1. Sin and Punishment 2 ; Awesome setpieces, great boss encounters, and some of the tightest controls ever. Treasure outdoes themselves again. Plus you get to beat up on DOLPHINS!

2. Resonance of Fate ; One of the freshest and most innovative RPGs in years. I'd dare say it's the best console RPG of the gen. The game has an extremely steep learning curve, but it rewards patience and once you learn to exploit it, has you progressing rapidly through the game. The setting is intriguing, voice work is top-notch, and it has a sense of humor about itself.

3. Ys VII ; Game is radically different from most of the Ys series, but the changes (like the party system and skills system) fit the Ys template to a tee. More dialogue/story than usual, but at least the story had a few surprising twists. I love the zippy pace of the game, the boss fights, and the awesome music.

4. Ys Oath in Felghana ; Would be even higher had I not already played the PC version. Ys at its best, with one of the most legendary soundtracks in gaming.

5. Bayonetta ; The 'stylish-action' genre was something that I never really got much into, apart from the early DMC games. But this game had me come back in a big way. The pacing in the game is perfect, and it has such a nice amount of switching up in the action that it never became boring, unlike many of its genre peers. I'll admit that the music pissed me off though, as did the occasional "QTE or die!" out of nowhere

6. Kirby Epic Yarn ; It was extremely easy but the game had charm in droves. I loved the art style and the music... the lack of challenge made this the perfect 'wind-down' game after work. Except for that one car racing level which was frustrating as hell to get a Gold in. Managed to 100% it, something I rarely do nowadays.

7. Mass Effect 2 ; So, Bioware finally makes a game I like. Much better gameplay than the first game, even if the story and atmosphere wasn't as interesting.

8. Donkey Kong Country Returns ; Some fantastic level design, with challenge in spades. Beautiful graphics too. Would have probably gotten higher from me if it didn't have those shitty rocket barrel stages.

9. Dragon Quest 9 ; Faaaar from my favorite game in the series, but it was packed to the brim with content, and definitely had its moments. Shame about the game having more grinding than usual and a soundtrack/scenario that doesn't quite live up to series standards.

10. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX ; Fantastic downloadable, great update and twist on the original Pac-Man games. It's a cliche at this point, but taking classic games, adding a psychedelic coat of paint and an EDM soundtrack gets me every time.

1. Mass Effect 2
2. Heavy Rain
3. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
4. Red Dead Redemption
5. Darksiders
6. God of War 3
7. Joe Danger
8. Sports Champions
9. Everybody's Tennis
10. Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City

x. NBA Jam
x. Yakuza 3

Assassin's Creed 2 will obviously count, as the PC version came out this year. Don't worry, jarosh.

1. Mass Effect 2
2. Super Mario Galaxy 2
3. Donkey Kong Country Returns
4. Halo: Reach
5. Fallout: New Vegas
6. Red Dead Redemption
7. Alpha Protocol
8. Alan Wake
9. Vanquish
10. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

Haunted said:

Assassin's Creed 2 will obviously count. The PC version came out this year. Don't worry, jarosh.

Click to expand...

well, i've pointed that out like 3 times now we'll see.

Yeah, I'd say that Assassin's Creed 2 won't be eligible on the same grounds as Portal, TF2, etc. on Mac. timetokill?

Are you joking?

# New games released to your region this year (can be retail only or downloadable)

Click to expand...

This applies to the PC version of Assassin's Creed 2.

# Ports that amount to "ROM dumps", i.e., ports with no additional content or significant changes, are not allowed.

Click to expand...

It's certainly not a ROM dump. :lol

#Remakes and visible upgrades count too.

Click to expand...

I shouldn't even have to evoke this, but it's certainly a significant visible upgrade to the console versions.


I don't see on what grounds timtokill would've changed the rules of admission from last year or the years before. AC was eligible in 08, Mirror's Edge in 09 (their PC versions being released in the respective year).

Cheesemeister said:

Yeah, I'd say that Assassin's Creed 2 won't be eligible on the same grounds as Portal, TF2, etc. on Mac. timetokill?

