I do realize it's horribly overdone to do a "top 10 games of *insert year here*," but I'm going to do it anyway. Frankly, 2010 was a pretty big year for gaming. Kinect and the Move opened the door to motion sensitive gaming for Microsoft and Sony respectively (though neither of which are on the list), and we experienced some amazing sequels as well as some brand new titles. We wanted to share what we think you should dash down to your store for, if you happen to find it missing from your collection.
Please note that this blog will be missing certain games, and if we could put more on, we would. Without further ado, here's our list counting down to what you should snap up to keep you preoccupied over the harsh winter (or summer if you live in the southern hemisphere like me).
10. Fable III
Platform(s): Xbox 360
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
I was a little reluctant to pick up
Fable III but I was pleasantly surprised when I did, to find that it had vastly improved upon the previous game. With new mechanics, improved online co-op, and a cast of amazing voice actors,
Fable III isn’t something you should miss. John Cleese, Simon Pegg, Stephen Fry and Ben Kingsley give this game the best voice acting I’ve heard in a long time.
Fable III is still fairly short, but there’s plenty of side-questing to be done. In addition, you eventually become King/Queen of the entire kingdom, which gives you a free pass to do whatever the hell you like. In the mood to murder civilians simply because they looked at you funny? Yeah, you can totally do that now, and your guards actually salute you.
Although the plot of
Fable III is fairly clichéd, the game is unique in the way that it gives you the freedom to either be the kind savior of Albion, or its cruel and destructive dictator. If you're up for a bit of adventuring, get your hands on a copy of
Fable III.
9. Alan Wake
Platform(s): Xbox 360
Developer: Remedy Entertainment
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
A psychological action thriller (it says that on the box),
Alan Wake is an interesting and unique third-person game. Once regarded as vaporware considering it's release date was constantly pushed back, Alan Wake took a total of five years to develop.
Alan Wake went through a ton of changes before finally being released last year. The end result was a story of a writer, Alan Wake, who goes to the fictional town of Bright Falls with his wife, Alice, for a vacation. Naturally, his wife goes missing and creepy things start to happen such as a book he can’t remember writing coming to life, and mysterious pages narrating what’s to come.
Alan Wake is a fairly short game, with about eight hours of playtime; you could breeze through it in a weekend, with 2 additional DLC packs lasting about an hour each. Is it worth investing in? Totally. If you’re a fan of Stephen King, Lost, or any sort of thriller story, you’re bound to love it.
Alan Wake plays out in episodes, with each “episode” ending on a cliffhanger.
It’s unknown when
Alan Wake 2 will be released, but it’s definitely worth purchasing
Alan Wake, and the add-ons, just in preparation. Trust me, there’s no way you’ll be able to play
Alan Wake 2 without having played the first game.
8. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Platform(s): PlayStation Portable
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is an absolutely fantastic PSP game, and an even better addition to the
Kingdom Hearts series. A prequel to the original
Kingdom Hearts,
Birth by Sleep explains the origins of several characters, and even builds up to
Kingdom Hearts 3, whenever Square finally decide to release it.
Admittedly, the story is pretty cliché. Wrap
Star Wars in a
Kingdom Hearts skin, and there you have
Birth by Sleep. However, the gameplay is excellent. The battle system has been vastly improved upon since the previous games in the series, and you effectively get 3 stories in 1. You play as Ven, Aqua, and Terra, each with a different fighting style, and while it's the same story overall, it's broken up into each players perspective. Once you've finished all three, you get a final chapter. Whether you've played the rest of the games in the series or not,
Birth by Sleep is still something you need to pick up if you have a PSP.
7. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
Platform(s): Nintendo Wii
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher(s): Marvelous Entertainment (JP), Ubisoft (NA), Rising Star Games (EU)
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is an odd, yet incredibly fun game. A sequel to
No More Heroes, of 2008,
Desperate Struggle refines the series by taking away freeroam and putting the focus on boss battles and side-jobs, while adding new combos and new weapons, as well as the ability to equip duel beam katanas. In addition, the ability to use a Wii Classic Controller was added, if you were like me and found the wiimote-and-nunchuk controls a little too fiddly.
