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GAF Games of the Year 2010 - Voting Thread - VOTING CONCLUDED

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Neiteio

Member
1. BioShock 2: Sure, in retrospect, it's not the most memorable game of 2010. But at the time I played it, I was spellbound by its story/world, and its gameplay was my crack. There's something addictive about scouring each room and corpse for ammo and supplies, and simply drinking up the sights of Rapture while listening to the dark personal thoughts of the people who dwelled there. There are endless possibilities in combat, too, from your weapons and plasmids to the environment and enemies themselves... Nothing beats creating hologram decoys of myself to lure Splicers into rooms rigged with tripwires, proximity mines, turrets, trap rivets and whirlwinds charged with electricity and fire, and then adding insult to injury by unleashing a thrice-powered-up swarm of bees from my fingertips, firing off rocket spears and finishing off each sap with a drill dash... There were some standout moments, too, including
Gil's Tetsuo-esque fate, and the ethical quagmire of whether to mercy kill him
. This game's Sander Cohen, I say.

2. Heavy Rain: I'm not sure how it holds up in second play-throughs, but that first time through is just AMAZING, a true edge-of-your-seat thrill ride of mystery and suspense, well-worth the price of admission. It's more than a game -- it's an experience. The characters are lovingly realized with heart and humanity, which made me care about them and their plight. And the fact any one of them could die at a moment's notice made each fight, Origami trial and Houdini-esque escape scene a nail-biting, heart-thumping, brow-sweating exercise in tension. It's a game I wanted to cozy up to each night -- the world it creates just has a very inhabitable warmth to it. There's nothing else like it, but here's hoping we'll see many more that try.

3. Red Dead Redemption: What a dense, richly layered game. I won't comment on RDR to the degree I did BioShock 2 and Heavy Rain, since people seemed more divided on those two and I felt more qualification was needed. But suffice it to say, the Wild West as depicted in RDR is the best case of "setting as character" since Rapture in BioShock. The wildlife, weather, rugged terrain, and batshit crazies that live there all made for emergent scenarios and a sense of spontaneity and life rarely achieved in games. And the game's meditation on the theme of redemption, as encapsulated in the life of John Marston, is a powerful one, punctuated by a memorable twist at the end. And that's just the tip of the iceberg where story is concerned -- there are also very topical themes of modernization, xenophobia, big government and more to chew on... That is, when you're not chewing up banditos in slow-mo with the brilliant Dead Eye mechanic.

4. Super Mario Galaxy 2: I feel something was missing with this game... Perhaps it was a sense of "place" due to the downsized overworld, which made level selection easier but at the cost of a "nucleus" to the proceedings. That said, what a wonderful game, an endless barrage of creative gauntlets that begged to be played. The controls were airtight, the camera unparalleled and the pacing impeccable, with a sumptuous feast of color for the eyes and orchestral delights for the ears. And Yoshi is brilliantly realized here in 3D, with his pointer-controlled tongue the game's masterstroke where new features are concerned.

5. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: For me, this game was the big surprise of 2010. To find out why, read my thread on the topic.

As for the rest...

6. God of War III

7. Read Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

8. Kirby's Epic Yarn

9. Donkey Kong Country Returns
 
1. Mass Effect 2 ; without a doubt
2. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
3. Red Dead Redemption
4. Alan Wake
5. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit
6. Bayonetta
7. Halo: Reach
8. Super Meat Boy
9. Darksiders
10. Fallout: New Vegas
x. Final Fantasy XIII
x. BioShock 2

Great year for gaming.
 
1. God of War 3 ; Epic from start to finish, and one of the best looking games of the year.
2. Heavy Rain ; One of riskiest games of year delivered a very unique experience. Plot holes left me wanting something a bit more refined.
3. Mass Effect 2 ; Excellent production values, deep universe, and interesting story knocked down by simplified mechanics compared to the first game and a lackluster final act.
4. Gran Turismo 5 ; Rough launch, poor interface, and heavy grinding. Patches show they're listening to complaints and fixing what they can, though, and it's still an excellent and deep sim.
5. Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth ; A decent and fun Phoenix Wright/Apollo Justic substitute, but not as engaging.
6. Angry Birds ; Simple and addicting portable game, one of the surprises of the year. Could do with better physics, though.
7. Just Cause 2 ; Terrible voice acting, lame story, and highly repetitive... but still a fun sandbox to play in.
 