Click to expand...

yeah, only that assassin's creed 2 wasn't a port of a 3 year old game, but a multiplatform title with a delayed release on pc a few months later.

plus, what haunted said ^

1. Darksiders ; Amazing that a game with such an awful art style and shamelessly stolen gameplay could still be the one I enjoyed most, but it was.

2. Goldeneye 007 ; Turned out fantastic! This is the best Wii FPS and a great update of a classic.

3. Cave Story ; How charming! It's not a new game, or a classic 16-bit game, but it feels like both.

4. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light ; Best co-op game this year and a contender for best ever

5. Rock Band 3 ; Still Rock Band, but it fixed many (but not all) of the little annoying things that get in the way of just enjoying the game

6. 3D Dot Game Heroes ; Might've been #1 if it didn't have the inexplicable and game-breaking giant sword syndrome. It was still a lot of fun and a nice homage.

7. God of War 3 ; Don't know what the haters are going on about. It's God of War, only this time without the eye-ripping screen tearing.

8. Halo: Reach ; So much better than ODST. Lots of co-op fun.

9. Trauma Team ; More awesome Trauma Center fun, but this time with a more "realistic" approach that includes super-heroes, ninjas, talking to the dead on the phone, and other such non-science-fiction. Honestly, not as good as New Blood, but still a breath of fresh air in the market (and a pearl in the poop of the Wii library).

10. Vanquish ; It's really just an odd Japanese skin on top of Gears of War gameplay, but that's still a fun time. Too bad there's no co-op and the characters are so hateful.

Played only a few games that were out this year. My ranking:

1. Demon's Souls (PAL)
2. God of War 3
3. Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition (not on the list, but out this year)

Honorable mentions:

Final Fantasy XIII; I played only about 10 hours of it before my PS3 died. I was pretty underwhelmed at first, because the game is opening its gameplay possibilities very slowly. Hovever, when the tutorials ended I was pretty hooked and looked foward to visit another pretty location and watch another bunch of silly cutscenes. Shame that I'll have to play through the beginning again when I get a slim next year...

Nier; I haven't played the game, but I adore, adore the soundtrack (and Emily Evans' voice!). My favourite gaming OST ever. Just because of that, I feel this game deserves a mention here.

Regulus Tera said:

Who are you, again?

Click to expand...

You're gonna regret this! *shakes fists*

Snuggler said:

it's wonderful, Boney

Click to expand...

<3

1. Super Street Fighter 4 ; Skipped Vanilla since I wasn't back into fighting games at the time, so getting this huge expansion was quite the treat, especially at so low a cost. Then I got hooked and now I've bought 2 sticks and all the DLC. I love games where you know the devs love the content/characters and this is the the case here. Looking forward to AE as well.

2. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit ; Woo Hoo, the king of arcade racers is back and easily the most fun in 5 minute chunks or hours long grinds to top the Speedwall. Bought it on PS3 instead of GT5 and haven't regretted it for a moment.

3. God of War 3 ; The first GoW game I ever bought and loved every minute despite it deserving a better last act.

4. Dante's Inferno ; Love the Divine Comedy and this was a good imagining of the Inferno despite the lackluster motivation of the lead character.

5. Start the Party ; Best kids game ever, augmented reality used in an amazing way. Even the smarmy announcer adds to the experience.

6. Infinity Blade ; Touch controls finally enhance gameplay rather than inhibit it. Make an HD/3D/Move version and I'd still buy it even @ $60.

7. Limbo ; Haven't even bought the full game yet, but want to give it a point just for the bold visual and audio design of the demo. This is my go-to demo for my local-dimming LED display and surround system.


I spent the better part of the year playing 2009s best, but these are the standouts from 2010 for me. I'm sure I'll pick up and play lots of this 2010 list in 2011 as well.

1. Vanquish; 360 Platinum Games



A stunning and ferocious third-person shooter that constantly changes its style up and had the most brutal fights of 2010 (if you want them). Whether you start on Casual, Normal or Hard, you begin to become addicted to Vanquish as you slowly master the complex control mechanisms and the thousands of situations you can improvise upon.

