Reading, yes… But haven’t played any of those 
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June 2009
Red Faction: Guerrilla
Red Faction wasn’t a series I ever cared too much for. The first game was a fairly generic shooter with a sci-fi aesthetic and tough guy attitude, but with (overpromised) environmental destruction! Meh…When I heard about Guerrilla, I dismissed it offhand, it wasn’t going to be a game for me. However, I started to hear and read a good amount of positive buzz about the game, and it intrigued me. Now third person, open world before it became a buzzword, and destruction that was meaningful to gameplay? Ok…now you have my attention.
Guerrilla is fun, straight up. I don’t care about the world or story. I don’t care about the characters. I don’t care about Mars. But the gameplay is so open ended in many ways, allowing you to tackle missions with variety. The destruction of the environment is actually well done, impacts gameplay directly, and leads to some insane moments - the kind you tell your friends about later. It looked good, ran well, had a meaty campaign with lots to do, and now has a “Remarstered” version so there’s no excuse not to play.
Shoutouts to Prototype, Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Gunstar Heroes, Rocket Riot, Overlord 2, Fight Night Round 4, Blazblu Calamity Trigger, and Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood.
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July 2009
Battlefield 1943
This was a tough month, I could have gone with any of the titles in the post. I was heavily considering MvC2, but I may have used it for the original Xbox so I figured I’d shed light on a different game. Battlefield 1943, it’s a condensed version of a game I absolutely love and adore (1942). BF1943 took that amazing, huge PC game and condensed it into a small, tight, clean package with nice looking graphics and an attractive buy-in. It was fully featured at launch, no microtransaction, no DLC, no BS. Just good ol’ BF in all its glory. It worked well on controller, the voice comms were great and easy to use thanks to XBL, and most importantly it was easy to jump in and play with or without your pals. You didn’t need to be good to have a good time. I love this game, it’s my speed of shooter. I love the vehicle/troop combat, the flying…it’s just good memories all around.
Shoutouts to Monkey Island SE, ‘Splosion Man, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Stellar month for XBLA!
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Monkey Island brought back memories. I still remembered most of the puzzles, but without changing disks for just opening doors it just wasnt the same like on the Amiga 
Sorry Delroy, had a busy week with kids, doctors, German classes, positive not positive Covid tests and my better half breaking her Coccyx.
Not ignoring you 
I actually have played parts of a couple of those, specifically Splosion Man and Monkey Island. I actually keep meaning to play more of monkey Island, but it just hasn’t happened.
I had to use a guide! Some of those puzzles were crazy, but I always loved the art and humor.
I’d never dream of thinking you were ignoring me 
looking forward to your next update, wish your better half better health with the coccyx. I think I have a pillow for that.
I like ‘splosion man quite a bit, but it was too hard at a point where I didn’t have the time and patience to push through. I think ms. ‘splosion man might be even harder…yikes.
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Yeah, agree on the difficulty.
And I probably will use a guide as well. I enjoy those games for what they are but don’t have the time to figure it all out like I used to
August 2009
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of the best games to show licensed, superhero games didn’t need to be cash grab trash. AA is a quality game through and through, exactly what fans of the Caped Crusader had always wanted. It leaned into Batman’s detective moniker, while also allowing use of a full range of bat gadgets, and combat that defined, well, combat, in games to this day. The graphics were stellar, the voice acting was spot on, the story worthwhile and well told. I love the meaty feel of the combat, the impact. The detective bits were additive, while not overly complex. The villains were just what I’d want them to be in a Batman game with a darker tone. It felt mature in a way most of the genre would never try to touch, not relying solely on violence. It’s just a heck of a game, it was then and is still today. A must play in this guy’s opinion.
Shoutouts to TMNT: Turtles in Time Reshelled, Trials HD, and Shadow Complex. Dang, that’s quite a good list, I love all of these games!
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I still have the red and green glasses from the GotY edition of Batman Arkham Asylum, worked surprisingly well at least in detective mode.
But for August 2009 I definitely would go with Trials HD. Now that was a fun game. Summer of Arcade that year was sooooooo good.
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I remember that they were promoting this as having some sort of 3Dv functionality. Never tried it…wonder if we can track down anyone who did. It would be interesting to know if it was halfway decent or not.
yeah, that happend when the 3D with glasses fad really took off. their solution is very cheap and also not very impressive. it only really works in the more stylized and flat detective mode.
Digital Foundry agrees with me here.
September 2009
The Beatles: Rock Band
I may be “old” but I’m not old. But I’m old enough to love The Beatles. And to party…yeah…anyway, The Beatles: Rock Band is the best piece of Rock Band period for me. Everything is so well done here, from the song selection to the aesthetic to the actual instruments if you bought the kit. The worst thing about the game, honestly, was the awkward reveal on the Xbox stage at e3. Yikes. Love or hate the music, you can’t deny the popularity and impact The Beatles had on the music industry. These are songs that almost everyone is familiar with, they’re ear worms, they’re easy to listen to and even more fun to play. Harmonix did such a great job capturing the vibe and essence of The Beatles, the campaign was great, I don’t know what else to say. I’d take this over any other Rock Band game, I think it’s a must have for any Rock Band song collection.
