F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
Don't be fooled by the lukewarm reception it received back in early 2009. F.E.A.R. 2 definitely earned a spot among the best shooters of the year in my book. Like its predecessor, you just won't find more dynamic single-player firefights. Enemies stay active, constantly maneuvering through the environments, taking up new cover and firing positions, and adjusting their tactics.

It also succeeded at pulling off the game's ambitions as a paranormal thriller. Yes, there's blood, lots of it, but there are parts of this game that downright freaked me out. And it wasn't distractingly incoherent either. Sure, the multiplayer doesn't compare to the best online shooters but pop this in your system, turn out the lights, and it will give you one gripping ride.

Shatter
The soundtrack alone made Shatter one of the highlights of my year. Its electro-techno beats cover a range of musical ground and there isn't a single skip-this-one track. It became a member of my regular playlist in short order. But before you go off and just pickup the music, Shatter stands completely on its own as a great game too.

I enjoy games that take a classic premise and give it just the right twist to make a modern game. Developer Sidhe Interactive hit that sweet spot. The basic block-breaking mechanic a la Breakout felt familiar and I comfortably settled into playing the game right away. Then I started playing with the push-pull physics to warp the trajectory of the projectile. I was hooked when I clicked to the risk-reward relationship between drawing in the shattered chips of destroyed blocks for points and power versus potentially sucking the projectile off the screen and losing a life. In proper classic tradition it's a game you can put on today, six months from today, and probably six years from today, and spend many happy hours with.

Little King's Story
I hear gamers clamor about the lack of "real" games on the Wii all the time and then when one arrives it goes completely unappreciated. Little King's Story found that elusive formula for charming yet intelligent games usually only managed by Nintendo's own developers. The fanciful storybook style swept me into its world the moment I turned it on. There's something playful about it that always gave me that feeling of having a weight lifted off my shoulders no matter what else had been going on. Beneath that lighthearted exterior, though, lies the deeper allegorical meaning in keeping with the grand fairytale tradition.

Likewise, Little King's Story's appearance belies the depth the game blossoms in to. It skillfully combines adventure/exploration, combat, and town planning. I particularly appreciated how well the design developed the interconnection between the three. The cycle of building training facilities to get new jobs for my citizens and then deciding what mix to take out with me based on whether I planned to mostly explore or fight worked to perfection. Yes, a degree of repetition eventually develops. Yes, I struggled some to manage my entourage as it grew in size. And yes, some of the boss fights are viciously hard (but devilishly clever). None of that slowed me down. Little King's Story delivers a beautifully creative game experience that soars on the Wii.