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

The start of a new year rolls around and here as 2011 begins who can help but cast an eye back over the 12 months we've just left behind. Sure pretty much all major publications and any blog vaguely related to gaming under the sun has already had their say and told you what they consider the best of 2010, but as ever the real question is what does Gamingforce consider the best of 2010?

As with the 2008 and 2009 voting here's how this is going to work: each person has 100 points to vote for games released in 2010 (doesn't matter where, but games have to have been commercially released in 2010) and you can allocate them to as many games as you like as long as it totals 100 in the end. The only rule is that you can't award any single game more than 40 points. So you could vote two 40s and a 20, or a 40 and six 10s, or any other combination of points as long as it adds up to 100.

To vote all you have to do is post a reply with your top games of 2009, how many points you're giving each, and a brief explanation of why you feel the game deserves your points.

Example:

GAME A - 40 points
Man I loved game A because...

GAME B - 20 points
I ended up playing so much of game B that...

GAME C - 15 points
Game C gets some points because...

GAME D - 15 points
I couldn't decide between this and C, so gave both points, but D rocks because...

GAME E - 5 points
Good, but not necessarily great, but I figure E deserves some points because...

GAME F - 5 points
Like E, F gets a few points because...

REFERRED BY: ... Wait what is this?

There is change afoot: to try and encourage a little spreading of the love this year there will be a referral system in place. If you convince someone else to vote and they put your name in their post (of the style "REFERRED BY: x") then you gain an additional 5 points to make use of. The same maximum of 40 points exists so you can't use these additional points to exceed it, but you can boost the points of any game not yet at the 40 limit, or you can use the extra points to vote for another game. There's a maximum of 20 points that can be gained from referrals to be distributing within the rules however you please.

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Voting will close on Saturday 15th January at 18:00 GMT (that's Englandland time), at which point I'll add all the points together and work out GFF's top 20 games of 2010, posting the results in a new thread for discussion/people to bitch about.

Get voting.

Oh, and get other people to come vote too. This year it earns you some extra voting power.

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FAQ

Q. Is Minecraft eligible for voting since it hasn't officially been released?
A. This is a tough one since it is a game you can purchase, but it hasn't been officially released, and that has been one of our long standing rules for being eligible for votes. Unless someone can make a suitable argument for me to change my mind then I'm going to say no, Minecraft won't be counted.

Q. Why should a person's opinion carry more weight because they happen to have more internet friends?
A. Their opinion doesn't carry more weight. If you look at the rules you are not allowed to grant more than the already stipulated 40 point maximum to any one game. Also since you only get an additional 5 points for each referral up to a maximum of 20 points we think this is low enough to prevent any silliness. This could be a big old mistake and if it is naturally we won't do it again, but we're trying to generate a little bit of a reason for you to go out and tell someone else to get involved. We'll see when the dust settles whether or not it was just about those people with lots of 'internet friends'.

Q. Do expansions count as games?
A. I think things could start getting messy on this front as how much of a standalone experience does something have to be to count as a game sort of in its own right. I'm not sure there's a clear-cut answer here and if people want to put points into particular expansions I'm going to allow it as long as (as always) the expansions were official releases in 2010.

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Disclaimer/Rules:
1. If you allocate any game more than 40 points your vote won't be counted.
2. If your points allocation totals more than 100 points [unless affected by 2a] your vote won't be counted (totals less than 100 are fine).
2a. Referrals allow an additional 5 points each to be used in voting, up to a maximum of 20 additional points.
3. Votes for games not released in 2010 will be ignored.
4. Only official commercial releases in 2010 count.
5. No negative points. I'll point and laugh and then ignore your vote.
6. Whole integers only. Fractions and decimal places will also lead me to ignore your vote.
7. Any other such idiocy will also probably lead your vote not being counted.

And as ever, I take no responsibility for Skills fucking with stuff, which if you ignore these points he almost certainly will do somehow.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Halo Reach - 30 points

Fuck the haters, Reach is an awesome game. The multi-player gameplay has been tweaked and in my opinion combines the best bits of H2 and H3 only with added jetpacks. The map selection on release was a bit shitty but they're learning and keep releasing new Forge World maps and tweaking the ones in there to balance them out a bit. Online Firefight means you can have fun online without needing to be any good at killing other real people and the campaign is epic as fuck, especially when you play with other people. I know most other people have been lured away by BLOPS but for my money, Reach is still the best current console FPS.

Just Cause 2 - 20 points

Just Cause 2 is just a plain fun game. You go around blowing shit up and killing people with impunity and there's an awesome paragliding mechanic and it doesn't matter that you've seen everything the game has to offer after an hour because doing it over and over again is just such damn good fun.

Resonance of Fate - 25 points

My favourite RPG released this year and one I've still not finished after 80 hours of trying. I like tough rpgs with an interesting mechanic and this ticks both boxes. The fighting is suitably different with enough subtleness to stay interesting and the game can be helluva challenging at times (Like the beginning of chapter 14 ). There's actually fuck all old school hammer the X button rpgs released any more and this is a good thing. More stuff like RoF please.

Bayonetta - 5 points

It's very silly but it's a lot of fun. I can't imagine anyone playing this and not loving it.

Pac Man CE DX - 10 points

I bought this on a bit of a whim and given that I normally hate Pac Man, I fucking love this game. It looks awesome, sounds awesome and drags you back in for one more go again and again and again...

