Hard to pick an overall GOTY, I can't think of a game that was close to flawless on nearly ever level. Best PC exclusive would probably have to Starcraft II of course, with Red Dead Redemption probably grabbing best non exclusive. I can't speak for the 360 since I don't own one but God of War III was probably the PS3 GOTY in my opinion.
It's hard to ignore Red Dead Redemption though, it was an amazing experience and the online was a huge step up from GTA4 so if I had to pick a perfect game from 2010 it would have to be that. God Of War III was great... but it was short and the re-playability is small.
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BethrynUnhappiness is MandatoryRegistered Userregular
edited December 2010
For me it was Metro 2033, by far and away. The atmosphere for the game was absolutely perfect, and none of the other elements of gameplay were bad.
Mass Effect 2 was pretty good, but didn't really create an atmosphere for the player the same way Metro did. Plus, there were a few really questionable design decisions in the combat.
Starcraft 2 was nicely polished, and the campaign missions themselves were great fun; a pity about the terrible lines.
Does Minecraft count for this year? It was first playable before that, and it's not technically finished yet, but the updates this year have been way more fun to play than pretty much any other game to me. Whenever it wasn't broken.
I'm really thinking about it, and I'm not sure I've actually played a game released in 2010 yet. I guess Dragon Age (or was that late 2009?) but it certainly doesn't deserve any awards.
Wait, will there be a GOTDecade in this year's poll too?
Fake Answer: Whatever wins 2010 GOTY is GOTD (so far).
Real Answer: Decades are generally grouped by their tens digit, not by the mathematically correct "a <time period> runs from xxx1-xxx0" that people bring up only to be smarmy. Which is to say, if someone really wants to bear through all that work to make a GOTD poll from 2001-2010, more power to them. I seriously doubt anyone will want to participate in another one, or that mcc would want to bother with running another one.
Stealing what I wrote up from the Christmas hangout GOTY thread:
I have a hard time choosing between Bayonetta and Red Dead for my GOTY. They both pretty much lived up to the expectations I had set.
With Bayonetta, it just got more and more ridiculous and over the top in its level designs and bosses. It does it all in this tongue in cheek manner that makes Bayonetta as charming as she is badass.
Red Dead Redemption is also a strong contender, but for almost completely different reasons to Bayonetta. Yeah, I enjoyed the moments of bombast and shoot outs, but it's actually some of the more low key elements on the journey that are memorable. Riding up over the hills as I reach Mexico with "So Far Away" slowly fading in was a really fantastic moment.
Vanquish
Mass Effect 2
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Yakuza 3
MGS: Peace Walker (Commuter buddy)
Dragon Quest IX (Commuter savior)
Biggest surprises of the year:
Batman Brave and The Bold: It's a realtively simple and short brawler, but it's a ton of fun. It also helps that the dialogue is just as amusing as the show itself. Who would've thought that we'd get two awesome Batman games in the span of a year?
Nier: With so many disparate gameplay elements, this should've been a complete mess, and to be honest it really doesn't succeed on all levels. But the way the story is told (and the way it ultimately ends) through multiple playthroughs is quite frankly head and shoulders above a lot of games. It also unfolds in a way that is really intrinsic to the medium. The music is fantastic as well.
Deadly Premonition: It's absolutely one of the quirkiest games I've ever played. Gameplay elements are completely busted and janky at times, but it's almost forgivable when you drive in the car and listen to York talk to Zach about Richard Donner films. This game is basically Shenmue and Twin Peaks' love child.
I have to say; I've yet to play Galaxy 2, but I'm almost sure that it would be a strong contender for GOTY as well.
Not going to copy my whole list over again, but basically Alpha protocol is GAME OF THE YEAR 20101!!!
and ME2 is the most overrated game of forever, even moreso than FF7.
And brink was the most anticipated game of the year
The post is a fantastic example of how incredibly out of touch people are.
Brink, the most anticipated game of the year in a year with two blizzard releases. I'm being lead to believe further and further that the trolling game of the year is Alpha Protocol and the trolling worst game is Mass Effect 2. Someone please explain why Mass effect 2 was worse than FFXIV or Metroid: Other M.
