Another year, another game of the year awards article. Oh how time flies, it feels like just yesterday I was waiting for God of War 3 so that I could finish Kratos' story, assuming that Gran Turismo 5 wouldn't make it out this year, and crying at LittleBigPlanet 2's delay. Well we've counted all the votes from the staff and from the forum goers and these are your winners for 2010 on the PS3.
Best First-Person Shooter: Call of Duty: Black Ops
Some people were worried about the future of Call of Duty after Infinity Ward left the franchise, but it seems the franchise is in good hands with Treyarch. A Call of Duty game has once again released to massive commercial and critical success and it's our favourite first person shooter on the PS3 in 2010.
Runner-up: Bioshock 2
Reader’s Choice: Bioshock 2
Best Third-Person Shooter: Red Dead Redemption
The Wild West isn't exactly the most popular setting for video games so who knew a game would come along that uses it so perfectly. Excellent art style and atmosphere make this a shoe in, and the award should come as a surprise to no one.
Runner-up: Vanquish
Reader’s Choice: Red Dead Redemption
Best Action: God of War 3
Kratos has finally made his debut on the PS3 and he's left nothing but bodies in his wake. Viewing a kill through the eyes of your victim is going to stick with me for quite a while and fighting a titan up close and personal is a sight to behold. Other action games this year had some interesting mechanics and great pedigree but none of them could match up to the sheer scale of spectacle that is God of War 3.
Runner-up: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Reader’s Choice: God of War 3
Best Adventure Game: Heavy Rain
The idea of a game based almost entirely around QTE’s was a worrying thought for some and many assumed that Heavy Rain would be mediocre at best, but oh how wrong they were. Heavy Rain is an evolution of the point and click adventure genre and is perfectly adapted to console gaming. Sure, it starts off slow, but once you get into the meat of the game it’s easy to see why it deserves this award.
Runner-up: 3D Dot Game Heroes
Reader’s Choice: Heavy Rain
Best Fighter: Super Street Fighter IV
How can we not give an award to Super Street Fighter IV, with 10 new characters, improved balancing, and a host of online functionality additions? Street Fighter IV may not have won this award in 2009 but the new and improved version is clearly the winner for 2010.
Runner-up: Blazblue: Continuum Shift
Reader’s Choice: Super Street Fighter IV
Best Racing Game: Modnation Racers
While its E3 reveal was not exactly thrilling, those who looked into ModNation Racers found out that there was definitely something to be excited about. The Play Create, Share philosophy started by LittleBigPlanet was being brought to the kart racing genre, with all the user created goodness that entails. Fun racing mechanics, interesting objective-based unlockables, and more tracks and karts than you can shake a stick shift at (haha... car humor, I kill me) help make this the best racing game on PS3 for 2010.
Runner-up: Gran Turismo 5
Reader’s Choice: Gran Turismo 5
Best RPG: Fallout New Vegas
The RPG genre is all about immersing the player in an interesting setting and no game on PS3 did that better this year than Fallout New Vegas. Whether you’re searching through another crazy vault or drinking some water to keep yourself from dying of dehydration, the game pulls you in and makes you feel like a part of it. That is, of course, until the NPC you’re talking to goes all Exorcist head spin on you or you get irreversibly stuck on a rock, but we’re willing to forgive a few mishaps here and there.
Runner-up: Final Fantasy XIII
Reader’s Choice: Final Fantasy XIII
Best Strategy/Simulation: The Sims 3
The Sims is a video gaming phenomenon and the latest console iteration of The Sims 3 is no different. There is something cathartic and soothing about watching these characters go about their lives as you poke and prod them to do your bidding. Will you be an evil mastermind experimenting in different ways to kill them off, or a benevolent helping hand attempting to teach your Sim how to paint? The choice is yours, but no matter what you’ll have fun.
Runner-up: R.U.S.E.
Reader’s Choice: R.U.S.E.
Best Music Game: Rock Band 3
With all the hubbub about the dance off between Dance Central and Just Dance 2, some may have forgotten who the king of the music genre is, but Rock Band 3 will quickly fix that. Adding a keyboard, as well as the harmonic vocals from Rock Band Beatles, Rock Band 3 is the best in the series. Sure, the older tracks could use some updating to add the new functionality of keyboard and harmony, but it’s hard to argue with the fun I can have singing/playing Du Hast with my friends after attempting to pull off Good Vibrations.
Runner-up: DJ Hero 2
Reader’s Choice: Rock Band 3
Best Move Game: Sports Champions
A new add-on to the PS3 adds an entirely new genre to our awards. Much like Wii Sports before it, Sports Champions is the perfect way to get acquainted with your favorite black behemoth’s new motion control abilities while you wait for the next great Move title. Sure, most of the sports in the game have been done before, but that doesn’t stop it from being a whole lot of fun.