Battlefield Bad Company 2 - 10 points

I only started playing it on Friday but I sat down and did most of the one player campaign in one sitting and have played a ton of multi-player already. As far as games that make you want to stay for one more game go, this is near the top of the list. There are technical issues certainly, drop-outs of online games, it taking two days to update your stats, more fogging in the single player mode than even Turok had (Combined with AI bad guys who can see perfectly well through it) and I'm amazed they allow spawn camping still (No respawn invulnerability? Seriously?) but these aren't bad enough issues to stop the game being great fun. Also the Vietnam expansion is top fun too, plus they made the home base for each team out of bounds to the other team, eliminating spawn camping issues.

Haha, I wrote the most about the game I gave almost the least points and have played for the shortest amount of time.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Heavy Rain - 40 points
In an industry currently dominated by generic FPS games and "casual" bullshit, Heavy Rain was a breath of fresh air. The story was compelling (although at one point, it started to feel like I was watching a Saw movie; I think you all know what I mean), and the gameplay was something I hadn't seen before. Besides all the QTEs, that is. The only gripe I could really make about it was the voice acting. Detective Shelby and Madison were alright, but Ethan and Agent Jayden sounded kinda like they were just reading the script in most of their parts.

ModNation Racers- 20 points
ModNation Racers is the perfect game for fans of Mario Kart who don't want to deal with having a Wii just to play it. I daresay it actually does the kart racing genre a bit better than Mario Kart itself. Maybe it's just me, but the controls seem much tighter in MNR, and it's quite easy to pull off near-endless drifts and look like a total badass flying through the tracks. The creation tools for characters, karts and tracks are a blast to play around with, especially for characters. Although it can be a bit frustrating trying to unlock that last part that you need to make your version of a famous character complete. And some of the things people were able to create are just fantastic. Sure there's a ton of shitty Marios and Clouds, but for every hundred or so of those, you'll find at least two or three really great ones. Cliche as he is, I actually found a pretty impressive Sephiroth and also a fairly decent Iron Man.

Halo: Reach - 20 points
I haven't been playing as much lately, but I played Halo: Reach almost nonstop for about a month and a half when it came out. They fixed damn near everything that made me hate playing Halo 3 online, most notably melee attacks only destroying your shield from the front and not outright killing you after a few shots from your weapon. I can't tell you how many times I'd unload on someone in H3 only for them to run up and smack me in the face and kill me. Also, the removal of dual-wielding is probably the best thing to happen to the series. It seemed like in H2 and 3, if you weren't dual-wielding, you were pretty much fucked unless you had rockets or were sniping. The new gametypes introduced were refreshing, even if everyone only wanted to play Slayer Pro anyway. I've got way too many other games to play right now, but I can definitely see myself coming back to Halo again one day.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - 20 Points
WoW used to be pretty god damn boring. Endless fetch quests with terrible drop rates, (I know these damn pigs have tusks, I can see them on their character models.) too many "go here, kill this guy" quests, fucking escort quests with incompetent NPCs that wouldn't help you fight and would walk as slow as possible. Not to mention the crawling pace in which you leveled up. For someone like me who doesn't always have entire days to pour into the game, it took forever just to get to 40 so you could get a damn mount and not be so slow anymore. Cataclysm changed everything. Drop rates are greatly improved (except in Outlands, which is still god awful boring). NPCs in escort quests run sometimes and will fight with you (also, if you die, they'll be right where you left them instead of warping back to the start). There's bombing run missions where you fly on Wind Riders or take command of a giant mecha and lay waste to dozens of enemies. Best of all, it's so much easier to level and you feel like you've made progress, even if you only played for a couple of hours that day. Old zones have been either redesigned or destroyed by Deathwing's emergence. I can't tell you how happy I was to see Thousand Needles completely flooded. There's an interesting story in almost every quest chain, and it makes you feel like you're an actual part of something, as opposed to just another delivery boy or hired gun. It took them three expansions to do it, but WoW is finally fun.

EDIT: Since we are indeed counting expansions, I've changed this one from 20 points to Honorable Mention.

Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 1 was great, though a few things turned off a lot of people. Mainly scouring planets in the Mako and the somewhat loose combat mechanics. Also, elevators. Mass Effect 2 improved on the combat, gave you something to look at during loading times, and removed the Mako altogether, albeit replacing it with an equally tedious planet scanning mini game to collect resources which are vital if you want the best ending possible. I hate cliffhanger endings, but I'm all the more excited for ME3 because of it. At first I was a little disappointed that a lot of the RPG elements, such as skill point distribution was taken out, but in the long run, it actually made you focus more on the combat and the story and helped you not have to spend so much time in the pause menus. Finally, Jennifer Hale's Female Shepard is one of the most well-voiced characters I've ever heard. To me she's up there with the likes of Nathan Drake and the entire cast of Gears of War.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Why should a person's opinion carry more weight because they happen to have more internet friends?

Maybe it doesn't seem like a big deal now, but if the vote is close and Game A pips Game B to the post, the difference being these referral points, then the credibility of this thing might be called into question.

My vote to come later.

How ya doing, buddy?

