I have a tendency to do this, mostly for shits and giggles: A topic in which we look back at all the games that have come out over the course of the previous year (I did one for
2009 and
2008).
And there were quite a bit that came out this year worth noting, so I thought I might send a few of us on a trip down memory lane - from games released really recently, to those we were fondly enjoying a few months ago... and maybe getting pissed off at.
Feel free to respond with your own comments, your own memories, the games you played that
came out this year, your 'best of's, etc etc! If you feel like this is TL;DR, then just scroll down to the bottom for 'best of's.
And now, in alphabetical order...
1.
3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3; May)
An absolutely gorgeous adventure that put modern class on top of old 'pixel' styling to create a unique 3D look. It then wanted to be an old-school Zelda game, which is fine - but I very quickly realised the game didn't seem to want to be much more than that. It pretty much seems to rely on the zelda formula and a sense of nostalgia and really doesn't bring much new to the table. Don't get me wrong, it's still kind of fun - but it feels like so much more could've been done to make the game unique beyond just the visuals.
2.
Ace Attourney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS; February)
The fifth in the Ace Attourney series and possibly one of the greatest. The formula was changed up just enough to keep the gameplay interesting, but more than that was an awesome story and great writing throwing some of the most incredible twists and stubborn opponents ever at you. Although there were a few who had worries about it at first, it still feels exactly like an AA game, right down to all the things people loved about it.
3.
Archon Classic (PC; April)
A remake of the classic Chess/Action hybrid, the old battle of Light vs Dark, is a nice refresher to the original. It's not the highest quality - the music's a little unfortunate, for one, and online multiplayer still has yet to be implemented (although it was apparently promised). If it had online multiplayer it would possibly be an instant classic, but then again, it still gives enough fun times. I don't think this'll really appeal to any newer gamers; but gamers with fond memories of the old ones will find this to be a really good update.
4.
Bayonetta (PS3, 360; January)
The creator of the original Devil May Cry finally gives his hand at the precise stylings of it and might have created the greatest action title of the year. Over the top ridiculous and difficult while still being simple enough in theory, with each showdown feeling action-packed and every cutscene pushing the limits, the game was an absolute thrillride. And whether you think they were pushing Bayonetta's feminine assets a little hard in marketing and getting people's attention, it's hard to deny that she is an incredibly kick-ass girl in her own right and easily an equal for Dante. Long story short, this game was and remains a blast.
5.
Bob Came In Pieces (PC; January)
A somewhat charming, simple little game about a broken spaceship, it doesn't do a whole lot unusual. It does some fun stuff and requires you to really put in some thought while being relaxing, but it's honestly nothing spectacular nor anything terrible.
6.
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift (PS3, 360; July)
The sequal to one of last year's big name fighters that wasn't named Street Fighter, I hardly expected a sequal to add as much as this one did. Even though the cast is only altered in a couple small ways, the game continued to add extremely unique characters (Now that the DLC cast is out, the total roster has increased by about half, none of which play like former characters). More than that, the continuing story was worth it almost by itself, because it was still thuroughly engaging and brought with it a bunch of shocking moments. Upgraded netcode and other little tweaks made this one a great successor to Calamity Trigger.
7.
Chime (PC; September)
A for-charity-created puzzle game, it's a Lumines-esque puzzle game that uses the game's music as an actual mechanic in the gameplay, and the results of the gameplay in return influence the music. It's a lot of fun, honestly! The only catch is that there's only about six stages in total for the game - if there was more content, this game could be excellent. As it is, it's only really fun in short bursts.
8.
ClaDun: This Is An RPG (PSP; September)
An action/dungeon-crawler hybrid designed by NIS of Disgaea fame, this retro-styled game with lots of promised customization and lots of unique little aspects none the less turned out to become more disappointing the farther you got. So many things could have been done much better on the customization front, and the 'retro styled' graphics quickly become eye-granting when you realise they couldn't decide between 8-bit, 16-bit, and occasionally 32-bit or higher for their visuals, and the clash really becomes distracting. There's a sequal in the works though, which looks to add a lot of additional features and extra content, that you should probably wait for if you haven't gotten this one yet. You won't be missing much.
