The Best Gaming Moments of 2009

Mark – Samorost

It took a long while for me to think of my greatest gaming moment this year. My initial two potentials were Borderlands and Colin McRae: Dirt 2. In the end though I didn’t decide either of these has left a strong enough impression to feature here.

That’s not to say they aren’t good. Borderlands is excellent just for the shock of how awesome the cel-shaded graphics are when you first fire the game up. Dirt 2 is notable to for being the first racing game that delivers a drift mechanic better than Sega Rally on the Sega Saturn.

Mirror’s Edge on the PC, which snuck in at the very beginning of this year, was another contender. A free-running game was just what the doctor ordered and I thought it was incredible at providing a sense of speed and fluidity.

However, there was another gaming moment which blew these out of the water and that was the discovery of Samorost. I first learned of its existence in Richard's blog about the sequel, which cost a few bucks. The gorgeous artwork really captured my imagination though and when I saw that you could try the original Samorost for free I immediately went over to have a gander.


At first I was sitting there wondering what the hell I was supposed to do, but upon investigating with my mouse pointer, all became abundantly clear. As I worked my way through the first few levels, a strong love developed for the game, the likes of which I haven’t experienced for many years. Figuring out the simple puzzles and watching the ensuing animations really pushed my buttons. I’m not usually into point-and-click games either. I found Monkey Island an exercise in frustration (?! – Joe) and Sam and Max – for all the comical genius in the dialogue – just doesn’t do it for the gamer in me.

Samorost though opened my eyes up to a new type of gaming. I went on to play Samorost 2 and Machinarium, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. For me, the best gaming moment was sitting down and experiencing the simple pleasures of pointing a mouse at beautifully drawn, psychedelic little animations and solving puzzles to make stuff happen in the beautiful world of Samorost. I didn’t have to blow anything up and I didn’t have to go to great cost. Sometimes charm is all you need.