Sinople

Member
1. Nier
2. Ys: The Oath in Felghana
3. Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
4. Dragon Quest 6 ; (Japan)
5. Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
6. Radiant Historia ; (Japan)
7. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd ; (Japan)
8. Super Street Fighter 4
 

Rocwell

Member
1. Mass Effect 2 ; A major refinement over the first game, ME2 had the best cast of characters in a game in recent memory.

2. Super Street Fighter IV ; I put hundreds of hours into this game after doing the same in Vanilla, this game is better in every way unless you play Sagat.

3. Red Dead Redemption ; GTA4 really soured me on that franchise but I'm glad I took a chance on Redemption. John is a much more likable character than Niko, and the game definitely had the best ending of the year.

4. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker ; This is really great, KojiPro always brings a high level of polish to the table in all their games and this is no exception. PW does a great job integrating a ton of features into the game and does a great job taking advantage of the strengths of a handheld. I also love the graphic novel art style!

5. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood ; I haven't finished this or touched the multiplayer yet but this makes the list just by virtue of setting it in the Italian renaissance. Doesn't hurt that there's a great game in there too.

6. Final Fantasy XIII ; The characters ranged from fair to awful and I already forgot what the story was about but the actual game part was great. I really liked a lot of the refinements they made to the combat and character progression systems.

7. Heavy Rain ; This game made me feel things I've never felt before while playing a video game. QD did an amazing job of putting you in the shoes of the characters and making you empathize with them in some intense situations.

8. Costume Quest ; Yay! This game is a delight, a joy and playing it made me happy. :D

9. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game ; As someone who never played River City Ransom I enjoyed the hell out of this game. I yearn for the return of the 2d sidescrolling beat 'em up.

10. Valkyria Chronicles 2 - This game is great and I'm looking forward to VC3 but I got burnt out trying to grind for licenses and can't bring myself to finish the final chapter since the main cast in this game is worse than the cast of FF13 in my opinion.

Honorable Mention: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth ; I fucking love the Phoenix Wright series. Great characters, great writing, great music. I also liked the new investigation system. Looking forward to the AAI2 but I just wish it featured Phoenix or Apollo. Edgie
and Kay
is great but I like him better in a supporting role.
Dishonorable Mention: Final Fantasy 14 ; This is the real Cataclysm of this year. :lol As someone who was addicted to FFXI for 5 years I'm kinda glad they fucked this one up.
 

C-Jo

Member
1. Bayonetta
2. Super Street Fighter IV
3. Mass Effect 2
4. Red Dead Redemption
5. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
6. Fallout: New Vegas
7. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
8. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
9. Heavy Rain
10. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey

x. Alpha Protocol
x. Super Meat Boy
x. Dance Central
x. Fruit Ninja
 
1. Mass Effect 2
2. Red Dead Redemption
3. Heavy Rain
4. Just Cause 2
5. Minecraft
6. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
7. Super Meat Boy
8. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
9. Starcraft 2
10. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
 

Oreoleo

Member
1. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat ; A sublime mix of FPS, RPG and survival horror elements.
2. Bayonetta ; Best combat mechanics of basically any action game ever
3. Angry Birds ; 2nd only to TF2 for amount of time put into a single game this calendar year. That might not actually be true but it sure feels like it.
4. Mass Effect 2
5. Alan Wake ; not playing this until after the backlash payed off. Really dug how they split the game into chapters/episodes
6. Metro 2033 ; One of few games greater than the sum of its parts. Without doing anything terribly well (graphics aside, teehee), I enjoyed this game a whole lot.
7. Super Meat Boy
8. Limbo
9. Minecraft

x. Reach ; One of the better Halos in recent memory, but its still the same game mechanics we've been used to for a decade. Can't wait to see what Bungie does next though.
x. Red Dead Redemption ; Good game plagued by massive pacing problems.

