jakob187's Best Games of 2010

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jakob187

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Edited By jakob187

I'll be blunt and simple...

 
I'm not a huge fan of GOTY awards.  You have to try and narrow down all these lists to about five nominees or so, then try to narrow those down for each category until you end up with the Highlander scenario of "there will be only one".  That pisses me off.  How is anyone supposed to genuinely create those things?  Have they literally played EVERY SINGLE GAME that came out in a year?  Probably not.  Most likely not.  Fuck, I hope not! 

 
In turn, I decided to wrangle up the 25 games that defined 2010 for me, package them up in a nice little list (courtesy of Giant Bomb's great list feature), and give a little flavor text to each.  Will you guys agree?  Oh, I mostly certainly guarantee you won't (especially when you see how low Mass Effect 2 is on the list).  Will people call me a Wii hater because there are a total of zero Wii games on this list?  Probably...but as someone who no longer owns a Wii, I can't say that I would feel right throwing any of them in when I haven't played them.  This is a list of games that I personally played in 2010 that I feel are the most exceptional of the exceptional, so there are going to be some games that you may have that I won't.
 
So with that said, I present to you (and yes, they are in order)...... 
 

jakob187's Pretentious-As-All-Hell-Because-I-Think-My-Opinion-Matters GOTY 2010 Stuffthings

1. Bayonetta

An interesting protagonist, a convoluted but intriguing story, dynamic-as-all-hell combat and gameplay, fluid controls and animation, crazy Japanese madness, and a great soundtrack - Bayonetta is perfect in every way, and regardless of what comes out, this IS my Game of the Year.

2. Alan Wake

Maybe it's because I bought the limited edition that came with the additional reading material and cool bonus stuff, but Alan Wake really resonated with me. The story was probably the strongest of the year, the characters were highly memorable, and Bright Falls is not a place I'll forget any time soon.

3. Darksiders

Being the first game released this year, it was expected to be a mediocre game at best. I had confidence that it was more than that, and as it turned out, it was easily one of the best games of the year. This is another one that I would label as being perfect, as everything about it was done incredibly well with a great level of detail thrown into every single nuance. Moreover, it's a testament to the old days of gameplay that works on all levels.

4. Super Meat Boy

DIFFICULTY GO!!! It's mind-numbing to believe that a game this difficult can exist in such a casual-friendly space nowadays. Thankfully, Team Meat showed why the downloadable marketplace is the way to go if you want unique and adrenaline-pumping video games!

5. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

Pac-Man DX adds a new spin to an arcade classic and arguably makes the most addicting and worthwhile addition to the Pac-Man franchise since the original Ms. Pac-Man. Focusing on time-based chunks of gameplay where you collect up ghosts and then chomp them down in chain-combo fashion, Pac-Man DX gives you a reason to fight for high scores again.

6. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

It's like Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit, Ridge Racer, and Burnout 3 had a threesome and created the master racing game. Great weather effects, an incredible online integration setup, and thoroughly addictive levels of speed make this a no-brainer for any racing fan. There's a pureness to the game, as it gets rid of customization and all the other cluttered crap, and breaks racing down to "drive car, fuck shit up, have fun".

7. Fallout: New Vegas

It's the game that Fallout 3 should've been. There's far more to do than you can even comprehend, and the world in general is far more in line with what makes Fallout such a revered thing. Is it buggy? Sure. Do I care? Nah. The level of depth in the storytelling and content is goddamn mind-blowing!

8. Battlefield: Bad Company 2

With the amount of time I logged into the multiplayer, as well as the level of additional content and support that the game continues to get, it's a title that will last quite a while. Also, I just enjoy blowing shit up real good.

9. Halo: Reach

It's Halo: Reach. I don't think anything more needs to be said except this: when a game has so many technical bugs, flaws, and issues...and you STILL love it...then yeah, it's one hell of a good game!