Trauma Team - 30

This is my game of the year. The first game was great, the second one was alright, but this one is just brilliant. Trauma Team follows the stories of 6 completely different doctors that each have their own specialty. The normal surgery is still there, but you also have First Response (gives you an insane rush), Orthopedics (VERY fun), Endoscopy (frustrating at times, but still alright), Diagnosis (awesome), and Forensics (if you like Ace Attorney Investigations, then this is your cup of tea). All of them are really interesting and it almost feels like you're playing six different games in one. Can't say much about the graphics since it's told in a comic book fashion, but they're nothing to complain about. The story, the music, the gameplay...all of it went beyond my expectations and more.


Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep - 20

Best PSP game I played this year. A worthy prequel to the series, it follows the stories of three different characters that eventually converge into one. The graphics are pretty good for a PSP game and it feels more like a KH game compared to 358/2 Days on the DS. Shimomura took some of the best tracks from the previous games and put them in this one along with some amazing new music. And that friggin Command Board game...ugh, I must have spent a week playing nothing but that. It's no Monopoly or Mario Party but it's still pretty fun.


Donkey Kong Country Returns - 20

No Kremlins? No K. Rool? No problem. The enemies are different, but the game is just so amazing. Retro Studios fucking nailed this one. The gameplay feels much like the original SNES classics, but thank God you have a life bar because this game is by far the most difficult in the series. The controls are spot on, the graphics are pretty, and what little story there is in the game is actually alright. Probably the 2nd best Wii game to come out this year.


Sonic Colors - 15 points

Biggest surprise of the year, I ended up liking this more than Sonic 4 Episode 1. I was a bit skeptical about this game at first because it uses the friggin Unleashed engine that I hate so much. Thankfully, they fixed the controls to where I have more control over Sonic, and the homing attack is back to hitting the jump attack twice. The levels are pretty awesome, every time I go through Sweet Mountain I suddenly get a craving for cake. Voice actors are a huge improvement over the 4Kids crap. The downside is that the music is hit or miss, but again it's an improvement over Unleashed. Also, a red Sonic in multiplayer? Um...Tails is there, he could've been used. Overall a good game and I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel.


VVVVVV - 10 points

The only reason I played this game was because like Chrono Trigger it ended up winning BSC. I figured I'd give it a try and to my surprise, it's a pretty fun little game...with much frustration. The first time playing this game, you're gonna die at least 100 times. After I beat the game and collected all of the trinkets, I felt satisfied. Trying to get the rest of those trophies would cause me to end up in an asylum.


Poker Night at the Inventory - 5 points

Surprisingly addicting, I was already familiar with Strong Bad and Heavy but I've come to like Max as well. Tycho is a dick, every game I play I look to hopefully eliminate him first. Honestly this is just a way to further gather some exclusive items for TF2, but I find myself continuously playing and trying to unlock everything. This would have had more points if online multiplayer was included.

I was speaking idiomatically.

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.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Sorry for the short reply but I'm currently checking stuff on my phone. I've seen there's a few questions to address and I'll get right on that when I'm back tomorrow (hopefully).

FELIPE NO

Vanquish - 30 Points

HOLY SHIT DID YOU SEE THAT LOOK AT MY OH MY GOD WHAT NOW

Seriously the manliest man game since God Hand. And it's probably better too. It's lackluster sales make me weep on the inside. Best vidya of the year, bar fucking none.

BAR NONE

Transformers: War for Cybertron - 30 Points

Fuck the haters, this is this year's Arkham. Fantastic campaign, G1 chops, great and well balanced gameplay. Nice level design, shit works awesome.

Plus it's got the best multiplayer of the year. Why did you not play it? Perfect balance between all four classes? Yup. All perks and abilities have valid uses? Yup. Great maps that flow well for all 4 vehicle types and bot modes? Shit yeah. I put over 60 hours into the multiplayer in this game and it's so fucking good. What up now, bitches.

VVVVVV - 10 Points

Soundtrack of the forever. Game of the feeling good about yourself if you only die 600 times. Pretty fucking clever level design, pretty fucking awesome everything.

Recettear - 10 Points

YAYIFICATIONS

Donkey Kong Country Returns - 10 Points

While forcin dat waggle on folks is kinda bunk, if you put in the classic controller Gecko code you'll be in heaven. Game has some of the best level design in a platformer in the last ten years, also Shiny Golds will make you madface.

Oh so madface.

Split/Second - 10 Points

Another woefully underperforming game, which is a shame because haha I JUST HIT YOU WITH A DUMP TRUCK BEING HAULED AROUND BY A HELICOPTER. Surprisingly deep game when it came to the online races, too. Absolutely bonkers, love this game to bits.

Honourable Mention: Super Mario Galaxy 2, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Resonance of Fate, Bayonetta.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Halo: Reach - 40 points

I shouldn't need to explain in detail at this point why Halo is one of the greatest FPS franchises out there and fuck the haters who think otherwise. Reach was another great step in the right direction following ODST, only more multi focused instead of Storywise. The campaign was still great fun though, and the game proves the theory that jetpacks make everything better.

Bayonetta - 20 Points

The most insane fun I've had all year, Bayonetta was challenging but in a good way. One of those games where you actually want to go back and learn how to play it perfectly just because it's that damn entertaining. God bless your crazy fucking soul, Kamiya.