Edit- When I look at that list I can't help but think, DAMN it's been a good year for gaming.

Dick Laurent said:
stalker call of pripyat number one goty

fishtar-1.jpg
 
1. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
2. Red Dead Redemption
3. Mass Effect 2
4. Alan Wake
5. Halo: Reach
6. Costume Quest
7. Bayonetta
8. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
9. Super Mario Galaxy 2
10. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
 
1) Super Street Fighter IV
2) Mass Effect 2
3) Starcraft 2
4) Battlefield bad company 2
5) Red dead redemption

I'd list more if I could, but Mass effect and red dead are literally the only two singleplayer games I've beaten this year. Everyday is street fighter day.
 

Don

Member
1. Bayonetta
2. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
3. Red Dead Redemption
4. Heavy Rain
5. God of War III
6. Yakuza 3
7. Vanquish
8. No More Heroes 2
9. Final Fantasy XIII
10. Assassins Creed: Brotherhood
 

FerranMG

Member
1. Super Meat Boy
2. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
3. Crackdown 2
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops
5. Limbo
7. Bayonetta
8. Red Dead Redemption
9. Alan Wake
10. Heavy Rain
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
I promised myself I'd make my post on Jan 1st but I think I'm going to hold out until the 8th-9th to see if I can finish a few more games in time :p
 
1. Mass Effect 2
2. VVVVVV
3. Super Meat Boy
4. Limbo
5. Metro 2033
6. MAG
7. Red Dead Redemption
8. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
9. Civilization 5
10. 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
 

The Shift

Banned
1. EVE Online
2. Alan Wake
3. Mass Effect 2
4. ARMA 2
5. Borderlands with all DLC
6. Limbo
7. Bioshock 2
8. Red Dead Redemption
9. Halo Reach
10. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
 

pakkit

Banned
Honestly, I didn't play that many 2010 games.
1. Halo: Reach - Joint campaign and multiplayer maps weaken both. Too many generic multiplayer maps culled into "Forge World." Armor Lock turning Elite Slayer into a sweaty, sticky clusterfuck. And yet, I've put over 200 hours into this game, and about 99% of that went into multiplayer. Bungie knows how to make a LOT of game, and has built a multiplayer system that, when you're firing on all cylinders, is the most satisfying shooter on the market. There's so much value to this game, and the worst part is that I haven't even put time into Firefight.
2. Super Meat Boy - Pure platforming and a hell of a lot of it for 10-15 dollars. Absolutely addictive in the same way that N Game was. I think what I most appreciate about it is how SMB rewards both the meticulous platformer with well-hidden/hard to get collectables (that, praise Zeus, are worth collecting) as well as the speed-runner with new levels getting unlocked.
3. Limbo - Limbo does little original; at it's heart it is a pretty basic platformer puzzler that manages to use almost every gimmick in the book. So, what makes this game so great is its pacing and its atmosphere. This is probably the most realized audio/visual presentation since...ever. It's brooding world and astonishing visuals make this brisk adventure one that'll stick with you.
4. Cave Story - I didn't play the original, shame on me, but I can say that with the music patch out now, this game feels so right on Wii. Excellent controls, a surprisingly engaging story, and a brilliant leveling up system makes Cave Story great.
5. Super Mario Galaxy 2 - SMG2 takes the elements that made SMG1 so successful and builds neat little levels around them. This is a very controlled game that doesn't really reward the player from straying off the path (at first...), but it's set pieces are such delicious nuggets of joy that it's hard to hate.
6. Alan Wake - I enjoyed the story, and, given that it was very obviously "Season 1," I wasn't quite as disappointed as some when left with the ambiguous ending. The original was short enough that the fighting didn't get monotonous, and the DLC shows that Alan Wake still has plenty of room to grow. Maybe it was because I wasn't nearly as active in following its development (hell) but Alan Wake really swept me off my feet with its environment and neat exposition. It may lack an original bone in its body, but it's certainly well built.
7. Red Dead Redemption - The aiming mechanics are perfect, and this is the best game to zone out to in 2010. I didn't dig the single-player as much. With the exception of Bully, Rockstar's mission structure has never really excited me (and that had as much to do with the story). Still, Rockstar are masters of the free-roam.
8. Red Steel 2 - The exceptional graphics went to waste on barren environments. The story isn't well-done, although it does take you through the requisite set-pieces. And yet, this was the most satisfying brawler of the year for me. By games end, you truly feel like a badass, with a bevy of moves at your disposal and nearly 1:1 swordplay. Visceral, and the best evidence that motion gaming could control part of the hardcore market.
 

