Games of 2010: Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

This is a very important point, and one that really shows how much effort has gone into translating the game for western audiences. This really is a funny game. The JRPG is so steeped in wonky translating and po-faced melodrama that it's kind of amazing to see a game that avoids both the pitfalls of its genre.

Even though humour is so culturally subjective, Dragon Quest IX's Euro version is genuinely witty. There's a character called Jack from All Trades Abbey, for example, who becomes a boss monster known as the Master of Nu'un. When so many games, particularly for kids, are content to do as little as possible to get their point across, Dragon Quest IX positively revels in the joy of alliteration and wordplay.

"Barbaric birds that attack twice with deadly drumsticks and cry cacophonously to creep out foes and call forth friends," goes the description for a Beakon. Players fighting Grinades (smiling, explosive rock creatures) are warned that "these suspiciously sprightly stones merrily maul opponents, beaming all the while, and bring their boulder buddies into battle".

Such shameless verbosity and linguistic dexterity makes me think of Dr. Seuss or the fantastic English translations of the Asterix books, where puns and gags are folded into the language in such a way that you can't believe it's not the story's native tongue. It also reminds me of Stan Lee's breathless Thesaurus-hogging introductions in old Silver Age Marvel comics, where the wily old coot realised that if you challenge young readers with big words in a fun way, they're more inclined to work out what they mean.

I'd hesitate to call this game educational, but it definitely encourages kids to take pleasure in a varied vocabulary. Anecdotal evidence: my son won an award at school for excellent descriptive writing. He wrote about Dragon Quest IX.

DQVC is good, it gives you rare armour and items so it's cool-awesome.

It's funny, but while us grown-ups have been wringing our hands over the rights and wrongs, the dos and don'ts, of downloadable content, Dragon Quest IX has quietly been getting it beautifully right since the summer. DQVC is the in-game wi-fi shopping network, and it updates every morning at 8am. New, rare items are available for limited times. They have special promotions. This past week has offered a Santa suit, for example. There are also bonus DLC quests, expanding the game beyond its epic storyline. And it's all free. Shooter fans wait months to pay through the nose for a couple of repurposed maps, while Dragon Quest serves up a smorgasbord of free content, every single day. Boggles the mind, doesn't it?

In Dragon Quest IX I like the fact that you can have 12 different vocations to choose from. I also like the different spells, abilities and traits to increase your skill.

I know this much: customisation is king in Dragon Quest IX. Yes, you can put funny bunny ears on your characters, as Jedward have so gracefully demonstrated, but there's purpose behind the dressing up. I've always credited the LEGO games with teaching my son how to play videogames, allowing him to intuitively grasp arcane concepts like "double jump" that we take for granted. But if it was LEGO that lured him in, it's Dragon Quest that made him feel at home. He now talks confidently and knowledgeably about hit points, stat buffs and level grinding. He understands the importance of having a balanced party, of using status effects to swing a battle in your favour, of planning tactically and knowing when to retreat, level up and come back later. Time was, kids his age would learn the value of hard work by doing a paper round. Now, he's farming XP to get a full set of Legendary Armour.

What it all boils down to is the simple, wonderful fact that Dragon Quest IX has made my son a geek like me. It's glorious. It's a real, proper, challenging, inspiring, all-encompassing role-playing videogame. And an eight-year-old can not only play it, but beat it and become a better gamer in the process, perhaps coming away with a clearer idea of what divides the classics from the that'll-dos. Tomorrow's core gamers are playing Dragon Quest IX today. That's worthy of game of the year status as far as I'm concerned.