The Bestest Videogames of 2010

I obviously haven't played every videogame that came out in 2010. I mean, who does that? But I definitely played more of the videogames that were released this year than I watched new movies or listened to new music, so this really had to be the unimaginative end-of-year, can't-believe-I've-only-posted-once-in-December blog content de jour. Or err, "blog content cette année" I guess.

I'll get on with it, shall I?

Wii - Super Mario Galaxy 2

Maybe you think you're too grownup and sensible for kiddyish platform games. Perhaps you tell yourself that pretending to be a soldier in a bombastic recreation of some real-life conflict is a nobler pursuit than pretending to be a man who jumps on things. Or maybe you lost one of your hands in a tragic accident with a super-charged windmill sometime back in January.

Whatever. None of these excuses are really good enough to explain why you haven't already played this riotously inventive and astonishing videogame. Here's my review for Savygamer for those of you still dithering.


PC - Minecraft

The blockiness and 227kB download are deceptive. This lo-fi looking game puts its smoother-edged grown-up cousins to shame with its depth and subtlety and ever-growing scope. It's a game about exploring. It's a game about building. It's a game about surviving. It's a game about darkness. It's a game about feeling terrified. It's a game about feeling proud. I just... wow. I've barely scratched the surface but twice I've found myself awake at 3am thinking, "just another half hour!" Perhaps what it does best is create a genuine fear of death in the player. Or maybe it's the freedom it gives to the player to express themselves. I don't know: there's too much that's brilliant about it to single one thing out.

What I do know is that it's simultaneously my "PC game of 2010" as well as my "one to watch in 2011".


PS3 - Heavy Rain

Has a videogame ever been so horrible before? Probably not. But there aren't many that tell a story this forcefully or grippingly either. It feels like a blueprint for a world where accessible, easy-to-play, impossible-not-to-complete games are about more than jumping up and down in your living room, and where "casual" games can make you feel something other than, "a little bit out-of-breath". You can't help but wonder: if Sony hadn't messed up this console generation so badly, would this have been the game your Mum was playing over Christmas instead of Wii Fit?

We will never know.


Xbox 360 - Mass Effect 2

It's a blockbuster. Really. Really. Very good.