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Your best of 2010
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25-01-2011 10:31pm#1Join Date:Posts: 51576
So what's everyones best of 2010. I'm going to post mine so feel free to rip into it and also post yours as long as you are able to take some criticism. I definitely haven't played everything this year so I'll list just what I played. There's plenty that are best of the year material that I haven't played, I haven't played stuff like Fallout New Vegas, Red Dead Redemption and still haven't gotten around to playing Mass Effect 2 since I'm holding out on a game of the year edition on 360. Also only started Nier which is supposedly this years game the reviewers got wrong.
Best Games of the Year
Bayonetta
I'm a huge Devil May Cry fan and Bayonetta is DMC done even better. Gorgeous visuals and silky smooth combat, Bayonetta is a joy to play.
Vanquish
The third person shooter that showed just how boring every other shooter this generation has been. Delivers a Gears of War style cover shooter with a dollop of japanese design mechanics that's going to make every other shooter from now on seem dull.
Super Street Fighter 4
A refinement on one of the best fighters in years that ressurected the fighting scene. Newly balanced, loads of new characters and new additions to old characters. What more could you want from SF4?
Starcraft 2
I've not touched the multiplayer because I'm crap but Starcraft 2's single player surprised me with how good it was. From the excellent wild west/firefly presentation to the excellent variety in mission, very few missions are just build a base and destroy the enemy, this game really surprised me.
Sega and Sonic All-Star Racing.jpg)
Here's another surprise. Sega Racing is one of the best kart racers I've played in ages and was severely underrated. Gorgeous cartoon visuals, fantastic soundtrack stolen from dozens of sega classics and kart racing that feels like a mix of mario kart and Outrun 2. For the price this is going for online it's a steal.
Minecraft
Probably my multiplayer experience of the year. Mining into the depths of the earth and exploring lava filled caverns and using your gathered resources to create a vanity palace was addictive but even more so in multiplayer.
Demon's Souls
My favourite game of this generation finally gets a PAL release. Brutal but fair, if you stick with the game past it's baptism of fire what you'll find is one of the most rewarding game experiences ever. Also has one of the most innovative use of online in a game in years.
Deadly Premonition
It's got PS2 level graphics, the driving is terrible and the combat beyond woeful yet Deadly Premonition was one of the most engrossing experiences of the year. Look past its glaring technical flaws and enjoy the best written story in a game in a very long time and some excellent characters, in particular the protagonist York. Stick with it to the end, it's conclusion is a huge pay off. This game really shows up Heavy Rains faults... Speaking of which:
Heavy Rain
For a game that supposedly is built on a great story it's surprisingly poor. It's like a below par Criminal Minds episode and some characters, especially Madison are handled terribly. Still I found myself thoroughly enjoying Heavy Rain for all it's faults. It may not have the best story but it pulls it off with style and it's got to be commended for how well it pulled off the consequences of your actions affecting the storyline.
Final Fantasy XIII
I'm sorry but I really enjoyed the game. Gorgeous to look at, ok storyline other than the frankly stupid ending and kind of flawed. It does have one ace up it's sleeve and that's one of the best battle systems in any JRPG. Excellent soundtrack as well.
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
Not played a lot of it but what I did seemed like classic SMT. Great battle system, gorgeous visuals for a DS game wrapped up in a very dark and depressing storyline that is totally at odds with the usually awful anime/JRPG tropes.
Valkyria Chronicles 2
Was initially horrified to learn that one of my favourite games of this generation was getting released on the PSP, a huge downgrade from the PS3. My fears were unfounded. Although it is scaled down from it's bigger brother VC2 is perfect for the portable and the smaller battles suit the handheld format.
Sin and Punishment 2
One of the best games of the year that went unnoticed thanks to the system it was on and the poor marketing by Nintendo. Frantic gameplay, loads of options to play as a score attack game, huge bosses and a stiff challenge. One of Treasures finest, don't let this game pass you by.
Super Mario Galaxy 2
So what if it was more of the same. It doesn't matter if it's more of the same of one of the most enjoyable games in years. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is like it's predecessor but even more inventive. You won't find a game more fun than this in 2010.
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Best Soundtracks
Runners up:
Final Fantasy XIII
VVVVVV
Scott Pilgrim
And the Overall winner for me:
Nier
This is a seriously impressive collection of music with some wonderful haunting music and excellent vocal tracks. Well worth hunting down.
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My 2010 highlights
No More Heroes 2
This pretty much slipped under the radar once again, as the vastly underrated but much praised NMH2 gets a tune and a polish from the first series. It's fantastic and an all round better game than the already excellent original.
Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver
The remake of the legendary Gold and Silver was an all round winner, again with fine tuned gameplay and plenty of added features, it made me remember why I loved the Pokémon games series so much.
