To celebrate the new year, Ani-Gamers will be counting down an unranked Top 14 list of sorts. Every day for a week, starting on Christmas and ending on December 31st, one of our bloggers will post their two favorite titles of the year, whether they are anime, manga, or video games. We now present the choices from reviewer/podcaster Mitchell Dyer (now re-posted under his actual account).
Assassin’s Creed II: I wasn’t expecting much out of this Assassin’s Creed because I was so thoroughly disappointed by the original … twice. I went back to try and pump myself up about “Ezio’s Italian Adventure: The Bloodening” but I was bored to the point of putting on sock puppet shows to amuse myself. Assassin’s Creed II is Ubisoft stepping up its game in a big, bad way, and my expectations have been crushed by a Venetian war hammer. The world is gorgeous and beautifully constructed, while the story is genuinely engaging. But it’s the way AC2 keeps rewarding you for your actions, whether it’s earning money through an in-game economy and buying new gear, or unlocking secrets in the depths of hidden catacombs, that really drives the experience. Oh, you also get to shove wrist-knives into fools’ eyeballs. Sorry Mario – you’re not my Italian icon anymore.
Dragon Age Origins: As I write this, I’m just 15 hours into my first (city elf) campaign. Regardless, I can tell I’ll be spending way too much time with this brilliantly-crafted totally-not-fantasy RPG. When I walked out of BioWare’s booth at E3 this year, one of my editors was shocked to hear how much I disliked the game – about as surprised as I was that he liked the console port so much. I condemned Dragon Age from the second I saw it. The cheesy, predictable fantasy cliches and played-out dungeon running I wanted to hate so bad, well, simply didn’t exist. The loot-gathering sinks its hooks as deep as the stellar story, and it’s a role-playing masterpiece I fully plan to experience for another 100-plus hours.
Check out previous 2009 Staff Picks after the break.
Day 1: Sean Kim
Day 2: Ink
Day 3: Uncle Yo
Day 4: Kit
Day 5: Elliot