Bioshock 2 - 10 Points

It pales in comparison to the first game by far, but that doesn't stop Bioshock 2 from being at least worth a look for the novelty of playing as a Big Daddy alone. Also Augustus Sinclair has the greatest accent in all of video games. Fuck Atlas.

Transformers: War for Cybertron - 10

HEY SOUNDWAVE WANNA RACE?
NEGATIVE.

It's like reliving your childhood all over again, only with 100% more touch and 200% more power. Wish it was more popular, but what can you do.

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth - 10

Oh hey that other AA game. Neat story, neat characters, MOTHERFUCKING EDGEWOOOOORTH. Snazzy ass soundtrack too. All in all a pretty engaging experience and I'm glad they gave a spinoff like this a chance.

After Burner Climax - 10

THE LAST THING I WANT TO DO HERE IS PUNCH OUT

After Burner owns so much it's not even funny. I don't know what else to say other than that. The game is a fast paced adrenaline rush frenzy and playing it with the AC6 Ace Edge makes the at-home experience entirely worthwhile. Soundtrack owns too.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm going to go chronologically because that seems like fun.

Mass Effect 2 - 20 points
Back in February when I got a 360 my first problem was that I wasn't sure I would want to have a subscription to Live. (This problem still exists now; $5/month is cheap, but I haven't played online once since subscribing.) So after The Beatles: Rock Band (WHERE IS MY DLC CRASH LANDON HARMONIX) I decided ME2 would be my single-player game, just in case. ME2 and Beatles basically split time with each other for a month until MLB2K10 came out and that was that.

ME2 would've been a strong candidate for GOTY for everyone until the rest of the year happened. It's another very good BioWare game, but it neither has the pedigree of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (which I feel like I unfairly compare ME2 to, but alas) nor the emotional pull. I really don't care if I'm able to fuck some other chick onboard the Normandy; Shepard just isn't an interesting guy. It probably doesn't help that I didn't play ME1. Still, I'm happy I got to play it and maybe I'll go back to it someday.

VVVVVV - 10 points
I somehow completely forgot VVVVVV came out this year. Then again, see above.

VVVVVV is the first death-platformer I've played, and it was a fun challenge to beat it, then go back for the trinkets I missed. The music is fantastic and the graphics recall those old-but-good DOS days that games like VVVVVV will be sure to remind me of.

Kirby's Epic Yarn - 10 points
Kirby's Epic Yarn is a simple game, no doubt. But, as I've said before, there's a lot of Yoshi's Island hidden behind and woven into the fabric of KEY and that's a pleasant aspect of the game. I don't know if I approve of not being able to die, particularly in light of Donkey Kong Country Returns. It waters down the achievement of beating a level while retaining all the beads you've collected and unlocking the hidden stages. It may be too simple for its own good.

NHL 11 - 25 points
So NHL 11 is the first new NHL game I've played since they started with the current-gen engine and while I have some minor hangups the game is probably the best it has been since the 16-bit days. The physics are fairly impressive, particularly when the puck comes off the goaltender. (Although I cannot tell you how many times I've had the puck float on an opposing goaltender's back before it somehow floats into his glove instead of rolling behind him, then having my goaltender lose the puck in a similar way and the other team scoring.) Checking is the other bright spot, both body- and stick-checks, and I LOVE hip-checks, probably a little too much for my own good sometimes. My only issues so far are that player faces still aren't realistic enough and jerseys (logos, patches, numbers) still stretch, warp and bend like they have since NHL '98.

Nevertheless, I haven't even gotten into the meatiest parts of the game yet (Be a Pro, Be a GM, Hockey Ultimate Team) and I'm enjoying it immensely. This is one I'll be playing for a long time.

Red Dead Redemption - 35 points
Boy, am I glad I picked this up on December 29. Not just to help make my GOTY vote look better, but because it is an excellent game. I know it's a short time to make an informed decision, but any game Danielle will sit down and watch while I play has to be good at least visually and story-wise. Which it is.

The Rockstar "feel" oozes in this game, making it feel like a spiritual successor to GTA4, and I only need to get used to the combat before I'll be loving this game.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

By the way, late as fuck to the party, I know, but is anyone still playing Transformers or are you all too preoccupied with BLOPS? I just picked it up yesterday.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Dragon Quest IX - 30 Points

Despite being painfully easy most of the time, DQ IX brought a lot of very nice changes to the series. Enemies being visible, the changes to how alchemy works, the DLC quests that are still ongoing, and just the absurd amount of of stuff to do is fantastic. Plus, I'm a sucker for RPGs with such complete customization on the characters' appearances.

Monster Hunter 3: Tri - 25 Points

I was skeptical when I first went out and bought this on GB's recommendation. I'd tried Freedom 2 on PSP and had found it confusing and boring with awkward controls, but I was willing to try it again on a console that actually allowed wi-fi play. This game provides more epic HOLY SHIT DRAMATIC DIVE THROUGH A FIREBALL and CRAP CRAP I'M BEING EATEN THROW THE SHIT BOMBS AT IT on a regular basis than any other game I've played. The classic controller works perfectly with it, and it's just a crazy fun time hunting bigass monsters with friends.

Nier - 20 Points

That's right, Skills. Not only did I pass up Bayonetta for this, but I haven't regretted it once. The gameplay is nothing special, but it tries a lot of different things and succeeds for the most part. Probably my favorite soundtrack of the year, and the characters who join you are all pretty great aside from Nier himself. It's such a wonderfully bizarre game, and it's a shame that it got such negative press.