10. Sid Meier's Civilization V

Having been a fan from the beginning, Civilization is a franchise that grabs me by the left testicle every time and doesn't let go. Now that Sid Meier's has essentially procured that I will never father a child, I will have to deal with the second best thing: virtual world domination...and sex without condoms.

11. BioShock 2

A lot of folks frowned upon this sequel ever being made, and to those people, I say "fuck you". This game, personally, surpassed the original Bioshock in so many ways, especially in how moral choices actually affected something in the game. Mix in the deep multiplayer component, and you've got a stand-up title.

12. Red Dead Redemption

This game makes me wish more people made games set in the Wild West. Unfortunately, I'd compare them all to this, and that would leave far too many games crying in a corner. Rockstar delivered yet again on an open world game, but this time, the mechanics of it all (despite the massive amount of bugs) and more consistent DLC support makes the game a necessity for any collection.

13. Mass Effect 2

The first Mass Effect sucked. The controls felt like driving a tank, the shooting felt imprecise, and other than the sweet soundtrack, great characters and solid dialogue trees, everything just felt too meh. That's why Mass Effect 2 is so great - it improves on every single part of the "game" side while retaining everything that was done well in its predecessor.

14. Call of Duty: Black Ops

The multiplayer is the best that the franchise has seen yet, and the single player is pretty damn memorable and hair-brained. What makes the game really shine, however, is the overall feature set. Campaign, multiplayer, Zombies mode, Dead Ops Arcade, Zork, all the intel...the level of depth put into this package is really impressive.

15. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

I didn't enjoy the original StarCraft, so I'm kind of astonished that I loved the sequel. The multiplayer features are robust, the single player campaign is varied and intriguing, and the new Battle.net setup is pretty damn swanky.

16. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

This game was a huge surprise for me, as the new isometric viewpoint and dual-analog combat style mixed with traditional Tomb Raider-esque environmental puzzles played out EXTREMELY well. That's not even mentioning the great co-op play (despite online co-op not being available at launch). Great great game and worth every penny you spend on it.

17. Blur

Blur is a real love/hate thing with me. I love the gameplay and what it does for the racing genre. I hate that the game's single player has a pretty steep difficulty curve, even on the lowest difficulty settings. It means that I'm getting my $60 worth, but it pisses me off that I have to restart races soooo often. The online, however, is incredibly rewarding, as even if you don't win, you are still having a tremendous amount of fun.

18. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

While the game may be linear and hasn't sold gangbusters, this Ninja Theory joint features a great narrative written by screenwriter Alex Garland as well as stunning performances from Andy Serkis as Monkey and Lindsey Shaw as Trip. The world has also been well-realized, as mixtures of real world locations and fanciful affections almost akin to Beyond Good and Evil marry together seamlessly. The combat is simple enough that it doesn't get in the way of anything, and traversing this world is one of the easiest and exhilarating experiences in modern gaming.

19. Skate 3

I was surprised with how much Skate has streamlined its controls as well as general gameplay. This, to me, felt like the most accessible of all the Skate games so far. Sure, the single player feels like a big tutorial for the multiplayer side, but the multiplayer side of this game is incredibly robust. One might even compare it to something like Burnout Paradise in size and scale. Great job all around.

20. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Typically, lightning doesn't strike twice when it comes to uniqueness, but Brotherhood proves that Ubisoft can find ways to take a major franchise under their umbrella and add a unique multiplayer component to it that just feels right (ya know, like Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow). There's also the fact that the single player is a deeper experience than its predecessor, even if it misses a couple of beats here and there. Had the multiplayer actually performed better, this game would easily be higher on the list. As it stands, everyone above it did their stuff better.

21. The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

This puzzling platformer of paradoxical proportions positively pressed every proverbial button on my piss-me-off-because-I'm-not-that-smart meter. However, once you figure out one of the puzzles in this game, you feel like the smartest goddamn genius on the face of the planet. Again, well worth the small amount of Microsoft Phony Bones you need to spend for it.

