All the Games I played in 2010: Part 1 (January-May)

Last year I called the 2009 version of this post “Every Game I Played in 2009 Reviewed.” I don’t want to call this year’s “reviews” simply because I did not complete so many of them. So then, what exactly are these? Well, you can call them thought nuggets on all 76 games I played this year. That's right. I said 76!

I hope this list will be a good bit shorter next year, but I have to say that I had a blast trying out this many of the games the year offered. 2010 offered up a few amazing titles, a huge load of good titles, and a few true stinkers.

I don’t really recommend playing this many games in one year, but I hope these posts will offer readers an interesting view into the year of gaming that was through the eyes of a gamer that played more of them than one person ever should.

 

January

 

Bayonetta– I loved the combat system of this game, but in the end it was just Devil May Cry with an even huger heaping of bizarre added. The incomprehensible story seemed to have as many ideas as possible stuck into a blender and then whatever random idea came up first included. It started to grate on me after a few levels. I gave up on this game and sent it back to Gamefly. I would love to try it again some day, but would only be willing to spend about $10 on it.

 

 

Darksiders: Wrath of War– I took advantage of a special GameStop trade promotion and ended up paying only $20 for this good, but not exactly great, game. The comparisons to Zelda drove me towards it, but those similarities ended up being an achilles heel as Darksiders eventually felt so derivative that I ended up giving up on it. Again, I would love to try to finish this title eventually, but don't see myself picking it up again any time soon.

 

 

Army of Two: The 40th Day– This is one of many titles I received from GameFly only to send back after a level. I wasn't a huge fan of the first game, but the pre-release "they are trying to improve things" drew me to give this sequel a chance. If they did improve anything, it sure wasn't noticeable in the segment I played. This game series stars unlikable brutes, is more than a bit racist, and doesn't even have great mechanics… which is surprising since it is such an obvious rip-off of Gears of War.

 

 

Dark Void– As a huge fan of Crimsons Skies I truly wanted to love this game. Too bad it features one of the lamest cover mechanics I have ever played. It felt like they took Drake from Uncharted, added in the enemies from Too Human, and then threw in a huge heaping of suck juice. This team should stick to flying games next time… because that was the only semi-interesting bit of this stinker.

 

 

Mass Effect 2– A glorious improvement on the first title, yet somehow oddly unsatisfying in plot structure. I loved seeing how my choices from the first game changed the events of the second, but never felt like the potential of these choices were truly fulfilled. The missions for your team members also followed a very rote formula. You met them, had a mission which led to a second mission, and then their plot resolved. Once their plot stream was over these characters became simple window-dressing out of missions, and walking turrets inside of missions. Despite all the criticism I would still easily call Mass Effect 2 one of the better titles to release this year, and I am pretty hopeful that Bioware can give fans a satisfying conclusion with the recently announced third game.

 

February

 

White Knight Chronicles– An interesting RPG that felt more than a tad bit clunky. I can see myself picking this up in the bargain bin eventually, but didn't keep it for longer because there were so many other titles I wanted to play. At one point I had high hopes that this game would blow Final Fantasy XIII out of the water… but somehow both titles ended up underwhelming.

 

 

BioShock 2– I started this title when it first released and was extremely let down by how little new it had to offer. Just a few months ago I picked it back up and fell in love with it. Sure, it is more Bioshock 1.5 than I would have wished, but it was lots of fun as long as you played it with your expectations in check. There were even moments that were more fun to play that parts of the first game. My biggest issue with this title was how uneven it felt. Parts seemed to be made by the A-team, while others felt slapped together by a recent graduate from ITT Tech.

 

 

Dante's Inferno– Yet another of my extremely short Gamefly rentals. After playing Castlevania and loving it (more on that later) I wonder if I judged this game more harshly than I should have, but at the time I hated it. My problems weren't that it was very much a God of War clone, it was how horrible much of the environmental design was. While everything looked great, it was never much fun to navigate. The combat system was also useable, but not very engaging. I would be willing to give it another shot now, but at the time it was one of the worst games I have ever played.

 

 

Tropico 3– If you are a fan of games like Sim City and Civilization, then you should really try Tropico 3. The extremely useable 360 version may be a teeny weeny bit on the clunky side, but there is more than enough depth here to keep you gaming for months.

 

Alien vs. Predator– Part of me truly wanted to love this game, but it felt more than a bit half baked. The colonial marines mission feel very standard compared to a game like Halo or Killzone, and the Alien and Predator level share too many assets and are too awkward to control to really make the game more than a semi interesting diversion. The multiplayer might be fine, but I wouldn't know because the main game didn't grab me enough to explore the game further.

 

 

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom– I was really into this as a demo, but the main game bored me after an hour.

 

Heavy Rain– If my play through had not been riddled with nonsense plot developments then this game would have been a strong GOTY contender. Instead, my play through felt rather broken. This was one of the most disappointing twist endings this side of an M Night Shamalayan film wrapped up around mechanics, graphics, and originality that hinted at greatness more than it truly reached it. I really think anyone trying to say that game should be GOTY is trying to praise it more for what it could be, than what it is. While that is a noble opinion, it is also implying that this title did not have the vast array of needed improvements. I can see a potential for the next title to be one of the best games ever, but this one only managed to be highly intriguing. A second play through using the Move controller only solidified my opinion of this game further. It didn’t just jump the shark, it sat down and rode the damn thing.

 

 

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing– Not quite as good as Mario Kart, but still a worthwhile investment for kart racing fans.