I'm no good at action games, but decided to start on Hard. This setting is a challenge, and teaches difficult lessons, how to take out fields of enemies by flipping, sliding, shooting, grenading, rocket launcher, slow time, fast time all in rapid succession... This is a game that rewards you for extreme aggression as well as intelligent play. It is the most fun with a game I had all year, hands down. I played it to completion despite an insanely hard challenge mode achievement which only about 600 people (360+PS3) have managed to clear.

Hobbled by a very disappointing story, the game itself is absolutely phenomenal.


2. Ghost Trick; DS CAPCOM



Shu Takumi's short DS classic. Beautiful 2D animation, engaging puzzle gameplay (with some really challenging ones at points), and extremely memorable characters. Taking one chapter a night, I found myself quickly addicted to the game. Mostly this is because it's built perfectly for the mobile format and tells its story in a straight forward fashion that's great before bedtime.
To me, this is an extreme humility in game design, where the creators don't force hours of laborious secret mining on the player, and prefer instead to allow them to enjoy the gameplay and watching the story unfold.

Having bought the strategy guide afterwards, I enjoyed the talk with the creators, who worked on a very small team with a title they loved.


3. Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu; 360 CAVE



Ikeda's (final?) Dodonpachi game is severely underrated.

The 360 package has the immense scoring challenge that is ver. 1.5 (a game I played exclusively for 6 months in the arcades), which at first glance seems piss easy because you can just hyper and bullet cancel through to the clear. But the tricky part about 1.5 is that this is no good for your score. In fact, hypers must be used smartly in the beginning of the stage, and everything else is pure chaining skill afterwards.

The star of the 360 port in my opinion is Arrange B, a mode which progressively spits harder and harder enemies at you, with bigger bullet patterns, the more aggressively you play it, and the longer you play it.

If the achievements were not such a pushover, this game would have been #2 (what happened to score achievements??).


4. Patchwork Heroes; PSP Acquire/Sony



An absolute gem on the PSP that largely went ignored in the west, where it seems it was released exclusively for download.

Well...download it!

Cute story sequence -> flying helicopter with you in it -> massive airship -> jump on -> cut that shit to pieces. Oh, also dodge missiles, robot monsters and more heading your way. The gameplay gets tense and exciting, and the giddy feeling you get as, while you cut off huge hunks of airship, you grab energy dropped by defeated enemies and use that to fuel your super cutting attack that whips you around the ship in a mad slicing frenzy.

Story mode is a 30-chapter long, solid adventure. In addition to that there is challenge mode, and a Hard setting for the game which I would never want to fuck with. The difficulty is a little high if you want to clear the game, but you can't beat it for the 10 bucks or whatever they want in the US/Europe.


5. Halo: Reach; 360 Bungie



Actually my first Halo title, and I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. Mostly this all comes from one night of eating pizza, drinking beer and screaming into an XBox microphone with 3 co-workers on the other end as we bounced through alien terrain in floaty vehicles and spaceships and cleared Legendary together. Definitely the best gaming night I had all year.

The environments are beautiful and alive. The gameplay is kinetic, and the achievements are well-structured.

The normal campaign was a lot of fun, and there is the obviously fleshed out online mode (which I unfortunately have not even touched yet). This is a game I hope to play a lot more once I wear down my backlog.


6. Akai Katana; Arcade CAVE



Ikeda and Yagawa's new arcade title for 2010, Akai Katana relies on a unique scoring dynamic which allows your character to be temporarily invulnerable in order to fill the screen with bullets and then destroy them. Widely panned by people who didn't play it, this invincibility mechanic does make the game easier to clear, however anyone who is going for score will recognize immediately why relying on it too much is a handicap. What you actually need to do is go in and out of "nenshin" mode quickly and aggressively, stacking gold items up to the 256 limit and then resetting.

For people of medium skill like myself, getting a score of 278 million took a lot of familiarization with the system, as well as the bosses. Most of this is scoring with the C ship as well, and the A and B ship require completely different strategies.

