Eurogamer Readers' Top 50 Games of 2009
Fight!
10. Forza Motorsport 3
Microsoft, Turn 10 / Xbox 360
What we said: "Forza Motorsport 3 is only you, the car, the rubber and the road, in a blissful, never-bettered harmony - until the race ends, you pull back, and you get the bigger picture. Then you realise that that experience was just the centre of a huge, welcoming, flexible and shockingly complete package, a racing game that genuinely has a corner somewhere in it for everyone who loves cars, and a world-beating online platform to share that love with thousands of others. For 2009 at least, consider the racing game defined."
McPhisto74 says: "My second most played game of 2009 and again a step closer to actually driving a Lamborghini..."
AgentCool says: "Simply the finest console racing simulator ever devised. The 'feel' is flawless, the graphics solid and the career structure vastly improved over the previous title making it much more compelling and rewarding to work through. And to think it's taken Polyphony Digital more time to make Gran Turismo 5 than Turn 10 took to develop two Forzas!"
9. Trials HD
RedLynx / Xbox 360
What we said: "Wonderfully designed, justifies the price, and may end up being the best thing on Xbox Live Arcade all year. If you're in any doubt, there's even a trial version. Thud."
Scimac says: "Frustrating, annoying, taunting, ridiculous, annoying, insane, stupid, did I mention annoying... Oh go on I'll have just one more go."
kenbrilliant says: "Pure videogame crack. God knows how many hours I've spent on this, and I still haven't finished all the Extreme tracks. Puts most full-price releases to shame."
rutter says: "Brilliant gameplay, utterly addictive, perfect learning curve and instant restarts. Although I still haven't conquered Inferno II :("
8. Left 4 Dead 2
What we said: "Whereas once we treated Left 4 Dead as a stopgap between Half-Lifes, this is no longer a weird little side project with modest expectations, and Valve is confident enough to play around with it, safe in the knowledge that you can trust your players. Left 4 Dead proved it. And whereas that game had a personality, this one is overflowing with it."
Buztafen says: "Best. Multiplayer. Ever. The original L4D was my favourite game of 2008. The fact Valve not only brought out a sequel in such double-quick time but improved on almost every aspect deserves massive credit, not anger. No other game can bring a random group of people together and make them work as a team so effortlessly. The people I've met playing both games are the reason I'm always snooping round here, and the reason I can't remember much of the night out after the Leeds Expo!"
7. Demon's Souls
Atlus (US), From Software / PS3
What we said: "It's stoic, uncompromising, difficult to get to know, but also deep, intriguingly disturbed and perversely rewarding. You can learn to love Demon's Souls like few other games in the world. But only if you're prepared to give yourself over to it."
cjb_bjc says: "Haven't played it! Because I'm European! So bring it over here dammit. It's my number 5 and i haven't even tried it yet!"
Kris_bla says: "This game was a complete surprise! I did not know about it until I was desperate looking for an RPG game for PS3 and I found this one. Very tough game but incredibly rewarding and thrilling. We need more games like this."