by Omar Gallaga

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
Image courtesy Sony Computer Entertainment of America Inc.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, an action/adventure game from Sony, was among the best video games of the year.

It would be impossible to play every great new video game that hit stores in 2009, but of the games I had a chance to play, Sony's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for the PlayStation 3 was easily my video game of the year. Maybe it was the globe-trotting hero or the lush locales or simply the scale of the game, which blended Hollywood-style cinematics with solid gameplay, but it won me over on every level. It was the only game this year that made my jaw drop within the first few minutes of play and kept surprising me throughout. Maybe it could have been a few hours shorter, but it showed what a huge game budget can deliver. You can read my full review here.

My number two game of the year was The Beatles: Rock Band, which revitalized what looked to be a guitar-game genre winding down. It reminded many of us why The Beatles' music was so relevant and did so with its own sense of style, creating a new kind of mass-market art. It will likely prove to be the pinnacle of plastic-instrument gaming.

Next to "Uncharted 2," one of the only other games I took the time to play all the way to the end this year was the delightful Plants vs. Zombies," which is as adorable as it is addictive. It's cartoony and cute, but beneath that there's a solid and fun defense game. It's my number three game of the year.

Honorable mentions? "Modern Warfare 2," for me, didn't live up to the hype, but then there's no way it could have. Nevertheless, it's big and audacious and contains stunning level design in its single-player campaign. Batman: Arkham Asylum was a great surprise: it told a great story with fantastic voice acting and a good combination of gameplay elements that made it extremely satisfying. And Nintendo's Wii Sports Resort was a great summer diversion. It wasn't perfect, but its better mini-games were pure fun, the likes of which you don't get from a lot of the mega-budget video games on shelves.

What were your favorite video games this year? Post your top three (or more) in the comments.