Metro 2033
To top fantastic visuals, the mechanic aesthetics and storyline was gripping and tight. It's been vastly underrated lately in my opinion with regards to the game awards, this game is top notch.
Super Meat Boy
What can I say? Awesome awesome game. It had the retro feel, yet it was fresh and addictive. It was hellish hard and infuriating, yet you had to come back to finish it.
Starcraft II
I'm with Retr0 on this one. The storyline is fantastic and keeps you going. Even though I'm terrible at multiplayer, I still continue to dab in and out of this months on, and will do so for quite a while.
Civilization V
I was almost inclined not to add this to the list, merely because it was a broken game upon launch. The game has since been patched, and its as addictive and fresh as the franchise has ever been. Love it from start to finish and never get tired, there's always something new.
Minecraft
Well what can I say about this game. The game touted as a game where your imagination is your limit. I spend hours upon hours OUTSIDE of the game planning what to do the next time I get home and log on. It's simply one of the most ingenious games I've ever come across, and continues to be. And it's STILL in beta!
Bad Company 2
This game brought back a little essence of why I love the Battlefield series. It can be fast in frantic, or it can be tactical and slow paced, its your choice really. Add in the fantastic map layouts, topped with excellent gameplay mechanics, this game is a winner.
EDIT: Actually looking back on those titles, I feel like a bit of an old head
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Agree with SMG2, Heavy Rain, Vanquish and Bayonetta so no need to put more screenshots of them, for me:
God of War 3
I really enjoyed it, sure it was more of the same, but the sheer scale of the thing was unreal, I prefer GOW2, but this was an immense experience
Super Meat Boy
2D platforming as pure as it comes, pixel perfect jumping is essential, 300+ levels of hair tearing insanity , but oh so satisfying when you guide the adorable little meat blob around a level in a few deft moves, darting over and under circular saws, its really funny too, with tons of great nods to other games. one of the levels is Wiebe, how gloriously nerdy is that :pac:
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Retr0gamer wrote: »Best Soundtracks
Runners up:
Final Fantasy XIII
VVVVVV
Scott Pilgrim
And the Overall winner for me:
Nier
This is a seriously impressive collection of music with some wonderful haunting music and excellent vocal tracks. Well worth hunting down.
That Scott Pilgrim tune is my ring-tone and will be for quite sometime. Excellent example intelligent game scoring.
For me, Final Fantasy 13 wins hands down. No question and this is the main reason:
Very well put together tune.
An EXTREMELY close second would be Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood:
Red Dead Redemption is excellent, but mainly for one moment - when you set foot on Mexican soil for the first time....
An excellent example of timing being everything in scoring.
EDIT: This is all regards score, not game-play or anything.0 -
Agree with many of them being there as best of 2010. ALso have yet to start Nier or Deadly Premonition, too many games
I don't share the love for Mass Effect 2 or Assassins creed brotherhood though, I liked them games but didn't love them. Especially ME2 was very let down by it's RPG lightness and was playing it more for the story than the gameplay.
Assassins creeds was basically the same game as AC2 with a few extras, still though enjoyed the story very much, I must say.
Having only just finished both of them this week, I have to say I'd add the Deathspank games to the best of list , thoroughly enjoyed those.
ANd lets not for get the gem that was Scott Pilgrim
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I'd like to add Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.
Much as I enjoyed many of the games above, I just loved LoS. The combat is satisfying and plot is utterly compelling, it's difficult not to sympathise with Gabriel. And as anyone who's played a Castlevania title before will expect, the boss fights are epic.
It would a huge mistake to dismiss this as a God of War clone, LoS has more heart, better character design and Patrick Stewart. Win.0 -
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I'll add some screenshots and stuff later but in the meantime...
Mass Effect 2
Not much more can be said about this, utterly fantastic game imo. I was somewhat suspicious about the removal of some RPG elements from the first game however one reflection I think it almost suits the sequel as one of my personal peeves is playing through a series and upgrading the character in every new game. What happened like, did he suddenly forget he's a dab hand with assault rifles?
Bayonetta
Utterly insane, like proper, 100% bat**** crazy...and I loved every second of it. One of the best fighting systems I've ever used in a third person game and the only downside is that it will make everything else look slow, clunky and unresponsive compared to it.
Limbo
Beautiful in it's simplicity yet quite discomforting while being played. Simple but clever puzzles and a fantastic animation system in play really breath life into the boy. My only gripe was that it was too short.
Red Dead Redemption
Another beautiful game, in a very different way than Limbo of course. Great characters, great story soundtrack and altogether a game which surpasses GTAIV in nearly everyway.
Super Meat Boy
I love this game so much I never want to see it again.
God Of War 3
Kind of cheating here as, due to me never owning a PS2, I played all three of these games back to back when I got the Ultimate edition back in February. Needless to say it turned out to be a couple of fantastic weeks of gaming however when you can really see how the series improved, technologically at least, when it comes to the third game. The word epic doesn't really do many of the moments in this game justice.