9.
Darksiders (PS3, 360; January / PC; October)
The unfortunate other action game released simultaneously to Bayonetta and ignited a firestorm, the two are actually very different in practice - Darksiders plays more like a 3D Legend of Zelda game, to be honest. A Zelda-clone with more action, more dungeon exploration, and more dark-and-gritty-and-bloody; but especially after seeing the Boomerang in action I couldn't shake the feeling that it was drawing a lot from it. Either way, it's not a terrible game. Of what I got to play, it never really wowed me at all - but it's still good enough.
10.
Double Spoiler: Touhou Bunkachou (PC; March; Japan-Only)
The 12.5th game in the Touhou series threw everyone for a loop when it got announced, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. The sequal to 'Shoot the Bullet', it's one part bullet hell and one part puzzle game. Unlike Double Spoiler though, the 'puzzle' aspect seems to be much greater in this game - you'll have to not just find the openings to snap the photos of bullets, but you'll have to find those openings in a way that will let you save your own ass from the hail of bullets coming at you simultaneously. It's a lot of fun, if really difficult.
11.
Etrian Odyssey III: the Drowned City (DS; September)
The third entry of the series that brought dungeon crawlers back onto the map of gamers is no slouch in its own right. Bigger floors with all sorts of new tricks, more complex maps than ever (with a better mapping system to handle it), and all sorts of new challenges would be more than enough - but rebalanced classes and a subclassing system, and the huge set of sea quests and bonus bosses, plus the series' first multiple endings and new game + options made this by far the biggest EO game to date and the most amazing.
12.
Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, 360; March)
Continuing the FF tradition of doing things different, XIII threw everything we thought we knew about RPGs on its head. The story was character-driven as opposed to plot-driven; 'extraneous' aspects like towns and most exploration were cut out; a different levelling system with caps changing throughout the game forced us to become strategic; an action battle system that puts the player more in an 'overseer' role than one of direct control... it's no surprise this game is so divisive to the community. About the only thing you can't take two sides on for this game is its absolute breathtaking visuals. With that said though, if you happen to be able to enjoy FFXIII, you were in for an absolute treat - but if things just didn't click with you, this might've been one of the biggest letdowns of the year. I'm very happy I fall into the former group and was able to enjoy it immensely.
13.
Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii; March)
Without a doubt one of the most powerful stories I have ever seen. This genre-defying mix of light horror, adventure, action, and RPG is ultimately none of those, but is instead a vessel to tell a gorgeous story about the nature of loneliness and the many connections we make with other people, with a quiet maturity about it that will bring tears to your eyes more than once over the course of the story. There are extremely few games I can say are powerful enough to really change the way you think and make an impact on your real life - and this is one of them.
14.
Gensou Shoujo Taisen: Crimson (PC; August; Japan-Only)
The doujin fusion of the Super Robot Wars SRPG series and the Touhou mythos is both spectacular and kind of ho-hum. It's spectacular because it captures a lot of the sheer awesome that the Touhou world is known for; unfortunately though, Crimson is only the first part of a four-part series intending to retell a large chunk of the Touhou world's story, and for that reason it really feels like it ends all too early. Then again, it means there's more to come...
15.
Heavy Rain (PS3; February)
The "Interactive Movie" often mocked by the internet community prior to its release for its uncanny expressions actually turned out to be a wonderful experience. If you got to play the developers' first foray, Indigo Prophecy/Farenheit, then you know what you're in for - it's basically controlled by quicktime events and controller movements instead of popup menus, but it creates something much less obtrusive. And unlike Indigo Prophecy, it stays awesome from start to finish, and provides a huge number of story elements branching things in such a way that the story continues pretty much 'no matter what', even if major characters die. It's worth a rental to
watch play through it at least once!
16.
Jolly Rover (PC; June)
A ripoff of the Secret of Monkey Island games, and an inferior one at that in pretty much all ways. Ultimately a real disappointment.