SonComet

Member
1. Red Dead Redemption
2. Mass Effect 2
3. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
4. Vanquish
5. God of War III
6. Halo Reach
7. Alan Wake
8. Final Fantasy XIII
 
1. Super Mario Galaxy 2
2. Starcraft 2
3. Mass Effect 2
4. Donkey Kong Country Returns
5. Battlefield Bad Company 2


I haven't played most of the major 2010 releases because I usually live a year or two in the past gaming wise to save money.
 
1. God of War 3 - So far, right up there with MGS4 and U2 as the best Action/Adventure game of the generation

2. Red Dead Redemption - Fantastic Game, and the most enjoyable DLC by far.

3. Assassin's Creed:Brotherhood - Another fantastic game, the multiplayer was a bit slow. This is one of the games that I have no problem just being a 20 hour story because it's that good.

4. Heavy Rain - Great game, unique and compelling.

5. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - After playing all the other 3rd party military shooters, this one now has my money going forward--really enjoyable.

Bayonetta disappointed me greatly, as did Dead Nation. I'm going to give the latter some time, but the former just didn't get me, as much as I wanted to like it.
 
I didn't finish many games this year so It's kinda hard to place many but I'll try anyway.

1. BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
- I suck at fighters. I loved SSFIV but getting my ass handed to me consistently took a lot of the fun out of it...plus my connection is ass. So when I play fighter normally it's the single player that keeps me entertained. BlazBlue's story mode is fun and zany enough to keep me entertained while slowly making me suck less. Also Hazuma is a pimp

2. Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
- I didn't play me DS much since buying it ( for the 3 time....) and i also never really played a DQ game. DQIX is one of the best rpg's I've played in years. The story is usually what keeps me playing them but here it was the loot, the class system, and the character creation. Square can still do something right.

3. Sonic Colors
- I'm a Sonic Whore. I can play any sonic game and have a good time until the Secret Rings came out ( I didn't have a ps3/xbox to get 2006...lucky!!!) then I realize that I was playing shit games. My world broke down, and after many drug related downers, I came clean declaring that Sonic would never hurt me again. Sonic Colors made this hard. Colors is by far tha strangest sonic game in recent memory. Why? Because Sega did fuck anything up. Every thing is this game is as it should be...no shitty camera..no crappy gimmick...I'm so confused.

4. NBA 2K11
- I played 2k10 waaaay too much. I will play 2k11 waaaaay too much. No brainer for me.
5. Persona 3 Portable
- I love persona 4 but never really got into persona 3. But I pledged to buy everything persona ( and Atlus) related. While I'm bummed out by the lackluster presentation, maybe I'll finally beat it.

6. Pokemon Superior SoulSilver
- Remake of one the best games ever made? Fuck yeah.

7. Super Mario Galaxy 2
_ Sequel to one of the best games ever made. Fuck Yeah. While I don't like it as much as it's older brother, it more of Mario Galaxy. Nuff said

8. Game Dev Story
- I bought this recently, and got up to year 20 the same day. I stayed up all night playing this game......holy shit.

9. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars
- Once again, I suck at fighters....but not this one!!! underrated fighter that needs more pub.
10.Bayonetta
- Bought it on the xbox. But then I sold my xbox before beating it. Regretted that. Bought it on the PS3...and not even molasses mode could stop this game from being awesome.


There are plenty of games I haven't played enough of to rank ( Mass Effect 2) plus there are games that I haven't gotten yet ( 999, Darksiders, Kirby) and games i have but haven;t played for some reason ( Recettear). But these are the games that I had the most fun with... hopefully next year gives me more games. This year was kinda meh outside of these 10 for me.
 