22. Dead Rising 2: Case Zero

While Dead Rising 2 may be pretty damn sweet, Case Zero is the one that deserves the attention. For $5.00, Case Zero proves that you can release small chunks of the core gameplay from a full disc release to XBLA and make it both compelling and worthwhile. If anything, Case Zero felt incredibly focused, concise, and to the point about what it wanted to do. I'll be honest - I think Capcom could drop making full Dead Rising games and just release these, as I felt completely satisfied by the end of this game...and the subsequent seven playthroughs I did afterwards.

23. Monday Night Combat

Bringing elements of Team Fortress 2 and DotA together for an XBLA game...as well as a RIDICULOUSLY HIGH LEVEL CAP...makes Monday Night Combat THE game that finally proves XBLA titles can be online-specific and still be played for a while after its release. Good job to Uber. Now just balance your shit a bit better.

24. Madden NFL 11

The last Madden game that I liked was Madden 1994. It took 17 years for EA to finally make another Madden game that I enjoyed. Madden 11 is everything that I could've hoped EA to finally make a football game into. It has enough elements that give it an ESPN 2K feel, but it's still very much a robustly featured Madden game.

25. Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing

Hey, fuck you. Don't judge me. Not only does it apply mega Sega fan service with a brush that never seems to dry up, it also happens to be one of the best kart games out there that isn't named "Mario Kart" or "Blur". If you didn't play this game, then I'm so so so sorry for you.

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#1  Edited By jakob187

I'll be blunt and simple...

 
I'm not a huge fan of GOTY awards.  You have to try and narrow down all these lists to about five nominees or so, then try to narrow those down for each category until you end up with the Highlander scenario of "there will be only one".  That pisses me off.  How is anyone supposed to genuinely create those things?  Have they literally played EVERY SINGLE GAME that came out in a year?  Probably not.  Most likely not.  Fuck, I hope not! 

 
In turn, I decided to wrangle up the 25 games that defined 2010 for me, package them up in a nice little list (courtesy of Giant Bomb's great list feature), and give a little flavor text to each.  Will you guys agree?  Oh, I mostly certainly guarantee you won't (especially when you see how low Mass Effect 2 is on the list).  Will people call me a Wii hater because there are a total of zero Wii games on this list?  Probably...but as someone who no longer owns a Wii, I can't say that I would feel right throwing any of them in when I haven't played them.  This is a list of games that I personally played in 2010 that I feel are the most exceptional of the exceptional, so there are going to be some games that you may have that I won't.
 
So with that said, I present to you (and yes, they are in order)...... 
 

jakob187's Pretentious-As-All-Hell-Because-I-Think-My-Opinion-Matters GOTY 2010 Stuffthings

1. Bayonetta

An interesting protagonist, a convoluted but intriguing story, dynamic-as-all-hell combat and gameplay, fluid controls and animation, crazy Japanese madness, and a great soundtrack - Bayonetta is perfect in every way, and regardless of what comes out, this IS my Game of the Year.

2. Alan Wake

Maybe it's because I bought the limited edition that came with the additional reading material and cool bonus stuff, but Alan Wake really resonated with me. The story was probably the strongest of the year, the characters were highly memorable, and Bright Falls is not a place I'll forget any time soon.

3. Darksiders

Being the first game released this year, it was expected to be a mediocre game at best. I had confidence that it was more than that, and as it turned out, it was easily one of the best games of the year. This is another one that I would label as being perfect, as everything about it was done incredibly well with a great level of detail thrown into every single nuance. Moreover, it's a testament to the old days of gameplay that works on all levels.

4. Super Meat Boy

DIFFICULTY GO!!! It's mind-numbing to believe that a game this difficult can exist in such a casual-friendly space nowadays. Thankfully, Team Meat showed why the downloadable marketplace is the way to go if you want unique and adrenaline-pumping video games!

5. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

Pac-Man DX adds a new spin to an arcade classic and arguably makes the most addicting and worthwhile addition to the Pac-Man franchise since the original Ms. Pac-Man. Focusing on time-based chunks of gameplay where you collect up ghosts and then chomp them down in chain-combo fashion, Pac-Man DX gives you a reason to fight for high scores again.

6. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

It's like Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit, Ridge Racer, and Burnout 3 had a threesome and created the master racing game. Great weather effects, an incredible online integration setup, and thoroughly addictive levels of speed make this a no-brainer for any racing fan. There's a pureness to the game, as it gets rid of customization and all the other cluttered crap, and breaks racing down to "drive car, fuck shit up, have fun".

7. Fallout: New Vegas

It's the game that Fallout 3 should've been. There's far more to do than you can even comprehend, and the world in general is far more in line with what makes Fallout such a revered thing. Is it buggy? Sure. Do I care? Nah. The level of depth in the storytelling and content is goddamn mind-blowing!

8. Battlefield: Bad Company 2

With the amount of time I logged into the multiplayer, as well as the level of additional content and support that the game continues to get, it's a title that will last quite a while. Also, I just enjoy blowing shit up real good.

9. Halo: Reach

It's Halo: Reach. I don't think anything more needs to be said except this: when a game has so many technical bugs, flaws, and issues...and you STILL love it...then yeah, it's one hell of a good game!

10. Sid Meier's Civilization V

Having been a fan from the beginning, Civilization is a franchise that grabs me by the left testicle every time and doesn't let go. Now that Sid Meier's has essentially procured that I will never father a child, I will have to deal with the second best thing: virtual world domination...and sex without condoms.

11. BioShock 2

A lot of folks frowned upon this sequel ever being made, and to those people, I say "fuck you". This game, personally, surpassed the original Bioshock in so many ways, especially in how moral choices actually affected something in the game. Mix in the deep multiplayer component, and you've got a stand-up title.

12. Red Dead Redemption

This game makes me wish more people made games set in the Wild West. Unfortunately, I'd compare them all to this, and that would leave far too many games crying in a corner. Rockstar delivered yet again on an open world game, but this time, the mechanics of it all (despite the massive amount of bugs) and more consistent DLC support makes the game a necessity for any collection.

13. Mass Effect 2

The first Mass Effect sucked. The controls felt like driving a tank, the shooting felt imprecise, and other than the sweet soundtrack, great characters and solid dialogue trees, everything just felt too meh. That's why Mass Effect 2 is so great - it improves on every single part of the "game" side while retaining everything that was done well in its predecessor.

14. Call of Duty: Black Ops

The multiplayer is the best that the franchise has seen yet, and the single player is pretty damn memorable and hair-brained. What makes the game really shine, however, is the overall feature set. Campaign, multiplayer, Zombies mode, Dead Ops Arcade, Zork, all the intel...the level of depth put into this package is really impressive.

15. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

I didn't enjoy the original StarCraft, so I'm kind of astonished that I loved the sequel. The multiplayer features are robust, the single player campaign is varied and intriguing, and the new Battle.net setup is pretty damn swanky.

16. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

This game was a huge surprise for me, as the new isometric viewpoint and dual-analog combat style mixed with traditional Tomb Raider-esque environmental puzzles played out EXTREMELY well. That's not even mentioning the great co-op play (despite online co-op not being available at launch). Great great game and worth every penny you spend on it.

17. Blur

Blur is a real love/hate thing with me. I love the gameplay and what it does for the racing genre. I hate that the game's single player has a pretty steep difficulty curve, even on the lowest difficulty settings. It means that I'm getting my $60 worth, but it pisses me off that I have to restart races soooo often. The online, however, is incredibly rewarding, as even if you don't win, you are still having a tremendous amount of fun.

18. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

While the game may be linear and hasn't sold gangbusters, this Ninja Theory joint features a great narrative written by screenwriter Alex Garland as well as stunning performances from Andy Serkis as Monkey and Lindsey Shaw as Trip. The world has also been well-realized, as mixtures of real world locations and fanciful affections almost akin to Beyond Good and Evil marry together seamlessly. The combat is simple enough that it doesn't get in the way of anything, and traversing this world is one of the easiest and exhilarating experiences in modern gaming.

