[Question] The Gamingforce Game of the Year 2010: Vote a Go Go

Bayonetta (360) - 40 points

My favourite (2010 released) game of the year, easily. Bayonetta is the most fun, most exciting, most enjoyable, most wonderfully controllable and most beautifully designed action title of the last few years to say the least. It's imaginative, it's wonderfully paced, superbly animated that genuinely adds to the gameplay, with rich and rewarding combat against hugely inventive and varied enemies and bosses, that's welcoming to not only newcomers and mexicans with a broad range of difficulties, but also providing genuine depth and breath for showmanship and challenge for people who are or want to get good at the game.

It's constantly making sure that every encounter stays fresh, relentless and fun. It's also really, really funny. A lot of people dismissed the story, or even claimed it's bad, but I felt was your typical epic grand story in a 3rd person bawler, and there's tons of genuinely amusing dialogue from a large cast of bizarre and hilarious characters. And the music is glorious.

Mass Effect 2 (360) - 10 points

Second favourite game of the year. I am a big fan of the original game and enjoy a whole lot of the things many people complained about (the mako and the uninhabited planets, etc), so a lot of the changes in ME2 rubbed me the wrong way. Finding new weapons and armor, gaining XP from all manner of things you do, levelling and developing your characters statistics are engaging. Yes, ME2 works as an action game just fine, but then they might as well have removed the RPG stats entirely, instead of gimping them to the form they did. And the main story wasn't particularly engaging, compared to the first game. The characters' loyalty missions made up for a lot of that.

But as a whole, it's still an engaging journey, just like the first game, with a range of engaging and well written and acted characters, just like the first, with a fascinating universe and some meaningful choices to do, just like the first. So it still retains many of the things I enjoyed in ME1. And you get to romance Tali.

Halo Reach (360) - 10 points

No, it's not the best campaign in the series, but it's still pretty good. And the multi is vast, engaging and always hilarious. So much to do, so many different ways to play.

Vanquish (360) - 10 points

I feel bad that I have to give these great games such few points, but I have to squeeze them in somehow.

Vanquish is the best third person shooter this year. Mikami has crafted a superb action title with flair, imagination and fury. The story is sadly pretty throwaway and while the narrative is mostly tongue-in-cheek, it's a bit hard at times to tell if the acting and occasional drama is bad in an ironic kind of way, or just bad. But outside the narrative the action is turbo-charged hectic, the controls works great and everything is just so much fun fun fun. Some of the best bosses of the year (after Bayonetta).

Alan Wake (360) - 10 points

No, it didn't quite turn out how it was originally supposed to, but it remains an excellent action-horror title. Wooden facial animation aside, the game looks wonderful, with atmosphere aplently, terrific sound design and RE4 level combat that's intense and paced superbly. Some of my favourite action setpieces this year (after Bayonetta).

Limbo (XBLA) - 10 points

My favourite DLC game, and my favourite platformer. Short, but polished to perfection. The visual style is terrific, the animation beautiful, the atmosphere completely choking. Nightmarish, sad, beautiful experience.

Infinite Space (DS) - 10 points

Platinum Games is the best developer of the year bar none. Infinite Space is a massive adventure and probably one of the most overlooked games of the year. A wonderfully engaging sci-fi romp, with a huge cast of characters, an epic storyline that spans over a decade and multiple galaxies and incredibly compulsive gameplay as you fiddly with ship interior layouts to best optimize your stats and take your armada to combat.

Honorable mentions:
VVVVVV, Super Meat Boy, Splinter Cell Conviction, Alpha Protocol, ilomilo, Red Dead Redemption, Rock Band 3, Enslaved.

Jam it back in, in the dark.