17.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP; September)
It's not going to change your mind about the KH games. If you didn't like them, this won't convicne you to start - but if you love KH for what it does (Stylish boss battles, out-of-nowhere plot twists, etc.), this game really seems to provide everything that made the games so great in the first place. Not much else to say here, except that I haven't gotten to play it too much, but I'm really looking forward to breaking out the multiplayer.
18.
King's Bounty: Crossworlds (PC; September)
The expansion of the expansion/standalone sequal to the remake of a PC classic of old, if you can wrap your head around that. It's "Heroes of Might and Magic" without the multiplayer aspect, and feels more like a traditional RPG - but it's still fantastic in that respect and there's tonnes of hours that can be sunk into it. Fans of the HoMM games should check it out.
19.
Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii; October)
Announced at E3, it made pretty much every Nintendo fan squeal with joy - after we got over the initial '...what?'. It's a brilliantly simple little platformer that at first gets by on its visual uniqueness, then turns into a very solid game. The complete lack of 'death' might seem like it makes the game too easy, but in reality it does anything but - hell, getting hit or falling down a pit feels even more embarassing when the game picks you back up, dusts you off, and sends you back on your way. Seeing a silver medal in a game that feels so easy is like a shot to the pride, and it's great, especially when some of the bonus challenges actually become hard. Oh, and it's heart attack inducingly adorable.
20.
lilt line (WiiWare; December)
This quiet little WiiWare game just came out and most people will ignore it, and it will probably be forgotten soon as it's fairly short and not really all that memorable. It's by the creators of Bit.Trip, though, and it's cheap and still has some fantastic music and is unexpectedly challenging. So it's not a complete letdown and kind of fun, in a really simple, mindless, controller-tossing way.
21.
Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond (XBLA, PSN; January)
The sequal to the tongue-in-cheek parody Matt Hazard third person shooter, BBaB is a sidescroller taking huge inspiration from Contra, still with the same sense of parody and humour throughout. It's also as brutally difficult as the original contra games, and the fact that the game uses high-quality graphics without much in the way of distinction of threats, bullets, bombs, etc being tossed around will cost you a lot of lives from things you never saw until it was literally too late, which is really infuriating. Still kind of fun though.
22.
Mega Man 10 (WiiWare, PSN, XBLA; March)
The second of the recent rebirth of the classic Mega Man games lived up to its predecessor. Many thought it to be worse at first - the powers aren't quite as balanced or useful as they were in 9 and the game's music is much less immediately memorable. Given some time, however, the game's added content size, more complex bosses, and greater sense of atmosphere (as weird as that last one sounded) made it an excellent entry and a treat to gamers favouring the retro style.
23.
Monster Hunter Tri (Wii; April)
After a lot of controversy among the MH community for being on Wii, the game came out to surprisingly rave reviews. This massive game really showed that the Wii is no slouch visually when it wants, and that its internet capabilities are also surprisingly strong. It's an absolute blast to play, and while it might not have nearly as much content as the previously-released Freedom Unite, it's also the first MH game built almost entirely on new monsters and items, and the overhauls to old things and hugely improved hitboxes made it much more playable in return.
24.
Muscle March (WiiWare; January)
A quirky game about overly muscled men running around on rainbows and striking poses while chasing down robbers. I am not making this shit up. It is wacky, but ultimately an extremely simple and quickly stale experience. You will get just as much fun watching this game played on YouTube as you will actually playing it, because any fun comes from the quirkyness.
25.
New Super Marisa Land (PC; August; Japan-only)
Another Touhou doujin game, released in the spirit of NSMB, this sequal to the original is way improved. It's a lot of fun as a platformer with some occasionally creative level design and awesome powerups; it unfortunately doesn't have a whole lot of challenge, though. Still fairly fun.
26.
Nier (PS3, 360; April)
SquareEnix's completely atypical-of-SquareEnix action RPG about an old, battle-hardened man out to protect his daughter and aided by a smack-talking book. I only just got this and have barely had the time to dig in, unfortunately - but the combat is excellent and challenging (I hear it becomes nearly nightmarish later on) and from what I have heard the story is unique and incredibly powerful. Aided by a New Game + that actually changes the events of the game to keep things fresh, I can tell I'm in for a treat.
