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2010′s Game of the Year

Mass Effect 2 – I’m pretty sure there is no other game out there in which you have a chance of killing off the main character in the final act. Sadly, I think it’s pretty much impossible for you to kill off Shepard unless you play the game like a complete idiot, by not doing certain side missions, recruiting certain characters (if that is even optional at all, in some cases). But that doesn’t matter, because it’s possible, and like I said – what game has that as a potential event? That’s just plain crazy. Mass Effect 2 does everything right by it’s predecessor, besides, perhaps, stripping out too many of the RPG elements and replacing a single, dominant villain with a broader ‘big picture’ nemesis. The combat has been sharpened, the visuals are crisper, the sound design is improved, and the world created by BioWare to centre their epic space opera in is just phenomenal. They provide explanations for things you wouldn’t even think were necessary, like how the weapons work, and how each race reproduces. If you’re willing to dig for that sort of knowledge inside the in-game codex, that is. But that’s beside the point – it’s there, and is near flawless. It isn’t just an in-depth space adventure in writing, though. Mass Effect 2 has all the components that make a great action RPG, like tight controls, engaging and challenging (on higher than ‘Normal’ difficulty) combat, and unique characters to interact with. Mass Effect was the first BioWare title to be one hundred percent voiced, and that stays true with Mass Effect 2. I don’t think I can think of a single weak voice for any character; even passers by are voiced well, which again, all add to the superbly sculpted universe of Mass Effect 2. Few games manage to create worlds that you feel ‘exist’; feel like you could live in them, and with everything that makes Mass Effect 2 a game in combination with that fleshed-out attribute, makes it the most robust, replayable, enjoyable, and out right most awesome game of 2010. Now, let me play Mass Effect 3, please.

And in Close Second – StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

Heavy Rain – So here it is; the award you have all been waiting for. And this year, it isn’t going to the game I have sunk the most hours into, or the title with the strongest multiplayer component. Heavy Rain is my 2010 game of the year because I still can’t get it out of my head. Nothing has touched the emotional connections created throughout each chapter, or the excitement for what’s to come next. While I spend many hours playing games, I have always been able to easily drop the controller and go on to another important daily task. This was not the case with Heavy Rain. Around the middle of the game when the pace quickens to an alarming rate, I could not separate myself from the engrossing tale, and even when I did manage to turn my PS3 off it was impossible to keep the in-game drama in the back of my mind during my real life schedule. Each physics problem that was placed before me became a trial to save a life from the Origami Killer, and every customer that I served as a waiter could be a suspect in the abduction of Ethan Mar’s child. During one of the five trials the protagonist Ethan Mars must face, I honestly had to stop the game and think if I could actually go through with what the scenario was asking me to do. Certain moral decisions had a greater emotional impact on me than any book, movie, or media has ever has achieved. And to think, this game opens with the main character shaving and getting dressed. Heavy Rain is not a game everyone will enjoy. Quantic Dream did not attempt to make a game to appeal to a mass audience, or draw in new gamers who want a fun or mindless experience. What they did accomplish was crafting a game that has not left my side as I played through multiple other titles this year. Heavy Rain is an experience like no other, transcending the medium and redefining what I believe a game can do.

And in Close Second – Red Dead Redemption