Rate your 2010!

[RobertR1]

I believe all the big releases are out so it's time to see how things stacked up looking back. It's one to thing feel a certain way but another to reflect back and see it held up. Ofcourse it's not entirely possible for recent game but still....

360:

Mass Effect 2:
8/10. Greatly improved over ME1 is most areas. I felt the story in ME1 was bit more tense. Planet mining minigame was a terrible addition. New Game+ needed to be balanced better.

Bayonetta:
10/10. Absolutely the king of combat for action games. Even the two vehicles levels, which are not very good, can't knock a point off this game. NO DLC! Everything was included in the main game. Lots to do and again, combat is unmatched

Splinter Cell: Conviction
6/10. The gameplay was great. Story was ok also. Most other things were not. The black n white effect ruined all presentation of the game. A short campaign. Online co-op was unstable. Frame rate issues also.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
8/10. A set piece based, basic single player. Very standard. MP made up for it though. Poor DLC support by Dice at peak popularity let the MP community die out. Patches introduced lag. General DICE MP issues. Repurchased due to upcoming DLC and Vietman expansion

Alan Wake
6/10. The game play was repetitive. No real scary moments. Lead character narration was a bit annoying. Great presentation of the enviornments. Loved the atmosphere.

Red Dead Redemption:
9/10. One of the best single player experinces I've had. It's all that GTA4 was hyped to be but wasn't. Loved the setting, characters, story, pacing and gameplay. The MP was terrible due to auto aim.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
8/10. Awesome reboot by Mercury Steam. Combat was very fun. Platforming to hidden areas was great. Story was up and down. Absolutely amazing graphics. Looks just beautiful and likely the best looking game I've seen this year. I'd give it a 10/10 just based on presentation alone if it wasn't for the poor framerate at times. Some of the puzzles are tedious.

Halo: Reach
9/10. Bungie went out with a bang. Playing through the campaign on Solo Legendary was an amazing experience. Really enjoy Firefight matchmaking also. The campaign could have had more "epic" moments. Always felt that you were always doing side missions before or after but never part of the main battle.

Fable 3
8/10. Fable 2 is still my game of this generation thus I was quite excited for 3. Technical issues leading to major slowdowns is unacceptable. Glitches, a step back in the impression system and a rushed ending added to disappointment. However, at all other times, Albion is still one of the best worlds ever created. Really wish this was given another year to be perfected.

Assassins Creed: Brotherhood
9/10. Didn't think much of it going by previews. I was wrong. The best game is the series by far. Beautiful presenation. Exciting combat and platforming. The only knock is that the story progression was very light compared to 1 and 2

Kinect Adventures:
6/10. It's a decent gateway into Kinect but certainly not the strongest title. I really enjoy Reflex Ridge obstacle course. The rest don't do much for me.

Kinect Sports:
8/10. Very fun to play against the CPU, local player or on Xbox Live. Menu options need to be streamlined. CPU on champion difficulty is very cheap

Dance Central
8/10. Great game for anyone into dancing! Or like me, can't dance but still like to try in the privacy of my own house All it needs is 2 players at once and it'll be perfect


XBLA

Limbo:
9/10. Enjoyed everything about this game. I just wish it was a little longer. Still, worth every penny.

Monday Night Countdown.
8/10. Great mix of Dota with shooting. A very refreshing take on 2 popular game types. Needed to be balanced better and more maps (free DLC coming Dec 1st)


PS3


God of War 3:
8/10. Great presentation. Combat was basic but entertaining. Everyone but the lead character were interesting. Weird jumping controls led to most of my deaths.

Gran Turismo 5:
6/10. Gameplay is good so far. The rest of it, not so much. Inexcuseable performance. The game's performance is ideal when you've cleared off into the distance. Too many poor design decisions and uncomplete features. Thankfully, the core is solid and the rest can hopefully be overhauled for GT6.

 

[Phil]

2010 was a great year IMO.

Best game 2010:

- God of War 3

closely followed by:

- Heavy Rain
- Call of Duty Black Ops (MP only)

Disappointments:

- Final Fantasy XIII (never finished it, which is rare for a FF for me)

 

[rabidrabbit]

PS3

GT5:
9,5/10. Not a radical evolution in racing games and sometimes not quite as polished as I expected. Still, by normal standards a very polished title, but by GT standards the less than 60 fps and occasional tearing do mean it's not a solid 10 title. Graphics manage to amaze despite the occasional ugly standard car.
Does what GT games have always done, only better. Easy to access, takes ages to master.
The king of racing games bar none and the feeling of driving is unmatched.

Final Fantasy XIII:
8/10. Again, not a revolution in RPG's and basically what FF games have been from since I started playing them (FFVII). After a very slow start the game opens up and gameplay rises from almost terrible to excellent. Graphically the second best game this gen and the production and polish is flawless. An acquired taste as FF games have been, but if you're into FF games this can't be missed.

God of War III:
9/10. Graphically the no. 1 game of this gen, no question. Sometimes looks like CGI. While I'm not that into DMC, Bayonetta and GoW style hack and slash gameplay, this managed to keep me playing just for the amazing graphics. The fluid combat system is very satisfying and QTE style finishes brutal!

Sports Champions:
8/10. The basically lag-free 1:1 Move control feels great and especially Table Tennis has that totally addictive one more go gameplay. It wouldn't have hurt if there were more games than those six and online multiplayer would be nice too. Guess they need to leave something for the sequel.
The presentation and graphics aer also average and a bit soulless. A more customisable avatar would be nice for SC2.

Tumble:
8/10. An overlooked little PSN gem that uses the Move control in an amazing way. This truly is 1:1 control and it is almost as if you're manipulating those blocks with your bare hands in 3D space.
The puzzles are well thought out and addictive. Graphics are functional with different materials easily recognisable by looks alone.

Heavy Rain:
8,5/10. Moving story, good graphics. A welcome distraction from all the shooters, racers and platformers. The gameplay isn't very challenging, and I'm still on the fence about the control system, but the story and presentation draw you in and keep you playing.

