Attaining, let alone maintaining our desired post-rate for Imperfect Pixel would require a time commitment of me that having a full time job and a family simply don’t allow. This post is an attempt to ensure that all of the games that I’ve wanted to write about recently get at least some coverage here on the site. Prepare for an irreverent look at the last one and a half years of gaming that I’ve undertaken and bothered to remember.
Alan Wake
Tense is a good word to describe Alan Wake. Those of you that know me are aware that when it comes to scary games or movies, I wear the little girl pants. Luckily for me, Alan Wake was creepy enough to take me out of my comfort zone, but not scary enough to have me remove the disk before getting a single achievement. I’m looking at you Dead Space. Fun story, interesting light-centric combat, solid gunplay, average voice acting and atrocious lip syncing.
Batman: Arkham Asylum
This game is absolutely what we have all been waiting for from a Batman game. The melee combat on display is some of the best to date. It is also one of the best looking examples of what the Unreal 3 engine can do. POW! BAM! BIFF! OOF!
Call of Duty: Black Ops
I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this is absolutely a Call Of Duty game. If you’ve played any of the Call Of Duty releases over the past two years then you pretty much know everything there is to know about CoDBlOps. Fun if you like CoD, buy it when it’s cheaper.
Costume Quest
Great character and core idea, very Double Fine. Lacks a certain, Schaferyness though. The basic combat mechanic becomes stale quickly as the only variety comes from the costumes that you choose and acquire during the game. Ameliorated by the short campaign. Fun, worth picking up if you’re a Double Fine fan.
Fable 3
I love the Fable series. I adore the brevity and character that they achieve with Albion and dearly hope that Lionhead can get there again should Fable 4 ever see release. Fable 3 was the biggest disappointment of 2010 (video game wise) for me. The last portion of the game was an absolute waste, only fans of the series need apply. Also fans of pressing and holding buttons and watching the same interaction animations over and over.
Fallout: New Vegas
Yes. Play this game. It’s not that buggy any more, we promise! The best of the series to date, as long as you’re not one of the die-hards that can’t stand what Bethesda did to your beloved isometric RPG with their first-persony shenanigans. Development of this particular entry fell to Obsidian Entertainment, headed up by Chris Avellone and Feargus Urquhart (best name ever) the original designers of Fallout 2
Fruit Ninja
I S-ranked this on my Windows 7 Phone. Yeah, that’s right. All 200 points. Aw yeah.
Just Cause 2
Do you like grappling bad guys to the back of Harrier jump jets and taking off with them flailing behind as you fly? Yes you do. This game is essentially like having your cake and eating it too, then blowing it up with a rocket launcher while skydiving off the top of a twin-blimp-supported flying whorehouse.
Mafia II
I got this recently for cheaps during the Steam holiday sale. It didn’t review well and I can certainly see why as bugs, poor scripting and design choices mar the experience. Luckily for me, I was a huge fan of the original Mafia and it seems that that fandom is keeping me coming back. I do love firing tommy guns at whatever while wearing a trench coat. Also, you can totally run red lights now. Just don’t break the speed limit.
Mass Effect 2
This game is one of the reasons Imperfect Pixel got it’s start. A true water-cooler game for us. Coming into work the next day after an evening of Mass Effect 2 to discuss it was almost as much fun as the crazy space-opera antics of Shepard and his rag-tag crew of misfits and also that annoying bald chick. My #1 game of 2010 (more on that later).
Poker Night at the Inventory
Telltale Games, makers of fine episodic adventure games continuing our most beloved franchises in Monkey Island, Sam and Max and most recently, Back To The Future made a new game! “Oh really? Which fantastic series are they working with now? Or are they perhaps doing something first-party a la Nelson Tethers – Puzzle Agent?” I hear you say.
“Nope. It’s a poker game. It’s got TF2′s Heavy, Sam of Sam and Max fame, Strong Bad and Tycho from Penny Arcade in there. It’s alright. Not a super deep poker simulator, but the character interactions are worth the $5 entry fee.”, I reply.
“…” you say, your mouth agape.
I nod, sagely.
Red Dead Redemption
Cowboys? Check.
Horses? Check.
Guns? Check.
Rootin’ tootinin’? Check.
Rippling equine musculature? Check.
Fantastic writing? Check.
Memorable protagonist? Check.
Euphoria engine? Check.
Incredible soundtrack? Check.
My #2 game of 2010? Check.
Worth your money? BIG CHECK.
Rock Band 3
The best rhythm game on the market. A mind-boggling amount of awesome DLC. Prepare to spend a lot of money.
Shank
If you like playing games which endorses the stabbing of multitudinous dudes, then I suggest you go get Shank on XBLA or Steam. A pretty thin story and repetitive gameplay keep this out of most people’s top ten lists. Worth picking up on sale for the art style alone.
Splinter Cell: Conviction
Third Person Badass Simulator. There are only two games that I’ve played through twice in their entirety immediately after finishing the first run during 2010, Conviction and Mass Effect 2. The new direction for the franchise and the addition of the I-Win button potential of the Mark and Execute feature in Conviction were a gamble for Ubisoft. In my opinion they paid off in a big way. My #3 game for 2010.
Supreme Commander 2
SupCom2′s detractors refer to it as a faster and shallower version of Supreme Commander. Considering my major complaints about SupCom were that it was too slow and too deep for this powerfully average RTS player, I said bring it on! Then I played it for a couple of hours and forgot about it. Says a lot, really.
The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom
A charming, beautiful and challenging independently developed XBLA title. The title music will get stuck in your brain in a good way, while the puzzles simultaneously destroy it. Not for the temporally-challenged.
Torchlight
Click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click. Yessssssssssssssssssss.
