Another year down and it was a good one for gaming! What better way to send off the old year than to pit all the games released in 2010 against each other in a savage showdown for Tengou's Best Game of the Year? Me and an esteemed panel of judges have selected what is in our opinion the best games of 2010. We have broken the contenders down into five categories each with its own winner. Those categories are Best Single Player in a game, Best Recreational Multiplayer, Best Competitive Multiplayer, Biggest Letdown, and Best Game of 2010. So without further adue lets begin:
BEST SINGLE PLAYER GAME OF 2010
Our pick for best single player game was an obvious choice. Mass Effect 2 by Bioware takes the cake for exceptional game play and story. I'm a huge sucker for stories. The open world game play of Mass Effect 2 and the myriad of choices the player can make that affect the outcome of the game (as well as the choices they made in the first Mass Effect though the character transfer) create a re-playability that other games just don't have. Throw in a stunning looking universe and a soundtrack that doesn't wear thin after a few minutes of game play and a winner is born. The runner up for Best Single Player Game is Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep by Square Enix. As with all Kingdom Hearts games the story and game play is awesome but what holds this title back is how short the awesome story lines are. This as well as low re-playability value keep Birth by Sleep from nabbing the top spot.BEST RECREATIONAL GAME OF 2010
Now let's start by defining what we consider to be a recreational multiplayer game. In our eyes these should be A) playable by all ages B) Fun to play and C) played in the same room as the other players. These are specific qualifiers that separate a few games from the crowd and in our opinion no one suits these needs more than Kinect Sports by Rare. This game is fun for every one, even those who are just watching, and it really caters to all age groups. Sure Wii Sports did it first but the Kinect brings a level of immersion the Wii doesn't have by controlling the avatar with your body. Also, Kinect Sports has a variety of games that are different to break up game play and keep it fresh so that you don't get tired of playing the same sports over and over again. The runner up for the Best Recreational Multiplayer Game is Harmonix' Rock Band 3. This game is the best out of the entire series with improved player customization and the ability to import your song tracks from Rock Band 1 and 2 for a huge play list. The only problem with rock band is that by now it gets old very fast to strum on a plastic guitar if you've played the other Rock Bands extensively. Kinect Sports' fresh take and innovative ideas is what pushed it to top spot.
BEST COMPETITIVE MULTIPLAYER GAME
Best Multiplayer Game has to go to a game that is competitive and keeps players interested even though there are other games releasing that could distract them. This year we consider Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops to be a game that does just that. There is no denying how competitive this game is or how many players around the world have dedicated themselves to mastering the prestige levels and acquiring their preferred gear. Black Ops gives a adrenaline pumping multiplayer experience every game by having balanced maps that allow success for any type of player and a variety of customizable weapons that the series has never seen before. The game play is so good that what holds this game back for a Game of the Year spot is its ridiculous single player. It just tries to hard and anyone who says otherwise is in denial. Runner up for best multiplayer is Blur by Bizarre Creations. This 'grown up Mario Cart' is actually a lot of fun to play with other people. What holds it back is its game play that is in slight need of tweeking and the fact that it never really caught on like it should have.
Coming in as the biggest let down of 2010 is Vigil Games' Darksiders. I was so pumped for this game but when I got into it, it really struggled to keep my interest. Instead I opted out to play Dante's Inferno. The game was nothing special and was over all mediocre for such an interesting concept. This game just flopped over and died in my eyes. Runner up for Biggest Letdown is Dead Rising 2 by Capcom. I thought that this game was going to be a vast improvement on the first game but it turned out to be basically the same thing. The A.I. is dumb, the escort missions drive me up the wall, and it gets tiresome fighting the same 20 odd looking zombies.BEST GAME OF 2010
Here it is! The big deal! Best game of 2010! We have picked out a first, second, and third place game for your consideration. These games here are ones that stood out for us as extremely well rounded and had it made in every aspect we could think of, or mostly. So here is our third place winner: Halo: Reach! This game was fun to play, it has good multi player, and it has a good story line even if it is riddled with inconsistencies from already existing cannon. As expected Bungie did an amazing job and didn't disappoint their fans. Reach has a single player campaign that keeps us entertained so that we aren't tired of going back and playing it again several times. The multiplayer is also top notch and improves on the Halo 3 multiplayer which was already excellent. The game also has an improved Forge mode that let you create your own maps and game types to share with your friends and people around the world. Overall this game has an awesome play experience and truly deserves to be one of the best games of this year.
Our second place pick for Best game is Bioshock 2 created by 2K. This game wins second for its incredible story and immersion. You know its a good game when you forget you are playing a game while playing. Bioshock does this so well with its underwater environments and driving story line. The game is a worthy sequel to the first Bioshock and should be praised for its ability to recreate the experience of the first Bioshock. The multiplayer in this game is also exceptional as it is also story driven. The player is a test subject for plasmids during the fall of rapture and the unique weapons and plasmids that the player can wield makes for a very fun game experience.All of Bioshock 2's aspects combined create a very good game and worthy of second place for Best Game of 2010.
Now for what yourve' all been reading for: our first place winner. This game obviously has to stand above all others, emerging from the pile of dust and broken bones as our battle tested hero. This game can be non other than Rockstar's Read Dead Redemption. Red Dead has it all from immersing single player, to a sand box free roaming multiplayer mode, to a awesome soundtrack to back both up. I've actually been waiting for a good western game for a while now and my dreams have finally come true in the form of Red Dead Redemption. What makes this game immediately noticeable is its beautiful scenery and the characters that are all unique. The game is great in that it allows you to pick up the main story line whenever you want and in between story missions you can do pretty much whatever your heart desires from gambling to ranching to hunting game. I enjoyed the multiplayer as much as the single player while roaming the same huge open map with people I know. Whats really fun is when your gang shoot it out with another gang in a town while all authorities are trying to catch you both. Another thing that Red Dead has going for it that a lot of games tend to fail at is perfect voice acting. We thoroughly enjoyed this game and it takes our number one spot for Best Game of 2010!
Happy New Years Everyone!
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