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TheSilentGod

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My Top Ten Games of 2010

This was the year that the cycle of games really hit its stride, putting out the highest concentration of top quality releases for my money in the entire 360/PS3 generation. There were some incredible story driven experiences, fantastic action games and a host of smaller downloadable games that were, for the first time, getting my attention. Again the PS3 and 360 dominated my game time, with some love for the DS and PC interspersed among them. The Wii had a last spurt of my attention but its controls annoyed me so much that I could barely enjoy the best games it had. Overall 2010 was a magnificent year with several games that could each have been game of the year winners themselves.

List items

  • Mass Effect firmly established its setting and characters as one of my favourites in any medium. So it was incredibly powerful to play through the destruction of the Normandy in the opening of Mass Effect 2 had just to see how quickly things move and how dark the game becomes. This is definitely the dark middle chapter of a series if ever there was one, and we get to see the seedy underbelly of the setting in a completely authentic way that made sense. The combat and actual mechanics of the game were much smoother this time and everything really clicked into place. The new characters, the way in which you build your team and interact with the key people, and the entire manner in which the final mission is handled are all sublime. Mass Effect 2 is one of the finest games ever made, and in a year of incredible releases it managed to take my top spot.

  • Rockstar finally hit me with a game that I found unabashedly impressive in Red Dead Redemption. Instead of the silliness and bad checkpoints of GTA was a deeply immersive and well written frontier setting. Instead of being a criminal seeking to get to the top of a contemporary city, players were in the role of John Marston, a grizzly but good hearted former outlaw forced back into tracking down his old gang members. It was not the most original story ever and yet Rockstar put some of their own touch on things to make it all very fresh and weighty. The size of the map and the beauty of the setting really came through, with some great nods to the period and overall just a completely unexpected and stellar game. The shooting was also better than any GTA game till this point, and the ending was a legitimately saddening one that remains one of the best I have ever experienced. Also some amazing horse animations! What a way to explore the early 20th century frontier!

  • I had been waiting a long time for this, and it was worth the wait. Yes the Protoss and Zerg were absent as playable factions in the campaign, which was a mighty shame, but the story of Jim and the Terran campaign were stunningly done. The fast and frantic gameplay that Starcraft was so well known for was completely intact alongside the lavish new visuals, and it was a great feeling to be playing a base building RTS instead of the tripe that Dawn of War II had made popular in the genre. Beyond the excellent and varied singleplayer campaign missions and story, there is the outstandingly fun and balanced multiplayer which does include all 3 races. I enjoyed many many hours of getting destroyed before being able to hold my own against people, and it was time well spent.

  • Having immensely enjoyed both the first and second entries in the main series, I was more than ready to see the conclusion of the blood soaked journey of Kratos. And I was not disappointed. With one of the best openings in any game ever, God of War III starts with a huge high and then just keeps the action going at an incredible pace. With some of the greatest boss battles ever, including a vicious fight with the God of the Sea Poseidon in the first 15 minutes, to the final facedown with Zeus himself, God of War III has a sense of scale and brutality that is remains pretty much unmatched. Its visuals were crisp and stunningly detailed, and the soundtrack was something else, perfectly suiting the world ending events of this game. Kratos became completely irredeemable in this one, and the story does certainly fumble towards the end, but it doesn’t really matter because everything else was done soooo right. What an incredible game.

  • Fallout 3 was and remains one of my favourite games of all time, and a masterpiece by Bethesda. I was therefore both apprehensive and delighted that there was a new Fallout game coming out in the form of New Vegas, and that Obsidian would be in the driving seat for development. While making effectively no strides in terms of technical performance from Fallout 3, New Vegas provided a fresh setting with a more tight and focused story. The world was still grim and barren, yet somehow colourful and filled with character. New Vegas had everything I wanted from Fallout in terms of the humour, the weapons and quest design, the sense of freedom in what you can do. It was also a considerably more difficult game with changes to piercing the armour of enemies and facing off against the Legion. It also had a bucket of technical issues, but these could not stop me having a great time on the Strip.

  • So while it could be argued that Heartgold/Soulsilver were just upgrades of the original Gold and Silver, I would say that they are in effect full remakes considering how significant the changes and upgrades are. The world of Jotho was as charming as it had been in 2001, with a new wave of colour and life. Diamond and Pearl had felt like thery were struggling to run smoothly on the DS, and were laden with carried over sections from the GBA games. Heartgold/Soulsilver on the other hand felt like they were properly designed from the ground up for the DS, with a smooth framerate and short load times. The range of creatures available to catch was quite extraordinary, and the multiplayer features had been improved to the point where it was finally fun again to take on friends.

  • Halo was back with the final hurrah for Bungie in this bittersweet release. Reach was something of a legendary battle in the lore and mythos of the series, so it was great to actually see what happened there first hand with an entire team of Spartans against overwhelming odds. Reach was grim in tone with beautiful visuals and music, some fantastic new weapons, really satisfying singleplayer campaign containing some of the best levels that the series had ever seen and continued the traditional free roam shooting. The story is a bit disappointing overall with some faithless attempts to link to the rest of the series, and the multiplayer was a disaster after the DLC maps launched, but overall Reach was probably the best shooter of 2010.

  • I always enjoy being surprised by a brand new series and Alan Wake did exactly that. Set in a gorgeous Washington location that is brought to life with amazing visuals and lighting, Alan Wake tells a psychological horror story about a writer facing supernatural forces of darkness. It has elements of Twin Peaks and Stephen King, but is also its own beast. The shooting itself is not great, but the combination of the characters, the juxtaposition of the forest and town, the light and darkness, and the incredible manner in which music was integrated to the core of the game make Alan Wake one of my highlights of an incredible year. I'm still waiting for a sequel.

  • Prior to its release I was under the impression that Brotherhood was a multiplayer spin-off of the Assassin’s Creed series and nothing more. I was obviously delighted to discover that it was not only a fully fledged game with a singleplayer, but was a direct continuation of Assassin’s Creed II, which I loved. It is a shorter and more concise story this time, but Ezio remained a well written and developed character, the story took plenty of twists and held my interest, and overall it was a more refined game that continued form where the outstanding II had left off. I did experience some bad glitches when I played it, and I hated the new mission fail states, but overall Brotherhood was a great experience.

  • In a year packed with numerous captivating stories, Heavy Rain stands out as one of the strongest and most gripping. Much has been made of the plotholes and writing, and yes I agree there are problems with both. Even so, the way the game jumps between characters and puts you into their world, the pace of the story as it escalates its tale of child kidnap and potential murder, the beautiful and powerful effect of the constant heavy rainfall in the background of the game, and the way in which your decisions and actions impact the experience all serve to make this one a thrill ride. I finished Heavy Rain in 2 sittings, and I think that says all that really needs to be said about its quality, despite the relative lack of actual gameplay outside of QTE’s.
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