Red Dead Redemption:
7/10. Great atmosphere of Wild West. Not quite up there at the level of GTA's in variety and fun, but that's partly because of the more primitive age of Wild West. Gets a bit repetitive and boring though.

Move: Start The Party:
7/10. Really needs a group of child minded people or kids to play with. Fun party game and great Move control.

As a total, I'd rate my 2010 gaming year a 8-/10, just because there was no new Uncharted, Last Guardian moved to 2011 and no good platform/adventure game like Ratchet & Clank this year.
GT5 seems to be saving the year though

 

[Rangers]

Halo Reach: 9/10, great game, solid graphics. Probably the best in the Halo series yet.

Alan Wake: 6/10, I thought the game was pretty darn scary in a cumulative, tension building way, with lots of jump moments. However it's quite long for a single player game and gets very repetitive. Great graphics and atmosphere, truly one of this gen's graphical masterpieces. But again ruined by repetition and poor design.

Halo Wars: 9/10 Didn't come out in 2010 but thats when I played it so...anyways I really enjoyed this. Nice change of pace.

Modern Warfare 2 (ditto above)/ 6/10, had some awesome set pieces but mostly the usual imo terrible COD formula. Did not play MP which for all I know is the greatest MP game ever.

 

[Gerry]

Bayonetta:
10/10. Absolutely the king of combat for action games. Even the two vehicles levels, which are not very good, can't knock a point off this game. NO DLC! Everything was included in the main game. Lots to do and again, combat is unmatched

GOTY. I'm not a big fan of the genre, but Bayonetta was fantastic.

As for the driving levels - they were homages to other games weren't they? Not too sure about the motorbike sequence, but the missile level was a perfectly realised version of Space Harrier, complete with original music. Really enjoyed that level.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Can't think what I've played.

MAG: 3/10, Broken, frustrating game that didn't provide the team-based coop experience I was hoping for.

Borderlands: 9/10, Very entertaining for a shooter! Got the platinum.

Deathspank 1+2: 8/10, Simple time-passing fun.

Alien Breed : 3/10; a weak offering by Team 17 propped up only by having coop.

Played plenty of older titles like Uncharted 2 online, or Age of Booty, awaiting never-arriving updates. Also looking at a lot of late December PSN titles. Undead Nations today I think, possibly Kung-Fu Live, possibly Castle Crashers, certainly Dungeon Hunter: Alliance this year if it's out, probably Dungeon Defenders when its out as that's due Winter 2010.

So far, 2010 has been middling, given self-imposed limits on the types of games to play (don't want to lose myself in epics these days), but it might well finish with a bang.

 

[Billy Idol]

My immediate thoughts:


best game 2010 PS3:

God of War III, by a wide margin...heck, at gamescom, I was so jealous seeing other people play, that I queued up and waited that I can play myself, although I have it at home and finished it already 3 times?!?


best game 2010 Xbox360:

Easily Mass Effect 2, one of the best games I have ever played!


special 2010:

Heavy Rain. I like it so much, because I was extremely sceptical about this game. I am not sure if it is one of the best games I played, but it was just that...special!

 

[Sigfried1977]

Heavy Rain:
bad game, worse movie. Big disappointment for me, especially since I anticipated it like no other game. Well, there is one game actually ...

Alan Wake:
god, what a boring one trick pony of a game. Didn't even like the convoluted story.

God of War 3:
I liked it a lot, but sadly Santa Monica reduced Kratos to a mere parody of his former self. The further I played the game, the more I hated the guy. He so didn't earn that ending.

FFXIII:
loved every minute of the 140 or so hours I spent with it. Far and away my GotY.

Vanquish:
I do think an action game/movie can work fine without a decent story. I think every game gets better when the narrative is compelling, though. I also strongly believe that an unbelievably pathetic excuse for a story can seriously impact one's entertainment of an otherwise decent game, which is basically my biggest problem with Vanquish. The game is just so fucking dumb. Apparently it's not even aware of it either.

Dead Rising 2:
great update to one of the most innovative games this gen. A little too easy maybe, and the loading times were excruciating.

Darksiders:
Zelda with a lot of skulls . War looks quite lame, and just like in the recent Zelda games you'll outgrow your enemies a little too quickly, but the puzzles were fantastic, the combat was great for what it was, the visuals had a ton of personality, the story was interesting (if a bit confusing) and the game was quite lengthy too.

AC: Brotherhood:
It's like AC2, only bigger and better in just about every imaginable way. Probably the biggest 2010 surprise for me.

Red Dead Redemption:
Great game. First R* game I didn't give up on since GTA Vice City actually. I just hope that the gameplay in R* games will at some point be able to match the quality of the presentation. The mission design and structure hasn't really changed since GTA3, and I think it just feels absolutely archaic at this point.

Mass Effect 2:
kind of a mediocre tps with some light rpg elements and hardly any story. Atfer ME1, ME2 was a massive disappointment for me

Castlevania Lords of Shadow:
gets the "worst paced game"-award, the "me too"-award, the "most impressive selection of useless moves"-award, the "inconsistency"-award and the "protagonist of the game who seems completely unrelated the protagonist in the narrative"-award. Very pretty, though.

Enslaved:
Lovely presentation and some truly likeable characters, but in the end that counts for very little if the gameplay doesn't hold up, and it totally does not hold up.

Naruto UNS2:
every game benefits from a nice story, even fighting games, and that is why I love UNS 2. Fighting isn't particularly deep, but it's responsive and a lot of fun. Some form of anti aliasing for the next game would be much appreciated (QAA would work lovely with that game I assume since it doesn't really rely on textures, much less sharp ones) The game looks marvellous in motion, but during the many many dialogue scenes it can be a jagged mess.

Also played a bunch of downloadable titles, but the only ones worth a mention were Limbo and Joe Danger. Both were amazing.



Overall 2010 was rather mediocre for me. 2009 was a lot better, and 2011 is shaping up to be fantastic as well.

 

[N_B]

Older games I've only played this year:

Uncharted 2: 9.5/10 Fantastic well rounded game, love the multiplayer.

Infamous: 8.5/10 Great superhero title, pure fun but mediocre graphics and animation, uninteresting enemies.

