

A great game of galactic awesomeness.

PS3 exclusive.

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time is a platformer published by Sony and developed by Insomniac Games for the Playstation 3.

GAMEPLAY
The game just feels so smooth and polished, the new more open world approach with the different space hubs and things like collecting the Zoni reminded me of the good old Insomniac Spyro days.

Ratchet's segments are really fun, the arena has been improved and is better than ever before, as well as the design of most levels, as well as a variety of new and old of weapons and gadgets such as things like the hover boots, the dynamo of doom, more Mr. Zurkon dialogue as well as improved weapon mods and customisation along with more stuff too.

Levels in space are the best they've ever been, although some feature to look behind you would have been nice, as you can pick up unnecessary damage. Something I really liked about the space levels however was the different radio stations, something I certainly wasn't expecting, even if there aren't that many the small touch is nice addition.

The Clank segments were easily the best in the series, they were engaging and challenging, and not the frustrating kind either. There is the option to just skip them too, if you really can't get your head round them, which was probably a good choice as some people may not have wanting to spend the time to figure them out, as some of them can actually take a while.

STORY
Some of the humour is pretty funny, a couple of moments even made me laugh out loud

Also has the best story in the series along with the best antagonists

GRAPHICS

Looks very nice

SOUND
Soundtrack is solid

VALUE FOR MONEY

Probably around 12 hours long with just the story, add in collectables and challenge mode and that figure certainly gets considerably larger. The game is certainly fun enough to warrant the price.

OVERALL
The best Ratchet gameplay, the best Clank gameplay, and the best space gameplay. As well as a better story and general design, I regard this game as superior to all the other games in the series, easily.

This game was immensely fun and if you're just looking for a good time then this game will give you one. It's easily my favourite in the series and I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone.

UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES (2009) REVIEW

PS3 exclusive.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is an action adventure game published by Sony and developed by Naughty Dog for the Playstation 3.

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STORY


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VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL
This sequel is undoubtedly stronger than its predecessor

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS - REPUBLIC HEROES (2009) REVIEW

Public enemies.

PS3 version reviewed.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes is an action adventure game published by LucasArts and developed by Krome Studios for the Playstation 2, Playstation 3, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS and PC.

GAMEPLAY
Almost the whole game is either on rails or side scrolling platforming sections.

STORY
I know it's only based off the cartoon, but  it was pretty boring and unmemorable

GRAPHICS

SOUND
Music and voice acting is all in line with how it should be, nothing to really complain about here.

VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL

SPORE HERO (2009) REVIEW

Has Spore managed to evolve, or will it drop out the food chain?

Wii exclusive.

Spore Hero is an action adventure game published and developed by EA Games for the Wii.

GAMEPLAY

STORY

GRAPHICS

SOUND
Has a couple of good pieces on the soundtrack

VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL

BATTLEFIELD 1943 (2009) REVIEW

Multiplayer mayhem.

PS3 version reviewed.

Battlefield 1943 is a first person shooter published by EA Games and developed by DICE for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

GAMEPLAY
Brilliant maps

Well balanced classes

Nice variety of ways to approach

GRAPHICS
Looks great.

SOUND
Very good, main theme is memorable.

VALUE FOR MONEY
£10 for countless hours of gameplay, an excellent price.

OVERALL
Battlefield 1943 is a great showcase of what DICE do best, highly entertaining large scale multiplayer battles. The game is great whether you're playing alone or with friends.

ARMA II

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version.

GAMEPLAY


GRAPHICS

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OVERALL

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (2009) REVIEW

Revenge of the bad movie tie-in.

PS3 version reviewed.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a survival game published by Activision and developed by Luxoflux for the Playstation 2, Playstation 3, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS and PC.

GAMEPLAY

STORY

GRAPHICS

SOUND

VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL
While the missions are seemingly more fun than the previous game, they still aren't at all special. But the real flaw in this game is the removal of the open world that the first one had, instead of being able to have some fun messing around in the open world you're constricted to a series of largely the same kind of missions for most the game.

INDIANA JONES AND THE STAFF OF KINGS

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version.

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LEGO BATTLES (2009) REVIEW

NDS exclusive.

Ratchet: Deadlocked is a strategy game published by Warner Brothers and developed by Hellbent Games for the Nintendo DS.

GAMEPLAY
Co-op story mode

Weapon mods

STORY


GRAPHICS

SOUND


VALUE FOR MONEY

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THE SIMS 3

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PS3 version reviewed.

The Sims 3 is a simulation game published by EA Games and developed by Maxis for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and PC.

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STORY


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KILLING FLOOR (2009) REVIEW

PC exclusive.

Killing Floor is a shooter published and developed by Tripwire Interactive for PC.

GAMEPLAY


STORY


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VALUE FOR MONEY

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DEMON'S SOULS

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PS3 exclusive.

Demon's Souls is an RPG published by Sony and developed by FromSoftware for the Playstation 3.

GAMEPLAY


STORY


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VALUE FOR MONEY

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THE LORD OF THE RINGS: CONQUEST (2009) REVIEW

Star Wars Battlefront - Lord of the Rings edition.

PS3 version reviewed.

The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is an action game published by EA Games and developed by Pandemic for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

GAMEPLAY
Obviously it's usually pretty hard to create well adjusted classes that all seem to be level with each other, and Pandemic, unlike the Battlefront series, dropped the ball here. Classes are pretty unbalanced, any mage or archer will have an advantage over a warrior or scout.

Heroes in online are pointless, as the whole opposition team will switch to the scout class and attempt to backstap whoever the hero is. Perhaps even more bizarre, is that Sauron can be backstabbed, despite being far to big to actually get thrown down.

STORY
While the campaigns are simple, playing through the evil campaign in a "what if?" scenario was quite fun.

GRAPHICS

They're not great when compared with most other big titles

SOUND
Hugo Weaving is the only actor to actually reprise his role from the movies, and ironically he isn't one of the playable heroes. The heroes that are in the game don't sound anything like their movie counterparts most of the time, whether that was the voice actors, the direction or what, it certainly ruined immersion a bit.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Plenty of hours of content if you enjoy the instant action feature.

OVERALL
Despite not being in the same league as the Battlefront series, major balancing issues and having quite a few rough edges, I still found the game enjoyable.