Best Games of 2009

2009 was a relatively decent year in games or at least it was in terms of what I played. My lack of job meant I couldn't try out many new titles and my lack of a PS3 until just last week ensured I was unable to play the system that seemed to have the best year as far as exclusives were concerned. The Wii and 360 had almost nothing to offer in terms of big titles...well the 360 actually had two Halo games, but I have no interest in that series. There was a pretty strong showing for multi-platform releases and I guess any year that gives me a proper Mario game and a Ratchet and Clank title couldn't be all bad. Now that I've got a job and PS3 maybe I can go back and play some of the year's big releases.

Best Games of 2009

5. [Prototype] (Multi-Platform)

Though the missions get repetitive and the difficulty somewhat spirals out of control in the last few missions, this is a pretty fun open world game. The sheer variety of moves that you can unlock and preform is staggering and something as simple as traversing the city is a blast. This game is often compared to PS3 game Infamous, but since I haven't played that yet I can't really say which is the better anti-hero game, but Prototype is a solid action game.

4. Metroid Prime Trilogy (Nintendo Wii)

I wasn't sure at first whether to count this, as it sort of seems like cheating. I haven't reviewed it yet, and I'm not going to cover it as a single package. After all, it's not one game, it's three, All of which I've already played before. But even with the old content, I still got more fun out of it than most of what I played this year. Metroid Prime is still one of my favorite games of all time,. A fun shooter with a wonderful atmosphere. Metroid Prime 2 is still kind of a letdown with it overuse of backtracking, and Metroid Prime 3 makes up for the second game and is fun closure to great trilogy. Sure I'm kind of cheating, but The Metroid Prime Trilogy is the best gaming value you can get for your money this year.

3. New Super Mario Bros Wii (Nintendo Wii)

This is a pretty personal choice, as New Super Mario Bros Wii didn't do anything to push the franchise forward, it's just another solid entry in one of my favorite series. The game is kind of lazy in the sense that it doesn't have any new ideas of own, it just reuses old standbys from the series's past. The new items are fun and the co-op mode, while annoying at times is fun in a screw around with your friends way. It's not the best Mario game, but its certainly a fun one.

2. Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (PS3)

Ratchet & Clank is right up there with Mario as one of my favorite franchises, so luckily I had a friend with a PS3 who bought the game and though I didn't complete it, I was still able to play enough of it to gather my opinion of it. A Crack in Time doesn't alter the gameplay formula of the series, it just continues the run of gaming goodness that the series excels at. It had been some time since I played a new Ratchet game (2005's Deadlocked was the last for me), but I settled right into the groove as soon as the game started, blowing up everything in sight, collecting experience, and just having a fun time. I've got a PS3 now and I'm working through the earlier PS3 Ratchet entries and I must say this series is still a treat.

1. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo DS)

And the best game of year is actually a handheld title. The Mario & Luigi series has always been a strong series and this third outing may easily be the best. The Mario RPGs have always allowed the writers to throw the Mario cast into bizarre scenarios and Bowser's Inside Story may be the most bizarre. The narrative goes in so many strange and wonderful directions and its all surprisingly funny. The combat is more involved than most RPGs on the market and getting to actually fight as King Bowser is more fun than it has any right to be. It's a very enjoyable experience I think that there should more games as unique as this.

Best Movies of 2009

I actually think I went to the movies this year more than I have in the last six or seven years. Much like my television picks, I missed out on most of the big budget releases. Almost the entire summer blockbuster season when unnoticed by me, I haven't gotten off my butt to see Avatar (came close though), and as usual I missed out on Pixar's latest inevitable award winner. Overall, people seem to note that 2009 was a pretty lousy year for movies and I can agree with that. The summer blockbuster period was littered with just awful and lazy 80s cartoon adaptions and sequels and the roughly seven or eight movies I actually went out to see ranged from pretty good to just plain boring. I had some difficultly picking five movies that I really like and like the television picks, there is one movie on this list I haven't talked about yet.

Best Movies of 2009

5. Zombieland

Horror is not my genre of choice, but Zombieland succeeded in entertaining me mostly because it focused more on the comedy and relationships between our heroes than on the onslaught of the undead. The surprise celebrity cameo may be one of my favorite sequences of the year and the finale at an amusement park is probably the most purely inventive scene I've seen in a action-related context. Despite my aversion to almost anything horror related, I wouldn't mind seeing the creators continue the story of four strangers looking out for one another.