3D Dot Game Heroes - 10 Points

I was really excited for this game since before I had a PS3, and it didn't disappoint. It's a solid overhead Zelda-type of game, and it has too many references and jokes from old games to count. Not to mention the character creation which can then be easily shared online.

Darksiders - 10 Points

I feel like this deserves a mention, because I had a lot of fun with it. It borrowed from a lot of different game styles, and it managed to do them all pretty well. Damn impressive for a studio's first game, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Ys Seven - 5 Points

What's this? The PSP has games? A good one too. I was skeptical about Ys Seven since I thought Ark of Napishtim on PS2 was kind of meh, but was pleasantly surprised. The pace is much faster, and it's pretty nifty swapping between characters instead of having only Adol.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by WolfDemon

By the way, late as fuck to the party, I know, but is anyone still playing Transformers or are you all too preoccupied with BLOPS? I just picked it up yesterday.

If on Circle, feel free to send me a message or whatever.

Will drop what I'm doing and get on since shit yeah.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I also bought a shitload of games from the Steam sales, but I'll definitely hit you up sometime. Should be fun, I haven't played with you or anyone else for that matter since Gears 1. Except for that one time with Shenlon a while back on SSFIV.

Only problem is I haven't bought any of the map packs yet. Might have to wait until I get paid again on the 15th to get them.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Mass Effect 2 - 40 Points

I forget that this game was released in 2010.

1. Probably because it was towards the earlier end of it.
2. Around that time, I didn't really care too much about Mass Effect.

So these past few months, I finally got back to playing Mass Effect and finished it up. Loved the story, borrowed the 2nd game from my friend and immediately finished that one. Easily one of the best games I've ever played and I could probably include this in my favorite series list as well. So much so that I bothered to beat both games twice already. However, one being a "let's get through this run" and the other one being a proper Paragon one.

Although, both ended up being Paragon runs. <__<

Anyway, The story is engaging, punching al-Jilani is always a blast, and I'll always have the worst man-crush on Garrus.

Recettear - 30 points

Aside from MMOs, I've never sat at my computer longer playing a PC game. This had an undeniable amount of charm attached to it.

Even if this course of action happened:

Sell for 130% > "CAN YOU GO LOWER" > Sell for 130% "I CAN BUY IT FOR THAT. WHAT A GREAT DEAL."

Also, that little girl is poor as hell and shouldn't be in my store.

DJMAX Portable 3 15 points

I know there's no way in hell this game is getting top spot, but I figured it's worth a mention. Being the second DJMAX game released here in the US, it comes back looking sleeker than ever and packed with an amazing soundtrack. I could honestly listen to this whole soundtrack over and over again and never get bored of it. With the two remix modes they added to spice up the standard gameplay modes, it brings more challenge to what already worked for the series.

Although, they really shouldn't be adding scratches and other things to rock songs. It just doesn't work out that well. Regardless, of it's tedious grinding and huge amount of bugs (which was patched ONLY for Korea a couple days ago), I still love this game to death somehow.

Heavy Rain - 5 points

Although I only played this through a friend whenever I was at his place, I like a lot of this game just by watching it. I was a pretty big fan of Indigo Prophecy and this one won me over as well. It definitely felt a little more real since it didn't have all those crazy sci-fi elements.

And Jason is a cunt for wanting that red balloon and wandering around like that.

Dragon Quest IX - 5 points

Your typical Dragon Quest game, but finally adding western elements of making your own character, making this game MMOish, and still staying true to a JRPG formula.

Liked it a lot from what I've played.

AAI: Miles Edgeworth - 5 points

Lang. <3

FELIPE NO

OK guys I've added a FAQ to the top post, but here are the answers to the questions I've been asked so far anyway:

Q. Is Minecraft eligible for voting since it hasn't officially been released?
A. This is a tough one since it is a game you can purchase, but it hasn't been officially released, and that has been one of our long standing rules for being eligible for votes. Unless someone can make a suitable argument for me to change my mind then I'm going to say no, Minecraft won't be counted.

Q. Why should a person's opinion carry more weight because they happen to have more internet friends?
A. Their opinion doesn't carry more weight. If you look at the rules you are not allowed to grant more than the already stipulated 40 point maximum to any one game. Also since you only get an additional 5 points for each referral up to a maximum of 20 points we think this is low enough to prevent any silliness. This could be a big old mistake and if it is naturally we won't do it again, but we're trying to generate a little bit of a reason for you to go out and tell someone else to get involved. We'll see when the dust settles whether or not it was just about those people with lots of 'internet friends'.

Q. Do expansions count as games?
A. I think things could start getting messy on this front as how much of a standalone experience does something have to be to count as a game sort of in its own right. I'm not sure there's a clear-cut answer here and if people want to put points into particular expansions I'm going to allow it as long as (as always) the expansions were official releases in 2010.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Halo Reach - 20
Great finish to one of the best series ever. Campaign was nicely done and even though there are some complains about multiplayer you cant ignore that it's majorly fun. Like ice cream in the summer.

Mass Effect 2 - 20
Did not like all the tweaks made to the game but it was a great continuation of the story. I hope they bring back some sort of inventory but I did like the more shooter focus and the faster pace was very welcomed.

