2010 was a hell of a year for gaming. We had tons of elite titles grace our consoles and computers this past year and while it is quite difficult to mention only 5, here are my top choices for 2010.
5. God of War 3
Kratos returned in early 2010 to finish the epic God of War trilogy and finally exact vengeance upon Zeus and the other Gods of Olympus. Fantastic gameplay (although unchanged from previous games) and awe-inspiring graphics made this one of the must play games of 2010. God of War 3 is one of the best looking video games I have ever seen. Whether it be the detail in the characters, the environments or the epic conflicts that occur around you (play the first 10 minutes and you’ll know what I mean) this game never stopped amazing me, and showed how powerful the PS3 can truly be.
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops
No introduction needed for this game, unless you’ve been living under a lot of rocks, and big ones at that. Black Ops is everything you expect from a Call of Duty game which is why its 4th on my list. Blacks Ops does almost everything right, it has a great story, tons of action and of course very robust multi-player with alot more room for customization than previous games. So why is it only number 4? Well despite all of its great offerings Black Ops is essentially Modern Warfare…again. The game engine is unchanged and the multi-player has been ripped right out of MW2(with a few new maps and a few less perks) leaving me with a sense of “I just did this a little while ago”.
3. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Bad Company 2 often gets buried in the constant Call of Duty frenzy that happens seemingly once a year now, however in my opinion it is a much more solid shooter than the last two Call of Duty games. Now there’s a catch to that statement, being that the campaign in Bad Company is less than stellar in fact I found it boring. However where it truly shines is online, where it stands as one of the most complete, challenging and engaging online shooters to ever grace consoles. Don’t want to communicate with your team to coordinate attacks? Don’t play this game. Want to run around aimlessly wielding a knife and rack up kills? Don’t play this game. Want to be as close as you will ever get to experiencing war (hopefully)? Then play this game. It might sound like a lot of hype but trust me, jump into a 12 on 12 game with people who actually know what they’re doing and you’ll see why I’ve lost a big chunk of my time to this game.
2. Halo Reach
Another First Person Shooter? It’s been a great year for the FPS gamers out there and Halo Reach was cream of the crop in 2010. Halo first debuted on the original Xbox in 2001 and Bungie hasn’t looked back since, as Halo has become one of the most iconic franchises in gaming history, heck your grandma probably knows what Halo is and that’s what made Reach so special. It’s the culmination of 10 years worth hard work from an extremely talented development team and a generation of gamers who not only came along for the ride but brought most of their friends with them, as Reach follows in true Halo fashion as one of the most populated online games in the world. The story is easily the best in the series, the game mechanics are fine-tuned to perfection and the multi-player suite is the most robust available on consoles, making it quite possibly the perfect Halo game. Bungie sent their vision of the Halo universe out with a bang, and now that they’ve moved on to new projects we can only hope that the bar they set will continue to be the standard for the series.
1. Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2 may go down as my favourite game of all time. I could write a novel on what makes this series so great but for the sake of your time (and mine) I will simply say that no game has ever created such a sense of involvement in me than Mass Effect 2. I actually cared about each of the characters and races back stories, I cared who lived and died and I cared what happened to my character. The ability to import your character from Mass Effect into Mass Effect 2 and have your decisions and actions carry over across the series is largely unheard of in gaming and creates a feeling that everything you do, have done, or will do, will have consequences. The storytelling is fantastic, and the universe has such a rich history that almost everyone I’ve met who has played the game had a unique experience playing this game, which is a rarity in an age of mostly shooters. Bioware also stepped up the combat mechanics as well as the inventory system and the graphics, making Mass Effect 2’s gameplay as rewarding as its storytelling, which is why in my mind it was the best game of 2010.
Mathodical
editors note: I initally had COD as number 4 hence the error in the text.