Runner-up: Eyepet
Reader’s Choice: Sports Champions
Best Sports Game: NBA 2K11
While many were jumping 20 feet into the air and doing triple flips with NBA Jam, those who truly love and understand the sport of basketball would probably be better served by NBA 2K11. Realism is the strong suit of this game, but it also has a plethora of different modes to keep fans busy and the use of some strange players like Snoop Dogg and Bow Wow helps give it some of that NBA Jam-like silliness. Sports games get a well deserved rap for their yearly releases, but this is one game that went above and beyond, easily deserving this award.
Runner-up: Sports Champions
Reader’s Choice: NBA 2K11
Best Downloadable Content: Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare
After making the best third person shooter of the year, Rockstar weren’t completely satisfied and decided they would also make the best DLC. Undead Nightmare is a brilliant mix of Western and Zombie genres that blends together perfectly, giving you hours of extra fun and the opportunity to explore the world for new mythical creatures to kill and Horses of the Apocalypse to collect.
Runner-up: Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx
Reader’s Choice: Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare
Best PSN Game: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Lara is finally on the way back to her former glory thanks to Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. The mix of puzzle and action harkens back to our memories of Lara from the PS1 days, which is quite a feat considering that the new top down camera angle makes the game look completely different from its predecessors. Hopefully this isn’t a one time thing and we can look forward to more adventures with Lara as she heads in a promising new gameplay direction.
Runner-up: Joe Danger
Reader’s Choice: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Best Graphics: God of War 3
God of War 3 may not be the prettiest game ever made, but it’s hard to deny that it has one of the best character models ever in Kratos. Watching the blood pour as you swing your swords in a pirouette of death (probably not the term Kratos uses for his own moves) is quite a sight to behold. How can you not give an award to a game with “Zipper Technology”, which is a nice way to say that you can actually disembowel a centaur?
Runner-up: Heavy Rain
Reader’s Choice: God of War 3
Best Original Music Score: Heavy Rain
Heavy Rain perfectly utilises its limited score, making some of the key decisions you make in the game all the more intense. Heavy Rain's score elevates the game from a fun adaptation of the point and click genre, to an experience that every gamer should try. I only wish there were more to love.
Runner-up: Red Dead Redemption
Reader’s Choice: God of War 3
Most Innovative: Heavy Rain
Heavy Rain gets a third award in this year’s article, thanks to its creative use of QTE’s, allowing it to successfully bring the point and click genre to the PS3. The bulk of what the game does has been done before in other titles in the genre, but it’s the adaptation of the control scheme that makes Heavy Rain so deserving of this award. I can’t wait to see what Quantic Dream have up their sleeve next.
Runner-up: ModNation Racers
Reader’s Choice: Heavy Rain
Biggest Disappointment: Final Fantasy XIII
Everyone remembers that E3 where Final Fantasy XIII was announced for 360 and yet, looking back, it probably wasn’t as meaningful as we thought at the time. Sure, some may love the game, but for myself and many on the staff it didn’t live up to expectations. No description of a great game should start with “once you get past the first 30 hours it becomes enjoyable”, and Final Fantasy XIII ranks with X-2 as one of the few games in the series I haven’t been able to finish. A game that by all rights should have easily won best RPG of the year is barely even deserving of the runner up award, and that is a huge disappointment.
Runner-up: Dead Rising 2
Reader’s Choice: Final Fantasy XIII
Best Game No One Played: Vanquish
Poor poor Platinum Games. They put their heart and soul into yet another title only to be smacked down by low consumer interest once again. What do they have to do to please you people?! Vanquish is a great game, second in its genre only to Red Dead Redemption, and yet it can’t even muster up 500,000 sales across all platforms. I’m glad to hear that Sega will continue producing their games, but I truly hope that Platinum Games break their sales curse sooner rather than later.
Runner-up: 3D Dot Game Heroes
Reader’s Choice: 3D Dot Game Heroes
Most Anticipated Game: The Last Guardian
That’s right, we’re still looking forward to The Last Guardian, and I don’t care how long I have to keep up the vigil. Some may not understand why we continue to give The Last Guardian this award, but you’ll have a chance to find out when the Team Ico Collection comes out in 2011. Until that point, I will just have to watch the same trailers over and over again in an attempt to keep myself sane. Hopefully this time next year we can give this award to a different game, but if not, I’ll see you in 2011 when I write about The Last Guardian for the fourth time.
Runner-up: LittleBigPlanet 2
Reader’s Choice: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Game of the Year: God of War 3
Kratos is a hard guy to say no to. We were thinking of giving this award to Red Dead Redemption, or Heavy Rain, but after being told the horrible things he would do with our organs (spoiler alert: it involved jump rope and small intestine) we decided that God of War 3 was probably the better choice. Sure, there are other reasons, like the gorgeous graphics and jaw dropping set pieces, but there’s nothing like the threat of violence to get a bunch of video game nerds to vote your way.
Runner-up: Red Dead Redemption
Reader’s Choice: God of War 3
Be sure to check out our other Game of the Year Awards here!
