My top 5 games of 2010 so far

Hi,

Now before the next 3 months roll in, I thought it was time to look back at the year of 2010. Why now? As many of you are aware, there is a huge array of games coming out soon, so it'll be interesting to see what games were the best before the last months of 2010:

                                              5

Bioshock 2

The first Bioshock was huge. Its amazing story, incredible story and ridiculously good atmosphere shot it right to the top of the 'classic games' list. It was something new and unique which looked like it could change gaming for a new generation. Well, it sort of has. Anyway, when the sequel was announced, many fans, along with my self were extremely worried at what they would do. Would they spoil the story? Would the atmosphere be lost? And would the series sink to the bottom of the mediocre ocean. But 2K games listened, and delivered one of the best sequels ever. With an even better story, still a great, haunting setting and even throwing in a robust multiplayer, Bioshock 2 was a worthy sequel to one of the defining games of the last decade.

4

Just Cause 

For a long time gamers have been longing for a game that was just fun. Yes, we love stories, but occasionally we want to let our mind free and just jump from a burning helicopter, pull out our parachute and just fall slowly to the ground. And in 2010, our great friend Rico appeared. Ever since the demo was released, millions of people have been wondering around the huge island, looking for new ways to blow up things, new ways to travel and new ways to cause mayhem. Just Cause 2 was a brilliant open world game where the greatest ever game weapon was introduced, the grappling hook. I still remember the many times of attaching one end to a soldier, and the other to a gas cannister, and oh what fun was ahead of me! The grappling hook did what the Gravity Gun did for Half Life 2, it made it interesting, clever but most of all fun! 

                                                                    3

Red Dead Redemption

Oh Rockstar, Rockstar, Rockstar, how do you do it? How do you make a Western game so incredibly deep,    

fun, emotional and alive? Putting the likes of Liberty City to shame, the old west was one of, if not the best ever open world setting in gaming history. Along with an incredible setting was a relate able  main character, one that you felt sorry for, you knew his pain and you wanted to be with your trusted John Marston to the very end of his rather gruesome life. With on of the best stories ever told, a brilliant mix of different missions, an awesome pace range and some rather intense shoot-outs, Red Dead Redemptions story was not only the beginning. After completing the long and fantastic story you were given the opportunity for tests, challenges and to get hammered at a bar and challenge a fellow drunkered to a shoot off. However, it wasn't just the story which held me, the multiplayer is also the best out there, with an amazing array of options to play and a great matchmaking system. Red Dead Redemption, for me, is the high point of Rockstar's development.

2

Mass Effect 2

It hurts me to say it. For a dedicated Sony fanboy to claim an Xbox game as number 2 on his list of best games of 2010 is difficult. But I cant deny it any longer. Mass Effect 2 was massive. The first one was an OK game, but the second one stepped it up a notch or two. Mass Effects style, gameplay, story and range of story arcs is out of this world. Even a simple small conversation with a some sort of random guy can change the course of this epic masterpiece. The shooting was redefined and was tweaked to such a way that it was a breeze to use was the first step in creating this beast. But that was the start, an incredible interface, some of the best graphics ever and a awesome bunch of characters all came together to form the perfect RPG. As it is the highest scoring game of 2010 so far, we can clearly see that Mass Effect 2 was a blinder of a game and was out of this world. Shame its coming to the Playstation then!

1

God Of War 3

Epic. There. Thats GOW summed up. 

From opening up the first level you can tell that your in for a ride. Fighting a giant weird water spider horse thing was the best opening level in any game ever. Never has a game portrayed size and epicness so well before. Although Kratos may be hated by some people as being just an angry weird violent Sparatan, which he is really, the story of his rise, fall and revenge on the Greek Gods is out of this world. Changing gamers views on Greek Mythology, the God of War series is the trademark, original trend setter for the Hack 'n' Slash genre. The gameplay, or button mashing as many people like to call it is the pinnacle of simple to learn, hard to master combat. With the dreaded QTE's occasionaly popping up, the intense battles you encounter are by far the best of the series, and any game for that matter. With gorgoues graphics and the best looking main character ever, GOW set new standards for graphics as it showed what the PS3 can really achieve. To me, God of War was full of so many memories that its unbelievable. Who can forget the first time they fought the huge, massive Cronos? Or the fight over Hades in the Underworld? I know it will not get Game of the Year, but to me, it deserves it no doubt. Never has a game pushed the boundries of what developers can achieve as much as Santa Monica achieved. And in my opinion, it is by far, not just the best game so far of 2010, but one of the greatest games ever created.

The slow fall of Call of Duty

Hi guys!

Now, unless you have been living under a rock, you will of no doubt heard about the new and up coming Call Of Duty: Black Ops. As new videos and screens come pouring out as the release date gets even closer, my hopes, expectations, but more importantly, respect for this old series has been dramatically reduced and I am now not even a bit impressed with their new effort. You may be wondering why I have randomly started a stupid argument, but it started about a month ago. Whilst on our summer holidays, I went down to my local Apollo and I swapped 3 games in for another game. As these three games were crap, I didn't get that much money for them, but one game in Apollo that caught my eye was Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. Whaaaaa......you don't already have it?!?!?! I know, I know, but I've just never bought it or played it.

No offence to the Call of Duty franchise, I was expecting an over the top, shouty, unrealistic shooter that for some reason you get addicted to. But to my surprise, as I sat playing the opening levels of this masterpiece of a game, I fell in love. The story was involving, the characters were awesome, some funny, some harsh, a brilliant mix. The levels were exciting, mental and the game was a damn right laugh. I'm not normally some one who gets all emotional at games, but the first person view of the nuclear blast? One of the most powerful moments in gaming, up there with Half Life's final scene and Metal Gear Solids epic last level. As I was crawling through the obliterated city, moving at a snails pace, I actually felt emotion. And then that thought hit me. Im feeling emotion at a Call of Duty game? How can this be happening. But as I continued through the story, I was feeling happy, sad, scared and in peril, something that never happened to me when playing a COD game.

What im trying to get at here is that, in my eyes, Modern Warfare 2 was one of the laziest, shortest and most over rated game of this decade. The story? Basically the same. The controls? Not any changes. The levels? Shorter and worse. The characters? Typical American 'OH MY GOD' action hero's. Infinity Ward just let the  huge success of the first MW to carry the second to the top spot. However, it wasn't just the story that surprised me. The one so-called 'improvement' from the last Modern Warfare was the 'flawless' multiplayer. I cannot deny that I played online for about 5 months after wards and, like everyone else, I was addicted to unlocking new call signs, emblems and being the top of my friends. But now, once the hype quietened down, its nothing but a place for immature 8 year old's to shout about how you are a 'fag' or how my mother is 'fat'. The servers are constantly breaking for me and the games get over run by Pave Lows and AC130's. And to tell you the truth, I'm bored of it now; the maps are tedious, the fights are boring and it is generally a bit of a rubbish experience. So critics said it the multiplayer was improved from the 1st, but I have to disagree, the multiplayer is perfect. Its easy to get into, not over run by shouty people, and every match is a fair game with only a couple of helicopters each game. And the helicopters don't destroy everything in sight.

So there was my rant. Sorry about that. I'm just tired of COD milking money and getting lazy. Black Ops may bring in a few new gameplay techniques but, to me it still looks the same old same old stuff. I know that there are people who agree with me, and I hope that they will join me in not buying Call of Duty, they don't deserve the money.

Thanks
James