Travis is back. A year after the events of
No More Heroes, Travis has fallen to Rank 51 in the UAA, and is dragged back into fighting when Skelter Helter - the brother of Helter Skelter whom Travis kills before the events of the previous game - attempts to exact revenge. I won't spoil anything, but certain events take place, which causes Travis to go on a murderous rampage across Santa Destroy. I feel that 2 is a little more transparent than the first game. With no freeroam, and a weaker story, it certainly won't have the same effect on you as the first title. If you can get an uncensored copy of the first game (aka. not PAL or Japanese), that would be the best way to get started. However, with heaps of blood, decapitations, crude humor, new moves and 8-bit mini-games for side-jobs,
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is a crazy and hilariously fun game that everyone (mature) with a Wii needs to pick up.
6. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game
Platform(s): Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network
Developer(s): Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Chengdu
Publisher(s): Ubisoft, Universal Studios
If you haven't read the
Scott Pilgrim graphic novels, do it now. What are you waiting for? Go buy them all, and read them. I'll wait here for you to do that, then you may read on. ... ... Okay, done? Good.
Scott Pilgrim is easily my favorite graphic novel series to date. In fact, it's even a part of my inspiration to actually move to Toronto this October. A film was spawned of the series, and while it was fantastic in its own right, it still couldn't match the graphic novels.
Scott Pilgrim vs, The World: The Game is along the same lines as the film. While it's absolutely fantastic, it does deviate slightly from the graphic novels and it's certainly not as good as reading the graphic novels. However, the game does retain the graphic novel art-style while providing an 8-bit retro-style arcade beat-'em-up with up to 4 players on the same screen at once. Sadly,
Scott Pilgrim doesn't actually have online play so while I can recommend it to everyone, I can only strongly recommend it to those who have local friends who are willing to play it with you. If you're jonesing for some more
Scott Pilgrim, then grab the game off the XBLA or PSN. Oh, and buy the graphic novels while you're at it, in case you hadn't already.
5. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Platform(s): Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Microsoft Windows
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Although
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is more of a gloried standalone DLC for
Assassin's Creed 2, it does it well. Really well. With a whole new area to play around in, Rome, the ability to ride horses throughout cities, a new concept to hire your own assassins for your "brotherhood," city development, and even multiplayer,
Brotherhood expands on its predecessor in every way. The story does continue on from
Assassin's Creed 2, so if you're attempting to keep up with the increasingly bizarre story, you're going to have to pick up
Brotherhood before the third game.
In fact, what I was most smitten by, was the multiplayer mode. Initially I expected a tacked-on, uninspired mode I'd touch once and never again. Boy, was I wrong. Multiplayer consists of various modes, with
Wanted being my personal favourite. Each player is dropped into a map filled with lookalikes, and no player has a name above their head. Instead, you're given a target to assassinate and a compass to lead you to them. Without actually knowing whether you are tailing an actual player, or an NPC lookalike, it's up to you to observe their movements and kill the right target - killing the wrong one causes you to lose your contract. However, you are also being stalked by another player at the same time, thus it turns into an interesting game of cat-and-mouse. It's certainly refreshing to play a multiplayer game that doesn't consist of running around shooting each other.
If you're already a fan of the
Assassin's Creed series, getting
Brotherhood would be a no-brainer. I'd recommend you play and finish
Assassin's Creed 2 before getting into
Brotherhood, if you haven't already. The story carries on from where the second game finished.
4. Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon
Platform(s): Nintendo Wii
Developer(s): Namco, tri-Crescendo
Publisher(s): Namco Bandai Games (JP), Xseed Games (NA), Rising Star Games (EU)
Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon is quite easily the saddest, loneliest, most emotional game I have ever played. I implore anyone to play it through, and not have teared up at least once throughout the game. In the opening scenes of the game, it's revealed that Seto, the 15-year-old protagonist, is now all alone in the world after his grandfather has passed away. The game takes place in the near future, where an apocalypse has happened and the world has become an abandoned, lonely, and desolate place. Seto appears to be the only human alive, and aside from spirits (malevolent and friendly), there is nothing but decaying ruins. Despite how it may appear,
Fragile Dreams is not a survival horror, instead it's a third-person action game with minor RPG elements and focuses heavily on drama.
Seto comes across a girl, Ren, who runs away and Seto gives chase, surprised to find another human. The game is spent searching for her again, while running into spirits who require help in order to move on.
Fragile Dreams is a beautiful story, with an excellent soundtrack and amazing gameplay. It has to be one of the most overlooked titles of last year, and I can't recommend it enough.
3. Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Platform(s): Microsoft Windows, Mac OSX, Linux
Developer: Frictional Games
Publisher: Frictional Games
Amnesia is hands-down the greatest survival horror of this generation. The gameplay itself is the pure definition of "survival horror." You're given no weapons, no means to defend yourself. All you can do is run, and hide. Looking at monsters and scary sights actually drive your character insane, and I do love insanity mechanics in games. Frictional Games are an indie developer who previously created the
Penumbra series.
Amnesia can be bought at a super cheap price, and it's well worth it - easily the same quality if not higher as most games being sold as retail.
Amnesia tells the story of Daniel, and English man who has amnesia, and wakes up in a 19th century castle and must traverse his way to Alexander while finding out exactly what's is going on and why the castle is slowly being taken over by darkness. Check out our
full review, and
interview with Thomas Grip. We'll definitely be reviewing any future games from Frictional Games.
2. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Platform(s): PlayStation Portable
Developer: Kojima Productions
Publisher: Konami
The latest in the incredible
Metal Gear Solid series,
Peace Walker is a big game in a small package. Kojima himself even mentioned that
Peace Walker is effectively
Metal Gear Solid 5, and that much is certain. The game is a direct sequel to
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, which is a sequel to
Metal Gear Solid 3, a prequel to the entire series.
Peace Walker continues the story of Big Boss, as he attempts to discover the truth behind why his old mentor, The Boss, defected and betrayed his country. In addition, Big Boss obtains an off-shore base which you expand upon while adding new soldiers to your army. Fans of the series will know that this is all leading to the events of
Metal Gear 1, as you are creating an army which goes on to found Outer Heaven, the nation Solid Snake infiltrates.
Peace Walker is packed with things to do. The storyline is a decent length, in addition there are plenty of side-missions including bonus
Monster Hunter missions where you actually fight a couple of monsters; although the stages are played with
Peace Walker controls, the monsters retain their
Monster Hunter mechanics. Gameplay-wise,
Peace Walker plays like a combination between
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence and even
MGS4. After
Portable Ops, the controls do take a little bit of time to get used to though. If you have a few friends with the game, you can even play cooperatively and trade soldiers. If you can, play
MGS3 before picking up
Peace Walker, so you'll understand the story a little better. Definitely one of the best PSP games out there.
1. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd
Platform(s): PlayStation Portable
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Number one on our list is a tad unfair, due to the fact that
Monster Hunter Portable 3rd hasn't actually been released outside of Japan. However, it belongs in the number one spot due to being an absolutely fantastic portable game, expanding greatly upon the series.
Portable 3rd even had lines of 3000 people queuing up for it on the first day of sale. Impressive.
Portable 3rd is effectively the sequel to
Monster Hunter Tri. However,
Tri lacked a lot of the weapons from the previous games in the series and only added one new one in. Fortunately,
Portable 3rd adds ALL the old weapons back in, with brand new mechanics and combos. All the old stages are back from
Tri, though swimming was removed so they've been revamped to fit, and a new area, "Mountain Stream," which fits the Japanese village aesthetic of your home base. More monsters have been included, including recolors of old ones. Admittedly, this is one of the easier entries in the game. Especially considering the nightmarishly challenging
Monster Hunter Freedom, and the more challenging G-Rank missions of
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. That said, After
Monster Hunter Hunter Portable 3rd has been released in the West as "Monster Hunter Freedom 3," we'll probably see a "G" version of it, with more difficult quests.
The game features up to 4-player co-operative quests, so naturally like the previous games, the more friends you have to play with you, the more fun it is. Do note that the game is purely offline, besides downloadable content. Unless of course, you use Xlink Kai on computer, or AdHoc Party on PlayStation 3. There's probably very little difference between the Japanese and English, so if you're impatient, you can just import this game. With the right guides, it's certainly not impossible to play. Or if you're like me, you've been playing the series for so long you know what certain things mean. No English release date has been announced as of yet, but expect to see it sometime this year. When we get the English version, we'll be reviewing it straight away. Keep tuned! In the meantime, watch out for this one. Easily the greatest PSP game to date.
Well, that's it for 2010, we hope the list helped you decide to purchase any games you may have missed from last year. Looks like there's a big year of gaming ahead of us; with the 3DS being released March 25, and more fantastic games coming out across the year, we'll be here to keep you guys updated!
"Fable 3 was not "vastly improved" from the previous games."
Opinions, bro. I found Fable II to be an utterly boring game, with easily one of the worst endings I have ever witnessed. Admittedly, I should have said "game," and not "games," seeing as Fable is probably still the best in the series, but I was one of the people who actually enjoyed Fable III from start to finish.