Game of the Year 2010

I feel a bit of a fraud detailing my games of the year.  I'm not a games journalist, I can't spend all my life playing games and, most relevantly, I probably haven't played all of what others consider to be the best games of 2010.  There are several games released this year that I intend to get when I have time - Enslaved, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Mafia II - that might muscle into this list and there are a few other games, much-liked by others and included in their end of year lists, that don't float my gaming boat - Mass Effect 2 being chief among those.  I make no apologies for the latter - if I had played them, it is unlikely they'd have worried number 5 on the list but this is simply a  personal view - my favourites of the games that I have played (and have been released) in 2010.


5. Limbo (XBLA)


The first game on my list is also the shortest - you can finish it on a first play through in 5-6 hours and quicker thereafter - but it is a touchingly unique 5-6 hours.  I'll not go into further details here, as it is  reviewed elsewhere on the blog, only to say if you are after something different, sadly beautiful, strangely alienating but at the same time oddly touching, then this is a must-play game.


4. Fable III


I'm a big fan of the Fable series and, for a time prior to release, this blog turned into something of a Fable III fan blog.  Once the game finally arrived, I could see that it had its flaws - there were a few too many bugs  than you would expect for a triple-A game and the last section of the game (no spoilers) was a great idea that didn't quite work in practice.  Notwithstanding those issues, it was still an excellent game, with a great story, excellent (and genuinely funny) voice acting and Albion looking more beautiful than ever before and just as cohesive as in the past (you can easily believe from the natural and built environments that all areas are part of the same world).  If Fable II hadn't been so good, I might have rated this higher but it didn't quite reach the heights of the previous game in the series (though still better than all but three of the other games released this year).


3. Super Mario Galaxy 2


It's-a him, Mario.  An old school videogame, in that no attempts were made (nor should have been made) to inject realism into the Mushroom Kingdom, there were enough tweaks from the first game to make this a genuinely original addition to the Mario canon. I was continually surprised to find new worlds utilising new gameplay mechanisms (that were then discarded and not present on subsequent  planets), which other, lesser, games would have eked out across several levels.   If you are interested in videogames that make no apologies for being just that - games - then Mario's second visit to his galaxy (and best reason for having a Wii this year) is for you.


2. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood


A late entry, my having only received the game on the 25th December (although I'm 20+ hours into at the time of writing)  but one that very nearly  grabbed the top spot.  A follow-up of sorts to my game of the year 2009, Assassin's Creed II, Ubisoft has once again created a living, breathing (well, until Ezio gets to work), Renaissaince Italy.  The story is the same schlocky Da Vinci Code-lite and there are still the annoying modern day interludes but Ubisoft continue to learn from the errors in the first game in the series and the present day sections are kept to a  minimum.


I'm barely a third of the way through the main story but there are so many other, interesting and compelling things to do, that I don't even feel that there is a 'main story' and 'side missions' - there is just the world and how I choose to make my way in it.


1. Red Dead Redemption


I loved western films as a child growing up in the 1970s (a time when the TV schedules were full of them and of Sunday teatime western TV serials).  That fed into my play - like many boys, I had a cowboy outfit and  a holster and six-guns.  Red Dead Redemption allowed me to play as a cowboy again but without the embarrassment of being a 39-year old man dressed in chaps and having to explain that I wasn't in a Village People tribute band.


The graphics, varied gameplay, longevity, story, score (that I still listen to now) and voice acting (as good as in the voice acting benchmark of Uncharted 2) were all of the highest level.  I genuinely cared about John Marston by the end of the game and the world in which he lived (and there aren't that many games that you can say that about).


Honorable mentions must be given to Heavy Rain (pushed out of the top 5 by Assassin's Creed Brotherhood), ModNation Racers, Alan Wake, Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgement and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. All great games that I considered for inclusion in my final five.


2010 was a pretty good year for gaming, if a little less stellar than the superlative 2009.  There are some great games scheduled for release next year (I'm particularly looking forward to LA Noire) and I look forward to trying to compile another top 5 in 12 months' time.