PixlBit

Going down the top ranked on Metacritic for that year, these are what I played a lot within console generation 7, 

#1 - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3) - Although not a huge Uncharted fan, I noticed a great game and played it. I remember it wasn't always that easy either. I absolutely can't stand the stealth segements, but I put up with them. Everyone says this is the best of the series, but I don't know, I like 1 and 3 about as much. 

#7 - Batman: Arkham Asylum (X360) - I knew the developer Rocksteady from their previous game Urban Chaos: Riot Response which MK and I loved and played a lot of on Xbox and PS2. I was surprised they were doing a Batman game next and what a game. An absolute banger game for Gen 7. What isn't right in this game? It's a home run. Addendum: I just saw they did the recent Lego Batman game too? Odd choice, but ok, I'm interested. 

#9 - Killzone 2 (PS3) - MK and I played Killzone 1 on PS2, but I think only I got into this sequel and beyond. It does become more of a cover-based shooter with this one and the next, but I always like revisiting it anyway. I just like the way Guerrilla Games does things. 

#18 - Demon's Souls (PS3) - Great year for PS3 for me. I'm besotted of the visuals in Demon's Souls and got this day-one. That dark fantasy vibe is so gorgeously grim like a gothic novel. I can't say I've ever been a fan of the gameplay though. I think it's novel and exciting that your character dies in the very first fight and then the real game begins, but after that it's a real grind with lots of failures and repeating areas. I don't even care though, because I'm always back in to view those visuals and get as far as I can. Weird that I never really dug the Dark Souls series that followed it, but I might try and get a few and see if I can get into them. 

#22 - Peggle (XBLA) - What a great mashup of pachinko and pinball. PopCap was a genius at reinventing old ideas. How I want more Peggle levels to play 17 years later. 

#27 - Plants Vs. Zombies (XBLA) - Maybe '09 was PopCap's swansong because they would be very soon bought and plundered. What a creative arrangement of ideas in this strategy game: suburban lawns, wacky, shooty plants, lumbering zombies, and tower defense. It's a delight but I wish the sequel had come to consoles as it was only a phone game. I was so disapointed to see where the series went with Garden Warfare. I mean, I actually enjoyed those games but they were not what I wanted. 

#33 - Little King's Story (Wii) - I would say I bought the most games for Xbox, then PS3 and then Wii and DS. But the few I got for Wii were always special. I was always on the lookout for Pikmin-like games and this was one. It was also like the Kingdom for Keflings games and the resource gathering in early Warcraft games. I kind of love giving orders and watching my minions carry out tasks and build things. It's one of my favorite gameplay activities. 

#37 - Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (PS3) - The third R&C Future game for PS3, one that I remember full of time control mechanics. These games look so darn good and play so well. I'm thrilled to finally have them again and be able to replay them later this year. 

#38 - PixelJunk Monsters (PSN) - I must've been on PS3 a lot this year. I love tower defense and this added a nice graphics touch and novel mechanics to make it interesting. MK and I finally played it co-op a few times later on. 

#41 - Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (DS) - One of my rare day-one buys on DS. I don't remember how I first saw it, but I was excited for it immediately. Maybe it was that interesting battle system: turn-based but like a puzzle game. Or maybe it was the colorful graphics. I was into to all of it. 

#62 - Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (DS) - The second Prof. Layton game in the series. I played it after getting way into Unwound Future (the third game). 

#66 - Borderlands (X360) - I remember being on the fence about several games in October of 2009, and this was one of them. I ended up buying Demon's Souls. Sometime soon after that MK might have gotten Borderlands and I joined in. It's like the perfect co-op shooter. You can play it solo and have a friend jump in any time if you need help with something. The cartoony style and wacky humor added to the fun. We played so much Borderlands after this, each one in the series until the recent one B4, which I havent played yet. 

#68 - Swords & Soldiers (WiiWare) - I didn't pick up many WiiWare games, but I wish I had now. This was a cartoony 2D RTS game. I was always into RTS but not the really complex ones much. I really dig a arcade style RTS though. Somehow, I think, I missed the sequel on Wii-U and wonder how I can still play it. 

#71 - Halo 3: ODST (X360) - I always liked this Halo spinoff for its dark atmosphere and the focus on the standard Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, who are not super soldiers. You play as Buck, voiced by Nathan Fillian, who was, seemingly, in every game at this time. A favorite addition to this was Firefight mode, a PvE mode that was more my style. PvP is just too frenetic and anger inducing. 

#77 - Pinball Hall of Fame: Williams Collection (X360) - Probably because of Pinball FX, I got interested in simulated pinball tables. Farsight did simulations and Zen Studios did a lot of digital reimaginings. Farsight brought Pinball Arcade to consoles. Zen Studios started on PSN with Zen Pinball and then moved on to the Pinball FX series. I enjoyed both. 

#86 - Defense Grid: The Awakening (XBLA) - After 2007's Desktop Tower Defense that I played on PC, I was definitely a fan of the genre. This was like a very polished and visually interesting version of that in a scifi setting. I've come back to this game at different times. It was especially useful during a stressful 2017. I like gameplay that has you set up something and then observe the results. 

#102 - Halo Wars (X360) - I was super stoked that Ensemble Studios, makers of Age of Empires, had made this RTS in the Halo universe. I was very disappointed when Microsoft dissolved the studio soon after. In a way, these types of games remind me of playing with my toy cars as a kid. Maybe that's why I'm fascinated with RTS games. 

#106 - Fieldrunners (PSP mini) - There were a few downloadable games for the PSP I got. This was a cartoony tower defense with military characters. I could, and I think I still can, play this on my PS3. I can't wait to check on that soon. 

#111 - MadWorld (Wii) - After being a fan of Clover Studio (Okami, God Hand), it then became Platinum Games. I was therefore a fan of Platinum Games and tried to follow what they did. MadWorld was a two-tone colored action game with rather extreme silliness and violence for your Wii. It has a little bit of the spirit of God Hand in it which is why I was all over it when it came out. Platinum also did Bayonetta this year which was more the reason why they thrived in later years.

#115 - Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii) - A Vanillaware game, 'nuff said, I was in. I actually got myself a PS Vita in 2013 for the Muramasa Rebirth version of this. It was that Vita game and system that sold me on OLED screens and on eventually getting a OLED Switch. Vanillaware graphics are so gorgeous and look amazing on OLED. Muramasa was a 2D action hack 'n slash with RPG elements. 

 #130 - Zen Pinball (PSN) - Were Zen Studios did thier Pinball FX thing on Playstation. I think I was playing both of their games alternately on Xbox 360 and PS3. 

#141 - Bookworm Adventures Volume 2 (PC) - My actual favorite PopCap series is Bookworm Adventures from '06, but neither that or this sequel have ever come to consoles where I would buy them immediately. Since then I've searched high and low for similar games and only found a few like Letter Quest or KrissX that I enjoyed. I wish Bookworm Adventures would come to anything. There are a bunch of PopCap games like this I wish I could still play outside of a PC. 

And time is up, and I'll have to stop there. For sure there is more down the critics list below a score of 79 that I enjoyed like they were 99s.