Here is the final part of my "Best of 2010" post. Here's where you'll find the REALLY big awards - flame on!
BEST RPG
Mass Effect 2
This game is probably more accurately describe as a "best followup" to Mass Effect, but it's so damn well done that it more than deserves best RPG as far as I'm concerned. It takes everything that was fun, interesting, or awesome about the first game, removes all the stuff that was lame, tedious, or boring, and adds in some awesome new game mechanics and powers, streamlines everything into a terrifically concise package, and wraps the whole thing up in one of the most cinematic and engaging experiences I've seen in a game. Who cares that in condensing the power levelling and inventory management systems they've actually taken a slight step away from the "pure RPG" way of dealing with character building and inventory - this game is a crystalized representation of everything Mass Effect should be, without any of the extranneous trappings of the first game, and because of this game, my interest in the series as a whole was elevated tenfold.
Runners Up:
Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout 3 was a great game, and this game is no different. Literally - it's pretty much exactly the same. The inclusion of new weapons is nice, and the new game mechanics (like item and ammo crafting) make the game feel more like a classic stats-based RPG, but for the most part most of the updates are under the hood (like replacing the "damage resistance" stat with "damage threshold" - yes they're techincally different but I won't get into that here). It's a solid game that actually offers even more open-ended gameplay than its predecessor, but for some reason I can't look past the fact that this is a sequel bordering on mere update. That, and for some reason Fallout 3 did a better job of immersing me in what that world is like. Still definitely worth a play if you're itching for more wasteland.
MOST INNOVATIVE/BEST NEW IP
Alan Wake
Alan Wake seems to adopt the philosophy that "something old is new again", in that it is (in my opinion) a throwback to more "classic" survival horror games, and it is an incredibly refreshing and entertaining experience. It's a great mix of classic survival horror conventions (like the ignorant protagonist, inventory management, ammo scarcity, etc) and a truly creepy new world with enemies we haven't seen before (not technically zombies this time around), all tied together with creative and unique storytelling that fits the characters perfectly. The result is a game that's familiar enough at its core to be fun and playable, but at the same time new, exciting, and at times genuinely scary.
Runners Up:
Assassin's Creed II
Let's face it, after the first Assassin's Creed there was really nowhere to go but up. But still, this one definitely deserves a nod for innovation for taking a framework that had so much potential from the first game and really actualizing it into a game that delivered on those promises. The free-roaming, building-scaling city exploration is actually incorporated artfully into the core of the game itself (instead of being just something you could do on the side like it was in the first game). UbiSoft did a great job of paring down all the unnecessaries to leave us with what we really wanted in an Assassin's Creed game. I'm still not a fan of the "present" sequences with Desmond, and the story all kind of goes to hell at the end, but this game is definitely miles away from the first game, and that's a good thing.
Here it is, the big one..
Game of The Year 2010
Red Dead Redemption
Rockstar's tale of the redemption of former outlaw John Marston is nothing short of masterful. Every single thing about this game serves to immerse you in the game world fully, and it's so subtly done that it's a thing of beauty. The game world (which is huge, by the way) feels alive in its own right, and as you ride around you will constantly run into people and other random events that not only serve as as a backdrop to the world, but also your interactions with these people, regardless of how seemingly insignificant they are, all build towards your status in the world as either a hardened criminal or a man with a troubled past trying to redeem himself. The characters are as well developed as any movie characters, and through John's interaction with them you will genuinely come to like (or more often than not, dislike) them all. While they are not the shining western archetypes ripped from a Clint Eastwood movie, they are true tableaus of the West that John Marston inhabits - few of them are pretty, hardly any of them are "good", but they all live a hard life surrounded by hard people and harder decisions, and if you don't like them you at least come to feel for them in a very real way.
Also admirable is Rockstar's decision to break the 4th wall so to speak and include game mechanics that wouldn't necessarily fit into the world. For example, John Marston sports a state of the art GPS/minimap that includes route mapping to any user-set waypoint. This is clearly not canonical, but it makes the game so much more playable that it's easy to overlook this - and in fact praise Rockstar for adding it in.
The multiplayer boasted by this game is plentiful if not necessarily spectacular. Free roaming with your friends across the entire map is fun, but the experience is kind of ruined by scores of online douchebags who find it necessary to kill every person they come across (not really Rockstar's fault, I know). The deathmatch modes (called "shootouts") are not bad, but they certainly don't compete with the likes of Halo or Call of Duty in the shooter department, though I doubt it's meant to. At the end of the day, however, the story mode is just so incredible that the multiplayer will seem like a mere afterthought - the story itself more than justifies the price tag - it's just that good.
Runners Up:
Mass Effect 2
Bioware really stepped up their game for this sequel - they succeeded in singling out the elements that made the Mass Effect experience great, and then designing a game around that from the ground up. There are two pillars upon which this game is built - storytelling and tight gameplay mechanics - and both are strong and firmly established. The gameplay is beautifully concise, designed to highlight the updated action and combat this game features by incorporating short, self-contained missions that play almost like "levels", without all the messy in-between stuff of driving around empty planets or trying to manage your overcrowded inventory. They realized that the combat is where the game shines, and they made the game about the combat. Smart move.
The other pillar of Mass Effect is the storytelling and presentation, and again Bioware innovates. From the opening cinematic, the game is more like playing through a highly interactive movie. The dialogue, character animations and settings all look as though they could be implanted onto the set of a major hollywood sci-fi flick - one that I would actually watch. Bioware is also in the unique position of having planned this as a trilogy from the start, which means that every single decision you make is shaping the universe. Events in Mass Effect 2 have already been influenced by what I did in Mass Effect, and more of this ripple effect will occur in Mass Effect 3. The result is that each individual player will have their own personal galaxy that they've created based on how they play. I can't wait to see what the universe looks like in the third and final game.
Well that's about it, my thoughts on the best of what 2010 had to offer that I was lucky enough to experience. I'm sure some of you have played games this past year that I haven't, and thus have some unique input to offer so I'd love to hear it.
No comments:
Post a Comment