Halo 3: 9/10 I think it's slightly better than Reach in gameplay, but I;m not sure what the complaints about the graphics were about as some places can be quite impressive.

Ratchet: ACIT: 8.5/10 Great story but uninteresting weapons relative to the series and a bit short.

Assassin's Creed 2: 9/10 so far, really enjoying this, looking forward to Brotherhood.

Battlefield BC1: 8.5/10 A good shooter with an entertaining single play.



This years games:

Halo Reach: 9/10 First Halo game, overall great single and multi, but only gets interesting by the 3rd or 4th mission.

Fallout New Vegas: 9/10 I don't feel the wasteland is as interesting to explore as Fallout 3 (my favorite part) but the main quest delivers.

Red Dead Redemption: yet to finish, 8.5/10 so far because of being a little repetitive and the lack of interesting locations to explore but interesting characters, Undead Nightmare is cool too.

I also have a pile of other unfinished games:

Assassins Creed 1 (PS3) real chore to play because of repetition and framerate.
Wolfenstein: The definition of an average shooter
Crackdown: Collecting orbs is fun, somewhat uneven controls though.
Gears of War: Bad, bad checkpoints hurt this game, pretty entertaining otherwise (and hard).
Mass Effect 2: I got it on disc on PC, a mistake because non-Steam games IMO a just a real chore to go through, less satisfaction and there's more interesting things to play IMO.


Overall a good year (bought a 360) 8.5 is a decent score the year I think.

 

[Arwin]

(this list will be in progress for a while)

God of War 3 9.5/10
Fantastic ride of a game. Awesome from start to finish, with nary a frustrating moment (just one actually, which was the chase scene). Loved the battle(s) with Zues, especially the street fighter style one. A big bonus: the game was so pretty that my wife just sat next to me in awe. That has never happened before, Uncharted 2's chapter 16 excepted. Oh, and I finished it, unlike any of the other GoW games.

Final Fantasy XIII - 7.5/10
I played it long enough to count as a full game, but I haven't nearly finished it. It was pretty decent while it lasted and I think I managed to keep going longer than in most of the Final Fantasy games I've played. I may one day play this again, but chances aren't good with so many other great games.

Rockband 3 - 10/10
Fantastic game. There are tiny things that I miss (velocity sensitive drumming, for one, which would make free drumming even more awesome), but there is so much right that I can't but give this game a perfect 10, and agree with Eurogamer on that. Crucial to this game also is the complete and utter responsiveness - no calibration was necessary for me. at all. And that is without even having tried any of the new and pro-mode instruments yet - I'm still only using my Guitar Hero WTC drum, guitar and mike.

Gran Turismo 5 - 10/10
This game is just the best game in existence for a racing fan like me, and I'm continuously looking at racing games on all platforms. The variation is fantastic, the handling almost perfect, and the graphics range from ok (Deep Forest and Trial Mountain deserve better) to well beyond amazing (Eiger K Trial, Snow tracks, the day-night transitions, Nurburgring in the rain with distant brake lights lighting up in the mist and your beams lighting up the spray of other cars, cockpit views, etc. ), and the online features are finally there, let alone that they are actually good (very pleased with the lobby system and online options) and promise to get better (starting in December).

Move hardware 9.5/10
Finally here, and fantastic stuff. This and the games for it have made 2010 one of the best gaming years ever. I'm deducting 0.5 because the head-tracking isn't working as well as it probably could, Sony could have standardised a few things a little better, and there are a few small issues with drift/heat sensitivity in some of the games, and they could have supported it nicer in some of their applications (Home, Browser). Overall though, software support has been fantastic so far (loads of games), it's showing versatility in being able to function as a large variety of input devices in a lot of very different games, and as far as I am concerned, all games should support it whenever they possibly can. I coud live with this being the default control method and DS3 being optional.

Sports Champions 9/10
I played this so much. Yes the presentation isn't all that, and there is very little online play (though at least defcent leaderboards for everything), but the pure gameplay of Table Tennis and Gladiator alone are some of the best I've experienced in this genre ever, and there is plenty of depth to the game to keep you going. Awesome.

The Fight: Lights Out 8/10
Terrific stuff - just target practice alone was worth more than the price of admission to me. It will be interesting to see if the patch improves the actual fighting, but I've been having a great time with this game already. The online betting system is fun too, even if the online itself is a bit limited.

Tumble 9/10
The game is at times a little clinical, but the single player is substantial (I played half-way through so far) and I played multi-player Tumble with my mother who got it instantly and we had a lot of fun. You don't need much more than this to give it a very high score at this price.

Start-the-Party 8/10
Very high-quality stuff that's easy to get into and the kids love it.

Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition 4/10
What a horrible, horrible game. I thought I might like it better with the Move, but gosh ... I liked RE4, but this is just crap. This engine does not do a lot of Action well, do don't make it do a lot of Action! Apparently it gets playable with some effort, but there's nothing in this game motivating me to put in that effort.

Singstar: Dance 8/10
Singstar remains a fantastic title, and just as a singing game it scores top-marks for me. But the Dance and also Guitar editions lean too much on what is already there, and bring too little in the way of training stuff. I would really have loved a 'break-it-down' type thing to help me master the otherwise excellent and well-presented choreography. But it costs only 30 euros and gives you more than 30 excellent songs, so you can't really argue with that. I also did the Guitar stuff, and it's both better and worse than I thought. Better in that I played a song on easy and scored a perfect score. Worse, because at the highest level, the framerate is ugly. Unacceptable, though not unplayable. I therefore rate Singstar: Guitar only a 6/10, and it would have scored worse if it wasn't part of the excellent Singstar package.

(a fair bit more to come - I'll have to browse through all the PSN titles I"ve bought over the year)

PSN PS3


Beat Sketcher 8.5/10
Just bought this, but I've already had a lot of fun with it. A great family title and really something that's likely to keep coming back, being used as basically the go-to thing for video recording (all the effects are here, plus you can write on-screen stuff with the Move controller which is just awesome), pictionary, messing around with exisiting fotos, using any of the (quite many) coloring book items, making fun drawings overlayed on screen with the kid, etc. Great stuff. I think we'll try to make a Holiday greeting 'card' with it.