And this jumping to conclusions and knighting is exactly why I'm saying it's overated. At least ff7 fans can accept that people like another ff better, or maybe even *gasp* dragon quest. I'm saying that it was overrated, not bad. It's probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite shooter of the year. Heck, another contender for overrated game is starcaft 2, and I doubt any would argue about the craftsmanship of that. Talking about sc2, what was the other blizzard game?
Best of the year:
ME2 - 90%+ of the game was pure Bioware-flavored fun.
Supreme Commander 2 - The current evolution of my favorite RTS game. After all the post-launch support it's a great game. Also is relatively easy to learn.
Just Cause 2 - Incredible sandbox.
Halo: Reach - The best Halo yet.
COD: Black Ops - The amazingly fun COD formula, now with actual balance.
Honorable mentions:
Starcraft II - An awesome game that I have no desire to play due to its difficulty.
Rock Band 3 - I don't even personally own this game but it's great.
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EvilBadmanDO NOT TRUST THIS MANRegistered Userregular
Talking about sc2, what was the other blizzard game?
That little World of Warcraft expansion.
Also when you post goofy statements such as "[GAME] is the game of 203923#@$!" and "[GAME] is the most overrated of forever, even moreso than [OTHERGAME]" without any actual explanation, people will jump to whatever conclusions they want.
And this jumping to conclusions and knighting is exactly why I'm saying it's overated. At least ff7 fans can accept that people like another ff better, or maybe even *gasp* dragon quest. I'm saying that it was overrated, not bad. It's probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite shooter of the year. Heck, another contender for overrated game is starcaft 2, and I doubt any would argue about the craftsmanship of that. Talking about sc2, what was the other blizzard game?
you're saying a game is overrated because it's white-knighted when you're one of the shiniest knights in the AP thread? hahaha yeah ok
i would give another vote to Nier if only for the strength of its storytelling, and ME2 in general because it is just a great game on pretty much every level (and spoit's skin, it crawls), but for some reason it feels like i spent this year fingangling with older games rather than catching up on new releases
incidentally, wind waker is still great and also very pretty
There were some great games this year, but ultimately, it's going to be remembered as the year Starcraft II was released.
ME2 while great, just didn't seem so mind-blowing to me and neither does New Vegas which I'm currently playing. For me RPGs have to have a great story and an unusual environment/atmospher to be truly memorable (Arcanum, Morrowind, Planescape Torment), and this year's RPGs didn't do that, nor do I see others doing it next year (Dragon Age Origins 2).
There were some great games this year, but ultimately, it's going to be remembered as the year Starcraft II was released.
ME2 while great, just didn't seem so mind-blowing to me and neither does New Vegas which I'm currently playing. For me RPGs have to have a great story and an unusual environment/atmospher to be truly memorable (Arcanum, Morrowind, Planescape Torment), and this year's RPGs didn't do that, nor do I see others doing it next year (Dragon Age Origins 2).
Nier
you should probably play Nier
why aren't you playing Nier literally right this very second is just beyond me
ME2 was definitely my most disappointing game of the year.
minor ending spoilers:
First off, they went all Xenosaga 2 on it in that it didn't advance the story at all, just focused on the past of various characters. All but 2 of the characters had nothing to do with the story in the first place (and Garrus really doesn't have much importance either), so why am I supposed to care about their past? It was the second half of FF6 without the first half. The whole Shepard dies thing was poorly done as he dies and is back in action before you do a single thing. As for the gameplay, at this point I feel they just need to combine the classes or at least fuse several of them and have only two. The abilities they have are rather boring and there's so few of them that fighting down linear paths with a handful of guns and abilities over and over just gets repetitive. A game like Deus Ex creates variety by giving you several different ways of completing each task at every point in the game. There is just one way in Mass Effect so that variety needs to come from the guns/abilities. Their guns are still completely unimaginative as well. And the ending was absolutely horrible. It was as if it was designed for the sole purpose of putting bullet-points on the back of the box. Any character can die! However you won't see their death as we'll just pan by the corpse giving you know clue how they died and then we'll just show a group shot at the end of everyone looking sad. BAM! Best ending ever. Oh yeah, and then there was that big hand waving of the big choice from the first game done with some air quotes.
The one area they did vastly improve upon however, is the side quests. Then again, that was the entire game.