27.
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Wii; January)
The sequal to one of the most unique games on the Wii continues to be goddamn awesome, and you need to get it. That is all.
28.
Perfect Dark (XBLA; March)
The update to arguably one of the greatest shooters of all time changed pretty much nothing, and that might have been the smartest thing Rare could have done. It just cleans it up and adds online multiplayer, and finally brings to the modern gaming age, an FPS with the classic charm and sense of pure 'fun' that made it a hit. Comparing this to other shooters released this year, you can really come to understand just how much the FPS scene has changed in past years.
29.
Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver (DS; March)
Gold and Silver are considered by many to be among the best of the Pokemon games, held back only by their old technology in the opinions of many. Well, now it's updated and with all sorts of new stuff and the modern standards of the games, but while that aspect may have improved and it may still be a lot of fun, I couldn't help but feel a little bit of the age of the game shining through...
30.
Poker Night at the Inventory (PC; November)
Ultimately a huge disappointment in that it's not really that great of a game at all. It is, however, moderately amusing to play for a little while if not purely for the witty banter (which is very amusing, truth be told), and it's cheap enough that you don't feel entirely ripped off.
31.
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (DS; September)
The third game in the Layton series finally hits shores. While the first was more experimental, and the second was somewhat more refined but still stuck fairly close, the third game combines excellent puzzles with a top-notch story told with unique charm, that cumulates in being unexpectedly tearjerking. A huge step forward in the areas where the games might have been lacking before, Unwound Future surpassed expectations, even though it was expected to be a lot of fun.
32.
Puzzle Agent (PC; June)
An unusual point-and-click adventure with a distinct flair of Professor Layton puzzle solving, the game starts simply enough then takes a turn for the "OH GOD WHAT". It's only about two or three hours long and ultimately gives you no reason tor replay, and the ultimately massive disappointment of an ending won't help, but it's still a fun ride on the way.
33.
Puzzle Dimension (PC; June)
A typical puzzle game about rolling a ball around on a grid, the 3D nature of the playing field forces you to play things a little differently, and the unusual way that progressive stages are basically more complex variants on puzzles you've already solved really helps you along. A neat visual style which uses a pixellated-turned-smooth approach is an excellent touch as well, although ultimately it's not anything particularly thrilling.
34.
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale (PC; September)
The tale of a girl in debt and the item shop she opens to get out of that debt turns out to be one of the most unexpectedly charming and fun titles of the indie community. Filled with wit and little references to other things, it's got a lot of reason to love it - and of course, the gameplay and music just adds onto that. It can get a little repetitive at time, but it's still a lot of fun and there's lots to do.
35.
Red Dead Redemption (PS3, 360; May)
While I'm not much of a fan of most of Rockstar Games' titles (GTA, Bully) and this didn't quite change my mind, Red Dead Redemption was definitely a redemption for the company. The random events that occur make the world feel dynamic and busy even though it's largely empty, and the story's not actually half bad at all. It was pretty entertaining, all things considered.
36.
Resonance of Fate (PS3, 360; March)
Love them or hate them, Tri-Ace always makes RPGs that have a very unique flare to them, and RoF might be their most unusual work to date. A semi-dystopian steampunk society forms the setting, and a truly unique combat system best described as a 'Bullet Ballet' creates something excellent. Unfortunately, like often, Tri-Ace has a bad tendency to make their games very hard to get into and not give you much of a hand in learning the system, and becomes extremely punishing if you don't get the gameplay down - and this is no exception. It's a shame I have trouble really enjoying this game because of that - because the story and cast are a riot.
37.
RUSH (PC; December)
A puzzle game from the creators of Toki Tori, it combines one part Lemmings with one part Chu Chu Rocket and creates something really neat. Unfortunately limited due to a lack of puzzle editor, otherwise it could have been fantastic; as is, it's still pretty good though.
38.