Blue Toad Murder Files 8/10
Very nicely presented Cluedo/Brain Trainer style game (Laytonish?) and pretty fun, but unfortunately only available in English language, and just haven't had much occasion to break this out really. Great pity as it seems a lot of fun. The language is really holding it back - one of the friends we play Buzz with really feels handicapped when a game like this is in English (but it's a great voice actor doing all the voices). Pretty well recommended as a board game style affair otherwise.

Dead Nation 9/10
It's a bit early to rate this as I just played the first level, but so far ... wow. You don't get impressed with graphics and sound like this very often anymore these days. Again I wish it was a different theme (hate Zombies/Horror as a theme in gaming and movies too), but the game is good enough to make me want to ignore that. If only all of these types of games could use this engine ...

Flight Control HD 8/10
Extremely polished version of the iPhone classic that I much prefer over the original and just works very well with Move. The multiplayer modes are fun too.

Namco Museum 5/10
Was ok for a very short while as a trip down memory lane, but ... meh. Not worth the money.

Peggle 7.5/10
This is a game I love to hate. I think I bought it three times and played it through three times, and yet I hate it for not being a proper enough skill based game. I don't know what it is. I'm sure over it now though. It feels like cheap candy - tastes good for a while but then you get sick quickly and it rots your teeth.

PixelJunk Racers: 2nd Lap 6.5/10
There are some good ideas in here and I played it a few hours (never played the original), so it was worth its money, but ... meh.

Planet Minigolf 7.5/10
The presentation is boring, but there is a lot of game here and it works very well with the Move controller. Good party game.

Joe Danger 8/10
There is a lot of game here, but the core gameplay just isn't as good as something like Trials HD unfortunately. Still, I like it a lot. Was Trials HD this year? If so I have to add it to this list.

PSN PSP

Tekken 6 8/10
Great game, but I hate the end-boss, and as they made the (right) decision to unlock all characters right at the start, that terrible boss shows up in Arcade mode as early as stage 3 almost all the time, and completely messes up the balance. Fortunately that's not the only mode in the game and it's still awesome on the PSP.

Uncharted Pinball 6/10
Very meh ... looks ok, plays ok, but there are many better pinball games out there.

DLC I bought this year:



EP4171-NPEP00060_00-GOLDFISHPOND0001-E001 goudvissen vijver DLC Dynamic Theme €1,99
EP9000-NPEQ00001_00-FLORALPRIN000518-E001 Floral Print Halterneck Dress DLC Home €0,99
EP9000-NPEQ00001_00-DIAMONDENC000256-E001 Diamond Encrusted Earrings DLC Home Gratis
EP9000-NPEQ00001_00-ROUNDDIAMO000253-E001 Round Diamond Stud Earrings DLC Home Gratis
EP9000-NPEQ00001_00-70SSUNGLAS000369-E001 70's Sunglasses DLC Home Gratis
EP2020-NPER00025_00-THEGREENTI000110-E001 DLC Home €0,99
EP4127-NPER00014_00-BELLEHAIRS000204-E001 DLC Home €0,99
EP9000-NPEA00145_00-PHUSTLEKIN000007-E001 Hustle Kings™ Snookertafel-pakket DLC Hustle Kings €2,99
EP0006-BLES00228_00-PROCKBANDX000068-E001 DLC Rockstar €3,99
EP0006-BLES00228_00-PROCKBANDX000284-E001 DLC Rockstar 14,99
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100J8C0000000000-E001 The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00835_00-610J8C0000000000-E001 The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me DLC Singstar €0,50
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100JX30000000000-E001 Gavin DeGraw - I Don't Wanna Be DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100P260000000000-E001 The Commodores - Easy DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100P250000000000-E001 The Commodores - Three Times A Lady DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100NNW0000000000-E001 Lady Gaga feat Colby O'Donis - Just Dance DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100P8V0000000000-E001 The Beach Boys - Auld Lang Syne DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100OHO0000000000-E001 Crowded House - Better Be Home Soon DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100O7Q0000000000-E001 Alexander Rybak - Fairytale DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100OUZ0000000000-E001 Pixie Lott - Mama Do DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100NNM0000000000-E001 Lady Gaga - Poker Face DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100KEX0000000000-E001 DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100J8E0000000000-E001 DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100O7J0000000000-E001 DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-1000HS0000000000-E001 DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100PIN0000000000-E001 DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100IYC0000000000-E001 DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00011_00-100LXJ0000000000-E001 DLC Singstar €1,49
EP9000-BCES00509_00-UNCHARTED2DLCMP1-E001 DLC Uncharted 2 €5,99
EP9000-BCES00509_00-PUNCHARTED000027-E001 DLC Uncharted 2 €5,99
EP4042-NPEB00099_00-PZENPINBAL000PAR-E001 Paranormal Table DLC Zen Pinball €1,99
EP4042-NPEB00099_00-PZENPINBAL000EAR-E001 Earth Defense Table DLC Zen Pinball €1,99
EP4042-NPEB00099_00-PZENPINBAL000EXC-E001 Excalibur Table DLC Zen Pinball €1,99
EP4042-NPEB00099_00-PZENPINBAL000NGS-E001 Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Table DLC Zen Pinball €1,99
EP4042-NPEB00099_00-PZENPINBAL000MRS-E001 DLC Zen Pinball €1,99


still to come: 360 and PC stuff (very, very little this year)

 

[BoardBonobo]

Best eye candy game:

God of War 3 - stunning to watch but basically it's a shiny god of war game.

Most fun had in a dark room by myself...

Borderlands +DLC or Red Dead Redemption +Zombies - both are just fun to play!

Of the rest I remember from this year:

Halo Reach - Kind of made up for Halo 3.
Bayonetta - mad.
Darksiders - frustrating
Heavy Rain - very deep and a little freaky
Wolfenstein - Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Singularity - Very underrated.
Bioshock 2 - One step too far.
Prince of Persia - Urm!?
Final Fantasy XIII - pretty but a little grating.
COD Black Ops - not as daft as its predecessor
Medal of Honor - Almost made the grade

And numerous PSN games like Deathspank all of which are fun in small doses.