Denzar

Member
1. Mass Effect 2: The only game this year that I kept playing without being annoyed once. It's not perfect, not at all. Cutting down the RPG stuff, animation can be ways better, seeing characters cry was just plain awkward & and the ending was kind of anticlimactic. Still, it's depressing to know that ME3 is still a year off.

2. Red Dead Redemption: Rockstar did it again dagnabbit! It improved on what made GTA IV clunky and managed to tell a story that I will never forget.

3. Heavy Rain: Flawed but such a fresh and enticing experience. Kept me guessing until the very end.

4. Super Meat Boy: Super addictive, so difficult and such a dream to control.

5. God Of War III: The ending was a big bummer for me, but this game made me lose my mind with it's sheer beauty and scale. Tight as ever too.

6. Assassins Creed Brotherhood: At times, this feels like an incremental update to AC II but this was the first AC game where everything clicked for me. I can not wait for what comes next.

7. God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta: Another GoW game! Wholly unoriginal in it's gameplay, but goddamnit, what ready At Dawn pumped out of the PSP is damn near unbelievable. This game wouldn't be on my list if it weren't for the amazing story it told. It felt way more personal than the other GoW games while still being as brutal as ever. The best story in any goW game IYAM.

8. Darksiders. Fuck yeah: A lengthy adventure with plenty of bosses, puzzles and badassery. That's how I like my adventure games, even if this one was as derivative as it gets.

9. Vanquish: A game that shines thanks to it's amazingly tight gameplay and style. A joy to play and incredibly beautiful to watch. I was only let down by the final act of the game. A sequel? Yes please!

10. Dead Rising 2: Deeply flawed, just like the first game, but there is nothing else quite like it. The satisfaction of grinding a zombie to red mist with my portamower... oh man!



x. Bayonetta: Haven't finished it yet, so can't put it on my list. But up untill now, it's been damn good.

x. Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow: Awesome audiovisual design, and some good chuncks of gameplay hackneyed by terrible pacing.
 

Najaf

Member
1. Mass Effect 2
2. Red Dead Redemption
3. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops
5. Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty
 

Reave

Member
1. Mass Effect 2
2. Bad Company 2
3. NBA 2k11
4. AC: Brotherhood
5. Black Ops
6. 2010 FIFA World Cup
7. Halo Reach
8. MGS: Peace Walker
9. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
10. Heavy Rain
 
1. Mass Effect 2
2. Costume Quest
3. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
4. Dante's Inferno
5. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
6. Bayonetta
7. Darksiders

Laugh it up, I actually really liked Dante's Inferno...
 

SpacLock

Member
1. Red Dead Redemption
2. Halo Reach
3. Super Mario Galaxy 2
4. Super Meatboy
5. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX
6. Mine Craft
7. Call of Duty: Black Ops
8. Alan Wake
9. Mass Effect 2
10. Mega Man 10

Wish I would have played more games this year. Black Ops is a ton of fun, but no where near MW2 in terms of quality. I have to add it though, because there's just so much there to play.

Mass Effect 2 is at #9 because I just started it. It's so good so far that it needs to be included in the list even though I'm only an hour in. I'm sure it deserves a higher spot.


Edit: Forgot about Mega Man.
 
1. Mass Effect 2 ; I don't care if you believe it's an RPG or a shooter. I enjoyed it, a lot as both. I played it more than the original and enjoyed the characters a lot more. If it were up to me all shooters would be as involved dimensionally as this, and all RPGs would be as engaging in combat. I've yet to see if this thinking translates over to Dragon Age 2, but we'll worry about that later.

2. God of War 3 ; This is the best looking game I have ever seen. I am including Crysis in with it. It is visually striking with amazing art direction. It might not have the breadth of graphical showmanship as other games (Crysis) but c'mon? What it shows you looks damn good. Smooth animations and damn near jaw dropping spectacular set pieces just issue in the gameplay changes. A lot of new aspects made this the best playing entry in the series whereas the hardware made it the best looking. Story was convoluted and stunk out loud, but besides that epic.