19. Skate 3

I was surprised with how much Skate has streamlined its controls as well as general gameplay. This, to me, felt like the most accessible of all the Skate games so far. Sure, the single player feels like a big tutorial for the multiplayer side, but the multiplayer side of this game is incredibly robust. One might even compare it to something like Burnout Paradise in size and scale. Great job all around.

20. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Typically, lightning doesn't strike twice when it comes to uniqueness, but Brotherhood proves that Ubisoft can find ways to take a major franchise under their umbrella and add a unique multiplayer component to it that just feels right (ya know, like Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow). There's also the fact that the single player is a deeper experience than its predecessor, even if it misses a couple of beats here and there. Had the multiplayer actually performed better, this game would easily be higher on the list. As it stands, everyone above it did their stuff better.

21. The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

This puzzling platformer of paradoxical proportions positively pressed every proverbial button on my piss-me-off-because-I'm-not-that-smart meter. However, once you figure out one of the puzzles in this game, you feel like the smartest goddamn genius on the face of the planet. Again, well worth the small amount of Microsoft Phony Bones you need to spend for it.

22. Dead Rising 2: Case Zero

While Dead Rising 2 may be pretty damn sweet, Case Zero is the one that deserves the attention. For $5.00, Case Zero proves that you can release small chunks of the core gameplay from a full disc release to XBLA and make it both compelling and worthwhile. If anything, Case Zero felt incredibly focused, concise, and to the point about what it wanted to do. I'll be honest - I think Capcom could drop making full Dead Rising games and just release these, as I felt completely satisfied by the end of this game...and the subsequent seven playthroughs I did afterwards.

23. Monday Night Combat

Bringing elements of Team Fortress 2 and DotA together for an XBLA game...as well as a RIDICULOUSLY HIGH LEVEL CAP...makes Monday Night Combat THE game that finally proves XBLA titles can be online-specific and still be played for a while after its release. Good job to Uber. Now just balance your shit a bit better.

24. Madden NFL 11

The last Madden game that I liked was Madden 1994. It took 17 years for EA to finally make another Madden game that I enjoyed. Madden 11 is everything that I could've hoped EA to finally make a football game into. It has enough elements that give it an ESPN 2K feel, but it's still very much a robustly featured Madden game.

25. Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing

Hey, fuck you. Don't judge me. Not only does it apply mega Sega fan service with a brush that never seems to dry up, it also happens to be one of the best kart games out there that isn't named "Mario Kart" or "Blur". If you didn't play this game, then I'm so so so sorry for you.

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#2  Edited By JJWeatherman

I don't agree at all on quite a few of your choices. Well, it has more to do with the ordering of those choices, but I suppose you do explain yourself to an extent on each. That's really all that matters, so I'll accept your opinion... this time.  :P

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#3  Edited By lemon360

I would not have considered ranking BioShock 2 so high. Who cares about it's multiplayer anyway?

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#4  Edited By Jimbo

25 out of how many?

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#5  Edited By dudacles

You started with no. 1, that's no fun. D:

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#6  Edited By xyzygy

I agree with everything! I love how you put Alan Wake at number 2 and Bayonetta at 1. Alan Wake is my GOTY and Bayonetta is in my top 5. Pretty great list. 
 
The only thing I disagree with amongst the games I've played on this list is your thoughts of ME1 :P

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#7  Edited By Video_Game_King

*speaks to self* This is the problem with doing retro games all the time: you have no idea what people are talking about come GOTY time.

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#8  Edited By penguindust

Interesting list.  I approve of your choices although I've only played a handful of those myself.  Still, when has that ever stopped someone from forming an opinion? 

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#9  Edited By ht101

I definitely want to play many of the games on this list and since I now have some money to do so, I will begin getting some of these games since they are pretty cheap now.  Picking up NFS this week since Best Buy has it on sale for 45 bucks.  May pick up another game as well if I can find a cheap game that came out this year(like Darksiders or Bayonetta).  I did not like the first Bioshock at all and since most people said the second is like the first except not as good, then I will not even bother with it.