As for GotY? There were plenty of good games this year, but not of them wowed me with the likes of a Mirror's Edge and there are still plenty I have left to play. The thing I hate about GotY polls is they always come at the end of the year, but because I always wait for deals and such, many games that came out this year I'm just getting to (like Darksiders, Enslaved, Kirby, Ys, Bayonetta, etc.). I'd much rather have a 2010 poll in June or July of 2011.
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I agree that goty polls should really be done later, after the q1 games have a chnce to usurp the latest greatest wizz bang effect, though that doesn't seem to be as much of an issue this year as it usually is
FFX13 isn't even qualified to win the "RPG made by SquareEnix with a theme song by Leona Lewis Game of the Year". That game cannot be on any Top 10 lists unless it's regarding disappointment.
Mass Effect 2 on the other hand has a lot of people on their 3rd playthrough, and these are only the casual gamers. It's that good.
I'm going to say Pokemon: SoulSilver. A perfect remake of one of my favorite handheld games ever. It kept everything that made the original awesome while adding in tons of new content.
Runner up would be Mass Effect 2.
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
There were some great games this year, but ultimately, it's going to be remembered as the year Starcraft II was released.
ME2 while great, just didn't seem so mind-blowing to me and neither does New Vegas which I'm currently playing. For me RPGs have to have a great story and an unusual environment/atmospher to be truly memorable (Arcanum, Morrowind, Planescape Torment), and this year's RPGs didn't do that, nor do I see others doing it next year (Dragon Age Origins 2).
Nier
you should probably play Nier
why aren't you playing Nier literally right this very second is just beyond me
Not everyone will have the patience the game requires to truly get the most out of the story, sadly.
For all its faults and flaws, on its own and compared to its predecessor - and it does have them, contrary to the 90% of reviewers who insisted it was "basically perfection compared to the utterly broken first game (despite the fact we loved it at the time)" - after well over 100 hours of it, several different playthroughs with more to come, the first game I've got the 1000/1000 in 'cheevos, and so many more things I could say...
Mass Effect 2 is not only my GOTY, but also my entire list for 2010 GOTY. And absolutely one of my very favorite games of all time.
And it still would be even without the Tali romance, FYI. ;-)
Fuck, this isn't an easy one. Anyone who says this was a weak year for gaming is wrong, Picking even a selection out of this year is hard for me.
Red Dead Redemption takes my top spot, for the year. It simply ticks all the boxes, that are important to me to make a good game. I could honestly write pages about how much I like it. From the believable characters and fantastic story, to the incredible atmosphere of the game. On top of the masterpiece of a campaign, you can also ride in a posse with friends and get up to no good.
Picking between this or Mass Effect 2, was insanely hard though. I'd almost be ready to call it a tie infact, but that just wouldn't be fun for this thread. My gut reaction just picked Red Dead. Mass Effect 2 is a game I could complete many more times, but Red Dead just left a stronger impression on me I think.
Runner ups 2-10 (In Order)
Mass Effect 2
Alan Wake
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow
Halo Reach
Metro 2033
Heavy Rain
God Of War III
Dead Rising 2
I'm incredibly fickle. I wouldn't be surprised if it's quite a different list, by the time the poll comes around. But for now, it looks right to me.
Absolutely agreed, it was a great year. But that's been able to be said of so many years in succession now. I've heard it said - and I agree with it - that there are just too many damn games coming out these days, and it's almost tragic how many of them are good ones. But really, that's a nice (first-world, if you will) problem to have.
After six hours or so, I gave up on Red Dead. Wasn't really doing much for me.
I freely admit this may mean I am broken.
Not broken, no. Just... well... dead inside.
And I just can't understand all the hate for FF13. Very streamlined RPG experience that still manages to have deep and challenging battles, a great level-up system that made me actually sit and think about what roles I want the characters to play, and characters that weren't Vaan.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Donkey Kong Country Returns were definitely the highlights for me this year. Both were incredibly fun, not to mention great challenges.
I just got gifted Super Meat Boy and I can say that it will probably NOT be one of my GOTY contenders. Yes, I admit I am terrible and that I should probably buy a wired Xbox controller.
I was going to make a huge ME2 post, but Rakai said most of what I have to say.
I didn't play many games in 2010, so ME2 would be my game of the year. But it was by no means good; it took one of my favorite games of all times and boiled it down into a really bland third-person shooter while completely removing any forward action in the plot. ME2 was ME1 minus gameplay depth, minus story depth.