3. Angry Birds ; As soon as I played this game, it was over. I was inseparable from my iPod Touch, and then later on my iPad. I've probably played a combined 60 hrs of this game on both devices (I even played it a bit on my Droid but that port makes my phone a hot plate). Best 99 cents I ever spent. On the other hand this game being up so high on my list makes me sad. My best days of hardcore gaming are behind me. I'm turning into some sort of casual hybrid. Thanks a lot Popcap.

4. Halo: Reach ; The beta made me angry. Luckily they fixed quite a lot of stuff. Unfortunately the maps made this my least favorite entry in the series. Terrible design, and the Forge World seemed unvaried and lazy. The only good ones are the remakes of Halo 2 maps. Once BLOPS dropped I didn't bother to return for the new maps. I don't see why I should give Bungie another $10 for maps I won't even like. Gameplay wise, this was stellar. Great additions, even though they pretty much crap on balance on a lot of the maps (more map hate). I really didn't enjoy the campaign much. I felt completely let down having read the Fall of Reach book. Too throw all that away for these shallow meat fodder mentality robots seemed unnecessary. I'm definitely glad Bungie threw in the towel. I'm not as confident as they are that they're not a one trick pony though.

5. Heavy Rain ; I really dogged the plot in this game. I dogged it bad. Pretty terrible voice acting in some spots, but I realized for everything I punished this game for it did better than every other game to date. It was never boring, even when it should have been. I look forward to a spiritual successor, but hope they figure out how to keep fresh content flowing through true episodic content. An adventure for each character once a month could really make this a game style worth revisiting.

6. Call of Duty: Black Ops ; I hate Sam Worthington. I hate small enclosed places with infinite respawning enemies. The campaign was a mix of two things I detest. I digress, however, that this game had the best plot in any FPS I've seen in a long while. Really ambitious, just terribly executed. I actually caught on the plot twist early on. Some good set pieces mix up the boring parts (if you can call it that -- I just hate kill boxes). The multiplayer was the best since COD4, fixing a lot of the balance issues I hated in MW2. Treyarch made it clear they listened to feedback and were looking to put the ugly IW breakup behind them. I approve.

7. Bayonetta ; Palin May Cry was the most epic combat I'd ever witnessed. Everything else however made me want to kill myself. I'm all for taking things in stride, and enjoy some light humor, but I think my biggest issue with a lot of Japanese developers is they don't realize when a joke is dead and buried. It was style over substance over style over obscurity over style over substance over HOLY SHIT! I loved the game, hated almost everything else.

8. Cut the Rope ; I played this on the iPod Touch and wasn't impressed at all. Doing the dual finger slice motion was awkward on a screen that small. Once I bought my iPad however, that was a different story. The levels provide nowhere near the challenge Angry Birds does, but the inventiveness of the level design makes you think "Wow, that's pretty smart." I'm becoming more and more convinced that indie game developers will inherit the industry. And with more like these, I'm glad for it.

9. Super Meat Boy ; I missed out on retro gaming (well it wasn't considered retro when I was young) but this makes up for that a bit. Games like Megaman 9 are too hard. My friend loves VVVVVV, but the constant memorization and twitch movements gave me a serious headache. SMB is challenging, but it's more my speed. It's like N+ but with a lot more variety and charm.

10. Just Cause 2 ; I really love this game, but I hate the game design choices in it. It just won't let me play the game I want to play it. I didn't invest further into the mods, and I can imagine console players being even more frustrated than I was, but I was one of the few who got this on (or close to) Day 1. I deserve not to be made frustrated. I believed in this developer, and for the most part they made a lot of things more fun. Just didn't really know what to do with all that fun, or how to deliver it. Can't say I'd be down for a Just Cause 3 if that's even being considered. I'd need to see some credibility first. Comprende`?

