by berjiwhir
Showing 1-10 of 10 items
The overall best game I played all year, by a fairly large margin. It boasts an amazing setting, deep fiction, well-developed characters, and a malleable conclusion, all while forwarding a complex sci-fi narrative. Amazing stuff.
As usual, Rockstar brings great characters, writing, and voice acting to an expansive open world. The only thing that kept it from taking my top spot is its bloated middle section and its unwillingness stray from the narratively problematic errand-boy structure of previous Rockstar efforts.
Likely the game I'll spend the most time with this year, hour for hour. The multiplayer fixes many of the frustrating balance problems of Modern Warfare 2 while adding a suite of interesting new features and gameplay modes. It also delivers the most narratively interesting single player experience I've played in the series.
Reach surprised me with its epic scale campaign, its amazing final segments, and its elegant incorporation of story elements that have been in play since the orignal Halo on Xbox. Black Ops is still my top pick for online multiplayer, but Reach is certainly a top contender in that arena. Plus, sometimes you just want a Needler and some Plasma grenades.
Bioshock 2 is not the groundbreaking experience that its predecessor was, but it does live up to the atmospheric aesthetic of the original while adding smoother combat and a decent (albeit shallow and somewhat contrived) narrative. For me, it was enough to be back in Rapture. Just don't set Bioshock 3 there. Please.
At the time of this writing I'm still playing through Brotherhood, but seems to build upon the gameplay systems of 'Assassin's Creed II' in some really creative ways. The graphics are crisper, the city is larger, and the multiplayer is surprisingly tense and fun.
Galaxy 2 is, more or less, distilled glee in disc form. During my time with it, I was awed by the creativity of the level design, the quality of the art design, the responsiveness of the controls, and the overall sense of pure Nintendo fun the game evokes.
This was my first Street Fighter game, but my memories of playing with this a group of friends over Xbox Live, them giving me pointers on how to utilize various characters, and actually getting a few victories in are some of my very favorite of 2010.
New Vegas is more content cast from the Fallout 3 mold. The writing seems lighter, the world is massive as ever, and the fact that you're a simple courier rather than some savior Vault-dweller gives this game a more organic feel. Plus, the Kings are awesome.
The very best baseball game on the market. The presentation is unmatched, the character models are painstakingly rendered, and Target Field looks awesome. Also, Joe Mauer's sideburns.