Red dead redemption -40
Multiplayer isn't perfect and controls fail at parts but to me the game is a masterpiece, tied with SR2 for being the best free-roam game ever. Storywise it was engaging and well written, the amount of content in the standard game was impressive too, you can spend hours just hunting animals and getting killed by cheetahs. Add the Undead Redemption DLC which is A+ with another awesome story to play through and a GREAT multiplayer mode and you are getting ridic amount of fun for your money.

Assassins creed: brotherhood -20 points
I love the AC series and although AC:B felt like a DLC for the first 2 hours it picked up quickly after that and it became engaging. It did feel like an experiment for the future games but when the game is this good it doesn't matter. Also the MP is super fun and not like anything else! More people need to play it, a bit too much focus on luck but the whole experiance is super nice.

no homo

Donkey Kong Country Returns - Played at my 'rents place. Liked it a lot. Was able to get it after returning a DVD I already had and using a gift card. The game makes use of the Wii's graphics and controls while bringing a sense of nostalgia from the SNES classics. The game brings a nice mixture of comedy and difficulty. (40)

Mario versus Donkey Kong NDS - A cute game with a nice bit of puzzle-solving. (30)

Miles Edgeworth: Investigations - Literally just played a few minutes of this game but liked what I saw thus far. A nice twist of the classic Phoenix Wright games along with something to make it unique. (30)

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Guess I should probably get my votes in before I forget like some sort of numpty.

Vanquish - 30 points
You know when a game has well and truly got its hooks into you when the act of talking about it causes you to be overwhelmed with the desire to play it again: Vanquish is that game. There’s so little to dislike about this game that it’s a grand shame more people haven’t experienced its multitude of delights. There’s so much awesome on display in this game you spend half the time wondering how Platinum Games pulled it off, but pull it off they did. The various balancing acts in play - with the risk-reward of your boost bar, the weapon upgrades, which weapons to carry - it all works together wonderfully. If it weren’t for Bayonetta also appearing in 2010 this would be a clear front runner for my favourite game of the year.

Bayonetta - 30 points
Bayonetta appears to be just about one of the daftest things going, but looks are deceiving and the game lurking beneath the latex-clad mile-long legs and gratuitous lollipop sucking is deadly serious. Sure stick the game on normal and you might survive for a while by button mashing, but you won’t get far and you won’t look good doing it. Start to learn the timing, learn different combos, play with different weapons and you really start to see the magic of game shining through. But then you move onto the next area and suddenly the boss you just fought is the regular enemy and new enemy types have their own subtle quirks that need ways of dealing with. Once you finally make it through normal mode you might just be about ready to take on hard; maybe. And all of it is wrapped in that deliriously silly and wonderful shell and story with all kinds of homage and references to old Sega titles. Bayonetta is ridiculous certainly, but ridiculously brilliant too.

Red Dead Redemption - 20 points
Like all the best open worlds Red Dead Redemption’s wilderness is one you can’t help but get lost in. It’s a testament to the excellent atmosphere generated in Rockstar’s game that some of the most affecting moments are its quietest. It’s also to Rockstar’s story telling and script-writing credit that despite some lengthy and possibly silly distractions the game keeps you invested in the trials and adventures of John Marston and introduces some fun characters you’ll spend time interacting with. It’d be far too easy to dismiss this as simply GTA-Wild West, but to do so misses the point entirely. Even if it was just GTA dressed up in cowboy boots it’d be a good game, but all the tweaks and changes make it a great one. Oh, and the soundtrack is amazing with such well placed vocal tracks that you can’t help but get swept up in the moment.

Split/Second: Velocity - 10 points
My friends and I were fortunate enough to sample this game at the Eurogamer Expo in 2009 and we left agreeing that without a doubt it was the highlight of the show and one to pick up when it finally arrived. That kind of hype can be a hard burden for any game to bear but thankfully Split/Second (complete with silly and unnecessary suffix 'Velocity' in Europe) was up to the task. The premise is a bit goofy – you’re the star of a near-future reality TV show, with clearly far more money than sense, that puts on races around city-sized race tracks rigged with explosives and traps – but the action is spot on. Building up your power bar allows you to gain an advantage either through shortcuts or at the expense of your opponents thanks to well timed explosions and obstacles. Save up for a full power bar though and you can unleash a show stopping event that can end up altering the race course route itself. And no matter how many times you experience it the sight of a massive tower collapsing on top of your opponents opening up a shorter route to first place, or seeing a huge cruise ship careen across the track, or a jumbo jet come crashing down in front of you… it’s exhilarating every single time. Oh this makes no mention of some of the excellent secondary modes, like the fantastic survival mode. Sure it would have been nice if there was a few more tracks, a slightly longer campaign, but this was easily the best arcade racer of the year for me; and when Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is the competition that’s no small complement.

