lost in games

This is my Top 10 list of 2010.

Although it wasn’t a particularly great year for videogames for me there still were a lot of good titles. Many of the games in my Top 10 are downloadable ones which shows the trend of a decreasing amount of time available to play games.

The highlighted games were released in 2010.

1. Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)

A strategy RPG that largely went unnoticed in 2008 but i finally made the time to play it this year. It proved to be the best game i played in 2010. I loved the brilliant combination of real-time and turn based combat and a great variety of scenarios to enjoy it in. Some battles were large in scale while in others only one character was used to give the player the background stories of the main characters.

Along with the great combat system, came a very satisfying levelling mechanic and the upgrading of equipment using R&D. Gorgeous graphics and artwork, a relatively satisfying story and some interesting characters kept the game’s quality very high throughout its duration.

2. Heavy Rain (PS3)

In my opinion, one of the most important games of recent times and it’s one of the most thought provoking (in terms of what videogames are about) i have ever played.

Why do we play games? What is a game? These are some of the questions that Heavy Rain raised. I have not yet decided whether or not Heavy Rain is actually a game because i am not sure there is not enough gameplay to warrant it. However, since it has managed to make me think as few games do it deserves a lot of praise.

3. Bayonetta (360)

I am not a fan of the genre, but Bayonetta stands tall above the rest of the competition. Even Ninja Gaiden has to take 2nd place when compared to Bayonetta. Pure gameplay joy.

4. Toy Soldiers (XBLA)

The best tower defense game i have ever played which brought back a lot of childhood memories. Me and my toy soldiers….

5. Nier (360)

I really don’t understand why big budget RPGs like Mass Effect 2 get all the love from critics and gamers while this sleeper was given the low scores it received. The most underrated game of 2010 in my opinion. A fantastic cast of characters, superb voice acting and an interesting story. It tries to do some new things in terms of gameplay mixing up shooting, platforming, real-time RPG. Some more successfully than others but it felt fresh. Oh yes, and what a soundtrack it has.

6. Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (DS)

Addictive as hell, this is now in my Top 5 DS games

7. Halo 3: Reach

It’s just Halo. Just a bloody great one at that.  Halo, is probably the last high profile FPS which does not have a tighly scripted single player campaign. Instead Bungie’s single player combat feels very “organic” where every time you entered into a fight there was almost always something new. Reach was a wonderful end for Bungie and it’s in my top 3 Halos (Halo: Combat Evolved, ODST the other two).

8. Persona 3 (PS2)

It took me 110hrs to complete, frustrating and full of grinding. If i was 15 years younger i might have loved it. Now, i just appreciate it and glad it’s over.

9. Limbo (XBLA)

A game with no tutorial and yet so natural to get into. Marvelous art style, especially the first 1/3 of the game. It loses some of its appeal later on but still managed to be great.

10. Lara Croft: Guardian of Light (XBLA)

The best co-op game of the year.

Other games of note:

The Misadventures of P.B Winterbottom (XBLA) - I was not as good as Braid but it was still excellent.  It just missed the Top 10 list.

Vanquish (360) - very good game but not as good as i wanted/expected it to be.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (360) - in terms of gameplay it’s just very average. But the voice acting, facial animations and chemistry of the two central characters set a new benchmark for videogames. If only the last 2/3 of the game was as solid as the first one it would definitely have made m Top 10 list

Biggest disappointment:

Splinter Cell: Conviction (360) i was a big fan of the Splinter Cell series but Ubisoft has taken it to a much more action oriented direction and it’s all the worse for it. It has lost its personality and identity.

Another good year for games has come to an end. Some people would say that this one was even better than the last, but i am not one of them. Still, in a year that saw the release of GTA IV, LittleBigPlanet, Fallout 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, Left 4 Dead, Fable II, Far Cry 2, Lost Odyssey, Valkyria Chronicles and so many, many more excellent games how can one complain.

Yet, my game of the year is not among the afforementioned. My personal choice Game of the Year 2008 is Braid on XBLA, one of the best puzzle/platform games i have ever played. A game that had caused me to curse so much and yet was so satisfying to play. I enjoyed every minute of it.

It’s ironic that almost a year ago i blogged about how XBLA, WiiWare and PSN were irrelevant to my gaming. That was a major error of judgement and i am glad i was proven wrong. Downloadable games from these services have provided me with some of the most memorable gaming experiences in 2008. Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 would probably feature in my 2008 top 5 list, if i had one, and Lost Winds together with Wold of Goo on WiiWare are two more must play games.

There are more to come, i am sure of it.. Now i have no more doubts.

What a year! One of the very best i can remember.

I could start by explaining what my decision criteria were for the titles nominated to be game of the year. I have to actually have played and finished the game. So although Super Mario Galaxy, Uncharted and Bioshock must be great games there are not on my nominees list as i have not played them.

Basically my game of the year 2007 is not based on release dates but on played and finished date and here are my top three games for the year 2007:

1. Okami (PS2) - A game that i enjoyed and loved a lot more that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It simply stole my heart.

2. Call of Duty 4 (360)

3. Jeanne D’Arc (PSP)

There are many more that could have made it on the list like Farhenheit, SW:KOTR, Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, Colin McRae: Dirt, and of course Portal.

Okami has shown me that we have a reason to go back and play titles on the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube. Maybe when we play Super Mario Galaxy in 2-3 years time we can really appreciate what a great game that was for its time.

Don’t give up on older games!