x. Gran Turismo 5 ; What a terrible game. What an awesome racer. This game was not worth the five year development cycle. It's still really great. I'm not even a big fan of racing games. But GT5 has a weird structure to it that sort of works for me. In the first 5hrs I pretty much get out what I'll get from the next 15. Just new cars and tracks. Given how slow the menu loaded when plugged into PSN, I haven't updated it and I have no plans to race online. Really nice looking, fun playing racer in my book

x. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West ; I'll always love Ninja Theory. They have a fine eye for in-game cinematics that lends itself towards spectacle. However, their gameplay is lacking more often than not. I don't want to say its their budget, given Sony seems to spare no expense with its 1st party releases. So I must conclude that the inability to produce lies directly with the team. Enslaved came close to being a serious GOTY candidate for me. It pulled me in right until the very end, and made me care about the characters on screen. It just had a difficult time making me care about what I was making them do most of the time. The connection was half made. The story completely fell apart in the last 10mins as well which didn't help at all. It made me hopeful for them to finally get that game that fires on all cylinders. This just wasn't it.
 
1. Mass Effect 2
2. Mega Man 10
3. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
4. Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
5. Shank
6. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game
7. And Yet It Moves
8. Super Street Fighter 4
9. Cave Story
10. God of War 3

x. Limbo
x. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
x. VVVVVV
x. Kirby's Epic Yarn
x. Red Dead Redemption
x. The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom
x. Halo: Reach

...helluva year for downloadables. =)
 
1. Super Mario Galaxy 2
2. Vanquish
3. Donkey Kong Country Returns
4. VVVVVV
5. Bayonetta
6. Super Meat Boy
7. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
8. Dance Central
9. Bit.Trip Runner
10. Bioshock 2


I hate that I haven't gotten to play several of the other great titles that came out this year, but I know that these ten games are awesome!
 

GhaleonQ

Member
Knux-Future said:
So when I play fighter normally it's the single player that keeps me entertained. BlazBlue's story mode is fun and zany enough to keep me entertained while slowly making me suck less.

*nods approvingly*
 

Adam Prime

hates soccer, is Mexican
1. Super Mario Galaxy 2 - The sheer creativity of this game is astounding. I can't remember how many times I just said "wow" aloud at my TV. One of the most creative games ever created.
2. God of War 3 - A visually mind blowing game for your eyeballs, it's without a doubt truly the pinnacle of console HD gaming.
3. Super Street Fighter 4 - They added more content into a game that I've already played more than 100 hours, and I still need to play more to get better!
4. Super Meat Boy - 2D platforming bliss, one of the most rewarding games I've ever played.
5. Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker - Amazing story and game mechanics that work so well on a PSP; the game is arguably the best in the entire series.
6. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit - Combines two of my most favorite racing games together, Burnout Paradise and Hot Pursuit (PSX), making it one of the funnest racing games ever.
7. Mega Man 10 - Keeping NES style 2D gaming alive, and it's one of the best Mega Man games in the series.
8. Final Fantasy XIII - The most enjoyable Final Fantasy game that I've played since IX on the PlayStation.
9. Alan Wake - A fun and interesting survival horror game that was just a few misses away from being one of my favorite games of all time.
10. Pac Man CE DX - They turned Pac Man into a fast twitch racing game with amazing music and visuals.



Games that I would probably add to my list had I actually played them:

9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors - It's on the game way from GameFly, everything that I have seen about this game makes me believe that I'm going to LOVE it.

Mass Effect 2 - Maybe I'll jump into this in 2011, but I couldn't handle another RPG this year

Red Dead Redemption - Only played it for about a half an hour, but couldn't get into the mechanics of the game. It played too much GTA for me (don't like the shooting or movement) but the story really interests me.

Assassins Cred Brotherhood - I loved the second one, but couldn't find time to do another long game like this in the same year that I finished the second game.

Civilization V - I want a gaming PC solely for this game, one day when I have a CPU operational enough to run this game, it's going to be the first thing I purchase.
 

Adam Prime

hates soccer, is Mexican
... Man looking through everyone's list the GOTY seems wide open. There seems to be no consistent #1 as you scroll through the pages. Very interested in seeing what will take it. My guess will probably be Red Dead Redemption, which will be the first GOTY that I didn't really enjoy that I can remember.
 
