2005's Indigo Prophecy was an interactive thriller in which players took the roles of two police officers and a murderer, and it was praised for the freedom it offered and cinematic storytelling through multiple points of view. Unfortunately it fell short with a story that started as a crime drama and turned into a paranormal experience involving ancient cults and actions scenes almost ripped straight from The Matrix. With its new game Heavy Rain, developer Quantic Dream has rectified that story misstep with a game that not only brings story immersion to a new level but pushes the limits of gameplay graphics.

Bioshock was a blockbuster success with its intense atmosphere and thrilling story about an undersea utopian society gone awry, with all the loose ends wrapped up neatly in what was (at the time) a stand-alone game. Not surprisingly, popularity and money gave the game what I like to call a case of the sequels. Bioshock 2 adds multiplayer and builds the mythos of Rapture, but the slow story and degraded graphics make it inferior to the original.

Game developer Bioware, recognized for renowned role-playing games such as Baldur's Gate and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, has become the go-to team for great RPG experiences. 2007's Mass Effect and 2009's Dragon Age: Origins continued to show its impressive ability to create compelling interactive game worlds with expansive histories and stories. Released in late January, Mass Effect 2 boasts a great new innovation in the genre while delivering the same magnificent player-based storytelling the developer has perfected.

With the Wii game lineup containing so many titles geared to children and family play, 2008's exclusive No More Heroes made a statement that "mature"-rated games can succeed on the motion-based system. Its intense action combined with a crazy yet compelling story and parodies of the gaming industry convinced me the Wii wasn't just for casual players and tapped into the "mature" market, which only consisted of Resident Evil titles at the time. The new sequel, subtitled Desperate Struggle, continues the story with new methods of madness to boot.

Several years after protagonist Travis Touchdown becomes the top-ranked assassin in the fictional city of Santa Destroy and walks away from the profession, his former promoters are trying to drag him back into the fold. He has no interest in climbing the rankings again, but the murder of his best friend motivates him to enter and name his reward: his best friend's killer served to him on a platter.

The best games of 2009 included revivals such as Street Fighter and Super Mario Bros., sequels such as Assassin's Creed 2 and Modern Warfare 2, and hidden gems that were lost in the shuffle of major releases. But the two best were a fresh game that became a massive hit (Batman: Arkham Asylum) and a safe but perfectly made shooter sequel (Uncharted 2).

And there were contenders in every genre.