One Life Left - 1/13/11

Top Games of 2010

2010 has come and gone and we are all one year closer to the end of existence as we know it. Silly pseudo-science aside, 2010 was an amazing year for gaming as a whole, as we saw blockbuster titles flooding the market from the very start. This is no “Top 10” list; just some gems that I particularly enjoyed, some of which are now less than $20 at the local Gamestop.

Mass Effect 2

The sequel to the widely successful Mass Effect, part two of Bioware’s trilogy finds Commander Shepard trying to recruit an elite squad of specialists to take out the “Collectors,” a race of insect-like beings who like to kidnap entire cities of humans. The game brought a great story, its now-iconic dialogue tree system and memorable characters to create a good bridge between the first and third installment of the series. One of the few games that literally kept me at the edge of my seat on many occasions.

Limbo

This downloadable title tells a dialogue-less story about a boy searching for his sister. The boy finds himself in a starkly beautiful monochrome world. This absence of color is merely a reflection of the ugliness and (more often than not) violence he lives in and it’s not afraid to kill you in distressing ways. While a bit on the short side, it is one of those of those titles that stays with you long after you’ve played it. Easily the best indie game this year.

Bayonetta

Bayonetta is a third person action adventure game with a story which makes absolutely no sense — but who cares when a game is this much fun? Cobine the sleek and theatrical gunplay of the Devil May Cry series with the combo system, the swordplay of the Ninja Gaiden series and add a dash of sex-fueled magic, and you have Bayonetta in a nutshell. Its fast-paced, challenging design (not to mention the fact that it was an original game) made it one of my personal favorites of 2010.

9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors

My favorite game of the year is, interestingly enough, on the Nintendo DS. 999 tells the Saw-esque story of Junpei, a college student who finds himself on an abandoned cruise liner filled with puzzles. Junpei and the others he meets all have one objective: find a door marked with a “9” in order to escape. Filled with clever puzzles, amazing writing (the game feels more like an interactive novel than anything else) with multiple endings, this game will keep you glued for hours. While I usually do not care about multiple endings (as I will usually finish a game a maximum of two times), 999 actually had me impatient to discover what other paths the game had for me. With a relatively affordable price tag of $35 I cannot recommend 999 enough. 999 is my game of the year.