10 years, 3 generations of consoles and christ only knows how many games, this list boils down the top 20 of them. I say 3 generations of consoles, but there's a PC game in there and no PS1 games. Bear in mind i've not played every game this decade nor do I claim to have, but this is merely my opinion, nothing more. It's also rather difficult to pick out the best one, hell the list'll probably change as i'm writing it.

20. Downforce - Playstation 2 (only I think) - 2003
If you've never heard of this, it's a shame. If you still can't recall it after looking it up, it's even more of a shame. Released in 03, even I didn't remember it when I was compiling my shortlist. But when I read the name I was transported back to the envisioned future of Formula 1, which is what the game is. Game modes were fairly similar, but the physics and looks of the game were only bettered by GT3 at the time. Hell the AI was even better, and actually provided a challenge trying to win each race. Sadly forgotten, but it's well worth playing if you can find it.

19. Wipeout Fusion - Playstation 2 - 2002
The only Wipeout game released specifically for the PS2, this was a graphical improvement over everything that had came before in the series. Again, there was a varying amount of game modes and each was a blast, including the new 'Zone' mode which was bloody solid but still challenging. The weapons all added to the atmosphere too testing your ability to the limit, and the soundtrack testing your nerves to the limit with its soft techno.

18. Sly 2: Band of Thieves - Playstation 2 - 2004
A cartoony platformer I discovered on a demo disc, with stealth elements present too. While not particularly ground-breaking or difficult, it was well-written and presented, and it warmed your heart the whole way through. The ability to swap characters in-game also added variety to the gameplay. The story-line was a bit... absurd though while it was a sequel, it worked as a standalone game, which always helps increase the target market, making the game more popular and accessible to people.

17. EyeToy: Play - Playstation 2 - 2003
While you may scoff, this thing spawned the Playstation Eye for the PS3 (which will be used for head-tracking in GT5) and the Nintendo bloody Wii as well. While this was one of the most cheatable at games ever created, played properly and with friends it was a right hoot. Only problem was that to play it properly you had to be in the sort of room you only get on telly, completely plain and featureless, otherwise it seems to think that something moving in the background was you. It still gets on the list for what it done for gaming development, even if it's spawned the Wii.

16. NHL 2003 - PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Windows - 2002
The first NHL game to feature more than one playable consecutive season, as well as having increased player mobility/mapping. The attention to detail in terms of gameplay was simply mind-boggling at the time for a PS2 game, and it provided god knows how many hours of playtime for me. It also featured Don Taylor doing commentary and I can't remember when I laughed so hard at a game with some of the tripe he'd hit out with. This game set the standard for hockey games in years to come, and it took EA 6 years to top it, showing just how well-made it was.

15. FIFA 2003 - Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Mobile phone - 2002
See NHL 2003, swap everything for football. This game also permitted me the 2nd greatest goal ever scored in a football game, a James McFadden volley from 35 yards against Dundee United. Beautiful.

14. ESPN NHL 2K5 - Playstation 2, Xbox - 2005
The last decent game made in this series before ESPN lost all credibility with hockey fans and buggared off, 2K5 was lacking in terms of game play even to NHL03, but only just, and in the Franchise Mode, until now unparalled depth whic

Note: This is such a small list because of the small amount of new albums i've bought this year. The fact that i've only bought 17 albums from '09 shows just what I thought about new releases, although the only reason I never bought Backspacer is because I wanted to hear the other PJ albums in order.

Without further ado, here is the only list that is right regarding the top 10 albums for this year

10. Further Complications - Jarvis Cocker
I'll leave you a few seconds for your jaw to go back to its normal position.

Better? Whilst Jarvis had the best album of 2006, follow-up Further Complications lost all of the direction he seemed to have been taking after 4 years since Pulp went on hiatus. Now he's grown a beard and essentially became a creepy geography teacher, complete with tweed jackets. The social observations are there, as usual its the tongue-in-cheek stuff in his lyrics which makes you warm to him continually, but the sound behind it is bland. Maybe it's my deep idolisation for the man that's put him in this top 10, but although it is probably the most disappointing release this year (take a deep breath, Bellamy) it still gets on here.

