Top 3 Games Of 2010
Famousfive’s Game of the Year
This is a hard one for me, because personally I would like to give the award to the Kinect. It is seriously the most exciting thing I’ve played with this year, so much so that I haven’t found to need to pick up a traditional controller for some time. Sadly no one Kinect game really stands out, and as the Kinect is a peripheral and not a game, it really doesn’t qualify.
With that in mind there can only be one winner.
Microsoft tried and failed with a tired re-hash of the Halo franchise, EA deliverd too little to late with Medal of Honor and Activision stumbled at the winning line with a game that just felt far too Hollywood for it’s own good. The First Person Shooter was not going to be winning any glory in 2010.
Bethesda came close to winning the top spot on my list, but even though it was a blast wandering a new post-nuclear wasteland, it really was more of the same. Addictive, yes. Fun, yes. Game of the year, not quite.
It was in the end the company that had promised so much yet failed to deliver with it’s 2008 installment of it’s best know series, Grand Theft Auto that came up with gold. Leaving the mean streets of modern life behind, Rockstar too a risk in embracing the Wild West – albeit a wild west on the verge of being tamed – and came out striking gold with Red Dead Redemption.
There were obvious similarities with the GTA world, but this living, breathing new world was a class above anything Rockstar had created before.
The Story-line was well scripted, giving the game a Hollywood Epic feel, without the over the top silliness of Hollywood action films – this was more Once Upon a Time in the West (which I do know is an Italian film) than a sugary sweet Bruckheimer flick.
But it was more than that. It was a technical marvel with stunning vistas and a landscape that came alive with random encounters, side missions and an entire map that for once you actually wanted to explore.
No other game came close to Red Dead Redemption in 2010.
But Rockstar wasn’t done yet, after a couple of lackluster DLC offerings they re-invented the game with Undead Nightmare, opening the west to the scourge of the Zombie. That was the final jewel in the crown that made Red Dead not only the game of the year for 2010, but also one of the best games ever.
Urbankiwi: Red Dead certainly was an epic game. The fact that Famousfive was excited about the zombie DLC is of no surprise. FamousFive is as much a fan of Zombies as Rhettspect is a fan of a certain young Canadian Pop Star.
Rhettspect: Famousfive’s love of Kinnect is amusing, but not surprising. It is a casual, rather than hardcore gamer’s peripheral, after all. Thankfully, he passed over it for his pick, since the thought of him spending long hours with his Kinectimals would have been more than I could take. But I won’t argue with the fact that Red Dead Redemption was one of the best games of the year. It was my second favorite, in fact. I enjoyed it more than any of the GTA games, mostly because it had an interesting story, and a likable character. Simply riding around on your horse and soaking in the scenery was good fun. Rockstar showed real maturity here: a game featuring an honorable man set against the tragic backdrop of the dying West makes some of their other efforts seem adolescent. I’ll be interested to see what effect this has on GTA V, when it is eventually released. But I’ll be even more interested in seeing more Red Dead sequels.
Rhettspect’s Game of the Year
Nothing else came close this year. Mass Effect 2 is my favourite game of the last ten years. It improved on the already great Mass Effect in so many ways. The epic space opera storyline continued and had me hooked. The graphics were better. The gameplay mechanics were streamlined (in a good way). The controls were tightened and the shooting felt fantastic.
The atmosphere this time was darker, recalling sci-fi like Blade Runner. Walking into the nightclub on the Omega station was a sight to behold, dripping cheesy, sci-fi noir atmosphere. Not to mention, Mass Effect 2 must have been the first game since old Lucas Arts classics such as The Dig where I’d stop to just stare at the gorgeous backdrops. Places like Illium were breathtaking.
In the end, Mass Effect 2 hit every target for me. It was gaming perfection. If you even remotely like action or RPG games, not to mention if you love a great story, it would be a crime to not play this game.
Famousfive: As per usual, Rhettspect is talking out of his arse with this pick. I’ve played Mass Effect 2, it was boring. BORING. What it amounts to is a series of very well produced cut scenes with some playable action in between. It’s a choose your own adventure book for the add gamer generation. There is only one list this game should be on and that’s the worst games of 2010.
Urbankiwi: You know this is what i love about gaming. We all have a chance to escape into stories and gameplay that meet our interest. I’ve not played Mass Effect 2, however agree with Rhettspect. If your in the mood, the game story and balance is right and your having fun it… game of the year.
Urbankiwi’s Game of The Year
Total War : Napoleon. Why? Because it offered a gaming experience that did not disappoint. The Total War series is the bench mark in large scale real time war strategy. Visually very stunning with an ever improving level of AI. The game can also surprise you, not every battle is the same old zerg rush scenario, with the AI making decisions and choices on the fly.
The other big reason why i think Total War : Napoleon deserves game of the year is because the entire package of a game is delivered exceptionally well. The ofter sales support is brilliant, with Creative Assembly engaging with all aspects of the community. This means they are willing to take a beating from their fans on bad choices and learn from any mistakes and taking leads from any great ideas of the community. I cannot … repeat CANNOT wait for Total War : Shogun 2… I’ve seen it and it has blown my mind.
Famousfive: Not surprisingly Urbankiwi chose a PC game. One of the few PC gamers left in the world, Urbankiwi chooses to try and hold on to the ways of the old, claiming that PC gaming is not dead. The rest of the world has moved on. Sure a strategy game sounds interesting, but then after playing for an hour most people would rather watch paint dry.
Rhettspect: This is a pretty left-field pick from Urbankiwi. I don’t have issues with him picking a PC game, and according to reviews, games like Civilization V deserve that kind of praise. Heck, I was even tempted to buy that game on Steam, even knowing it would run like dogs bollix on my iMac. But Total War: Napoleon? Really? By all accounts this is a decent game, but picking the umpteenth installment of a niche series which doesn’t do a lot different to other games in the series seems a little pedestrian. Oh, and the reason why the developer’s give Skip such great customer support is because he’s probably one of their only customers. Just a thought.
