Sunday Times Picks the Top 20 Video Games of 2009

Over the past year or two I’ve noticed that the Sunday Times magazine has become more “with it” as regards video games and its culture, with initially one game or two game reviews making it in there. Now however, for the past two weeks running just before Christmas, video games have been featured on the cover – something that was rarely done before, unless it was something majorly hyped, like Halo 3 or perhaps Modern Warfare 2, more recently. The covers were a couple of rubbish collages of all different multimedia images, with no real recognizable faces, except for something out of Watchmen, but still.

So, for the past couple of weeks, the Sunday Times has listed their top 20 of each multimedia category – video games, movies, and music…and gadgets in case it wasn’t masculine enough. The first ten (20-11) were featured last weekend, and this weekend the rest (10-1) were featured. Yes, Modern Warfare 2 is on the list, but wait… it’s not number 1 - which means it’s more legitimate than you think!

Sunday Times Top 20 Video Games of 2009:

20. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010
19. Metroid Prime Trilogy
18. The Beatles: Rockband
17.Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City
16. Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition
15. Mad World
14. Tekken 6
13. Red Faction: Guerrilla
12. Overlord 2
11. Borderlands
10. Fifa 10
9. Wolfenstein
8. Tiger Woods Wii
7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
6. Forza Motorsport 3
5. Assassin’s Creed 2
4. InFamous
3. DJ Hero
2. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
1. Batman: Arkham Asylum

Quite a good list. I’m glad that Wolfenstein got on there somewhere in the top 10. It wasn’t that bad. I’m also glad about Fallout 3 GOTY, although I would have put it higher, seeing as I’m playing it right now and enjoying it. Red Faction Guerrilla, Borderlands, Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, and of course the game everyone raved about: Batman Arkham Asylum, all featured on the list. I had a feeling that Arkham Asylum would be high on the list – Pippa on The Verge certainly talks fondly of it.

If you want to know who to thank, or crucify, for the list, it’s Yusuf Laher, Matthew Vice, and Walt Pretorius – they composed the video game list. If you’ve ever read NAG magazine, you should recognize these names – particularly the infamous Walt “Shryke” Pretorius that we’ve known of for years. And here I was thinking it was probably some bunch of mainstream casual gamers, but not a wholly terrible effort. At least they covered most consoles.

Games that you might like that didn’t make the list would be Left 4 Dead 2, Resident Evil 5, Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition (which some say sucked anyway), X-Men and Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition, Prototype (basically the main competitor for InFamous – which did make the list), F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, The Sims 3, and probably some more as well. I think the only real oversight for a lot of people would be Left 4 Dead 2, seeing as that was featured on almost every other “best of list” for 2009 out there, but it all comes down to opinion. If I made a list, it would be different, but I wouldn’t even know how to go about making one.

Sunday Times Picks the Top 20 Video Games of 2009