Great soundtrack and gorgeous character design are the bow on top in my opinion.


7. Deathsmiles 2X; 360 CAVE



(Screenshot via Cave-STG)

Another CAVE game that met with a lukewarm reception, Deathsmiles IIX is actually one of the most accessible and fun shooters in the company's catalog. Basically clearable by anyone even of beginner skill, the game also offers a decently deep scoring challenge that is a lot of fun.

No better review of this game is available than top player EOJ's to-the-point defense of it here:
http://www.cave-stg.com/?p=227

I enjoyed X mode more than anything else, myself.


8. Espgaluda 2: Black Label; 360 CAVE



This 360 reworking of the arcade Espgaluda II has an awesome gem that is essential for a 360 shooter collection IMO: Black Label. In this mode, Ikeda flips the awakening mechanic which allows you to slow down bullets on screen, kill an enemy, and cancel their bullets, into a more dangerous mix: any enemies you kill in awakening mode spit out tons of bullets. When you return to normal mode, these bullets can be cancelled by killing any enemy. Also added is an invincibility gauge which allows you to throw yourself onto an enemy to cause them to spit out more bullets for a short amount of time.

All this leads to lots, and lots, of gorgeous shiny gold explosions. A fuckton.

This is also a game that I have not yet conquered...both Arcade and Black Label. Arcade mode is of course, infamous for its brutal difficulty, and is right up there with Daioujou in terms of sheer challenge.


9. Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown; Arcade SEGA



I don't pretend to understand Virtua Fighter. I tried this year, for a couple months, and made a lot of progress with my Eileen. The system is incredibly deep, and made for a good changeover from Street Fighter IV.

Final Showdown is of course the latest iteration, and most veteran players apparently dislike its simplification of the throw system, and higher risk/reward gameplay. For me this was a great opportunity to jump into VF and learn how to play. Most of this time I spent donating money to the machines, so I need to get a lot better.

Really though, better than FS was VF4: Evolution for PS2 which I picked up for 8 bucks and has the most insane training mode ever.


10. Senko no Ronde DUO ; 360 Grev



Senko no Ronde DUO is the sequel to the original game, and sort of the MVC2 to MVC1 of Grev's shooter/fighter franchise. It adds in duo attacks and a fair share of characters.

The 360 version was brilliant for the excellent Story mode which told an engaging back story to the whole Senko universe while you fight through different enemies. Unfortunately this mode also seals its fate as a Japan-region locked title considering the amount of text and voice that would have to be localized.

When the game first came out, the multiplayer was very laggy and problematic, however within a few weeks, Grev came through with a patch that made things much more playable.

Plenty of unlocks and achievements to discover, and fun multiplayer. The game seems a little unbalanced to me as a fighter, however one of the best Senko no Ronde players in Japan manages to win tournaments with Leif, who is at least medium tier. I found myself playing Henri and Yurushiel, who both have fun defensive/offensive gameplay.

Honorable Mentions:

x. Valkyria Chronicles 2; PSP SEGA

A great RPG that is simply too long and too wordy...
Also, the school setting ensured I had to take it off the top 10 list.
Really though, it's gameplay is superbly addicting and there's so much content, you're basically set for the rest of the year. Actually if you're starting now, I would probably recommend buying VC3 when it comes out, just because you'll never finish both!

x. Super Street Fighter 4; Arcade Capcom

A game I grew frustrated with thanks to 1 and 2 frame link combos, but I had my fun with it and watching tournaments live on UStream has been an awesome experience. It gave us Akuma Tokido, so it has to get a mention. Since the game is out in arcades now, I'm going to hope that it has a lot more life left in it.

x. Monster Dash; iPhone HalfBrick

Just an awesome little game that I played the shit out of this year. Instant gaming, instant gratification.

jarosh said:

yeah, only that assassin's creed 2 wasn't a port of a 3 year old game, but a multiplatform title with a delayed release on pc a few months later.

plus, what haunted said ^

Click to expand...

Yes, but it's not like it's new to any region for 2010.