Overall 2010 had its ups but quite a few names were tarnished by poor production values.

 

[Scott_Arm]

360:

Mass Effect 2:
9/10. My favourite game of the year. Just fun to play through. Did away with a lot of the annoying micro-managing aspects of RPGs that are not fun for me. The fun part of RPGs, for me, has always been about making decisions, not sorting pages of inventory.

Splinter Cell: Conviction
6/10. Ok game. The black and white effect really took away from the visuals. Was missing something, overall. It just never had that hook to get me really sucked into it.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
9/10. Single player is kind of mediocre, but the absolutely best multiplayer fps on the consoles, by a longshot. The maps are great, the destruction is great, the classes and unlocks are all useful. Can't wait for Vietnam.

Alan Wake
8/10. Great game. I like the visuals, and thought it was fun to watch the game unfold, even though the story and writing were kind of nonsense. The best parts of the game were watching the crazy scenes unfold. The combat could get repetitive, so searching for thermoses and pages slowed the game down and ruined the experience. Stick to the straight and narrow and the game is much more enjoyable.

Red Dead Redemption:
8/10. Amazing visuals. Almost everything about this game is spectacular, but part way into Mexico I just lost interest in playing through the story. I still intend to finish it. When I first started playing, I was riveted. It took a long time to wear off, but it did. Some inconsistencies in the story, really made it hard to appreciate what was going on. One minute you're helping the rebels, and they next you're killing them. That would be fine if the character was portrayed as unscrupulous, doing anything to get the job done, but he's not. They make him seem like a good guy with a dark past, genuinely wanting to help people, but the next second being cutthroat enough to kill anyone for a bit of information. Lots of the missions start to feel irrelevant, like busy work building up to the end. I do want to get to the ending, because I've heard it has a great finale. I also thought some of the humour took away from the overall appeal of the game. A little humour is nice, but there were too many comical side missions. This would have played out better as a dead serious western action thriller. Will finish during my vacation. Got a huge amount of play time in on this one already, so despite having not finished the single-player, I got my moneys worth and more, and had a blast doing it. Multiplayer was kind of crappy until they added hardcore free roam, but they needed to add more things to do into free roam.

Halo: Reach
8/10. I've only ever played Halo 1 and Halo 3, and was never a huge fan of either. Halo 1 is one of the most overrated games of all time. Halo 3 was pretty awful in a lot of ways. It was ugly and the story didn't make any sense at all. It was held together by a solid co-op experience, which was pretty fun. Halo Reach, to me, improves on everything. It is a much better game than Halo 3. Better visuals, better levels, better story. Firefight is a blast, and co-op campaign is great fun. Still not a huge fan of any of the other multiplayer. Could have used a big scarab fight or something.

Fable 3
8/10. Fable 3 is a fantastic game, right up until the end. It's very obvious they ran out of time for the road to rule section, as its too short. And the ending is very abrupt, which is unfortunate. There is one section in this game, when you first encounter the enemy, that is one of my all-time videogame moments. Lots of great new features and mechanics, but thought the interaction with NPCs took a step back by not being able to choose the gesture you perform, instead picking only nice, mean or rude, but having the actual action selection for you. The new weapon and magic systems are great, and the sanctuary works fantastically. Road to rule is also interesting, but completely underdeveloped and way too short. Still, a very fun game, start to finish. Fable 2 is still probably my favourite game this generation. Fable 3 does it mostly right, but falls a bit short. I'm tough on games with letdown endings.

Kinect Adventures:
6/10. Meh. Tech demo.

Kinect Sports:
8/10. Fun game, all around. Good single player, good multiplayer. Not very original, but it works and its a lot of fun. Also, great to get a sweat on.

NHL 11
8/10: Improves on every aspect of the series. Maybe the best game they've made so far. The physics are a huge and welcome improvement. Some glaring bugs ruined the game. From release until November, there was a glitch that allowed people to boost their stats in a way that made competition unfair for anyone that didn't know about the glitch or how to glitch. The threat of bans, and a slow fix, made the game frustrating for people that wanted to play fair. The presence of some NHL 09 style glitch goals also diminishes the online experience. Could have been a 9/10 or 10/10 for fans of the series. They do get some marks back for being very activing in fine tuning the game with tuner updates.

FIFA 11
8/10. Fun game, but very little has changed since FIFA 10. If you like FIFA, this is more of a tweak then a real update, but its still a good game.


XBLA

Limbo:
9/10. Great game. Nothing else to say. It's just short and sweet.

Monday Night Combat.
8/10. Fun and surprising game. Nice take on the fps, adding in elements from other games to make things more interesting.


PS3

God of War 3:
7/10. Please don't flame me. I was really tempted to give this one a 6. Some amazing visuals. Really amazing. The first couple of levels were absolutely awesome, but then it wore off on me, and it was just a grind to get through. A lack of good boss fights after Hades, up until Zeus, really made the game wear thin for me. The Zeus fight is great. Had played this game shortly after playing a good portion of the original game, and it just felt like I was playing exactly the same thing. Same enemies, same combos, same weapons, same everything, just with updated graphics. Graphics over gameplay for me. The game is just too simple for me to put a lot of time into without getting bored. Until later in the game, where there were some interesting moving levels, I really wasn't interested in what was going on. A few childish shock moments put me off as well. Kratos is in every way the embodiment of a lot of the problems I have with the gaming industry in general. He's not nearly as boring and uninspired as Master Chief, but he looks stupid and acts stupid. He's a tribal tattooed loser, an alpha-male dripping with machismo, a brain-dead badass designed to appeal to UFC misogynists. When I think of Kratos I think of faux-hawked brahs with leather wrist bands high-fiving each other for roofying the drunkest girl at the bar. /RANT


Don't think I'm missing anything, but I'll update if more games come to mind.

 

[djskribbles]

God of War 3 - 9/10
Definition of Epic with huge boss battles and such a badass character in Kratos. Best looking PS3 game so far IMO.

