A new year and decade is upon us. Too lazy to do any sort of looking back, so will just post another short-review update.

Anime

Asura Cryin’: The story is very slow to pick up, but it does become somewhat interesting… right before the first season ends.
Verdict: 6/10. Hopefully the second season will continue building on the story well.

Nyan Koi: Hapless guy in love with cute girl who also likes him but neither can tell each other, surrounded by other hot girls who like the guy. Yes, it’s another generic harem story. But wait, there’s a twist! The guy, unfortunately allergic to cats, is cursed by a cat deity, can understand cats talking, and must solve their problems. It sounds ridiculous (and it is), but the cat-related hijinks elevate this past the standard harem shows that litter the anime landscape. I enjoyed just about every episode, and am glad that a second season has been approved.
Verdict: 7/10.

Kara no Kyoukai: Satsujin Kousatsu (Go): The final installment in what is certainly the best multi-part anime I’ve seen in recent years. A bit on the long side and does feel like it could have been edited to be shorter, but the ending makes up for all of it an more. KnK 5 is still the best of the 7, but this is a close second.
Verdict: 9/10. Now where are the BD releases? I would buy and import those in a heartbeat.

Rosario + Vampire Capu2: Not sure how they managed it, but the sequel manages to be even worse than the first. Awakened Moka still looks good, but the new regular and semi-regular characters are just plain annoying, and it has even less character and plot progression.
Verdict: 5/10, and that’s being generous.

Seitokai no Ichizon: A student council that does absolutely nothing except play up character stereotypes and make 4th-wall-breaking references to other anime/games/manga, with 95% of it set inside the student council room. It’s kind of fun and enjoyable, but 12 episodes is probably enough, so it’s good it ended there.
Verdict: 6/10.

Games

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: I said that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time will always be my favorite action-adventure-platformer when I played the first Uncharted. After playing the sequel, I’m no longer quite so sure. Uncharted 2 not only fixes almost all of the little problems that the first game had, it also takes just about everything that Drake’s Fortune did right, and improve upon it. The graphics and animation are probably the best ever seen in a console game, the soundtrack is fantastic, the combat system (both gunplay and melee) are much improved, and the story, characters, and pacing are absolutely stellar. From start to end, the game delivers “holy shit that was awesome” moments like few other, and what few faults it has (the characters’ eyes look slightly weird, final boss fight is not the most inspired, and needs more Sully) never comes close to detracting from the overall experience. Oh, and let’s not forget the multi-player elements. The gameplay mechanics with its focus on verticality translates very well into the MP modes, and the co-op mission modes are a complete blast, even if there’s only 3 of them.
Verdict: 10/10. This is arguably the best game of this generation, and without a doubt the best game I played in 2009.

Dragon Age: Origins: “145.2 hrs on record”. That’s the amount of time Steam shows me as having spent on this game, and I believe that actually excludes time spent playing in offline mode, which would make the actual total well over 150 hours. And that’s the most time I’ve put into a RPG, or, for that matter, any game (that isn’t World of WarCraft) since the PS1 era, encompassing 3 playthroughs of the entire story as well as all the Origin stories. I have somewhat of a love-hate relationship with most fantasy-setting stories, but the “dark fantasy” setting of DA:O worked for me here; yes, it’s supposed to be very similar to the A Song of Ice and Fire series of books, but I haven’t read more than part of the first book (if the series actually had an end in sight, I would!), so it’s fresh to me. And the main characters (companions) also were pretty well done, with Morrigan and Shale (aka HK-47v2) especially great – with her performance as Morrigan here and as Chloe in Uncharted 2, I’ve decided that every game needs a character voiced by Claudia Black. The dropoff in quality for the voice acting for some of the other characters are a bit jarring though – Anora’s is especially bad, and one particular player-character voice was so annoying that I wanted to find a mod to remove it. But overall, it’s a well-written story with some epic battle sequences, and one that I (obviously) enjoyed.
Verdict: 9/10. 8.5 would probably be more accurate, but we’ll round up.

Mass Effect: Finish one BioWare game, start on another. By most indications Mass Effect crafts a very nice setting for the story that will unfold through a trilogy, so I decided to finish the first game in anticipation of the sequel that’s coming out soon. And having finished it… I’m not completely sure what to think, honestly. The game can accurately be described more as a FPS than a RPG, which is unfortunate because it’s not a very good FPS. The game is a precursor to Dragon Age, and it shows. The dialogue system isn’t nearly as good, and the inventory/party management system is just completely terrible. I do think the Paragon/Renegade system is a better idea than the approval rating in DA:O though. The sidequests are also extremely lacking in variety – there’s only so many times you can land on a planet, drive around in a 6-wheel buggy with terrible driving physics, and then go into one of 3 types of buildings to kill every enemy inside before it gets repetitive and boring as hell. But, I’m playing it for the story, and I do tend to be a sucker for these sci-fi space operas, so I enjoyed it and will get Mass Effect 2 when it comes out.
Verdict: 8/10. Would be much lower if it wasn’t for the story and setting, but I have high hopes for the myriad of improvements supposedly in the sequel.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii: It’s a new 2D Mario game on a home console. The stages, the “story”, the secrets… there’s very little that’s new here, especially in the single player mode. Sure, there are a few new power-ups: Ice Flower is a great idea, and Propeller Suit is quite amazingly useful, but it’s still no Super Mario Bros. 3 (Tanooki Suit, Hammer Bros. Suit, Kuribo’s Shoe… will any game ever top it?), wall-jumps are possible (was that in the DS NSMB? I can’t remember), and there are now coins that move with the stage, but this is classic Mario through and through. And, you know, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s amazing platformer fun in a way that seemingly only 2D Mario games can be, and once again reminds why just about nobody else even bothers trying to compete with Nintendo (sorry, LittleBigPlanet, but this is how a platforming game is supposed to control). And lest anyone thinks it being a Wii game means it’s easy… think again. Collecting every Star Coin and every secret exit is definitely no cakewalk. There were many stages where I failed so many times trying to get all the coins that I got angry, but still wanted to try it one more time, because I know that it can be done if only I had timed my jump better. If that isn’t the mark of a great game, I don’t know what is. About the only criticism I can offer is that the Wiimote held sideways is not the most comfortable controller (especially with the “condom”, but even after removing it), and sometimes I do feel like the motion controls are not quite as consistently sensitive as I’d like it to be. But those are nitpicks, and even without having played it multi-player, it’s still a fantastic experience.
Verdict: 9/10. With millions of sales between this and the DS version, Nintendo has to make more 2D Marios, right?