Year In Review - The Best Games And Biggest Disappointments Of 2010

2010 was a great year for gaming. Not only did we get to play one of the most anticipated games of all time but also got sequels to games we fell in love with the past few years. While some games we’d really hoped for turned out to be bad others showed up as huge surprises. What strikes me most is the games that I ended up playing most this year. Mass Effect 2 I at the top of this list, of course, but the games to follow are games I’d never thought I would play as much as I did. I will keep my Year In Review short with only five categories.

Best New IP

I know people who bought an Xbox 360 to play this game. In other words: the expectations were pretty darn high for this game. Unfortunately it did not live up to those expectations, but really those were impossible to reach. Alan Wake was, and is, a very good game that kind of died in its hype. I don’t think that it either sold as well as Microsoft wanted or got the expected reviews. It is a very good game though with entertaining gameplay and a great story. Alan is an interesting character to follow and there are a lot of memorable moments in the game that I’d go back to play again any day. I really hope that we will be able to follow one more of Alans stories in the coming year. The possibilities for this franchise are huge.

Runner up: Bayonetta, Darksiders

Best Sequel

BioWare’s sequel to 2007’s Game Of The Year was to say at least as good as it’s prequel. The game engine wasn’t that hard to improve on and just the fact that I will be able to continue my story was almost enough for me. The big question was if BioWare could deliver a story as good as Mass Effect once again. We can argue back and forth but at the end of the day I think that we can all agree that Mass Effect 2 was probably the best game experience most of us had in a great while. I just can’t praise this game enough. Everything is well done, the environments and the variation of the planets keeps you searching for new side quests. While the scanning might be the worst part of this game is incredibly rewarding most of the times when you find a side quest. Mass Effect 2 is a fantastic and near perfect experience and a great sequel.Runner up: Super Mario Galaxy 2, StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty

Best Soundtrack

This category is probably the toughest. While it's almost impossible to choose a winner it's not so hard to choose the ones that is up against each other. It is between Mass Effect 2 and Halo: Reach.I will choose the song that played during the best experience in any game this year. It is when you are very near the end of Mass Effect 2. You've sent your crew on different assignments, some of them may or may not be dead and you are fighting for your - and your crews - life while Jack is almost dying because of her struggle to keep the biotic shield up. It's a very intense moment and the only thing I had in mind was to keep on going after my crew. The song is called "The Long Walk" and is by far the best musical piece of this year. The overall soundtrack in Mass Effect 2 and Halo: Reach is very similar in quality. You can listen to "The Long Walk" here!

Biggest Disappointment

I think that it’s fair to say that we live in a time when huge franchises costs as much to make that technical problems just shouldn’t be a problem when everything else is to say at least awesome. Gran Turismo 5 is by far the biggest disappointment of this year of two reasons. One being that the game is just too out of control. There is so much to do in this game that not even the game keeps track of everything and in the end you’re just wondering why you are playing this. The second reason is the one that makes me put this game on this list – all the empty promises and the fact that nothing is done perfectly. If this game were about one specific kind of racing I would be happy and enjoy it for what it was. Gran Turismo 5 wants to do everything and nothing is entertaining enough to keep you playing. Everything in this game is up and down. Each second you are playing the most beautiful game but seconds later it looks very, very bad.

Runner up: Heavy Rain, Fallout: New Vegas

Game Of The Year Nominees

Rock Band 3

It would be foolish to say that the plastic instrument genre is not dying. I’d like to say that Harmonix put a bullet in the genre that they created by releasing Rock Band 3. The game is not only a fantastic tool to become a musician or even to just have your daily guitar/drum/keyboard practice but also a great entertaining solo experience. I found the story of Rock Band 3 as the most perfect and well-done story in any music game. The fact that you see your band doing daily stuff like visiting the rehearsal room, signing, tuning the guitar or just hanging out creates a great and steady ground for the player to build up their own personal story. I enjoyed Rock Band 3 when I played it alone and when I took my band online to compete with others I enjoyed it just as much, this is the perfect music game and without a doubt one of this years best games.

Red Dead Redemption

I don’t know if I am simply just to weak for Red Dead Redemption or if I really love this game from the bottom of my heart. I enjoyed the sunrises and the sunsets in this game. I remember shooting birds in the sunrise just to see their shadows while they were falling to the ground. The fact that I didn’t finish this game for couple of months I think is quiet telling for how good it is. Believe me, I didn’t enjoy Mexico either, but when I was done and went back to the states again the game grew on me. I love every side quest, every wanted mission, every city everything. I love the fact that Rockstar Games created an empty land and created a great, memorable and believable scenario around it.

Mass Effect 2

Oh Mass Effect 2, I don’t even know where to start. It’s hard to talk about what makes this game as good as it is without spoiling a bunch of stuff. My Shepard has friends in the galaxy and every time I meet a friend to my Shepard I sit there, going through the entire dialog tree to hear what he or she has say. Every time I find a new planet I sit there to read about its story. Every time I find a new race I read everything about them. Every time I play this game I just can’t help to read a line or two from the books and while that might be unfair in this discussion it’s just a sign of how good this fiction is.

Civilization 5

Let’s face it – Firaxis created a hardcore game that everybody could enjoy, that alone is an accomplishment that makes this game obvious for this list. They did create a game, which I played so much that I was wondering if I was had an addiction. A scenario can take up to ten hours and while it might seem horrible to loose your entire progress and start over again you are always looking forward to create an even better civilization. At the end of a scenario you’re kind of tired of your places and want to restart anyway. Civilization 5 is a very good game.

FIFA Soccer 11

I never thought that Electronic Arts would ever make it on any game of the year list with any sports franchise. FIFA Soccer 11 is by no means a perfect game. The weird thing is that the parts that are missing from this were all in the previous FIFA Soccer game. With that said – this game will keep you, as a soccer fan, playing for months and months. It is very hard to describe why this game is a candidate for the 2010's Game Of The Year. I enjoyed the Career Mode and it really made feel like I created a story with my virtual pro.

2010's GAME OF THE YEAR

As much as I loved and enjoyed Red Dead Redemption it never even came close to what I felt the first time I was playing Mass Effect 2. I really think that it is fair to say that Mass Effect 2 is one of the best games of all time. It is your story and while some might argue with the fact that you are not really making as great decisions as BioWare makes it sound I totally argue with the fact that you are making decisions that will make your story more and more unique the more you get into it. Mass Effect 2 has a fantastic atmospheric soundtrack that really only one game could compete with this year. The game does everything it offers in a near perfect way and shares tons of memorable moments. Mass Effect 2 is about a suicide mission and at the end of the game you really feel the fact that the crews lives is in your hands. The cast of amazing characters, the wonderful music, the stunning visuals, all the small details and some of the teases for the upcoming conclusion makes this my game of the year. While it had no impact on my choice of this as the game of the year; the fact that this story will continue before we even see the third part is this game in form of downloadable content I think that BioWare puts the bar high for next years titles. And by the way, I also want to give a shout out to Mordin and Thane who turned out to be my favourite characters of thise year.