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#10  Edited By Roger_Klotz

Great list man. I totally forgot Bayonetta came out this year, definitely going to consider it for my top ten.

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#11  Edited By owl_of_minerva

Kudos for having an unconventional GOTY choice, also one I'd definitely support over what conventional wisdom says the GOTY is.

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#12  Edited By CptChiken

This is a good list, i dont agree with all of it, but you put across your points well so i accept out differences. 
 
Edit: Also i should play alanwake.

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#13  Edited By Julmust

Damn Mass Effect 2 so low? It's one of my favorite games ever.

I own all of your top 3 games, but I have yet to play all of them for more than like an hour. I'm thinking about playing them in the near future for sure.

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#14  Edited By sameeeeam

Some interesting choices there. Also, well written post.

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#15  Edited By Claude

I finally bought Darksiders Josh. It was slow to start, but once I hit that first dungeon, oh my, I've hit my stride. Very polished game, keeps you playing to see what you get next.

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#16  Edited By Hamz
@jakob187: I'm pleasantly surprised to see Darksiders so high on that list. Tremendous game and such a great start to 2010 I thought. Even better to see Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing make your list, even if it's at the bottom. That game was bloody amazing, by far the best kart racer released in recent years. Alex Kidd ftw!
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#17  Edited By buzz_clik
@jakob187: You didn't hit up that hot, hot Vanquish heat? That thing was balls-out brilliant. I won't say "if you liked Bayonetta, you'll love Vanquish," because a lot of Bayonetta's pleasure comes from its brilliant sense of style and humour. But if you want another breakneck title that's nucking futs, give it a crack. I think it may just be close to my GOTY, although I've not finished ME2 yet.
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#18  Edited By GhostlyEnigma

dis liss sux cuz u haz teh gaylo reech around and call of doody black cox on dere!!! you must bee a stoopid 12 yer ol or a fratboy! hur hur hur hur! 
 
*Joke Mode Turned-Off* 
 
Nice list overall.

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#19  Edited By ImmortalSaiyan

I aggree with you, Bayonetta is the best game that came out this year.
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#20  Edited By MooseyMcMan

Interesting list. I'll be putting my own end of year awards soon enough (but not until I get a chance to play a couple more games I haven't yet). Good list though (even if I do disagree with quite a bit of it). 

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#21  Edited By spankingaddict

Great list !     Bayonetta will definitely be in my top 2 this year.
 
100% agree with you about Bioshock 2, overall it's almost as good as the first.

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#22  Edited By jakob187

No, I never did get arouns to Vanquish. In the end, I realized that despite how much I wanted to play both that and Castlevania, I COULD'VE played them by now and didn't. In turn, I think that says a lot about how priority they were, making me realize that if I hadn't played them by now, then they probably would've rounded out the next five in a top 30.

Suffice it to say though...it's not like this was an easy list to make. It was a phenomenal year for games all around. Luckily, I have been keeping this list for months on the site to make sure I didn't forget anything.

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#23  Edited By jakob187

Also...damn, it's nice to use the mobile version of this site!!!

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#24  Edited By rjaylee
@jakob187: Bayonetta as number one? I'd be accusing you of being a crazy person if it weren't for the fact that I haven't played it yet. I played the demo and was very impressed (and completely baffled by it at the same time), however best game of the year? That has to be some sort of talking crazy... right?
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#25  Edited By Lestater

I've only played 2 of those games.  ;|

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Jaktajj

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#26  Edited By Jaktajj
@jakob187:  I'd agree with you a lot of those choices but I will have to say that claiming Bioshock 2 "surpassed the original in so many ways" is a missing the point just a incy wincy, tiny tiny fraction of a bit. The reason so many people frown upon Bioshock 2 is it's practically the video game poster child for, well, how fucked, how money driven and how little the entertainment industry is willing to take risks.
 
