Top Games of 2010

For me, there have only been a couple of truly outstanding games released this year. I'm not sure if either of them will eventually be regarded as genuine classics, but they certainly filled in the time superbly.

Released in 2010
Red Dead Redemption - GTA: Wild West? Yes. Brilliant and engrossing all the same? Absolutely. It also has a far more engaging protagonist than its close cousin GTA IV, a surprisingly important element when you're spending sometimes 100+ hours in a character's company.
Heavy Rain - Quick time events have never been so entertaining and well used. For once a game that justifies the tag of "adult game", thanks to the intelligent writing, dark themes, utterly convincing voice acting and genuine emotional resonance. Too many games try to earn this tag cheaply by gratuitous use of gore and foul language, which can quicky get tiresome in anything but the very best games.

A personal list, of games released prior to 2010 but only played by me this year
Dragon Age: Origins - Western RPG? Count me in. Multiple storyline paths and endings? Great news. Superb voice acting? Always a nice bonus. Complicated romantic entanglements for your character? Sounds good to m- Wait, what? This game has problems, of course. The storyline is so clichéd it almost veers into hackneyed, the supposedly "realistic" feature of your party remaining covered in blood for some time after a battle is carried to silly extremes (I once won a skirmish by standing about 100 yards away and firing arrows and spells into walking tree. Afterwards, the party were - quite ridiculously - smothered head to toe in gore) and accusations of the game being too easy to complete are perfectly understandable. Despite all that, some genuinely witty dialogue, excellent writing and first rate voice acting combine to make this game compelling in the extreme. So compelling, in fact, that for the first time in my gaming life I found the romantic sub-plots to be something I cared about getting right, instead of something to get out of the way so I can get back to the action. Not an easy trick to pull off.
Brütal Legend - Hilarious mixture of arcade hack 'n' slash, with basic strategy elements and the odd bemani-esque moment thrown in. Beautifully designed, graphically pleasing - if not exactly ground breaking - and a first class soundtrack all combine with Jack Black's pitch perfect voice acting and some genuinely funny cameos to make for a game that makes up for in sheer fun what it lacks in depth or complexity.
Fallout 3 (inc. DLC's) - Engrossing. Absorbing. Compelling. Mesmerising. Hypnotic. All words which apply perfectly to Fallout 3. Everything about the game itself, the playing mechanics, the plot, the design, the depths of detail, the writing, the graphics, the soundtrack, the voice acting, all add up to a game that is as close to perfection as is humanly possible. If it wasn't for the many, many glitches and bugs - entirely too many of which turn out to be game breakers, requiring a restart from the last save, or from the very beginning in extreme circumstances - I'd gladly call this the greatest game of all time. As it is, it simply stands as the game that convinced me gaming is a hobby still worth pursuing.
Batman: Arkham Asylum - In this Batman game, you actually rely on detection skills (to as great a degree possible in a game of this nature), stealth and intimidation, instead of wading in fists and feet flying while throwing Bat-erangs at all and sundry (Although there's no shortage of hand to hand combat). This game is as close to playing as The Batman, the one that I know from the comics, as it's possible to get. This makes the comic book reader in me so deeply happy, you wouldn't believe it. Now I finally know what Star Wars fans were feeling when they get that strange look in their eyes as they talk about Star Wars: Force Unleashed.

P.S. I've got a copy of Fallout: New Vegas on the way, so there may yet be an addition to the list for this year, although I'm not building my hopes up too high. I've heard terrible things about glitching and bugs...

In no paticular order;
Red Dead Redemption,especially with the addition of zombies
Heavy Rain,damn the bloody PS WII I wanted more DLC like the Taxidermist
Fallout 3/New Vegas,even with their glitches I still enjoyed them.
Bayonetta,because it was mental.
Assassins Creed 2/Brotherhood,loved 'em both.
Enslaved,which I think is the most overlooked and underrated game of the year,it's bound to be cheap so go get a copy it's bloody brilliant
and of course Wet.......ha Only joking

Assassin's Creed 2 would be my favourite game of 2010, just a very good game and so good it was the first game I bought DLC mission packs for. Great gameplay (except combat) and well designed missions made it a joy to play. Can't wait to get Brotherhood.

Heavy Rain was another I really enjoyed. A bit short on the first playthrough, but I've yet to replay it with different choices which I know is important. I love QTEs so I enjoyed this game immensely and the way they were used made for some harrowing experiences (you know the bit I mean).

I've only just started playing Red Dead Redemption, and maybe I just haven't "got" it yet, but I'm a little disappointed. The gunplay (especially Dead Eye) is great and mid mission checkpoints are a welcome improvement over GTA but the story hasn't drawn me in (yet). John is a very likeable lead, but Dickens and Seth are just kind of annoying and the game world, while vast, feels a bit empty. Think I need to play it a bit more.

Completely for got about Batman: Arkham Asylum, that's definatly a contender

Oh yeah,I forgot about that too I loved it.

(04-12-2010 17:45 )Mister Gummidge Wrote:  P.S. I've got a copy of Fallout: New Vegas on the way, so there may yet be an addition to the list for this year, although I'm not building my hopes up too high. I've heard terrible things about glitching and bugs...

if you get the pc version is pretty much glitch free, well in comparison to the console versions.

on my midrange pc setup i had none of the problems associated with the console version, no having to restart from a save, no corrupted saves, no fps issues. i had the odd texture map that would pop or a texture that was missing on the very odd rock.(3 places in the whole game) along with the usual fell into a glitch in the map. but other than that no real problems and nothing that could be called a game breaker. unlike the consoles which from some accounts is near unplayable without patching and even then its hit and miss.

if you have the system for it and the game is multiplatform then there really is only 1 choice and thats the pc version.

Not had a single one of them problems and mines a copy so it's had no patches, maybe they've botched a patch along the way

Re: My earlier post @ comment #11 - Add Fallout: New Vegas to the list. Bigger than Fallout 3, a multi faction plotline which means the game has genuine replay value, as choosing any one of four factions eliminates you from completing quests for the others (three and a half? Not sure if Yes Man and the Three Families counts as a faction or not). The glitches and bugs weren't half as bad as I'd been led to believe (on PS3 at least. Can't speak for XBox, but HEX!T and another mate have confirmed it for PC version), the missions are varied and interesting, the world is as engrossing as ever and one of the companions in particular - Veronica - makes me laugh like a drain. Throw in a cybernetic dog, an excellent soundtrack and score and a side mission involving a deranged Super Mutant in a blond wig who's in love with a robot, and you have quite possibly my favourite game of all time.

@HEX!T - To call my desktop PC 'low end' would be an insult to low end machines across the UK. It's a decrepit machine running an Intel Celeron 1.8Ghz processor, with only 1GB of RAM and on-board sound and graphics. I can barely play Bejeweled without freezing and glitching, let alone a game like Fallout. I do most of my gaming on PS3 (apart from the occasional quick blast on Urban Terror) and keep the PC for browsing and media storage. It's little more than a non-portable netbook, if I'm honest.

for me:

super mario galaxy 2
red dead redemption
heavy rain

My favourite games of 2010 are :
Call of Duty Black Ops,
Tiger Woods 2011,
FIFA 11,
The Saboteur.