The overall scripting was better though, there were more quests and they were more unique in execution, which led to a longer game. It's just a shame that most of those quests boiled down to a slow, gears-of-war-lite corridor crawl in the end.
I should probably play Metro 2033, Just Cause 2, New Vegas, and Alpha Protocol. Also, I'd love to play Red Dead, but it never got a PC port, so I hope someday that happens.
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It's hard to ignore Red Dead Redemption though, it was an amazing experience and the online was a huge step up from GTA4 so if I had to pick a perfect game from 2010 it would have to be that. God Of War III was great... but it was short and the re-playability is small.
Mass Effect 2 was pretty good, but didn't really create an atmosphere for the player the same way Metro did. Plus, there were a few really questionable design decisions in the combat.
Starcraft 2 was nicely polished, and the campaign missions themselves were great fun; a pity about the terrible lines.
Why is someone in here trashing Metroid Other M
Plot aside, it's fantastic
Steam: pandas_gota_gun
If we're throwing re-releases in, then Batman: Arkham Asylum wins again
Great job, Rocksteady
Remake.
Still feels ancient
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What the hell are you waiting for, man
Upgraded port != Remake.
Fake Answer: Whatever wins 2010 GOTY is GOTD (so far).
Real Answer: Decades are generally grouped by their tens digit, not by the mathematically correct "a <time period> runs from xxx1-xxx0" that people bring up only to be smarmy. Which is to say, if someone really wants to bear through all that work to make a GOTD poll from 2001-2010, more power to them. I seriously doubt anyone will want to participate in another one, or that mcc would want to bother with running another one.
I have a hard time choosing between Bayonetta and Red Dead for my GOTY. They both pretty much lived up to the expectations I had set.
With Bayonetta, it just got more and more ridiculous and over the top in its level designs and bosses. It does it all in this tongue in cheek manner that makes Bayonetta as charming as she is badass.
Red Dead Redemption is also a strong contender, but for almost completely different reasons to Bayonetta. Yeah, I enjoyed the moments of bombast and shoot outs, but it's actually some of the more low key elements on the journey that are memorable. Riding up over the hills as I reach Mexico with "So Far Away" slowly fading in was a really fantastic moment.
Welcome to Mexico:
Honorable mentions:
Vanquish
Mass Effect 2
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Yakuza 3
MGS: Peace Walker (Commuter buddy)
Dragon Quest IX (Commuter savior)
Biggest surprises of the year:
Batman Brave and The Bold: It's a realtively simple and short brawler, but it's a ton of fun. It also helps that the dialogue is just as amusing as the show itself. Who would've thought that we'd get two awesome Batman games in the span of a year?
Nier: With so many disparate gameplay elements, this should've been a complete mess, and to be honest it really doesn't succeed on all levels. But the way the story is told (and the way it ultimately ends) through multiple playthroughs is quite frankly head and shoulders above a lot of games. It also unfolds in a way that is really intrinsic to the medium. The music is fantastic as well.
Deadly Premonition: It's absolutely one of the quirkiest games I've ever played. Gameplay elements are completely busted and janky at times, but it's almost forgivable when you drive in the car and listen to York talk to Zach about Richard Donner films. This game is basically Shenmue and Twin Peaks' love child.
I have to say; I've yet to play Galaxy 2, but I'm almost sure that it would be a strong contender for GOTY as well.
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And this jumping to conclusions and knighting is exactly why I'm saying it's overated. At least ff7 fans can accept that people like another ff better, or maybe even *gasp* dragon quest. I'm saying that it was overrated, not bad. It's probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite shooter of the year. Heck, another contender for overrated game is starcaft 2, and I doubt any would argue about the craftsmanship of that. Talking about sc2, what was the other blizzard game?
And I've beaten ME1 three times already O.o
and starcraft 2 is game of the year
ME2 - 90%+ of the game was pure Bioware-flavored fun.
Supreme Commander 2 - The current evolution of my favorite RTS game. After all the post-launch support it's a great game. Also is relatively easy to learn.
Just Cause 2 - Incredible sandbox.
Halo: Reach - The best Halo yet.
COD: Black Ops - The amazingly fun COD formula, now with actual balance.