1. Halo: Reach - excellent story, with some touching moments and a fantastic ending; awesome campaign and firefight was great
2. Darksiders - sure it's a Zelda clone but it's a kickass Zelda clone
3. Just Cause 2 - awesome open world, the grapple and parachute mechanic made traversal so much fun
4. Singularity - linear sci-fi corridor shooters don't get any better than this; awesome multiple endings
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops - bots!
6. Hydro Thunder Hurricane - the return of the crazy and fun arcade racing game
7. Medal of Honor - excellent single player campaign, feels more like what being in combat might be like instead of what being in a Michael Bay movie might be like
8. Amnesia: The Dark Descent - scary as hell
9. Dead Rising 2: Case Zero - got me excited about the sequel and ended up being better than the full game
10. DJ Hero 2 - excellent sequel but would have rated higher if they hadn't taken out the ability to spam the airhorn during freestyle sample sections
 

brentech

Member
1. Gran Turismo 5 ; No game has me as excited to play it both on release day and well into the future as GT5. Feeling the weight of your car shift through a bend, the tires screaming as they maintain grip to the road, and trying to steer a 60s American muscle car has never felt so rewarding. The first few updates were early and fixed a lot of the basic complaints people had. The leveling curve is still weird, but it's a driving simulator and it's a damn good one.
2. Red Dead Redemption ; Unlike previous GTA games (which this game does give a lot of the same feelings, regardless of setting) I felt compelled to not only finish the game, but 100% it. The story is well spoken and while it has some typical ROCKSTAR madness, it is well spoken and delivers a heartfelt ending
(times 2)
. I didn't stay into the multi-player long, but for the most part - I never have been a big MP guy.
3. FIFA 11 ; After playing FIFA World Cup, I was sold on soccer again and felt the updates to the gameplay were worth purchasing 11 for. I wasn't wrong. The game is exciting and Clubs are supremely enjoyable. Steep learning curve (control-wise) for people getting back into the football genre, but it was well worth it.
4. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood ; AC2 improved the basic structure of AC. AC:Brotherhood simply added to Ezio's "todo" list. Not a bad thing though, the combat did evolve a bit from AC2 and as a whole - the game was enjoyable to complete (even if the credits roll for what felt like 30mins).
5. God of War 3 ;
6. Heavy Rain ;
7. Alan Wake ;
8. Mafia 2 ; A lot of the details are very reminiscent of ROCKSTAR games, but Mafia 2 does have some of its own takes and they did a good job with the world and time period.
9. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction ;
10. NCAA Football 11 ; Spent a lot of time sharing a 2 team online Dynasty mode with a friend. Lots of great moments within an improved engine and the added scouting from PC was much appreciated.

Heavy Rain and Alan Wake were both touted for the same reasons. And they both went a few steps too far with their stories. That said, both are great additions to the world of gaming and I'd like to see what both dev teams come up with next.
 

Acheteedo

Member
1. Mass Effect 2
2. Heavy Rain
3. Fallout: New Vegas
4. Red Dead Redemption
5. Halo: Reach
6. Alan Wake
7. Just Cause 2
8. Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening
9. Limbo
10. Minecraft
 

HolyCheck

I want a tag give me a tag
Adam Prime said:
... Man looking through everyone's list the GOTY seems wide open. There seems to be no consistent #1 as you scroll through the pages. Very interested in seeing what will take it. My guess will probably be Red Dead Redemption, which will be the first GOTY that I didn't really enjoy that I can remember.

Yup loving it, you'll see a handful of games alternating in the number one spots.. but then you'll just see them no where for the next dozen or so votes.
 

Haunted

Member
Adam Prime said:
... Man looking through everyone's list the GOTY seems wide open. There seems to be no consistent #1 as you scroll through the pages. Very interested in seeing what will take it. My guess will probably be Red Dead Redemption, which will be the first GOTY that I didn't really enjoy that I can remember.
I see two titles ahead of everything else, but there's a good variety in the lists overall, yeah.


It looks like GAF will choose a good GOTY this year.
 
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