Gran Turismo 5 - 9.8/10
I'm only about half-way done, but it's my favorite GT so far. The gameplay easily makes up for some of the rough edges that are in the game, but I have to knock off a little because of them, but it's nearly perfect otherwise.
edit: I'm changing my score from a 9 to a 9.7. I gotta give it such a precise score because, while not perfect, the game is just so damn good that it makes the negatives so minuscule. It's so close to perfection IMHO.

Call of Duty Black Ops (PS3) - 8.5/10
Review applies to Single Player only. It was one of the better campaigns IMO. But the PS3 version suffered a little visually and performance wise.

Sports Champions / PS Move: 9/10
Surprisingly love this game (wasn't expecting much). I spent many hours playing this and will probably still go back to it from time to time, simply because it's fun and it's a fairly good cardio workout. The PS Move tracks very well in this game and it truly is 1:1. I have only played a few other demos for PS move, but it definitely looks promising.

That's all I can remember. I just bought Castlevania, but I've barely started. GT5 is taking all of my time up lately.

 

[Cornsnake]

2010 for me is the year the games industry set out to prove games aren't a legitimate art from. All of the games I've played this year failed to tell a good story.

Red Dead Redemption.

Pretty good all the way through, but then the ending contradicted almost anything that happened before it.

Heavy Rain.

A good attempt at an innovate way to tell a story. Has some mayor plotholes though, and most of the action scenes were forced in, breaking the immersion.


The thing that separates games from other media is that it can tell it's stories interactively through gameplay. Something the previous 2 were quite good at. A lot games though seem to think a story can stand on expensive voice actors and motion capturing alone.

God of War 3.

The first game had a great story. Although completely selfcontained it didn't leave much room for a sequel. But sequels need to happen anyway, and by the time God of War 3 came around nothing it did made any sense at all.

Castlevania LoS.

This game take the cake. It has the most horrible storyline of all. It constantly contradicts itself, and has one of the worst twist endings ever. After the credits it manages to top even that.

Enslaved.

The characters quickly devolve into stereotypes. Has some really distracting live action scenes. And world seems to be completely devoid of life beyond the 3 main characters, making it hard to care for any of it. Lame ending.

Final Fantasy XIII.

I haven't played it but it probably belongs here. I used be a big fan of the series, but all the games are the same in terms gameplay, and are going down hill in terms of story. I couldn't bring myself to finish FF XII, and decided I'm pretty much done with the series. There has been a lot of talk on how they should continue the series. I you ask me the answer is simple. Don't, just make any big RPG instead.


Obviously there is more to games then story. But outside of that it still wasn't a good year for games for me. Lots of good games, but few great games. In fact only one.

MAG. 9,5

Finally another great shooter after the last one at the launch of the PS3. It's innovative, featuring huge battlefields allowing many different roles to be played on it. There is nothing quite like when when it all comes together when whole platoon is working together, making you feel like a small but important part of a giant war machine.

It could have been better though. The steep learning curve hold it back early on. Unlocking equipment gets in the way of teamwork. And if Sony did a better job of marketing it, it would have had more players to reduce queue times.

Costume Quest. 9

It's a kiddy game, but it's great. Good humor, and a nice mix of open levels with sidequests and turnbased combat. It's halloween theme works well throughout.

GT5.

Is disqualified for this year. It should have been done 3 years ago, yet even today still isn't. Good game though.


2011 is already looking a lot better than 2010. I'm looking forward to Portal 2 and The Last Guardian, both had previous games that were excellent in story and gameplay. And LBP 2, because even it's beta is one the best things to happen in 2010.

 

[patsu]

The 2010 games I play _everyday_ and will continue to do so are:
* MAG (Blu-ray)
* Hoard (PSN)

GT5 will probably make the cut too if I am talented enough. Let's see. The only other games I play at this level of enthusiasm are Demon's Souls and R1. Hoard is not in the same league as the other 3 Blu-Ray games but for some reason, I always fire it up before MAG.


Other games that open my eyes, and would recommend, are:
* Modnation Racer
* Heavy Rain
* Assorted Move games (Sports Champions, Tumble, Beat Sketcher, ProStroke Golf, SingStar Dance, ...)
* God of War 3
* [I forgot MLB The Show 2010 !]

Other games I like and would recommend are:
* Vanquish

FF13, Enslaved are good but flawed.

Games I failed to checkout: CoD, RDR, Castle of Castlevania

Games I bought but haven't started: The Fight, Nier
Yakuza 3 is nice but I haven't completed it yet (Fighting is tougher than I thought )

EDIT: In retrospect, 2010 is the year of new developers for me. They may not be new but I made an effort to remember their names (This is off the top of my head... So proud of myself as I'm retarded with names):
* David Cage
* Zindagi (Sports Champions)
* United Front (Modnation Racer)
* Coldwood Interactive ? (The Fight) [To investigate further]

I think they are simply amazing.

The studio that hurts me the most this year is Sega, for not releasing Valkyria Chronicles 3 on PS3.

Second place is Sony for not having an integrated Move experience.

Flight Control not coming to US is an insult too. Fortunately, Sony made up a little by releasing Beat Sketcher.

Looking into 2011, I want to buy a Move pr0n game and see how it works, also to check out more music software and 3D games.

 

[warcrow]

• Red Dead Redemption - A breath of fresh air if you ask me. I loved the punchy spahghetti western narrative that offers a glimpse at a receeding era, overtaken by new technology (and the politics that come along with it). The game, though mostly serious, often made me smile at times I wasnt expecting it. No one does character development like Rockstar and here it shows--I love the cast, the gameplay, the mechanics (especially the horseriding) and particularly the ending. Amazing!

• Limbo - Smartly designed, beautiful to look at and a narrative left up for interpitation of the player. The puzzles were just hard enough to make me stop and think, but not pressing enough to make me throw my hands up in the air.

• Mass Effect 2 - Damn this game, and this series--I just can't get enough of it! I've completed ME2 three times now, and every single instance the combat was vastly different thanks to the very different classes. Plus the Paragon/Renegade thing changes the story and the reactions of the casts enough to practically force another play thorugh for everyone. Everything is just so well done, well except for planet scanning right? I love the soundtrack, atmosphere, characters and, of course, the Blade Runner aesthetics. More please!

