Another great year for games. You know the year has been good when you haven't played the general favorites like Read Dead Redemption, Bayonetta, and Mass Effect 2, but STILL come to some tough choices when deciding what to cut from your top ten.
Not included in this list is my usual " Best of Two years Late!" award, which I gave to Audiosurf.
Most people were playing Red Dead Redemption, and others were basking in schadenfreude as this long delayed, much hyped, Remedy project bellyflopped in the summer. But to me, this game delivered the most immersive single player guided experience I've had since Bioshock. And unlike Bioshock, I was with it to the very end. I loved every character, every setpiece, every plot point. I collected every manuscript page, played both the DLC episodes… I just didn't want to leave Bright Falls. Fingers crossed for a "Season 2".
Mario rules 3D, but the dangerous underground of 2D platforming belongs to Team Meat, and their masocore indie cavalcade of buzzsaws, salt traps, and MORE BUZZSAWS. <insert gif of a 108 Meat Boy slaughter replay here>
While the "yippie! yoo-hoo" aesthetic of Super Mario Bros is getting expediently more grating, the 3D platforming magic Shigeru Miyamoto and his underlings create is unmatched. It makes me wonder why anybody else even tries.
It isn't hard to dig into the digital gaming wasteland and find something that looks like an art project. This is one of the few that are fun to actually play. The beautiful monochrome art-style compliments this stimulating puzzle-platformer;, rather than excuses it.
Living up to the hype, this is the scariest game to be released in ages. Not the best "scary" game, mind you, but the most "I can only play this for 15 minutes at a time" scary game since Fatal Frame 2. You know that character in slasher films who trips on every obstacle and makes just about every wrong turn through the darkness while being chased? That's you in this game. Good luck with that.
The retro victory wagon rolls on! (and this isn't the end yet) PacMEX basically just snake. A glorious brain melting total-pleasure version of snake! No game has given me more immediate joy this year.
While this game doesn't have the nostalgic excitement of Mega Man 9 (or as many hilariously cruel dirty tricks), it actually is a better game. Clever weapons and level design, an addictive challenge mode, and a soundtrack worthy of comparison to the first three games.
The most popular and lengthy game in the Bit.Trip series erns its press attention. Aside from the ever-glorious art and music, I don't think I've ever been more proud to finish a game in my lifetime. I was a broken man at 80% in, and picked myself back up to victory. It felt like a real life Hollywood ending.
It's admirable that Blackrock makes no excuses that their arcade racer is all gimmick. With a damn good impersonation of American reality TV, this is simply a racing game where things blow up. Things are ALWAYS blowing up. A-B-U. Sometimes you can get tired of things blowing up, but the rest of the time you're going "Oh shit, things are blowing up!"
The latest Suda 51 joint is full of many high and low points. Every time it seemed Travis Touchdown had jumped the shark, the very next cutscene would be possibly the coolest thing you have ever seen. Sadly, the game ends on one of those low points, so the bad taste left when you eject the disc sent this title to the bottom of the top ten.