The original was fantastic because of the atmosphere, the story and for mixing a whole bunch of social commentary into a video game. The sequel was the most tacked-on, knock-off and probably most fricking patronizing use of a franchise ever. Bioshock didn't need to prove itself in the gameplay department - some things are just better left as they stand and despite that Bioshock 2 does play pretty well, it was just a desperate attempt to make a quick buck out of a quality license under the guise of 'YO DAWG WE'VE IMPROVED GAMEPLAY'.
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jakob187

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#27  Edited By jakob187
@el_tajij: It's those exact sentiments that I never once felt the entire time that I played Bioshock 2.  Bioshock is an incredible game, don't get me wrong, and the twist ending as well as atmosphere and narrative definitely stand out above the majority of the industry as an example of how to do those things well.  However, Bioshock 2 was able to find a way to handle the clunkiness of the first game's controls (offering plasmids and weapon without needing to switch them out like this was Doom 3 or something).  There was also the fact that the moral choices in the first game meant NOTHING to me.  Who cared if I killed or saved the Little Sisters?  What, a couple of card endings?!  BAH!  In Bioshock 2, I actually SAW the results of my actions IN THE GAME through the last two hours or so.  I saw how I affected a human life, and THAT resonated with me.  I was also thoroughly impressed with the tale that was weaved, which definitely pulled a bit more from the political debate capablities of Ayn Rand.  One of the best parts was the audio logs between Ryan and Lamb about their different ideals.  Bioshock 2, more than the first, resonated Ryan in a new light that the first game accomplished...but minimally.
 
As for the multiplayer, many around here probably don't care.  However, I think it speaks greatly about the game that you can STILL get matches for the game without waiting around for TOO long.  Also, the multiplayer was interesting, exciting, and fun.  The way loadouts worked was good, but what made the multiplayer better than that was how you could hack turrets on the map, research your opponents, and all the little flairs that were thrown into it.  It helped differentiate it from other multiplayer games just a bit more.  The maps were great, the depth in which you could look at which plasmid/weapon combos played best was fantastic, and I never once got bored with it.  One of these days, I'm still going to get the rest of the DLC for the game.
 
Hell, that's another thing:  DLC.  Sure, Protector Trials probably wasn't anyone's favorite.  However, Minerva's Den and the multiplayer stuff...was EXCELLENT!  Minerva's Den was actually just as good if not better than Bioshock 2.  Such a great story packed into that.
 
All in all, I think the people who bitch about Bioshock 2 are holding on to their Irrational fanboy cards a little too hard.  I would liken it to the Infinity Ward/Treyarch scenario.  People want to shit on 2K Marin, but I don't understand why.  They could've made a simple cash-in, but Bioshock 2 is far from a cash-in and money trap.
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Yummylee

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#28  Edited By Yummylee

Case Zero! *FIST PUMP*

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dbz1995

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#29  Edited By dbz1995

Bayonetta and Darksiders were too games that came out so close to each other I ended up buying neither of them. Hopefully I'll buy them in 2012.

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#30  Edited By ThaMilkMan

This list made me re-realize just how much I enjoyed alan wake this year...like totally top 3 for me this year and I forgot about it wow...yeah dude thanks for that.

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jakob187

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#31  Edited By jakob187
@ThaMilkMan: One of the reasons I started this list was so I WOULDN'T forget about the early year stuff. 
 
@Claude I'm glad that you finally got a chance to play Darksiders.  It's definitely one I need to pick up again, as I really want to S-rank it...as well as just experience it again.  The news that Darksiders 2 won't feature War as the main character and will be running concurrently alongside the events of the first game seems kind of weird, though.  Still, it was one of the most solid and well-built games of 2010.  To think that people were trying to write it off before release as some generic piece of crap or something... 
 
It does make me curious about what 2011's "Dead Space" will be.  What I mean:  Dead Space ripped a ton of elements directly from other games, but put them all back together into this very familiar but original piece of gaming.  The same can be said of Darksiders.  In turn, I wonder what 2011 holds for us as the surprise.