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (DS; March)
An awesome dungeon crawler that returns SMT back to its roots, it's hauntingly atmospheric and produces some of the most incredible music to ever come out of the DS. It also happens to be a really solid game with a huge bestiary, balanced difficulty, and some great replay value. The journey is indeed strange, but fully awe-inspiring.
39.
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (Wii; June)
Sequal to the cult N64 hit that we never really got over here until the VC, this game uses some great visual style to create a fully action-packed experience. While the story might be as baffling as the original, it's also just as wild and creative as ever - Treasure is still in top-form when it comes to short but fulfilling games. And it's also challenging as hell, too, which is wonderful.
40.
Sonic Colors (DS, Wii; November)
Arguably one of the biggest surprises of the year in terms of results was when a 3D sonic game (which are often lauded by sonic fans as terrible) turned out miles better than a 2D one designed specifically to appeal to the retro crowd. I've had the fortune to play both the DS one and the Wii one, which are fairly different from each other - but they're both a lot of fun. The Wii one is definitely the superior one here, though.
40.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (WiiWare, XBLA, PSN; October)
One of the most anticipated games of the year when it was first announced turned out to be a bit of a dud. Personally I think this is less because the game itself did much wrong, but rather that it was too reliant on the success of the old games - games which I'm becoming less and less certain were actually as stellar as people want to remember.
41.
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (Wii, DS, PS3, 360; February; PC; March)
It's basically Super Mario Kart with Sonic characters, but with that said there's nothing quite wrong with that. It's actually fairly fun; unfortunately, the environments you race through aren't quite as varied as they could be and many of the tracks are very simple without much in the way of uniqueness. It's still fun times, just not quite everything it could have been.
42.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii; May)
The first was incredible, and the second was just as amazing. Throwing away some of the illusion of exploration in favour of a more stage-focused format, and mixing in tonnes of new ideas and new applications of things only briefly seen in the first, the game's levels were a huge amount of fun and also nicely challenging. The Galaxy team really knew what they were doing.
43.
Super Meat Boy (XBLA; October; PC; November)
This unusual little platformer turned out to be a huge hit in a big way, and it's not really a surprise - it's an incredibly challenging platformer, but all of the challenge in the game feels 'fair'. Rarely are you ever surprised by something you couldn't have predicted; everything is up to the skill of your execution, and very solid controls really help. It's still not quite as awesome as people initially thought - but it's still an excellent little game.
44.
Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (Wii; January)
Capcom finally decided to break in a new visual engine with an experimental game that nobody expected to see leave Japan due to the fact that Tatsunoko is virtually unknown. Well, it did make it anyway, and it was something of a treat - the fighters were fairly varied and the exposure to unknown corners of Japan's cartoon history was great. The game itself also brought some nice little touches to the MvC formula, although ultimately, it still failed to provide much of a single player experience at all.
45.
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom (XBLA; February; PC; April)
This unusual little puzzle platformer uses time in a way that makes Braid feel relatively simple at times, and wraps it up in a neat black-and-white old film visual style that gives the game its own unique style as well. I really wish this game ran at full speed on my computer so I could properly enjoy it.
46.
Touhou no Meikyuu Special Disk (PC; June; Japan-Only)
If you've never heard me rant about Touhou no Meikyuu/Labyrinth of Touhou, it's possibly one of the most incredibly well-designed RPGs when it comes to strategy and difficulty, despite being a small doujin production. Special Disk is a complete pack of the original and its expansion, with some new features like an alternate soundtrack and the ability to add in your own portraits, that help give the game some replayability to make the experience even more awesome. And it's still living proof that small teams can create an incredible RPG, and that fangames are not automatically crap.
47.
Touhou Soujinengi: The Genius of Sappheiros (PC; August; Japan-Only)
Another Touhou fangame RPG, this one taking more inspiration from the SaGa games (Without the irritating SaGa levelling systems), this one also turned out particularly fantastic and complex, and required a (sometimes unfair) amount of preparation and strategy in execution to succeed in, creating an excellent, if maddeningly challenging, experience. It also got an expansion about a week ago but I haven't had the chance to lay my hands on it.