1. Halo: Reach
2. Mass Effect 2
3. Vanquish
4. Heavy Rain
5. Red Dead Redemption
6. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
7. Alan Wake
8. Call of Duty: Black Ops
9. NBA 2K11
10. RAGE: Mutant Bash TV

X. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
X. Bayonetta

adversesolutions couldn't have done it any more wrong if he tried. :lol

Fixed my post. Changed IV to 4.
Thanks ICallItFutile.

I'm confused why we are supposed to post our thoughts when no one is going to care or comment on them.

adversesolutions said:

I don't pretend to understand Virtua Fighter. I tried this year, for a couple months, and made a lot of progress with my Eileen.

Click to expand...

I was already loving your post, and then you nailed it. Question: isn't Red Katana controversial among Cave fans? Has it gained acceptance? It looks (and sounds) amazing.

BobsRevenge said:

I'm confused why we are supposed to post our thoughts when no one is going to care or comment on them.

Click to expand...

I care Bob

BobsRevenge said:

I'm confused why we are supposed to post our thoughts when no one is going to care or comment on them.

Click to expand...

We are? I thought it wasn't mandatory.

1) Gran Turismo 5
2) God of War 3
3) Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
4) MLB 10: The Show
5) Battlefield: Bad Company 2
6) Angry Birds


Not gonna write up why, I don't think anyone really reads people's explanations. Just wanted to get my votes in.

1. Super Mario Galaxy 2 ;
2. Red Dead Redemption ;
3. Just Cause 2 ;
4. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light ;
5. Dead Rising 2 ;
6. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood ;
7. God of War 3 ;
8. Heavy Rain ;
9. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit ;
10. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West ;

Kaako said:

We are? I thought it wasn't mandatory.

Click to expand...

I should've read that thing more carefully. :lol

1. Mass Effect 2
2. Halo: Reach
3. Alan Wake
4. Splinter Cell: Conviction
5. Limbo
6. NBA 2K11
7. Metro 2033
8. Kinect Sports
9. Red Dead Redemption
10. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

adversesolutions said:

10. Senko no Ronde DUO ; 360 Grev

Senko no Ronde DUO is the sequel to the original game, and sort of the MVC2 to MVC1 of Grev's shooter/fighter franchise. It adds in duo attacks and adds a fair share of characters.

The 360 version was brilliant for the excellent Story mode which told an engaging back story to the whole Senko universe while you fight through different enemies. Unfortunately this mode also seals its fate as a Japan-region locked title considering the amount of text and voice that would have to be localized.

When the game first came out, the multiplayer was very laggy and problematic, however within a few weeks, Grev came through with a patch that made things much more playable.

Plenty of unlocks and achievements to discover, and fun multiplayer. The game seems a little unbalanced to me as a fighter, however one of the best Senko no Ronde players in Japan manages to win tournaments with Leif, who is at least medium tier. I found myself playing Henri and Yurushiel, who both have fun defensive/offensive gameplay.

Click to expand...

Still the major hold out for me getting a J360, I want it so badly.

Absolutely loved your list by the way. It's exactly what Stump said about discussion, and has me hyped for about every Cave Release plus putting Ghost trick on my radar now heh

Took quite a bit of deliberating, but I'm happy with the order.

1. Heavy Rain
2. Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
3. Gran Turismo 5
4. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
5. Final Fantasy 13
6. Super Street Fighter 4
7. Super Mario Galaxy 2
8. Vanquish
9. Kirby's Epic Yarn
10. Alan Wake

Honourable Mentions:

The J-360 Cave games
Lost Planet 2
Dead Rising 2
Mass Effect 2
Yakuza Black Panther
Yakuza 4
God of War 3

1. Mass Effect 2
2. Bayonetta
3. Vanquish
4. Final Fantasy 13
5. Gran Turismo 5
6. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
7. Halo Reach
8. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
9. Heavy Rain
10. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

HONORABLE MENTIONS

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
Darksiders
Super Street Fighter 4

1. Battlefield: Bad Company ; Without a doubt my most played game this year. Improved in all accounts on the first game which despite its mistakes was also a favorite of mine. For me this is just pure gaming crack and I keep comming back to it. Can't wait for Vietnam this thursday!

