Best of 2010

DanceDanceKennypants: Best of 2010
 
Well, much as I would love to be in the position of being able to make a top ten list, I have a full time job with long hours. I haven't even played ten games released in 2010. In fact, I'm still working on two of the titles listed. However, I'm not too far off completion in those, and given my near thirty years of gaming, I'm comfortable enough in giving a reasonably formed opinion. Here are my top five games of the year.
 
Settle down, people.

List items

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  1. Mass Effect 2

  I was utterly mesmerised by this game, with its engrossing story and a wonderfully crafted universe. I love to dive into some old games now and then just soak them in for a while, and Mass Effect 2 will be fired up intermittently by this player for years to come. It's my solitary S-rank, and with good reason. As close to perfect as you can realistically expect this game to be, given its scope. A masterpiece.

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  2. Battlefield: Bad Company 2

  I've been a huge fan of the Battlefield series since 2,and this is the first Battlefield title to give me the juice in a big way since then. Long ago, I stopped caring about PC multiplayer and PC gaming in general, (I just don't need all the maintenance overhead a gaming PC requires) but if squad based console shooting takes its cues from BC2 and forges ahead, I'll be a happy man indeed.

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  3. Red Dead Redemption

  Red Dead has all the hallmarks of another top-drawer title from Rockstar. Rich, detailed world, some great characters, some poor characters, and a fundamentally strong story that still sags in the middle. Rockstar San Diego removed most of the open world jank, hired some excellent writers and made a great game, but I'm still left wondering if some fresh eyes overseeing the end of the creation process would have cut some of the flab. Still, it's an excellent title, a strong four star game and one of my top five.

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  4. Limbo

  Better informed people than me have said all there is to say about this game. I love the art and sound design, some of the puzzles work very well, but I think the playing experience lacks a little momentum. A fantastic download-only game nonetheless.

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  5. God of War III

  To be clear, I'm a God of War fan, which is probably why this game is getting on my top five list at all. Other than the amazing graphics, I felt a little underwhelmed by Kratos' latest splatfest. One of the strengths of the previous two games was the variety of enemies and the careful contrasts of enemy types, forcing you to adapt to multiple classes of monsters onscreen together. Their individual attacks each complemented the other one's style, meaning you had to stretch and adjust your murderous arsenal. Perhaps the workload of creating incredibly detailed ghouls, beasts and ghosts worked against the Santa Monica crew this time around, which is a shame; because the combat lacked 'oomph.' The plot was as ludicrous as it needed to be, but I didn't really buy it in any case. Pandora was a bit of a whiny teen, which is as about appealing to me in a video game as it is in a video game discussion forum. God of War III is still a blast, but it's a dampened a little this time around. I set high standards for my favourite franchises, so sue me.