• Just Cause 2 - To me this is the ultimate open world sandbox-type game. Screw the story ("My name is Boooooalooooa Saaaantiiiina!"), give me the massive explosions, superfast and awesome gameplay--it's just craziness everywhere and I love it for that!

• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - I really enjoyed AC2 a lot, but the inclusion of the brotherhood and it's empowering mechanics that come with it just pushed the game into a new space for me. Though the story is getting to a point of complete incoherent wackiness, I still think the premise is pretty cool.

• God of War 3 - Epic. EPIC. EPIC. What I love about Kratos and the GoW series is how unapologetically over-the-top every thing. Plus I'm a sucker for greek mythos. Plus it looks freak'n amazing in every graphical level.

• Heavy Rain - This game surprised me more than any other with just how interesting it manged to be, and on so many levels. The much overdone quick-time events were fun, the voice acting work was mostly great (excluding the kids), and the story had some real drama in it (and a few plot holes). I just didnt expect this game to pull me in like it did, but I ended up caring about the characters. Once I beat the game I actually watched me wife play the entire game--something I never do--and it was greatly entertaining. Plus I was amazed at how much she also cared about her the characters. At one point in her game one of the main characters died because she missed a few quick time events and she was visibly upset about it all, and still is to this day.

 

[joker454]

Definitely an epic year to be a gamer, so much good stuff. Here's my 9/10's or better:

Mass Effect 2 (360): Story not as good as the first game, but everything else is mostly improved. Best looking characters in a game yet.

Red Dead Redemption (360): Amazingly good single player game, awesome story, memorably characters, basically GTA done right. Incredible game.

Castlevania (360): The best looking game this gen, I'm still trying to figure out how they got it all looking so sharp. Story though is appalling, and the Patrick Stewart narratives are terribly cheesy. But the game is great fun though.

Borderlands (360): Very basic, but incredibly fun.

Blur (360): Best online multiplayer experience ever. And given that the game flopped, probably will remain my best online multiplayer experience ever

Limbo (360): Seriously, everyone needs to experience this game. Short but unbelievable atmosphere and great puzzles.

Fallout New Vegas (PC): Same game as Fallout 3 really, but I loved 3 hence I love this one. Easily a 50+ hour game, tons of content.

Dragon Age (PC): Difficult to put into words how much I love this game, but there really isn't much out there that is better.

Heavy Rain (PS3): About time they made a game like this! PC point and click adventure games taken to the next level basically, great stuff.

Still haven't tried the new Assasins Creed yet but I'm confident it will be on my list as well once I play it.

 

[AzBat]

1 vs 100 - 10/10 Probably the best community game I've ever played. Such a shame they canned it. I got a beta invite to the Poker version. I don't really like Poker so I skipped on it. Not anywhere near the same as 1 vs 100. Way to go MS.

Gears of War 2 - 8/10 Yes, I know it came out awhile back but I was never interested enough to buy it new. Waited till it was cheap enough used($20). I was doing OK on it, but got stuck. Didn't go back to finish till I needed some money to pre-order Kinect. I'll probably wait about the same on GOW3.

Game Room 5/10 Had so much potential when it was first announced. Basically only stuck with it waiting for River Raid to come out(2 months) as that was the only retro title I wanted to spend $3 on. The initial delay in releasing content & lack of really popular/high quality titles turned me off. It also didn't help that you had to rebuy titles that you already bought on XBLA. What did I like? Challenges were awesome when you had somebody to compete against. Got real addicting. Their achievement & recorded replay solutions were quite innovative too. Too bad Krome Studios had financial woes. I think that disrupted their plans.

Red Dead Redemption 11/10 Yes, it's my game of the year. That extra 1 is for the Undead pack(best add-on pack EVER, come on it had zombies.. in the Old West!). The single player experience is bar none the best I've played in years. From the beautiful graphics & art to the attention to detail & immersion to the excellent voice over work & symbolic music for the period, I really felt like I was a cowboy in the Old West. Plus, the amount of side quests & unlockables was great. But never have I played a game on the 360 that made me want to complete all the achievements. I'm not much a multiplayer gamer. So a lot of times I'll get less than half the 1000 achievements. I just couldn't resist wanting to get more achievements even after I got the 100% single player achievement. Pretty proud of that. End up getting 43/48 of the original achievements and 920/1000 of the gamerscore. I'll eventually go finish those unlike other games I've played. And just for the record this is probably the only open world game I've ever played. So that might color my view of the game. Don't think I could ever play another open-world game if it wasn't Red Dead. Defnitely want to them to spend their time crafting the next one. No need to rush out another.

Halo Reach 8/10 I play Halo for the story. With no Master Chief & Cortana to connect with & basically knowing how Reach ends up the rest of the story didn't really do a lot for me. Had a hard time connecting with Noble team. The technical & gameplay aspects were good, but only slightly better than Halo 3 & ODST. Armor types & jetpacks were great. The artwork & grittier look was welcomed though. Also liked playing the space missions, but they were too few & very little depth. I guess I really wanted a Halo 4 & this wasn't near the substitute. As for multiplayer, I think I got more out of the Beta. Once I got the final version I really had no desire to play much more. One last note, I didn't buy the Collector's Edition this time & I let me son pay for more than half of it too. He was way more excited about it than I was. He still plays it more than I do.

Kinect Adventures 8.5/10 Yes, I did that. I rated it higher than Reach. LOL Adventures is more than just the game it's the actual sensor & dashboard experience too. It just so happens that my most look forward to game for Kinect got bundled with it. Haven't played Kinect Sports yet so it might be the better title, but I was really wanting something more than a Wii-two. Like the variety that sets Adventures apart. Favorite mini-games 1) River Rush - love the water & the rafting. Felt like an amusement park ride. Best cooperative game. 2) Reflex Ridge - Felt a lot like an amusement park ride too, but it's the best competitive game & one hell of a workout. 3) Rallyball - Reminded me of high school playing dodgeball during football offseason. Excellent party game, not so much single player unless you play on Live. Love the amusement park photos & sharing them on Facebook.