2. Red Dead Redemption ; Increadible athmosphere. Rockstar sandbox games, despite their downfalls are still the epitome of console gaming for me and this is a prime example of the many possibility's there are still out there for good sandbox approaches.

3. StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty ; Great game, one of my favorites to play online with my friends. A bit to hardcore however and though I liked getting into the strategies at first it started to bore me later on. Not willing to train myself to be better at this anyway.

4. Demon's Souls (PAL) ; I believe I voted for the asian version last year around but since I picked up the PAL version aswell I feel I'm allowed to put it on the list again. Still one of my favorite games to play. Bring on the sequel(s).

5. Heavy Rain ; Fantastic experience unlike any other game I have ever played. Would have been clear nr1 if they would have delivered on replayability. It wasn't as flexible of a story as I would have liked to seen it.

6. Civilization 5 ; I'm a strategy whore and came into Civ through the Revolutions version. Civ 5 apparently took alot of Civ Rev elements to the PC version and it makes for a enjoyable experience.

7. Gran Turismo 5 ; Took way long but in many ways is definitly worth it. I got triple my money's worth out of the limited Prologue version so having the full experience is fantastic. Could have been better though therefor only 1 point.

8. Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City ; More Liberty City is always good. What else to say but that it should have been available from the start for PS3 owners.

9. Napoleon Total War ; What can I say, I'm just a sucker for Total War games even though they get worse with every new title. We'll see if Shogun 2 makes it up higher in my list next year.

10. Game Dev Story ; Sort of a honourable mention in that I couldn't put the game down for hours after buying it but once beating the game completely (which really didn't take that long) there was too little replayability. Hoping the sequel fixes this.

1. Red Dead Redemption
2. Mass Effect 2
3. Dead Rising 2
4. Blur
5. Bayonetta
6. After Burner Climax
7. Alan Wake
8. Super Street Fighter 4
9. Infinite Space
10. Costume Quest

BobsRevenge said:

I'm confused why we are supposed to post our thoughts when no one is going to care or comment on them.

Click to expand...

I'll be honest, I'm just ctrl+fing every page for "punishment" to add those people to my friends list.

1. Dead Rising 2 ;
2. Gran Turismo 5 ;
3. Super Mario Galaxy 2 ;
4. Donkey Kong Country Returns ;
5. Angry Birds ;
6. God of War 3 ;
7. BioShock 2 ;
8. Rock Band 3 ;
9. Bayonetta ;
10. Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver ;

I didn't play a lot this year

BobsRevenge said:

I'm confused why we are supposed to post our thoughts when no one is going to care or comment on them.

Click to expand...

You don't have to but i think it's nice to read why people voted for certain games.

TeethMummy said:

Not gonna write up why, I don't think anyone really reads people's explanations. Just wanted to get my votes in.

Click to expand...

I don't really remember any that don't, especially if they don't have a point-of-view.

1. Halo Reach
2. Civilization 5
3. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
4. Red Dead Redemption
5. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
6. Limbo
7. God of War 3
8. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
9. Alan Wake
10. Heavy Rain


x. Bayonetta
x. Darksiders
x. Donkey Kong Country Returns
x. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
x. Joe Danger
x. Kirby's Epic Yarn
x. NHL 11
x. StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty
x. Super Mario Galaxy 2
x. Super Street Fighter 4
x. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
x. Vanquish
x. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 – Chaos Rising

Dabanton said:

You don't have to but i think it's nice to read why people voted for certain games.

Click to expand...

Yar, I've been reading most of them posted about the games I too voted for, It's interesting to see what others found great about the game in such a condensed space

Upon further reflection...

1. Mass Effect 2 ; It's still the most fun I've had with any game this year.

X. Alpha Protocol ; I've only been able to play a few hours and the hacking mini-game sucks totally, but I like where this game is going so far.

1. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
2. Nier
3. Phantasy Star Portable 2
4. Monster Hunter Tri
5. Mass Effect 2
6. Starcraft 2
7. Resonance of fate
8. Super Mario Galaxy 2
9. Cladun: This is an RPG
10. Red Dead Redemption

Foliorum Viridum said:

adversesolutions couldn't have done it any more wrong if he tried. :lol

Click to expand...

I dunno, I think for a post as content rich and nice looking as that we should just give them a pass.

Can the parser even handle pictures or comments with line breaks in them?

1. Mass Effect 2
2. Red Dead Redemption
3. Super Meat Boy
4. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
5. Super Mario Galaxy 2
6. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
7. Fable 3
8. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
9. Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare
10. Kirby's Epic Yarn

1. Fallout: New Vegas
2. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
3. Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
4. Super Mario Galaxy 2
5. Picross 3D
6. Shiren the Wanderer
7. Costume Quest
8. Alpha Protocol
9. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
10. Darksiders

1. Mass Effect 2
2. Super Street Fighter 4
3. Bayonetta
4. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 – Chaos Rising
5. Metro 2033
6. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
6. Just Cause 2
7. Super Meat Boy
8. Alpha Protocol
9. Amnesia: The Dark Descent
10. Mafia 2

Honorary Mention:

X. Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse
X. Shatter (PC)
X. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (PAL)
X. StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty
X. VVVVVV

BobsRevenge said:

I'm confused why we are supposed to post our thoughts when no one is going to care or comment on them.

Click to expand...

well, i for one love reading people explain why they dug their favourite games of the year.

1. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
2. Red Dead Redemption
3. Mass Effect 2
4. Civilization 5
5. Halo: Reach
6. Alpha Protocol
7. Limbo
8. Alan Wake
9. Carcassonne
10. BioShock 2

1. Alan Wake
2. Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
3. Fallout: New Vegas
4. Singularity
5. Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom
6. Mass Effect 2
7. Super Mario Galaxy 2
8. Deadly Premonition
9. Dark Void
10. Vanquish

1. Mass Effect 2
2. Super Mario Galaxy 2
3. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
4. NIER
5. God of War 3
6. Donkey Kong Country Returns
7. Joe Danger
8. Gran Turismo 5
9. Alan Wake
10. Heavy Rain

1. Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty ; The visuals are visceral and only Blizzard understand that art, sounds and animation permeates through control and gameplay. The multiplayer is addictive and has the same depth as its predecessor.
Months after its release and the game still suprises me. This game will continue to surprise months from now, even when Heart of the Swarm looms on the horizon.
How can I not choose this as my GOTY? Although 'casualised' Starcraft 2 is by far the years most accomplished hardcore game.

2. Gran Turismo 5 ; Gran Turismo 5's mild reception last november was disappointing. Splendid visuals and physics, but archaic menu prompting and the premium-standard car visual inconsistency highlighted this racer's split identity. It could have been my number one GOTY otherwise....
Driving a Mercedes 300SL Coupe '54 on Nurburgring with a handpicked soundtrack, GT5 has no equal. Virtual driving has never been more homogenic.

3. God Of War 3 ; The rattling of the chains of Exile, the stabbing sound of blade into flesh, the booming sound of the Cestus, Kratos has never looked better and the game has never played better. Play on Chaos mode. GoW3 is spectacular. Gow3 is hardcore.

1. God of War 3
2. Halo: Reach
3. Mass Effect 2
4. Red Dead Redemption
5. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
6. Super Mario Galaxy 2
7. Limbo
8. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Game(s) of the Year:
1. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
2. Super Mario Galaxy 2
3. Halo Reach
4. Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands
5. Fable III
6. Mass Effect 2
7. Alan Wake
8. Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver
9. Bioshock 2
10. Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light


Honorable Mentions:
Bayonetta
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX
Rock Band 3
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Metroid Other M

1. Red Dead Redemption
2. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
3. StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty
4. Mafia 2
5. God of War 3
6. Heavy Rain
7. Mass Effect 2
8. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
9. Limbo
10. Costume Quest

Disappointment of the year: Civilization 5.