It seems everybody’s been asking me lately what my favourite games of 2010 have been. It’s all “Hey Tarryn, what are your favourite games of 2010”-this, and “Hey Tarryn, what are you favourite games of 2010”-that, and “Hey Tarryn, you’re a **** **** ****ing **** and you should go die in a fire”. I should totally stop wearing that “ASK ME WHAT MY FAVOURITE GAMES OF 2010 HAVE BEEN” t-shirt or slagging off Counter-Strike or something.
Of course, “Best of the Best”-type lists tend to bring out the worst in everybody, but like a proper game of Risk, that’s really half the fun. Round 1: FIGHT.
In no particular order, then…
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Okay, the single player campaign was definitively unremarkable. But the multiplayer – oh! – the multiplayer. The squad system is simply ingenious, Arica Harbour is glorious, and Rush mode must surely be one of the greatest inventions in the history of stuff ever. One copy of Battlefield: Bad Company 2: About R300-R400. Crashing a helicopter into a campy-sniper-infested M-COM station: Priceless.
Alan Wake
A criminally-underrated instant classic, Alan Wake is kind of like a secret adolescent dream come true for me – OMG I’M IN THE X-FILES. Authentically spooky, stylishly atmospheric, and superbly resolved, this game managed to get just about everything right. The worst thing about it is that you’ll only ever get to play it for the first time once.
Mass Effect 2
Is it an RPG? Is it an FPS? Is it an RPG with FPS bits? Is it an FPS with RPG bits? It’s a game. It also improved on the already superlative original in every conceivable way, and turned up one of the most extraordinary, intriguing, and mature game narratives I’ve yet seen. And the Elcor are awesome.
Red Dead Redemption
And speaking of extraordinary, intriguing, mature game narratives – Red Dead Redemption. There was a moment in this game that almost had me in tears, and considering I’m the sort of person who laughs every time Artax dies in The Neverending Story, that’s quite an accomplishment.
BioShock 2
I’m just going to come out and say it – I thought BioShock 2 was better than BioShock. There. I said it.
Halo: Reach
I’ve completed the campaign three times over already, and I could go in for a fourth. It’s not that the story’s that good, mind you, but any game that features 4-player campaign co-op is automatically all sorts of epic. The multiplayer set is probably the most complete in existence, and between the 4-way splitscreen, my two Xboxes, my two copies of Halo: Reach, and my heap of controllers, this one’s going to be Saturday-at-Tarryn’s for months yet.
Call of Duty: Black Ops
I almost gave this one the skip – I only ordered it because Kalahari decided to give me a voucher for some reason. And while the single player campaign story is the very definition of “utterly absurd”, everything else about it is just fantastic. I’ve not yet had much time to invest in the multiplayer, but the RC-XD? Yes, please.
And now, Mr and Ms MyGaming Reader, it’s your turn. Obviously, I don’t have a PS3 anymore, so I’ve missed out on God of War III and Heavy Rain, both of which I’d very much like to play – who’s going with those? And what have I scandalously neglected to include in my list? << Share your picks in the forums.
Loading ...