Mass Effect 2 - 10 points
I was late to the Mass Effect party; in fact, I didn’t play the first game until just before number 2 arrived on the shelves. However, the short time between playing the games served to show off just how much BioWare improved things. The whole experience is streamlined and feels like a much slicker production. Thankfully the Mako was tossed out the nearest airlock and on top of that the sequel has diverse and interesting side-missions that feel like they inhabit the same game world as the main story missions (rather than the identikit buildings with various configurations of boxes to shoot around that plagued the first game). As ever the story and characters are really well developed and it’s all too easy to get caught up in the trials and tribulations of your mission and your crew, and the game will make you feel it if you manage to get any of them killed during the end-game. Bring on number 3.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

This year has been quite terrible for me in regards on keeping up with current year's games. So with that said, I hope you could forgive my weaksauce list. There's a bunch that I haven't gotten around to finish or start up yet... ;__;

Limbo - 20 points

This one just stuck out like a blackened thumb that you cannot forget or unsee. It has a very neat special effect that I liked, it created this dark cinema fade (don't know the proper term for it) around the screen to give you a sense of quiet dread. The powerful music along with the simplicity of the gameplay was a two punch combo that left me defenseless to the awe of this game. So yeah, this would have been my game of the year without thinking too much of the rest of other games it may had.

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future - 20 points

Been a fan of the series and not being let down since was a promise I've appreciate to see in this one and more with the sweet plot. It wasn't contrived or tired or silly even, it did take a serious tone which I loved. Puzzles were just as great and a refresher along with several must have staples. Still adore the puzzle menu music as always. Don't ever change it!

Heavy Rain - 20 points

Being a fan of Indigo Prophecy for being able to make choices or "choose your own adventure" options, I didn't look at this game for this reason. I saw it as a neat attempt at realistic plot-driven mystery, and I was fulfilled with this regard. I was more or less surprised at several spoiler points of this game that gives a much wider scope of how a game can be told. Not from a moral point no, but how you as a player can feel what may be a possible feeling for the developers want you to feel. Very neat game.

AAI: Miles Edgeworth - 15 points

LOL fun. Love Edgy as always. I like the investigating aspect a lot more and hope to see more of it than courtroom proceedings.

Recettear: A Item Shop Tale - 15 points

Gifted by Skills and this game took me by surprise. The first time I picked it up, I couldn't put it down for the next 3 days. My steam account can tell you that. The most fun was to be had in dungeons and ripping customers off.

Kirby Epic Yarn - 10 points

Sweet, fun, simple to play and adorable to look at.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Mass Effect 2 - An improvement in every possible way from the 1st. Gone are the largely superfluous weapons, albeit I missed some variety, gone are the repetitious sidequests, replaced by quests that actually feel like part of a mission, overall the pacing is hugely improved and it is an on-point, character drive narrative. Like a good movie trilogy, the 2nd installment really started to let us sink our teeth into the characters, after the first game did so for the world they inhabit. Still the only really good current-gen rpg series.

30 pts.

Limbo - This year's Braid for me, in that I bought it for an art style and discovered so much more. A sense of pervasive dread coupled with a really unsettling ending and great gameplay mechanics had me coming back to this over and over. Absolutely brilliant.

30 pts.

Transformers: War for Cybertron - See what Skills said. Vastly underrated game. Overlooked by many. Loved by those of us who got into it.

10 pts.

Monkey Island II: LeChuck's Revenge: Special Edition - The MST3K style director's commentary alone makes this one worth the points. Still great. Still funny. The updated graphics are fantastic. Loads of enjoyment.

10 pts.

Civilization V - I miss the plague-like spread of religion. I miss diplomacy. But every single gameplay element was tightened up. Brilliant game in a brilliant series.

20 pts.

honourable mentions: Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Bayonetta, Costume Quest, Deathspank, Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue, DKC Returns, Etrian Odyssey III, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Scott Pilgrim, StarCraft II, Super Meat Boy, Vanquish, Pac-Man CE DX, Breath Of Death VII, Cthulu saves the World, Lunar: PSP, Death Smiles.

Specific Dishonourable Mention: Red Dead Redemption. This game could have been so much better if they had just managed to avoid the idiocy trap of the GTA series and actually have some goddamn pacing. I read an article about how the gaming industry resists the usage of a proper editor, and no game shows this off more than Red Dead. It suffers from the "two refrigerator" issue in spades. Just because something is cool, doesn't mean it adds to the experience. The game, at its center, is brilliant. But then they wrap it in a layer of distraction, which is fine, but then they add ten more layers, and by the end of the day there is just so much random crap, which was fun, but had the effect of making the game's narrative slow to a goddamn crawl. Just because you put together something badass doesn't mean it will help the experience at the core of the game.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I wasn't going to bother to post because I'm never up to date on the games of the year, but then I was looking at other people's lists and remembered, oh yeah, I guess I have played some new shit recently. BTW, you're all doing your lists wrong, lists should be from bottom to top!

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies - 15 Points

All the post game content is retardedly expansive, which actually kinda turned me off to it after so long, but it was fantastic to play an old school turned based rpg like this, and the customization of your characters was a good time too.

Heavy Rain - 15 Points

Heavy QTE is a horrible concept to span across an entire game, but it was definitely compelling to continue playing and many moments were pretty intense. Especially due to me having made my mind up that I wouldn't reload if a character died. I had to live with my consequences. Far from the best it could be, however. Still laughing over the three titty shot scenes and the plot twist at the end.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - 20 Points

More of the same game, but the first one was awesome, so is this one. Plus, there are plenty of new gameplay concepts introduced that are just as creative as the franchise has always been. The Galaxy games are two of the best platformers eva.