 

 

Risen– one of many PC-like RPGs which have been slapped onto a console with little care or finesse. Perhaps an interesting bargain bin exploration, but keep away if you want your RPG experience to feel like it was developed this century.

 

 

Deadly Premonition– An interesting and bizarre take on the survival horror genre that deserves much of the praise it gets, but also deserves much of the criticism as well. This is one of the titles I most wish I had finished this year.

 

March

 

Battlefield: Bad Company 2– Good, but no Metro or Black Ops. I find the aiming in this title oddly off-putting. It is at both times too loose and too tight. Wonky character animations only added to my opinion that this is a B level shooter elevated to AAA level through marketing and EA’s desire to compete with Call of Duty.

 

 

Yakuza 3– I really enjoyed this title, but could never shake the feeling that the dev team hadn't worked hard enough to improve the fluidity of the characters movements- one of the many reasons this title feels like it has only been improved graphically from the PS2 games. Still, any fan of Japanese culture, brawlers, or Shenmu should check this game out.

 

Final Fantasy XIII– Great graphics. Very linear. Not amazing.

 

 

METRO 2033– My FPS of the year by a wide margin. From the great atmosphere to the dankly cryptic art design, to the intriguing mechanics- Metro was not perfect, but it was perfectly engaging and deserves to be more of a part of the gaming discussion than it ended up.

 

God of War 3– Awesome graphics and some epic situations weren't enough to make up for how irritating I find Krato's character now. Despite being bigger in every way than past GoW titles, this sequel only reminded me that Krato's is pretty one note.

 

Perfect Dark– It was nice playing my favorite FPS of all time in HD, but it was too bad they didn't take things a few steps further. I would have rather paid full price for a more grandiose upgrade.

 

Cave Story– If you like Metroid, Castlevania, or Mario titles, then you should really check out this indie gem.

 

Just Cause 2– Glorious open world mayhem that led a group of cool, but ultimately shallow GTA-like games in 2010. This was a GTOY contender until I blew up a building for the millionth time and the pay off disappeared. With a story worth caring about and much better missions this series could become AAA. As it stands it is solidly B-level.

 

 

WarioWare DIY– I spent hours with the create-a-level in Timesplitters 2, but no game since has captured the same ease of creation that game offered. After Little Big Planet I had high hopes that DIY would satisfy my creative urges, but what this game offered really equated to simple mini-games which were too complicated to create to be fun. Actually, things may have gotten pretty simple after a bit, but the cumbersome and over-long way they introduced you to each aspect of creation left me bored, and this game still sits in my stack of DS games mostly unused.

 

April

 

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction– I liked the interesting take on a gruffer, more world-weary Same Fisher that this game offered, but there were way too many times it felt like this game was playing itself rather than making me display any type of skill. I still think this is an OK game, and since it can be found for around $20 most of the time, it is worth checking out.

 

 

Monster Hunter Tri- Yet another game that I wish I had spent more time with. I have a hard time sticking with Wii titles, and that is a real shame since this game doesn't force you to use the Wii Remote like most of the worst Wii titles do. Sure, this game feels like it hasn't advanced much since the first game released, but what is offered is hours upon hours of leveling, lush environments, and fun PSO-like hack-n-slashing.

 

May

 

Lost Planet 2– I couldn't stand the horribly mapped controls of the first game, and this title did little to improve on what the first game offered. There is a reason you can find this game so cheap now. While it is easy to blame a game for ripping off a title like Gears of War, Lost Planet 2 shows how obtuse it is to not implement improvements that other games devise. In other words, this game should have ripped off Gears of War more.

 

 

3D Dot Game Heroes– Another game I truly wanted to love, yet was boring after a few hours of play time. This game aims to be a great throwback to the old Zelda titles, but it offered very little to expand on the concept, and was hampered in many ways back its slavish devotion to replicating those titles.

 

 

Red Dead Redemption– After all the GOTY talk I am going to try this game again, but my first attempts at completing this title left me rather bored. Vast landscapes which were beautiful, yet extremely boring to navigate were the killer for this title. The actual missions were fun, but there was so much dry horseback riding that I gave up completely after five hours of playing it. We will see if time has been kinder to this title.

 

Alan Wake– One of the few games I found time to write about this year. At the time I played it this game was a strong GOTY contender in my book, but the fact that I have both DLC levels sitting unplayed on my hard drive made me realize that this title needed a little something extra to truly be great. What is offered is a great story with a lush and foreboding atmosphere, what is lacking is some mechanic to add more depth to the experience. In many ways I see this title as parallel to the first Uncharted. It hits on greatness, but never quite reaches it. Hopefully Remedy will nail the formula for a second title.

 

 

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands– What happens when you make an HD version on the Sands of Time-era Prince? Judging by this title you get a hastily scrapped together mess. While the environmental exploration was fun and the combat was vastly improved, the story in this title was completely unsatisfying and also barely present. Not really one of the worst titles of the year, but definitely a lower B-level title.

 

Super Mario Galaxy 2– It is amazing how Nintendo forcing the spin move to be controlled using waggle can ruin what otherwise could easily have been a GOTY contendor. While I could forgive this forcefully repetitive motion in the first game, I found myself unable to forgive Nintendo for forcing me to use motion control rather than giving me the option to opt out.

 

 

Blur– Bizzare's Mario Kart with more realistic graphics and cars might have not mustered great sales, but in my books it is a strong contender for best racer of the year.

 

 

ModNation Racers– This best looking Mario Kart-like title of all time was ruined by long load times, way less than perfect mechanics, and an unsatisfying creation element. I was stoked for this title, and was shocked at how little I enjoyed it.