Kinectimals 7.5/10 Wife wanted this, but I found it pretty cool but only for a little while. She loved the plush & toy collection part. It seems to be the one title that's geared totally for single player, which is understandable. I probably would have enjoyed it more if it was more like Viva Pinata. Either way it's not really targeted at me. So the score is kinda meaningless. Though I'll probably play more of it for the achievements.

Dance Central 7.5/10 Like Kinectimals this isn't really for me, but it's great to watch others play it in a party. Haven't played much on it yet, but it definitely has the killer app feel from the reactions from seeing my family playing it. Also helped that the wife got this free during the Old Navy Black Friday event. She was so excited to get it!

Downloadables

XBLA I did not buy one XBLA title this year. That should say something. I think the XBLIG titles have ruined my expectations on how much I'm willing to spend on downloadable games. I would rather buy really cheap titles than anything over $5. Just wished the Indies had achievements.

XBLIG I'm just going to list the titles that I bought. They're all worth downloading & buying...

1. Arkedo Series - 03 PIXEL!
2. Avatar Cannon
3. Avatar Drop
4. Avatar Golf
5. Dark Skies: Messier
6. Decimation X
7. Experiment 13
8. Fishing Girl
9. I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1
10. Hurdle Turtle
11. Kaleidoscope
12. Kissy Poo
13. Pixel Man
14. Pixelkiller
15. Retrofit: Overload
16. Shoot 1UP
17. Sidehill Gouger
18. Wool
19. Your Doodles Are Bugged!

Tommy McClain

 

[I.S.T.]

I have only played two games(Not counting demos) that came out this year...

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony. 8/10. The only real flaw is the voice acting is kinda terrible, but that sadly seems to be a Lunar tradition.

I gotta say, though, if you own the PSX version, this one is kinda redundant. It's heavily based off of it. I haven't owned a copy of a Lunar game up until now, so I was glad to buy it.

The other game was for the PC, so I won't recount it here.

 

[kagemaru]

2010 wasn't really a busy gaming year for me, but I'm hoping to catch up. Played plenty of games, but haven't really finished many.

Mass Effect 2 - 9.5
Loved the story, loved the improvements to the gameplay, and still think it's one of the best new IPs introduced this gen. I didn't really have as much of an attachment to some of the new characters as I did for those in the first, but I was able to find a few favorites. The mining mini-game isn't perfect, but I prefer that over wondering around empty planets looking for minerals. Still think it's one of the best games this year graphically as well.

Splinter Cell Conviction - 8
Thought the game was much better then SCA, but still doesn't match up to SC:CT. The campaign was good, not great, but I did enjoy how they gave the players a look at Sam's past. Co-op is fun as hell, my buddy and I are still playing it. Graphically it shines in some spots, but I did kind of expect more from an exclusive game.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 - 9
Wasn't a fan of Bad Company 1, but I found plenty to love about BC2. Haven't finished the campaign, but that's not what the game is about. The MP is usually a blast and there have been few experiences this year as having two squads working together over Live party chat, we were unbeatable. Graphics are mouth watering once you get past the lack of AA. I do wish the servers did a better job being populated though. Far too often I'll join a game where only 8 people are playing.

Halo Reach - 9.5
IMO the best halo game in the series. Huge battles, beautiful graphics, solid gameplay, and tons of co-op options. Story could have been better, but it served it's purpose.

Bayonetta - 10
Loved, loved, loved this game. Was great to play a highly polished action game that didn't take itself too seriously for once. The story was a bit meh, but the gameplay carried it along wonderfully.

Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 - 8.5
Thought the game was gorgeous and the campaign was a good length. However running through the same village time and time again became tiresome. The combat is fun, has some depth, and I'm happy they finally put online play in. It was a great change from all the shooters out there.

Fable 3 - 8.5
Thought the game was great, though I was troubled by some of the bugs and performance issues. The story was good until the end where they seemed to wrap everything up way too fast. Co-op is awesome and a great improvement over the lackluster mode in Fable 2. Great game for fans of the series, but it won't convert anyone else.

Can't think of any other games I've finished this year, if I do I'll update.

Games I have yet to finish:

Killzone 2
Loved what I've played so far. This game is pretty much what I wanted out of KZ1. We all know the graphics are eye melting, but the AI and gameplay were very good as well. Oddly I dominated in MP, which usually isn't the case with FPS. Hope to pick up another ps3 soon to finish this.

Uncharted 2
The first Uncharted turned out to be a bit of a disappointment for me after all the hype and praise it received. However Uncharted 2 was awesome in just about every way. The campaign was much better designed than the first and MP worked a lot better than I thought it would. Even though I was pretty far in the story, I can't wait to start this game over.

Blue Dragon
Yeah I know, the game is a few years old, but I finally got the chance to give it some time this year. Played fine, the graphics still look good to me even today, however the performance is lacking in some instances. The gameplay is a bit traditional, and way too easy, however now when I think I'm near the end I run into a boss that just murders me. I put it down but maybe I'll finish it this year.

Lost Odyssey
Yes another older RPG. Started originally playing this at launch but then my 360 went and I didn't get my replacement until a month later, by then I didn't have the drive to play this any more. Well this year I gave it another shot this year and I've enjoyed it very much. Now if only I can find where my ex's little girl hid the fourth disc, then maybe I can actually beat the damn game.

Red Dead Redemption
Friend let me play his game and it was good fun, but once the latest expansion came out, he wanted it back so there was the end of my play. It was a great game, just hope to play it again when I have a bit more free time.

Alan Wake
Got this recently and haven't finished it yet. Gorgeous graphics, and a great mood throughout the story so far. Yeah I can see how some found the gameplay a bit repetitive, however Max Payne 1 or 2 weren't very different in this manner and I enjoyed those games from start to finish. Will probably finish it this weekend.

List of XBLA titles I picked up but haven't finished:
-Perfect Dark
-Monkey Island 1
-Serious Sam HD