Shoutouts to Guitar Hero 5, Defense Grid, Mini Ninjas, Dirt 2, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. Too bad for GH5…bad month to launch!
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Defense Grid was another one of the games that I got to play because it came to games with gold. Surprisingly fun for what it was. I probably would have loved Beatles for Rock Band though. Great music.
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I liked it a lot as well. It was a manageable TD game, challenging but not overwhelming.
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October 2009
Brutal Legend
This is an interesting game. Looking back, I’m not sure it’s a great game in any particular way, but it’s super interesting. Brutal Legend is from the minds at Xbox studio Double Fine, and it’s right in line with what you’d expect from a Double Fine game. It’s weird, it’s slightly janky, it’s funny, and it has a ton of heart that most games couldn’t even begin to approach. This is the type of game that the video game industry needs, unique and risky.
Brutal Legend relied a lot on Jack Black’s wonderful voice acting and character, telling the story of a roadie and making it…whacky as hell. The gameplay is a mix of genres, from action to RTS. The RTS segments I hated, but the rest of the game was compelling enough to push through. I think the hellscape world on display is ugly in the right way. The characters are pretty great throughout. Idk, it’s just one of those games that’s better than the sum of its parts. An unpolished gem. Does anyone remember this game fondly?
Shoutouts to Borderlands, Magna Carta 2 (such a weird get here as the first never came to Xbox), Tekken 6, Forza Motorsport 3, and GTA Ballad of Gay Tony. Good month, but November is coming…
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October 2009 (and the months after) belonged to the best racing game on 360: Forza Motorsport 3. It has the best collection of Turn10s fantasy tracks including the full length Rally di Positano.
FM3 had a nice collectors edition:
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Wow thats a lot of stuff in some nice packing. I’m a sucker for products where effort is made in the presentation of the box it came in, etc. Good game for sure, not my favorite racer but definitely the best sim racer.
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Oh god I missed a solid year!! 
Though TBH I was so late this time as every month I looked 2009 felt a bit “Meh” to me…
January 2009: February 2009: NOTHING!!
Not that I cared since I had fallout 3 
March 2009 : The Wheelman
This was a silly Driver wannabe, but I had a ton of fun with it regardless. It was nice to drive around Barcelona and not a US city, and the sideways car smashing (later used in mad max) was a fun mechanic, as with the leaping to steal other cars in motion. Fun arcadey game.
April 2009: May 2009: NOTHING EITHER
Maybe I could have found an arcade game to fill in these months like Delroy did but I’m much too busy
June 2009: Sacred 2
A friend and I played the bum off this, it wasn’t great, the visuals weren’t so pretty and it and had a few issues but the world map was solid and it kept us playing a long while with decent loot and upgrades.
July 2009: NOWT!
This far through 2009 and nothing I truly “loved” shame.
August 2009: Arkham Asylum
To my mind the best of the Rocksteady Batman games, I have enjoyed each a little less until truly loathing the last one with the batmobile. This was a quality game though, nice to look at satisfying to play and with some good writing and acting. Like Delroy said one of the best licenced games ever.
September 2009: Beatles Rockband
OK so I hate the Beatles, I grew up in a house where aside from all the great music my parents
played a ton of Beatles too. I never enjoyed them and yet know so many songs and info purely from osmosis.
I hate them! 
Playing Beatles Rockband though with my family almost every weekend to show my parents what games were like was just a delight though. A game so in keeping with the band and personality, with songs everyone knew. Though I hated every song and was sad I wasn’t playing rockband, I enjoyed the time spent as a family.
The smile on my father face after watching the opening cinematic for the first time (of many) was just a joy to see. So though I hate the Beatles the Beatles rockband was, for me amazing.
This is one of the greatest animations I think I have ever seen.
October 2009: Borderlands innit!
We all played Borderlands to death!
November 2009
An amazing game full stop and the greatest Assassin’s creed game by a country mile.
The setting, the city, the protagonist, the Villa. I LOVED everythign about this game, Ezio was fabulous and such an improvement over the first game. It stands for me as a reminder of how much AC games have fell, I looked and saw on True achievements the average completion time being 20-25 hours for AC creed. Can you imagine that, an AC creed game with a compelling story, likeable protagonist and wonderful city to explore and learn to navigate like a native and add to that a hanful of collectibles that you can play and complete and be happy with after only 25 hours?
I am missing two achievements for some reason, I have a mind to go back and get them
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November 2009
Assassin’s Creed II
I don’t know that I can say it better than @Cerysnetics. AC2 is indeed, a fantastic game and probably my favorite AC…maybe a tie with Odyssey, depending on how I’m feeling about open worlds on any given day. It’s leaps and bounds better than the original, so much so that it almost makes it look like a bad game and question why I was fond of it to begin with. Ezio is the best protagonist in the series bar none, and the supporting cast is full of interesting characters and spins on historical figures. The story being told is actually good and engaging despite all the silly present-day stuff. The gameplay is refined over the first game and the mission structure was a big step up. Amazingly well thought out design for the city and world. What a game!
Shoutouts to Dragon Age Origins, COD Modern Warfare II, Left 4 Dead 2, Gyromancer, and Peggle Nights. Excellent month!
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