It can be hard to narrow any category to the five, or even ten best, but in an industry like that of video games, where hundreds of products are released every year, with every one containing hours of time dedication, that task of picking the best can be quite intimidating.
Above all else you go with the ones you wholeheartedly loved, and these were mine.
5. “FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010”
The best sports game of the year just bleeds realism, and when I first picked this one up I must have played 15 matches before I took a break. The soundtrack was absolutely perfect for a soccer game, especially one featuring the first World Cup played on the African continent. The gameplay is as realistic as it gets and the graphics are top-notch as well.
“FIFA 10” was also a superb game and it was pretty much the same as its World Cup counterpart, but I just can’t help enjoy being the United States, and beating Brazil or Spain in the finals so I can hold up the trophy of the greatest tournament in the world.
4. “Halo: Reach”
Oh Halo, you will always hold a special place in my heart. The final Bungie-developed installment to one of the most successful gaming franchises ever, “Halo: Reach,” is first-class in every aspect, and takes number four out of five. Fourth is probably disappointing to most of the Halo community, including Bungie themselves, but it was outperformed in many features by the games ahead of it.
Although Reach was topped in some areas, it provided fans with the goods that put Halo on the top of the gaming world nearly ten years ago; it is still the best team-tactical First-Person Shooter on the market. Bungie has yet again given their fanboys a double dose of their favorite drug.
3. “Limbo”
The Spike Video Game Awards’ Best Indie Game winner only uses two buttons and a joystick, a drastic difference between it and the rest of the top games of the year and their often complex user interface, and yet it is as mentally challenging and satisfying as any of them.
Games such as “Pac-Man” and “Donkey Kong” dominated their times without the need of 3D and Playdead Studios has done the same in the form of this dark and mysterious 2D puzzle-platform.
“Limbo” is the must-play game of the year, and can be had by anyone up for the task – although the mild violence of the silhouette of a child being killed by giant spiders might be a little too much for some.
2. “Red Dead Redemption”
The first great western video game hit the ground running in late May. Red Dead built on what Rockstar gave us in the Grand Theft Auto series and turned it into something that even my Grandpa could truly enjoy. The voiceover acting was the best in any game released during 2010, with Rob Wiethoff leading the cast as the gritty ex-outlaw protagonist John Marston.
The downloadable content that came out for “Red Dead Redemption” was the best for any game, and possibly the best of all time. “Undead Nightmare”, the final Downloadable Content, amalgamated two of my favorite things; zombie movies and videos games, and turned Red Dead into a dark and disturbing tale of disease and madness.
1. “Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty”
Blizzard Entertainment spent what seemed like an eternity on the sequel to the 1998 hit. It felt so right killing Zerglings again after such a lapse between the two games. “Starcraft II” has amazing graphics, but the game can run on seemingly any computer purchased during the last five years with a tweak here or there.
The balance in the multiplayer is far and away the best in the industry, as seemingly every unit has a weakness that another can exploit. That chess game of strength versus weakness is what makes this game so exciting and so unpredictable.
People all around the world will play this game for the next 12 years until Starcraft III is released.
2010 brought great additions to the game world, a lot more than those on this list, and there is no doubt that 2011 will be the same.
While there are sure to be original Intellectual Properties that will surprise, it seems that the year in gaming will be dominated by the slew of additions to current video game franchises like “Portal 2” and “Gears of War 3,” and I’m all for it.