World of Playstation!: February 2009

1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots – Game of the Year

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots Screenshot

Without a doubt, Metal Gear Solid 4 is one of the best games I've played on any system. After finishing it I put down the controller and knew I had just experienced something beautiful.

Incredible graphics, voice acting, and action only scratch the surface of what Makes Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots something special. It took all of the earlier games to set this one up, and MGS4 takes full advantage of the fact.

The game is enjoyable for new comers, who will enjoy one of the finest stealth/action games ever made, but it is the Metal Gear Solid fans who will swoon over the story arcs and characters in this game. MGS4 is an accomplishment in gaming, and is simply not to be missed.

2. Little Big Planet – Most Innovative Game of the Year

Any other year Little Big Planet would have easily been game of the year. This game is simply amazing. Absurdly cute and compelling graphics keep this game interesting for adults and kids alike, add to that superb level design and insanely fun four-player action and it's no secret why everyone loves this platformer.

However, the gameplay on the disc is really only the start of what makes Little Big Planet so incredible. This game illustrates what is being referred to as Game 3.0: games where users can generate new content and share them with each other. Little Big Planet is not only a game, but also a sandbox where you can make your own levels and even games.

3. Resistance 2 – Shooter of the Year

This PS3 exclusive shows the power of the system like none other. From the massive enemies in the single player game to 60 (yes, sixty!) player online matches you will see why people brag about the abilities of the PlayStation 3, no other system to date could handle this game.

4. Grand Theft Auto IV - Action Game of the Year

Grand Theft Auto IV (GTAIV) Niko Bellic Screenshot

Sure, every Grand Theft Auto is going to be great, but this one represented a technological leap that the series has been needing. Grand Theft Auto IV is possible the first GTA game that can be described as "pretty." The city breathes and lives in this game with all the grit and grime one would expect from Liberty City. This time out you don't have to imagine it, you can see it.

Crime and adventure are the name of the game, again, in GTAIV. Some complained that the game was simply more of the same, but the improvements to gameplay and graphics make GTAIV a more polished experience than the others in the series, and it is easily as fun to play as the games of the past.

Bottom line? It's hard to improve upon greatness, and GTAIV found a way.

5. Burnout Paradise – Racing Game of the Year

Burnout Paradise takes a hint from Grand Theft Auto and moves away from closed tracks to an open world environment. With fewer menus to navigate you are smack dab in the middle of the action from start to finish. Just pull up to an intersection, burn your tires, and you're off to the races.

Gorgeous and huge, Paradise City is an abandoned playground where cars can jump off bridges and peel out in the stadium grass without worrying about pedestrians or property damage lawsuits. The game feels like one giant fun playground where you can live out your youthful Hot Wheels dreams. The lack of local multiplayer is a bummer, but with the ability to download new content (and lots of it) online, you really can't knock 'em.

6. Rock Band 2 – Music Game of the Year

What seems on the surface like a bunch of minor update proves to be a major improvement in Rock Band 2. It's easier to navigate the game, get started playing songs, download new songs, and play online with others in the new and improved entry to the Rock and Roll videogame franchise.

Picking up plastic guitars, banging on fake drums, and crooning into a microphone plugged into your PS3 may seem like the geekiest way to spend a Friday night, but I have to tell you, it's incredibly fun and addictive. You'd be surprised at the hipsters who rock out in their living rooms (shades drawn, of course) to Rock Band 2 on a regular basis.

This big box of fun is here to stay as music games get more and more popular.

7. Army of Two – Co-op Game of the Year

Yes, Army of Two was not the highest rated game of the year. But looking back at it now, hype aside, it really was one of the most fun cooperative experiences of the year. When played alone, it's an average shooter. When played with a pal, it becomes a fun frantic buddy film where you really are encouraged to cover each other and required to help each other out by dragging your partner to safety or giving them a boost to a high ledge.

No, it's not a perfect game, but if you are looking to have a blast with a friend, Army of Two delivers in spades.

8. Buzz! Quiz TV - Party Game of the Year

Buzz! Quiz TV is a superb quiz show where you and your pals are the contestants. Each player, or team (I've played with with 18 people and four controllers and we had a blast) is given a buzzer that allows them to pick answers and buzz in at different points in the game. Unlike Jeapordy or wheel of fortune, Buzz! features lots of different games all spun together into one "show." Sometimes having the fastest finger matters, sometimes it's just raw brain power, either way this fun and frantic quiz show is a hit every party I bring it too.

Buzz! Quiz TV comes with four wireless controllers and the ability to write you own questions, download questions from other folks online, and compete with players over the internet.

9. Fallout 3 - Role Playing Game of the Year

Fallout 3 proves how far the role playing game genre has come. Some may have called it a third person shooter, or perhaps an action RPG, but really, with the stats management, the ability to pause and queue up the action, and the heavy emphasis on story and character development this is clearly a next-generation role playing game.

This post-apocalyptic RPG starts at your birth, and it walks you out of your home into a desolate wasteland that was once our world. Highly customizable and full of action, Fallout 3 is everything you could ask for in a large scale western RPG. It is stunning to look at and shows that deep gameplay need not be unnecessarily complex.

10. Soulcalibur IV - Fighting Game of the Year

Soulcalibur IV is exactly what gamers wanted for the next installment in the venerable fighting game series. It's fast, fun, features customizable characters and Darth Vader. OK, so maybe that last one was a bit of a surprise, but it was quite a treat. Darth Vader and Yoda have been incorporated surprisingly well into Soulcalibur IV.

While new players can button-mash their way through the single player game, when they face off with real players with any Soulcalibur experience they'll quickly realize that the game is more about skill than anything else. This is a game where practice makes a very real difference.

gta san andreas

It may now be a multiformat game but it was the success of Grand Theft Auto on the PS2 that made the series the definitive video game franchise of the last generation.

devil may cry 3

God of War may be the populist choice but Capcom's game mixes both style and substance for the best third person action game ever made

Gran Turismo 4

Billed as the real driving simulator the only people more obsessed than the developers themselves were the millions of fans drawn to the game's exacting attention to detail.

ICO

The PS2's most substantial art house hit is also one of the best looking and most original platform games of the last gen.

Pro Evolution Soccer 6

The disappointing Xbox 360 version only reinforces the idea that the PS2 is the natural home for the world's favourite, and most accomplished, footy sim

Okami

Nintendo may keep The Legend of Zelda series to themselves but this is arguably superior to Twilight Princess, with some of the most beautiful cel-shaded graphics on any consol

Guitar Hero

Thanks to SingStar the PS2 was already the ultimate party console but this was more of an actual game and featured officially the world's best controller - a giant plastic guitar.

Final Fantasy XII

The PS2 is drowning in quality role-playing games (which accounts for a large part of its success in Japan) but this complete reinvention of the genre is the jewel in the crown

Metal Gear Solid: Subsistence

Solid Snake just doesn't seem to work as well on any other console and this special edition is easily his best outing yet, with an online mode and proper third person camera

We Love Katamari