9. Graffiti Soul - Simple Minds
They've come a long way from when they started in 1976 (with songs like that), my mum regails me with stories of going to see them in the place where I now (or where I last) get my hair cut and there's been ups and downs along the way. They're never going to regain the form of New Gold Dream, and stuff like Cry and Black & White certainly didn't bode well for them this time. Jim Kerr had said that they were close to chucking it but they never, and Graffiti Soul is what resulted. From the moody New Order Brotherhood-era-esuqe "Moscow Underground," the album never lets up, in what is a collection of mostly cheerful, radio friendly songs. While they may be more simple songs than the usual affair, it's all good stuff, showing that they certainly haven't lost their touch for making a good tune.

8. Tonight: Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
I've a feeling this would have been higher had it not came out in January, but it's worth its place here. Following their disappointing 2nd effort, Franz needed to go back to the drawing board and their roots for album #3, or risk fading into an obscurity matched only by Snow Patrols first two albums. Fortunately they never however, opening single and track Ulyssees signalling their arrival among the major players in the Scottish indie scene. Tonight is an album that will make you dance from beginning to end, highlighted by the production of Blood, an assortment of dub versions of songs from Tonight.

7. To Lose My Life... - White Lies
Britains third best post-punk revival band and probably the best band to appear in the last 3 years, their debut album came with a flurry of Joy Division comparions. Nothing close to that, obviously, but TLML was ten songs all beautifully crafted, with some brilliant stories told among them. Not a bad song out of the bunch, and they're a band with a bright future ahead of them, judging by this. Obvious stand-out is live favourite 'Death' (how cheerful,) but my personal favourite is From the Stars. Ironically this is probably the most JD-esque track, or at least as close as they've came. While I may have been seen as lambasting them a few months back, I do really like them, and wish them every success in the future.

6. Brand New Eyes - Paramore
It took me a while to get this album, i'll be honest. Going from stand-out albums in '05 and '07, I was eagerly anticipating this one. On the first few listens it was annoying drivel, but it was a grower. Brand New Eyes was an advancement for the band in so many ways, and while the part of the album that showcased this (the OMGYAYLOOKATUSWEREABANDWEREKEWL! part) contiunes to annoy the tits off me, the rest of it makes up. It's album full of energy, of hope and talent, and lets be fair, Hayley sou

Call of Duty Classic - PS3 Game Review

In order to fully justify my purchase of the Hardened Edition of Modern Warfare 2, this week we have the game you could download with that, the game that started a legacy, Call of Duty.

For a port of a 6 year old PC game, it's fantastic. Better than CODWAW. Even though the buttons are all wrong from what we know COD to be now, the changes are easy to pick up and then you're flying, as usual doing all your best work once you've stolen the guns from the Nazis. There's even a fair representation of how important each of the allies were to winning the war, seeing as 10 million Yanks are needed to run away from people, you can infilitrate anything with 3 British folk (including Captain Price circa 1944) and the Russians are all a bunch of alcoholic nutjobs who can take down hordes of infinitely respawning Nazis armed with only a trenchcoat and a Davy Crockett hat.

Graphically, this was never going to be anything special, seeing as it's a 6 year old PC game being played on a high-def console, but it takes you back to when you were young and just started playing games. It even makes up for the fact that everyone walks like they're in a Pink Panther cartoon, or in the case of freeing Captain Price originally, like one leg is 3 feet longer than the other. The simplicity manages to help you mind you, because you can't get shot in cover now, and bullets will always go where you want them to. It even has an actual health bar that you need to replenish by picking up health packs, rather than waiting for blood to fall off your face. Only problem with that is playing on Veteran leaves you with no health packs anywhere, and every shot that hits you (which they all do) takes away half the health bar.

It even comes with an online portion, which, being compared to CODWAUGH, is miles better. Mainly because you can't play it. I sat in a lobby for 10 minutes waiting to start a game, and nothing. It would've been fun to see where the majesty of COD online started, but it's probably better to not do something where one of the options is to turn off a specific gun. Shame they missed that in later games ¬_¬.

CODC was tremendous fun, and seeing as it started the definitive FPS series, helped to make me feel all nostalgic when playing it. The fact that Infinity Wards first offering was better than Treyarch's most recent, also says a lot about which studio's better. Never buy a Treyarch game, just get all the good ones.

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Next week, I manage to cram in two albums i've not heard this year (screw 30STM for bringing out an album in December) and then produce the big one, the top 20 albums of 2009.