4. I Can Do Bad All By Myself

Tyler Perry seems to have figured out that if he is going to do a drama/comedy film, the two genre elements must bounce off one another naturally instead of randomly switching off at any given moment. That was the problem with "Madea Goes To Jail", but "I Can Do Bad" fixes this and is all the stronger for it. The movie doesn't do anything groundbreaking, it's just well paced and has solid cast work.

3. Star Trek

I haven't talked about this film mainly because I saw it before I started posting my opinions of things on this site. This movie was my first proper exposure to the Star Trek franchise and though it didn't make me want to rush and watch any of the various series, it was still an enjoyable science fiction outing. The movie managed to do a lot to make both series fans and newbies happy, and I think it succeeded in most areas. Zachary Quinto makes a memorable Spock, even if I still see him as the villain from Heroes and Simon Pegg as Scotty pretty much made the movie for me. The movie is well set up for further cinematic outings and I'll be waiting in line if it comes.

2. Precious

This is the type of drama that Tyler Perry should aspire to create. Precious is a truly emotional and dark movie and it never really gets much lighter, just deciding to end things when there is some small hope present. I said it before but the real strength of the movie is it's cast. Mo'Nique made an unbelievable transformation from a decent no-nonsense comedic actress to a extreme villainous force to be reckoned with and Gabourey Sidibe perfectly captured crushed innocence and lost potential for the title character. This is just a great movie.

1. The Hangover

I love comedy films and The Hangover can stand up with the classics of the genre. It is without a doubt one of the funniest film I've seen in a while. The combination of Helms, Cooper and Gilifanakis is a combo that shouldn't work, but works flawlessly. I said it before and I'll say it again, if you’re looking for a good, fun movie, look no further.

Best Shows Of 2009

Its that time of the year where people talk about what their favorite shows, movies, etc were this past year. I decided to do the same. I don't watch a lot of the most popular television series because they don't interest me, so most of my picks are based more on my own personal interests than what everyone else is watching. Shows qualify by having a season that ended during the year of 2009 and at least one of my picks are of a show I haven't talked about yet. But first...

Notable Exception

Futurama (Comedy Central/Direct to DVD)

The direct to dvd features of Futurama are officially considered the fifth season of the show. Each movie is divided up into four parts and aired on Comedy Central which ran from roughly mid 2008 to late this year (the dvds were released late 2007 to early this year). As a whole the movies never reached the peak of excellent that the series did, but they're still at least 3 times better than most of what's on TV now-a-days. Their exclusion from this list is largely do to the fact that despite airing on television, these films count more as dvd releases then television premieres (if that makes sense).

Best Television Shows of 2009

5. The Real World: Brooklyn (MTV)

Yeah...you know I haven't watched a lot of television shows when The Real World manages to make it on a best of list. The Brooklyn season managed to do everything that the series has failed to do in the past decade: Interesting cast members with interesting stories to tell and people who could make valid arguments without being intoxicated. There were still a lot of those trivial fights over dumb crap but it was actually really entertaining. The show proved that reality shows can still have conflict but have enough brains to respect each other and remain great television...it's a shame that the Cancun season couldn't follow suit.

4. Glee (FOX)

The season's not over due to Fox extending the season, but it's clear that what has already aired was supposed to be a contained season. I'm not as big of a fan of the show as the self proclaimed "Gleeks", but it's still a very good comedy/drama with a great cast, music, and production values. I can't tell where the story is going to go when the season concludes in April, but as far as being a well put together program, it succeeds.

3. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX)

As I stated before, Sunny's fifth season didn't reach the peak of genius that's come before, but the show is still pretty funny every week. I guess they're just running out of sensitive topics to make fun of, but I'm glad that the writers have at least been trying to come up with new ideas for the cast the work with. Despite all that, this show still made me laugh out loud.

2. The Whitest Kids U'Know (IFC)

Much like Sunny, the Whitest Kids 09 season wasn't as fresh as the previous years, but it was still a lot of fun to watch. The new shorter running time of the episodes allowed the show to run the same amount of content in a longer time period. Something I love about the show that other skecth comedy shows don't do very well is the ending of the skits. The cast often find a good punchline to end things on, and when they don't they're not afraid to just let a bit end or completely turn it on its head to finish it. A fourth season is coming and I can't wait.

1. Dexter (Showtime)

I haven't talked about Dexter on this site yet and I haven't talked about it's newest season because I wanted to talk about the first three beforehand. Just know that the fourth season of Dexter is extremely strong and the storyline reaches an extremely tense conclusion. The cast really up their game, Julie Carpenter in particular, and there are moments in the season that rank among the most emotionally affecting things I've seen on television in a long time. The season seems to indicate the series is finally setting things up for the show's grand finale and I eagerly await more greatness.