It took me a while just to frame the last year into some kind of digestible sense that I could then crap on about for as long as I can endure. This is like shucking the part of my brain that isn't involved with communication, just sheer absorption, onto a page and moving it about a bit, hoping that eventually the smears form some kind of legible missive. I had help from the Penny Arcade community to actually remember what games came out this year and they also helped remind me just how awesome 2010 was for gaming. Now I hope nostalgia isn't so recent as to have warped my memory already, but I'm pretty happy with my list.
So in reverse order, ending with my most enjoyable, favourite game of the year...
13. Limbo
A simple premise executed really well and absolutely smothered in atmosphere. Challenging to play but never infuriating, nice length and did I mention that the atmosphere was great?
12. Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale
Only grabbed this recently with Steam offering it at a pittance and boy am I glad I did. Classic JRPG dungeoneering mixed with a awesomely original item shop mechanic. Irreverent and self deprecating with a scarcastic eye on RPGs in general, I really enjoyed firing this up for a quick bit of trading and monster smashing.
11. Just Cause 2
This is how open world games should be. Stupidly huge, stupidly detailed and not self serious. Lots of fun doing anything from driving into a town, chaining up a petrol station and blowing everything to heck from hijacking a jet and flying it into airport.
10. Metro 2033
Atmosphere plus, awesome visuals, great design and some terrifying moments. Really creative and immersive, being topside and running out of air filters while some thing chases you is a sure fire way of ensuring your pants can retain fluids.
9. Minecraft
Does anything need to be said? Absolute open and free game, get lost for a few hours under the Earth make anything you want and it's only a goddamned Beta. Really keen to see what 2011 brings for Notch and his crew.
8. Darksiders
Zelda-esque romp with other influences thrown in melted together and fused in way that really works. Never feels really clunky, always looks and sounds awesome, a radical setting and story.
7. Bayonetta
Totally over the top, totally slick and never dull action with some of the best bosses seen since cartridge days. Everything just oozes style and almost ADD levels of character.
6. Dead Rising 2
Probably not as technically proficient as some of the other games in this list but goddamned it, this is fun to the max, taking all sorts of wacky things, taping them together and then painting the walls with zombie bits never gets old and if you think it does, then I won't see you at the end of the apocalypse.
5. Starcraft 2
Yes I bought the hype. How could I not? Being an old man has afforded me some kind of perspective and this game was worthy of the hype. Probably the most enjoyable single player campaign in an RTS has largely been looked over for the multiplayer but I'm not huge into that otherwise I dare say it'd be number one.
4. Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout 3 was enjoyable, but it was an obvious Bethesda game. Really pretty but kind of hollow. I like Obsidian, really I do, but god damned if they don't make it hard for you to like them. New Vegas was instantly engaging and always interesting. It didn't draw out storylines more than it had to, the characters were worth talking to, I had real trouble making decisions because they were not good/evil arrangements but much more philosophical in nature. The mechanics and gunplay were still great to play with with plenty of options.
3. Red Dead Redemption
I waxed lyrical on these very pages about the nature of the Red Dead Experience. Experiencing John Marsten's story is definitely one of the highlights of the year for me. The world was enjoyable to explore and looked stunning, the praise this game has received is well deserved.
2. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
The single player portion of this game is serviceable. It cannot compare to the blockbuster titles in this department. But in multiplayer it blows away all comers who are approaching similarity in nature. Sure it doesn't have the customisation that other recent titles can boast, but that in itself isn't a core mechanic, more of a vortex within the core that spits out odd perturbations at request. The very fabric of Bad Company 2 is a thing to behold. Collapsing buildings, vehicles spitting death, medics multiplying like roaches. The engine and the gameplay are fused into a waltz of a stupefying level. This has surpassed Team Fortress 2 as my multiplayer game of choice and Team Fortress 2 is easily on my top 10 games of all time.
1. Mass Effect 2
Could it truly be any other? A story more engaging than most other mediums could cough up, characters more memorable than anything else this year, gameplay that is electrifying and never feels repetitive. Mass Effect is a true achievement in gaming and in media in general. The followup of a heap of DLC was also staggering in it's quality and made an already engaging world just that bit moreso.
If Mass Effect 3 is half as good as this, it'll still be better than anything else released.
As an aside games that I hadn't played in 2010 but will rectify to do so as soon as able;
Vanquish
STALKER: Call of Pripyat
And disappointment of the year? Civilization 5. The more I think about it, the sadder I get.
So here's to an awesome year of gaming and here's to another. Bring on 2011!
