Game of the Year Award 2010 Day 1

And finally 2010 is drawing to close. A year which saw some truly spectacular games on every gaming system, a year which welcomed back some old fan favorite franchises while also introducing some great new IP. 2010 also saw the Sony and Microsoft dabbling in the casual market Ala Nintendo with their MOVE and Kinect hardware and the introduction of 3D gaming started to take root which lead to some awesome revelations and announcement. While the industry moved forward at rapid pace, there were some controversy with the whole Infinity Ward and Activison debacle, but that aside 2010 was a year which the gaming industry will fondly remembered.

For us gamers this may well be the greatest gaming year since 2004 as a bevy of games were released across the board which catered to all taste. It is therefore a taxing proposition for me to single out 10 outstanding games of 2010 as many titles will lose out but only due to the fact that the games on my top 10 list were really ahead of the pack. But on the other hand the games which will lose were very good games in their own rights and worth playing and investing time on. So from today till the 30th of December I will start a countdown of 10 of the best games I played in 2010 with my Game of the Year to be unveiled on the 31th of December. But before I start I will confess that many games on my list have NOT be finished to completion. Anyways on to my top 10 games of the 2010:

10

Coming in on number 10 are two games actually. Nier (PS3 and 360) and The Sly Collection (PS3).

Nier:

Nier is a complex beast. On the surface the game is an action RRG alongside some bullet dodging sequences and borrows a lot of elements from many block buster games but ended up being pretty lame imitation. The word derivative becomes a key word indeed. The visuals of the game are lacking as well, actually I would even call them ugly. But if you were to look past the flaws there is quite a good game underneath it all. What got me interested in Nier were a) the post apocalyptic future where humans face extinction by the hands of a race ancient sentient beings and b) a heart rending storyline of a man's quest of saving his sickly daughter and c) Some quite bizarre but awesome characters which included a haughty talking magical book (or Grimore) and a Aphrodite warrior...Yes you read that..an Aphrodite!...a gaming first!!. I mean I have never played a game which has an Aphrodite character who kicks butt and cusses like a drunk sailor!!. And accompanying the game is easily the best original sound track of the year. It somehow embodied the dire and bleak world of Nier with haunting vocals and has a distinctive ethereal vibe which makes the sound track stand way above its peers.



But seriously the now defunct game developers Cavia made a real gem here and kudos to SquareEnix in publishing the game. It was shame that many of the game play mechanics ended up being pretty lazy but not unplayable and that many gamers ignored the game altogether. Even so the mesmerizing storyline and characters made this game a surprising winner for me.

The Sly Collection:

The Sly Collection is a remastering of 3 of the best platformers of the PS2 era. The Sly series was part of a three pronged attack on the PS2 alongside the Jak and Daxter series and the Ratchet and Clank series which gave gamers awesome platformers to play. But for some reason the Sly series was not considered a run away success even though the Sly games were very exceptional with its tight game play, cel-shaded graphics. endearing characters and a pretty clever storyline. But with Sony's new strategy of releasing PS2 games remastered in HD as part of the Classic Collection line up for the Play Station 3, the Sly games unexpected got the nod. And boy was this news awesome when The Sly Collection got announced at this years E3. Playing all the three games in quasi HD quality and trophy support is one of the most endearing moments of 2010.



It quite an obvious move by Sucker Punch to work with the little known Sanzaru Games in bringing the HD remastering on the PS3, as its a no brainer it will make way for a proper HD Sly Cooper game for the PS3, so till then The Sly Collection fits the bill and scratches the 3D platforming itch.

Tune in tomorrow as I reveal number 9 in my Game of the Year top 10 games for 2010.