Enslaved
I love this game more for its beautiful environements, likeable characters and great writing than I do for it's gameplay which was, unfortunately, pretty basic. Due to horrific sales figures I'm afraid we're probably not going to see a sequel to it either despite it's great ending.
Alan Wake
The scores may have been all over the place for this one but I thoroughly enjoyed it despite some of the hammy dialogue and mildly repetitive gameplay. Fantastic atmosphere throughout with some great (outdoor!) lighting made this one of my faves of the year. Here's hoping a sequel is announced soon.
Darksiders
Great story, great characters, solid combat and plenty as "holy **** that was cool" moments throughout made this another must-play this year. Really looking forward to the sequel now.
There's still a bunch of games I've yet to play which is why there are some notable omissions there. 0 -
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A handful:
Another shout out for Bayonetta, which ten days into the year firmly planted itself on the top of my list and kicked the **** out of anything that tried to get near. Pure gameplay, a hypnotic fighting system that kept me glued to the controller for two play throughs. I started straight away again once I finished it on a harder difficulty - I never do that.
To a slightly but no less worthy degree, Vanquish. So Platinum games are some sort of gaming demi-gods (and my very brief time with Infinite Space thus far suggests great things) because with their two big console releases this year they made the two purest 'games'. We can give out about the story all we want, but Bayonetta and Vanquish revolutionised their respective genres. Vanquish made grey space marines fun again. Repetitive enemy types, super short and a lack of variety - but with the addition of a boost button, it's straight up brilliance.
On a completely different note, Deadly Premonition has been thoroughly worthy of the ten hours I've invested so far. Vanquish and Bayonetta were triumphs of gameplay over story. DP is the exact opposite. But the tone is so outright bizarre and unique for a video game, it deserves its acclaim. So much to complain about, but instead I'll just use this as another excuse to post this:
Big up to VVVVVV, the underrated gem of the year IMO. Basic graphics and an awesome chiptunes soundtrack disguise the best level design of the year. One gimmick used to its utmost potential. Win.
Rock Band 3 - for a genre on its commercial death bed, Harmonix continue to defy what everyone has written about music games. RB3 is a revelation: a tuition tool to finally give the finger to those who have written off the series as 'pressing coloured buttons', the perfection of pressing coloured buttons, a staggeringly entertaining setlist (Power of Love! Centerfold! Etc...!) and probably the best party game that has ever existed. Plus, the hundreds of songs you already had stored on your hard-drive.
Limbo, another deserved poster boy for the downloadable 'art' game. A puzzle game with a killer atmosphere (and by killer I mean giant spider), this was a haunting, disturbing experience. It almost outstays its welcome with some cheap puzzles in the last moments of its short running time, but then it ends, and I was thoroughly satisfied.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 - a rare full on sequel for Nintendo. What it lacks in the sheer newness and innovation of the first game it makes up for tenfold in refinements and improvements. Every level has a new trick up its sleeve. An absolute joy to experience, the pure play that makes videogaming such a worthwhile hobby.
Mass Effect 2 not only featured massive technical and gameplay improvements over the first, but far more significantly has placed Bioware in the top tier of gaming storytellers. Screw Heavy Rain, ME2 was where the narrative revolution explosively unfolded - a game in which decisions genuinely had consequences. This was your game, your mission, your story - or at least it felt that way. Few games have managed that so effectively.
Ys Seven / Dragon Quest IX were the portable highlights for me. The latter was the best non-turn based battle system ever in a JRPG (sorry, FFXIII, but I gots bored). The latter was a brilliant remix of a classic series. I'm sure Infinite Space will deserve a spot too, but haven't got that far yet! Also, shout out to Half Minute Hero for its surprisingly effective distillation of RPG questing into bite sized chunks. Huzzah!
I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting, but I'll sign out with the little charmer that could: Costume Quest. I can't deny that Brutal Legend was slightly disappointing, so seeing Double Fine back on track was a relief. 'Baby's first RPG' perhaps, but it oozes charm with an adorable presentation and a wicked sense of humour. Short, and like the candy you collect in the game, extremely sweet. It makes me uber-excited for DF's next production, Stacking, due out in just over a month.0 -
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Games of 2010
Mass Effect 2
Definitely my game of the year, and was pretty much everything i had hoped for in the sequel to my 2007 GOTY. Great story, excellent music, interesting characters and some fantastic sequences.
Heavy Rain
This was probably number 2 for me last year. I absolutely loved it. Was a big fan of Fahrenheit, until it went all supernatural and weird, and was delighted to see them stick to a more down to earth story. The story was well told, even if some of the characters weren's as fleshed out as they might have been.