Honorable mentions:
Starcraft II - An awesome game that I have no desire to play due to its difficulty.
Rock Band 3 - I don't even personally own this game but it's great.
That little World of Warcraft expansion.
Also when you post goofy statements such as "[GAME] is the game of 203923#@$!" and "[GAME] is the most overrated of forever, even moreso than [OTHERGAME]" without any actual explanation, people will jump to whatever conclusions they want.
you're saying a game is overrated because it's white-knighted when you're one of the shiniest knights in the AP thread? hahaha yeah ok
i would give another vote to Nier if only for the strength of its storytelling, and ME2 in general because it is just a great game on pretty much every level (and spoit's skin, it crawls), but for some reason it feels like i spent this year fingangling with older games rather than catching up on new releases
incidentally, wind waker is still great and also very pretty
ME2 while great, just didn't seem so mind-blowing to me and neither does New Vegas which I'm currently playing. For me RPGs have to have a great story and an unusual environment/atmospher to be truly memorable (Arcanum, Morrowind, Planescape Torment), and this year's RPGs didn't do that, nor do I see others doing it next year (Dragon Age Origins 2).
Nier
you should probably play Nier
why aren't you playing Nier literally right this very second is just beyond me
minor ending spoilers:
The one area they did vastly improve upon however, is the side quests. Then again, that was the entire game.
As for GotY? There were plenty of good games this year, but not of them wowed me with the likes of a Mirror's Edge and there are still plenty I have left to play. The thing I hate about GotY polls is they always come at the end of the year, but because I always wait for deals and such, many games that came out this year I'm just getting to (like Darksiders, Enslaved, Kirby, Ys, Bayonetta, etc.). I'd much rather have a 2010 poll in June or July of 2011.
Mass Effect 2 on the other hand has a lot of people on their 3rd playthrough, and these are only the casual gamers. It's that good.
______________________
battlerep on STEAM.
Runner up would be Mass Effect 2.
Not everyone will have the patience the game requires to truly get the most out of the story, sadly.
Mass Effect 2 is not only my GOTY, but also my entire list for 2010 GOTY. And absolutely one of my very favorite games of all time.
Steam | XBL
Red Dead Redemption takes my top spot, for the year. It simply ticks all the boxes, that are important to me to make a good game. I could honestly write pages about how much I like it. From the believable characters and fantastic story, to the incredible atmosphere of the game. On top of the masterpiece of a campaign, you can also ride in a posse with friends and get up to no good.
Picking between this or Mass Effect 2, was insanely hard though. I'd almost be ready to call it a tie infact, but that just wouldn't be fun for this thread. My gut reaction just picked Red Dead. Mass Effect 2 is a game I could complete many more times, but Red Dead just left a stronger impression on me I think.
Runner ups 2-10 (In Order)
Mass Effect 2
Alan Wake
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow
Halo Reach
Metro 2033
Heavy Rain
God Of War III
Dead Rising 2
I'm incredibly fickle. I wouldn't be surprised if it's quite a different list, by the time the poll comes around. But for now, it looks right to me.
PSN:Hakira__
Steam | XBL
My anti MMO of the year is FFXIV.
My runner up for anti game of the year is Front Mission: Evolved.
Square needs to get it's shit together. NOW.
I freely admit this may mean I am broken.
Steam | XBL
Not broken, no. Just... well... dead inside.
And I just can't understand all the hate for FF13. Very streamlined RPG experience that still manages to have deep and challenging battles, a great level-up system that made me actually sit and think about what roles I want the characters to play, and characters that weren't Vaan.
All around great, in my opinion.
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That too.
Steam | XBL
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I didn't play many games in 2010, so ME2 would be my game of the year. But it was by no means good; it took one of my favorite games of all times and boiled it down into a really bland third-person shooter while completely removing any forward action in the plot. ME2 was ME1 minus gameplay depth, minus story depth.
The overall scripting was better though, there were more quests and they were more unique in execution, which led to a longer game. It's just a shame that most of those quests boiled down to a slow, gears-of-war-lite corridor crawl in the end.
I should probably play Metro 2033, Just Cause 2, New Vegas, and Alpha Protocol. Also, I'd love to play Red Dead, but it never got a PC port, so I hope someday that happens.