Making a list of just 10 games this year was quite a challenge. I've played a number of awesome games to completion that didn't even make this list. That should speak to just how many quality games came out this year. Reading through other people's Top Ten lists just makes this process even more challenging. So without further ado ...
Mass Effect 2 is my favorite game of this year. From the characters, to the crazy intergalactic story, to the music and refined gameplay Mass Effect 2 improves upon almost every aspect of the original. This is the best and most varied single player experience you can get. Continuing your character from Mass Effect 1 with all your choices and backstory is an incredible way to start this game. Throughout the game you are meeting new and interesting characters and are expecting to make hard, world altering decisions at a moment’s notice. The combat has been altered to be much more shooter, much less RPG which does wonders from a gameplay perspective. The deep storyline is brought to the next level and the dialog and voice acting are the best they’ve ever been. If Mass Effect 3 is even half as good as ME2 we are in for something special.
With Cataclysm, the latest expansion to World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment has essentially released World of Warcraft 2. Not content to simply raise the level cap and add a few more high level zones and dungeons, Blizzard has shattered the entire existing world and reforged it into a brand new experience. They have gone back and re-evaluated every aspect of WoW, keeping what worked and fixing what didn't. This leads to a brand new entry level experience, making Cataclysm the most user friendly and approachable MMORPG out there. Quests are varied, storyline is deep and meaningful, and with the improvements made to their phasing technology player actions can reshape the world. With exciting high level content and a brand new entry level experience Cataclysm makes, in my opinion, the best multiplayer game an even better one.
I've probably put more hours into Rock Band 2 than any other console game ever. With the sequel to that game, Harmonix is able to improve upon every aspect of the genre that they popularized. The newly added keyboard instrument is a worthy addition to the series. The on disc songs are top notch. The stream of new downloadable songs is better than it has ever been. The "pro" modes for all the instruments and the real guitar peripheral take the rhythm to their farthest conclusion, silencing the naysayers of the genre. Rock Band 3 is an amazing advancement from a franchise that started with cover songs played with plastic instruments.
It's been 12 years since the last Starcraft game has come out. In that time it has cemented itself as arguable the most balanced RTS ever made, and became a professional sport in Korea. The amount of pressure on developer Blizzard to deliver a worthy sequel was insane. But dealing with that pressure is what Blizzard does best. They hold the game, don't announce release dates, and work until their game is perfect. At it's core, Starcraft II isn't radically different than the original game. It's still an isometric RTS with updated graphics. But SCII goes much deeper than that. You will see units in the single player campaign that play differently or flat out don't even exist in the multiplayer. The Battle.net system in place in this game is also top notch. It matches players based on too many criteria to name, tracks more stats per match than most people would ever care about, and allows you to chat and see friends playing Blizzards other games. Starcraft II delivers on being a wonderful sequel to an already established franchise.
With Halo: Reach Bungie have out done themselves. Reach has so much content, so much to do. The story is great, even if you know how it's going to end before you even put the disc in. The multiplayer addresses all the advances by other first person shooters while still remaining a the feel of the previous Halo games. Firefight is back and better than ever. This game has more options, game modes, and user definable game settings than any other game I've ever seen. Reach is a fitting conclusion to Bungie's masterful series.
Heavy Rain proved that developers can still truly innovate in the generation. The way that the story unfolds in this game is unlike any other. Heavy Rain really succeeds by allowing the player so many different options throughout the game and then having those choices really mean something on large and small levels. Having discussions with many other people and each person describing a completely different outcome for their playthrough was one of my favorite aspects about this game. I really hope this style of storytelling shows up in other games.
The release of this game flew very low under my radar. For some reason I was dead set on thinking this was strictly a multiplayer Assassin's Creed game, which under that premise I was largely uninterested. So I was quite surprised when I discovered that this game packs in the best narrative and single player campaign of an Assassin's Creed game yet. All that and the multiplayer is pretty great also.
This game makes me angry. I really can't play it for longer than 30 minutes at a time without wanting to break things. It's hard. Very hard. That being said, it's also incredible. For such a small team to pack so much content and design into one package is truly remarkable. This game has levels upon levels, they're always adding new characters which bring new ways to play the game. I love this game just about as much as I hate it.
I've put a ton of time into both the single player campaign and the multiplayer portions of this game. The campaign is solid but the multiplayer is where it's at here. The game features 4 different classes that all feel unique, offer new abilities, and bring new play styles to the mix. The destructible environments have been amped up since the first game and really shine here. It's pretty hard to camp when you can send a rocket into a building and have it fall on your opponent's head.
This was one of my most anticipated games for PS3 and it didn't disappoint. This visuals are stunning and truly some of the best I've seen this generation. Gameplay wise, it plays exactly how you would expect a God of War game to play but the combat was brought to an epic scale, delivering set piece after set piece. The game channels Shadow of the Colossus with the number of time you are fighting on giant gods and beasts. God of War III is a fitting conclusion to Kratos' story.