Fallout: New Vegas - 20 Points

More of the same game, but the first one was awesome, so is this one. Almost nothing new or tightened up in the gameplay department here, still glitchy as hell, but wandering the wastes is still lots o' fun.

VVVVVV - 30 Points

Hands down the game I've played the most from beginning to end this year. That may be due to the game being about an hour long, but still, the replay value here is enormous. The soundtrack is so goddamn good, the retro graphic style is charming, and the flip mechanic is taken as far as it can go. I never felt like I was doing the same room twice, even when taking a new route through a previously visited one. If you haven't purchased and played this game yet, you are a terrible human being.

How ya doing, buddy?

30 points

This was my favorite game this year by a long shot. Skip past the VERY EASY jokes and this game proved itself to be an over-the-top, ridiculously-fun and sexy romp in a land of hedonistic, angel-slaying violence. Bayonetta a hot spark plug with a sword, a whip and wit to spare and stands front and center in front of a beautiful package with silky-smooth graphics, superbly responsive controls, a classy music soundtrack and the single greatest handful of boss fights of ANY game this year. In fact, what the fuck am I doing here? I should be playing it again and trying to beat the game again because even my girlfriend likes this game and she saved over my original save. I'm gonna go play it on VERY EASY now.




30 points

It's really quite impressive that the two best games this year were put out within months of each other by the same studio and, yeah, here we are at the end of the year with Platinum Games punching out another shit-your-pants awesome action game that was just as over-the-top and fun as its sexy contemporary above. The sometimes-cheesy dialogue was my only minor gripe in a game that is otherwise chock-full of futuristic look with the crisp graphics to match it, smooth controls and the intense gargantuan bosses was just balls-to-the-wall fun and the fact that neither of these titles sold that well makes me weep for the species.




15 points

I had never played the original Championship Edition so, when I played the demo for this and saw that it was basically PAC-MAN with hyper-speed and bullet time I was hooked. This was an amazing, challenging and fun game with a spine-winding dope techno soundtrack and should be on everyone's list.




15 points

I get that it's basically last year's game repackaged but this is a package that added so much more content to an already-rock-solid fighter and one that I have spent countless hour playing against my friends and with my students online. New characters, new online gaming modes and new ultra combos for every character Just the joy of having a handful of people all gritting their teeth over watching a battle between two worthy adversaries, whether at our house during summer gaming nights with barbecue, with my students after school or online with some of GFF's best fighters, was worth the $40 price tag.




10 points

This game was kind of an enigma to me but, the more I played it, the more I wanted to find out about the "boy" and, even though, this game was meant to be a bleak scuffle through a soulless land of monochromatic grimness, this game had more soul than dozens of other like-minded platformers. About the only game that even comes close to this is Braid.


Honorable mentions:
Bioshock 2, Halo Reach, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Video Game, Chime, Infinity Blade, Angry Birds.

FELIPE NO

Edited my list a little bit, just to note.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I never really had much of a chance to play many 2010 titles and the titles that I did play were very few and far between. I still enjoyed the games that I did play in 2010, and I want to thank skills for convincing me to buy games that are usually outside my gaming taste, but I trust his taste in games and I don't regret any of the recommendations he has ever given me. I have bought war for cybertron, vanquish, and bayonetta even though I haven't played them yet. I think more than anything skills understands my gaming tastes, and these games aren't meant to be deep or story driven, but to cater to how much fun you can have with these games.


Death Smiles - 40 Points

Pretty much my game of the year which also ended up being my most anticipated game of the year as well. I just loved the amount of depth that this shoot'em up brought to the table. I also love the fact that the X-Box 360 system are taking the lead of bringing many beloved shoot'em ups to North American markets and making some very noticeable shoot'em ups even region free. As simplistic as the game is, it still has all the great things you could ask for out of any shoot'em up. The graphics and the music are absolutely mind blowing. You can increase or decrease the amount of difficulty this game has to offer and I feel you definitely get your money's worth out of this title.

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony - 30 points

Despite this yet another remake of the Lunar 1, I just felt that this was an rpg that really didn't have to redefine the rpg. It was a lovable game on the sega cd and ps1 and it is still a lovable game now. It never had to redefine the rpg genre. It was good just to give a current audience a great rpg to play. I loved the graphical improvements they made, even though the game is a lot easier than its previous counterparts. I wasn't necessarily a fan of the voice acting, but the graphical improvements were a welcome addition and they just added enough to make the game feel new without having to change too much.

Tatsunoku Vs. Capcom - 15 points

A good fighting game on the Wii. Who would of ever thought?

This game is actually incredibly fun with a wide array of characters and some excellent fighting music. It was incredibly entertaining to see some capcom characters get their first chance at a fighting game. The fighting engine is incredibly smooth even though the final boss can be a bit of bitch from time to time. There is plenty of stuff to do in this game and with all the things you can unlock, you'll definitely be playing this game for fairly long time.

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth - 15 points

It is a game that takes a different spin on the ace attorney series. I don't consider better than the ace attorney games, but its still a fresh idea into a good series. I liked analyzing a lot of the crime scenes and I thought it was great to play the game as Miles Edgeworth since I was a big fan of playing him in court on the final case of trials and tribulations. Looking forward to second game of the Ace Attorney Investigations.

Thats it for 2010 guys, until 2011.

Jam it back in, in the dark.