Altogether a better year than average for me. Interestingly, Obsidian managed to get both my best and worst title of the year.
#9 - Alpha Protocol - 5/10
This had the potential to be a modern day Deus Ex but just simply failed to deliver.
Clever branching plot and skills system completely let down by rubbish level design and balancing issues.
#8 - Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands - 7/10
I really like this series so it was never going to get a bad score from me. Marked down for being too short, otherwise a solid 8/10. This is also the only game in years that I have not bought on release day. I picked it up in the last few weeks for £10 - my token of gratitude for Ubisoft's DRM.
#7 - Amnesia: The Dark Descent - ?
A surprisingly scary survival horror that is being let down for me by being unable to proceed past the Cistern level without crashing. When I manage to finish it, I'll give it a score. Probably 7 or 8 out of 10.
#6 - Puzzle Quest 2 - 8/10
Ridiculously addictive as expected
#5 - Mafia 2 - 8/10
I didn't play the first game so didn't have the lofty expectatations that many people felt were not met with this game. Instead, I found a very atmosperic shooter with gorgeous cars and environments, and a decent story.
#4 - Mass Effect 2 - 8/10
Fantastic production values and a huge amount of polish results in one of the better games this year. Gameplay is too shallow to be considered amazing and the characters and cut scenes make this series more like interactive movies with shooty bits. Needed deeper RPG elements than the first game, not further simplication.
#3 - Bioshock 2 - 9/10
A lot of people said this was a disappointing sequel but I'm not sure why. What I really love about the Bioshock games is the level design. Great weapons (especially the spear thrower), great gfx, great sound. Really enjoyed this one.
#2 - Just Cause 2 - 9/10
A complete departure from the usual type of games I play, so the novelty factor was probably a contributor to the amount of fun I had with this one. With an enormous map littered with tanks, sportscars, motorbikes, power boats, huge buildings, passenger aircraft it would be impossible NOT to have some fun with this game.
I got a severe case of OCD with the completion percentage only to find that it's impossible to get 100% anyway. So I'll just have to be happy with 99.97
#1 - Fallout: New Vegas - 9/10
I really liked Fallout 3, but this game managed to fix everything that let me down in that game. The dialogue was much better written and it felt that much more attention was given to making the hundreds of locations more interesting and well thought out. There were a handful of annoying quest bugs, and I wasn't a fan of the invisible walls separating some areas but with a game of this size, a few quest bugs can be forgiven.
The story, quests, characters, humour, skills, perks, abundance of unique weapons and the huge amount of content combine to make this my Game of the Year 2010.