48.
Trauma Team (Wii; May)
The fifth game in the Trauma Center series finally branched out into several medical fields, and created a massively diverse game experience that was just a huge amount of fun. The only downside was that the game's hard difficulty was not immediately available, creating an experience that felt far too easy on the first playthrough for those who had been through the game before; plus, Orthopedics and Endoscopy, although neat, were a little underwhelming at times. However, it was a huge step forward and a greatly unique game that really showed what kind of unique things are possible with motion controls.
49.
Valkyria Chronicles II (PSP; August)
Both an improvement and a step back over the original game, VC2 is a very similar, yet very different experience. Improvements over the original included a large cast that was fully fleshed out (instead of a focus on just a handful of units), and much more unit balance and effectiveness, plus a massively longer playtime. But it stepped back simultaneously in terms of unique content by reusing maps (Although in different configurations) and failing to take advantage of some of the massive scale events that were present in the first. Either way though, it's still an excellent sequal to what is still one of the PS3's best games.
50.
VVVVVV (PC; January)
This unusual little platformer sports retro charm that dates back to the Amiga era, but uses absolutely awesome music to compliment it and turn it into something awesome. It's so very simple, and in fact a very short game (I have 100%'d it in under an hour with relative ease), but still an absolute blast and moderately challenging in the process.
51.
Yousei Daisensou: Touhou Sangessei (PC; August)
The 12.8th Touhou game turned out to be as unique as the other games caught between the last 'standard' touhou game and the next one to come - it's a short shmup in which bullet density is so far over the top that you have no chocie but to use local idiot ice fairy Cirno's power to freeze bullets in their place, creating long chains of frozen ice across the screen - until they shatter. The fact that you pretty much have to learn to play defensively to succeed made it a lot of fun, along with the ability to play the main game's levels in any order, with boss patterns changing depending on the route you take, added a lot of replay value to it.
52.
Zettai Hero Project: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman (PSP; October)
Finally, NIS'
other dungeon crawler (see ClaDun above) turned out to be a smash hit. The combination of Disgaea charm and visuals with Roguelike mechanics and the usual NIS infinite playability created a difficult game well worth a play, one that is both unforgiving and yet rewarding simultaneously.
Summary thoughts on Gaming in 2010Best RPG: Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
Best Platformer: Super Mario Galaxy 2
Best Multiplayer: BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
Best Puzzle Game: Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
Best Action: Bayonetta
Best Adventure: Heavy Rain
Best Story: Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon
Best Music: Super Mario Galaxy 2
Best Graphics: Final Fantasy XIII
Most Stylish: Bayonetta
Most Difficult: Monster Hunter Tri
Most Charming: Kirby's Epic Yarn
Most Oh God What The Hell Is This: Muscle March
Most Comedic: Ace Attourney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth
Best Short Game (<5 Hours): Sin & Punishment: Star Successor
Logged the Most Hours on: Valkyria Chronicles II
Wish I logged more hours on: Nier
Destroyed the most expectations: Red Dead Redemption
Lived up to the highest expectations: Super Mario Galaxy 2
I never should've expected anything: Muscle March
Game I most want to play that came out this year: Donkey Kong Country Returns
Game I'm most waiting for in 2010: Pokemon Black & White
Five best new characters of 2010:
5. Jiminez (Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey)
4. Platinum the Trinity (BlazBlue Continuum Shift)
3. Vashyron (Resonance of Fate)
2. Bayonetta (Bayonetta)
1. Sazh (Final Fantasy XIII)
Best older game I never played until this year: Team Fortress 2
Best DS Game: Ace Attourney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth
Best PSP Game: Valkyria Chronicles II
Best Wii Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2
Best 360/PS3 Game: Bayonetta
Best PC Game: Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale
Console Of The Year: Wii
Game Of The Year: Super Mario Galaxy 2
Runner Up: Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon
(
I am now done, and you are free to post your own reviews, thoughts, 'Best of the year', etc. etc. as you want. Go wild and express yourselves!)
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Jan 4 2011, 02:18 PM
