The 10th Hour 01.01.10: Most Played Games of 2009

Posted by Adam Larck on 01.01.2010

What games held 10th Hour columnist Adam Larck’s interest in 2009? Find out inside.

Let me start off by wishing everyone a Happy New Year. Welcome back to another week of the 10th Hour. Like usual, I'll be starting off with a quick update.

- I finally got a PlayStation 3. I've been playing a decent amount of Uncharted 1 & 2, but also have really been getting into Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time. I forgot how much fun I had with that series. I'll have to check out the other PS3 entries eventually.

On the 360 side, my system decided to be festive and get the Red Rings a few days before Christmas. However, I went and bought a back-up system for cheap. After finally beating Dragon Age: Origins, I've been back in Borderlands lately trying to level. Going pretty good so far.

A message to my readers

Instead of doing reader's comments this week, I wanted to do a quick note to my readers. This will be my last regular 10th Hour. Due to other events I have going on in my life, I have decided to step down and let Derek keep the column going.

This does not mean I'm done writing here, though. I'll still be writing daily news stories, be a weekly contributor to Todd Vote's Top 5, write the occasional review and preview and even take on the 10th Hour every once in a while to cover.

I would like to thank all of you for your continued support and comments on my columns. Whether it was positive or negative criticism, I enjoyed reading it.

Without delaying any more, let's get on with it.

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The 10th Hour – Most Played Games of 2009

With 2009 at an end, I wanted to take a look back at some of my most played games this year and what made them so enjoyable to me. The only restrictions I had were that the games had to be released on the system I played them for this year.

Note that this is not a list of the best games this year. This is just the top games that took up my time throughout the year.

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10. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box - Professor Layton has always held a special spot for me with its mind challenging puzzles.

It took up about a month of my time of night playing as I progressed through the story and beat the various puzzles offered. There were times that I'd get stuck on one odd puzzle or another, but that's what made the game fun for me: to analyze the puzzle and find the solution. Unfortunately, after beating the game I've really lost interest in it. I know there's new content out I could get now, but I just can't get interested currently. Maybe later in the year.

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9. Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time - One of the two PS3 exclusive games that make it on my list, I've spent most of my last week playing this one.

Whether it's cruising around in my ship going to different planets to complete them, or actually following the main quest, I've been having a lot of fun going through the game. I'm only in the third system now, but still having a great time with the weapons and game. Not sure how much lasting power the game will have after I beat it, however. I'll have to see.

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8. Prototype - I still haven't gotten a chance to pick up inFamous for PS3. However, this game took a fair amount of my time up this summer just running around.

It wasn't because of the story that I kept going in the game. It was because of the Web of Intrigue and the wanton destruction. Finding the random targets in the city was just as much fun in this game as it was in Crackdown. Plus, whenever I got bored, seeing how much stuff I could destroy before being taken down was entertaining. This took up about a month of my summer before moving on to other things in the fall.

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7. Dragon Age: Origins - BioWare has done it again. They've taken dozens of hours out of my life and put it into this game.

I just recently finished up my first play-through with my warrior. Even after putting in over 40 hours on this game, I still missed a few sidequests, plus new content is coming out next week for the game. However, I'm already looking forward to making some new characters for additional play-throughs for achievements and additional paths to follow.

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6. Batman: Arkham Asylum - The Dark Knight was a surprise game for me. I really didn't expect it to be as fun as it was.

While the story took about a week for me to get through as I played a few hours each night, I came back to complete all the Riddler's Challenges in the game. I found those to be pretty interesting to see how they included various characters from the series in the game. I never could get into the challenges though. Even after letting the game sit for a while then trying them again, they just didn't interest me. Oh well, guess I'll just have to wait for Arkham Asylum 2 to get back into Batman.

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5. Red Faction: Guerrilla - When this game first came out, I played it a decent amount. It wasn't until a few months later that I really got into it, however.

After meeting a group of gamers that liked to just play for fun, I really started getting into the multiplayer. Most Tuesday before Modern Warfare 2 came out you could see me with them playing custom matches and some matchmaking. I never have gotten too deep with the single player. That's something I'll have to get to next year. However for a few months, once a week this game was my night.

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4. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - My other PS3 exclusive game here, I had a bit of time with this game before I actually got my PS3 and enjoyed a lot.

I've still been enjoying it after getting my PS3, but haven't gotten big into the multiplayer yet. I think a lot of this has been due to my lack of a big friends list on the PS3. Even without the multiplayer, I've put a decent amount of time into the single player and will be getting into the co-op soon.

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3. Sacred 2 - This was a surprise game for me. I had vaguely heard about it on the PC but never tried it until the 360.

While single player was decent, it was the multiplayer that kept me entertained for much of the summer. Going through the game with a few friends taking on the main quest (and the occasional dragon) was a lot of fun. I had just gotten the gold campaign unlocked in August before we finally went on to different games. Even with bigger titles out now, there's starting to be some talk with my group of getting back into this game soon to get all the difficulty levels unlocked.

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2. Modern Warfare 2 - This game has been out for almost two months now, and I have a few solid days in on the multiplayer alone.

I know this doesn't seem like much, especially compared to other players. But, when you have to play so many various games, this is quite a feat. While I may get aggravated quite often at the game for various issues and questionable kills, I still keep coming back to it. It's not because I really like the game, though. It's because it gives me a chance to catch up and play with friends.

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1. Borderlands - When it comes to playing games with a group, nothing has surpassed Borderlands for me this year.

I've gotten almost three days of playing time with this game. Most of which has been with various friends on the game. I've actually take a bit of a break lately on the game waiting for some people to get the game. Now that they have it, I'm getting back into it and remembering why I liked it so much .expect to see this game take up a lot of my time in early 2010 as well, at least until BioShock 2 and Final Fantasy XIII come out.

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Well, that's all I have. What about you? What took up your time this year in gaming? Leave some comments below and let me know.

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