Best of 2010 Graphic Blog, Revised (and FINAL) Edition!

So, after crafting my list for the user GOTY listing, I decided to re-make this blog since as of this writing, I've actually gotten to played the last of what I wanted to play. Now that it's December 31st, 2010 and all of that stuff is out of the way, I can actually write a complete "Best Of" list. And I feel pretty good about it. 
 
Plus, it gives me another chance to do more graphics stuff. I LIKE DESIGNING THINGS OKAY.
 
So, without further ado, I give you my revised and FINAL Best of/Game of the Year 2010 list! 

 FUCKING FINAL EDITION I AM SORRY
  There is no better way to describe Halo: Reach other than it being the ultimate Halo game. The campaign is the best the series has had to offer since Halo: CE and the multiplayer offers more options and modes than you can shake a gravity hammer at. For fans of the Halo series, this is the peak we’ve all been waiting for. 
 
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   I didn’t think this would of ever ended up on my list but now that I’m something like 15 hours into it, I can’t let go of the fact that Gran Turismo 5 is just fun. It’s not without its flaws— which it has many. However, it remains the untoppled king of racing when it comes to actual driving and it’s that, alongside the inane variety of cars and events, that makes GT5 a game that I love going back to.  
 
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  Mass Effect 2 improved everything about the first game and it benefits to an enormous amount for it. ME2 is great from beginning to end and it continues to feature the best characterization of any game out there.

 However, I miss the more retro sci-fi tone of the first game. ME2's soundtrack is great but it's nowhere near how cool the first game's one was.

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  While I was incredibly excited to play Red Dead Redemption on its release, I couldn’t ignore my worry of hating the game thanks to the disappointmentfest that was Grand Theft Auto IV. And since it became very quickly apparent that RDR ran on the GTA IV engine, I was setting myself up kind of a big letdown. Thankfully, what I ended up playing through was a game with some of the greatest mission structure, best storytelling and best open-world that gaming has ever seen.

And what an ending, that game has. Wow.
 
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  Criterion did the impossible with Hot Pursuit, which was make me give a shit about Need for Speed again. It isn’t that there was a lack of faith, as I’ve loved all of Criterion’s games for years. No, it was a fear that they wouldn’t know what direction to go in with the spiritual successor to my favourite entry in the NFS franchise. Luckily, they took the right one. It’s fully back to the roots of Need for Speed with Hot Pursuit and I can’t stress how refreshing it is to see that. I sincerely hope Criterion can continue to work on the NFS series because, unlike Black Box, they very clearly know what the fuck they’re doing. 
 
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  Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is everything I could of ever asked for out of what already was the perfect sequel. It continues the captivatingly fun story that was featured in ACII, adds in gameplay additions that are incredibly meaningful to the franchise and actually managed to create multiplayer that isn’t total garbage. Stabbing dudes in the face and throwing money at peasants has never been so satisfying.  
 
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  I feel bad for not remembering that VVVVVV came out this year but now that I have, I’m more than happy to have it place highly on my list. VVVVVV is fun, challenging, inventive and retro-pretty for an incredibly low price— a price you should have no objection to paying. This is just about as good as indie games get. 
 
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   This is a super weird one. As of this writing, I’ve beaten Digital: A Love Story close to 24 hours ago and I had originally started playing it... close to 24 hours ago. It’s super short, as it took me about an hour to beat. That said, I’ve spent my waking hours thinking only about the game and I can’t seem to get it out of my head. It just won’t leave. It’s an hour-long text adventure set in a virtual OS and plays through a series of BBS windows and yet, it’s left more of an impact on me than most of the big-budget games I’ve played this year. I didn’t actually think that would of been the end result when I booted it up for the first time but here I am, typing this explanation for why it’s my third favourite game of the year. Whether it’s the irrelevant BBS posts that I loved reading, the plot that kept me crazy intrigued, the writing or the back-and-fourth messages with *Emilia that you never physically write... I don’t know what did it. I just don’t. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been through my share of internet-born love. Maybe not. Whatever it truly is that has kept *Emilia’s messages and the Lane City BBS screen in my head, no other game has done that this year and for a game that is completely free, that is something that deserves a special spot in my heart. 
 
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  3154 deaths. Just saying.
 
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  Even if this entire list has shifted, this one stays where it is. Alan Wake excelled at what I like most in gaming: atmosphere. It's atmosphere that draws me into the experience and keeps it's grasp on me. The weather effects, the music, the sound effects, the narrative, the story, the characters, the brilliant use of licensed music, the TV show format, the collectibles... It might of fallen a bit short with the combat and abrupt ending, but what Alan Wake does right, it does better than anything else this year.  

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And that's all she wrote for 2010! I'm going to go watch Batman: The Animated Series with my friends now. Nothing says "New Year" like Batman. In fact, nothing says anything like Batman.
 
I'll also throw in this note: had I thought a little more about this, Digital: A Love Story would of been my Game of the Year for 2010. I'm writing this to calm the heart that is throbbing inside me, beating incessantly because I keep feeling like the game belongs at the top of the list. It's marked me like no other game on this list has and no other game has literally kept me thinking about it for an entire day straight. Literally. Heck, I wish the game didn't end. That I could just forever connect to the 220-7683 BBS and just... ... this is getting weird. So I'll end it like this: Digital: A Love Story is my emotionally-attached game of the year. Realistically, Alan Wake is actually a game and accomplishes a lot more than Digital does, which is why I'll give it the actual title. Which I have no problem doing. I love both games on an fairly incredible, yet different, level.
 
Alright. Simply put: Alan Wake is my 2010 Game of the Year. Digital: A Love Story is just simple one of my favorite games, one more in a very small list.
 
And with that, I wish you all a happy new year! May 2010 fucking end already. You took away Satoshi Kon. May you please be forever in the past.
 
Cheers!