Darksiders
This was definitely my 'out of nowhere' game of 2010. Basically, a darker Zelda where you play War (4 Horsemen War). Dungeons, puzzles, and some great combat. Plus, one of the best endings of recent memory.
Music of 2010
Assassins Creed 2 - Venice Rooftops
An amazing soundtrack, and probably my favourite of 2010 (i played it on the pc). Some genuinly terrific tracks, with this being my favourite.
Heavy Rain - Painful Memories
The main piano theme for Heavy Rain. I love piano, and this suits the game perfectly. Honourable mention also goes to the Ethan Mars theme.
VVVVV - Positive Energy
An awesome soundtrack, that show's you don't need full orchestra's to do catchy tunes.
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These are the best games I played in 2010 in no particular order. I didn't actually play that many games this year and some are from 2009 that I did not get around to till 2010.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
I was hesitant to buy Brotherhood when it first came out because I had only recently completed ACII. I thought I was burnt out on the setting and story but turns out that was far from the case. I put a huge amount of hours (for me at least) into the campaign. The story isn't quite as strong as ACII but everything else has been improved. In particular I loved the addition of the Brotherhood. Having a button to summon a squad of assassins that appear out of nowhere to devastating effect never gets old.
Batman Arkham Asylum
I know this came out in 2009 but I didn't play it till 2010. I hated the demo when it came out originally but gave it a second chance. One of the best games of this generation. I loved the combat, the puzzles and Batman is my favourite superhero character.
Blur
It is a pity that more people didn't give Blur a chance. It is simply a Mario Kart clone in HD. What's not to like?
PES 2011
Any best game list I'm going to write is always going to have a Pro Evolution Soccer game in it. I've already put nearly 100 hours into it an I still haven't finished with it. It is an improvement on the last few years but still not quite up there with PES 5.
Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time
Another 2009 title but I didn't play it till 2010. Even better than Tools and Destruction I'm really looking forward to the next one. I managed to get the Platinum Trophy on this game which is a good indicator of how good a game is to stick with it that long.
Donkey Kong Country Returns
The only Wii game I've played this year apart from NSMBW and Galaxy 2. I enjoyed playing through this game quite a bit over the Christmas break.
Tilt To Live
This was my favourite game on the iPhone this year. It is a shooter like Geometry Wars with great tilt controls. I didn't expect the controls to be so precise but it gives you total control over your craft. There are also a number of play modes that are all fun.
Plants vs. Zombies HD
The first game I bought on the iPad and still the best. I loved the humour in the game and the ending is excellent.0 -
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I really need to get Red Dead, shoulda bought it last year, dunno when I'll fit it in this year with the amount of stuff coming out, anyone know if the 360 or PS3 one is better? god I love having a choice again note to self, never sell/trade another console, as I only wind up buying it again later on :rolleyes: 0
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I really need to get Red Dead, shoulda bought it last year, dunno when I'll fit it in this year with the amount of stuff coming out, anyone know if the 360 or PS3 one is better? god I love having a choice again note to self, never sell/trade another console, as I only wind up buying it again later on :rolleyes:
360 is the way to go, PS3 is a poor conversion like al of Rockstars PS3 games.
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Retr0gamer wrote: »
Valkyria Chronicles 2
Was initially horrified to learn that one of my favourite games of this generation was getting released on the PSP, a huge downgrade from the PS3. My fears were unfounded. Although it is scaled down from it's bigger brother VC2 is perfect for the portable and the smaller battles suit the handheld format.
So tempted to buy a PSP just for that game. Loved it on the PS3.
Are they finished with it on the PS3 tho??0 -
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As a megaten fan I was really disappointed with this. I got about half way through and gave up. I thoguht the story was generic western sci-fi muck, the dungeons a plodding mess and the tweaks to the battle system pointless. Devil Survivor is far superior in every way imo.
It's a main series game. Unlike the spin-offs this game is all about the dungeon crawling. If you have played SMT 1 or 2 or even bits of Nocturne you'll see that the main series games are straight up dungeon crawlers compared to the spin-offs. Devil Survivor is better but it's a 2009 game.
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I havent played any of the main series just the Personas etc. maybe that was what threw me. I'm not agaisnt dungeon crawling per se I just didn't like the set-up in SJ, it felt a bit thrown together with a lot of rough edges. After my (3 playthrough) love afair with Devil Survivor I was always going to be disappointed I supposeRetr0gamer wrote: »It's a main series game. Unlike the spin-offs this game is all about the dungeon crawling. If you have played SMT 1 or 2 or even bits of Nocturne you'll see that the main series games are straight up dungeon crawlers compared to the spin-offs. Devil Survivor is better but it's a 2009 game. 0 -
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Dungeon Crawlers can be a bit dividing. I used to hate them but really like them since I'm older for some reason. You've just got to be prepared for a stiff challenge and only snippets of story.
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