Best of 2010
Friday, January 7, 2011 at 12:08PM Throughout 2010, we further gravitated away from physical media to an all-digital future where actually owning a game will be a thing of the past. Video game retailers continued to bury customers in used games and, in defense, publishers used DLC to regain lost profits.
But all of my usual complaints aside, 2010 still had it where it counts -- great games. Since so many "gamers" today live for a more casual iPhone/iPod experience, it's nice to know that many game creators are -- for now -- sticking to their guns and releasing traditional games.
So without further adieu, here are my personal favorites of 2010 in no particular order:
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
Lately, many Atlus-enthusiasts have gravitated toward the Megaten spinoff series Persona, and it's nice to see the Shin Megaten series get some love this year. Deeper than many can handle, with gameplay that would be at home in the mid-to-late-80s with RPG fans, Strange Journey added modern touches in the right places while maintaining what made classic dungeon crawlers great.
Final Fantasy XIII
For a game that annoyed me to no end with its linearity, lack of towns, and dearth of NPC conversations, I was stunned to find an epic adventure hunting "marks" after the credits rolled. Marks added another 40 to 50 hours to the game until I brought down the ultimate monster and had my entire party and their weapons leveled, and after about 80 hours, I found myself a believer in FFXIII. Still, I can't help but feel that if Square-Enix had not had problems during FFXIII's development, the whole game could have benefitted greatly. For those interested, Game Developer Magazine's October 2010 postmortem of FFXIII is worth a read: http://www.gdmag.com/archive/oct10.htm
Ys Seven
Showing how vibrant action-RPGs could be on the hot new optical medium from the future known as CD-ROM, the original Ys series astounded those who knew it. Unfortunately, that was only about five or six people, since Ys is much better known in its home country than here in America. Despite this injustice, XSEED games has wonderfully decided to release not just one or two Ys games on PSP, but three. The first to be released and latest in the series is Ys Seven. Sticking so close to its roots but adding in some ideas that would not seem out of place in your next World of Warcraft raid, with bosses that take 20 minutes to defeat and intense cooperation between party members. Falcom has crafted what I feel is one of the best examples of what video games can still be.
Ys Oath in Falganah
Ys III did not get much love among my friends when it was released in the early '90s. Sure, they liked it, but they never got even a taste of the best version of Ys III as intended on the TurboGrafx-CD. Semi-decent SNES and Genesis ports -- without the majesty of CD-quality music and cut scenes -- were played and dismissed as OK but nothing more. Much in the same way that Zelda II was the only 2-D sideview game in a series of overhead action-RPGs, Ys III gets flak for being different. But like Zelda II, I personally enjoy the original Ys III. When XSEED announced a redesigned Ys III, I was overjoyed. Instead of the sideview of the original Ys III, we are treated to a similar overhead view of the recent Ys VII and also excellent Ys VI. The story is much more fleshed out and perfected, with a great translation to match. Gameplay is fast-paced, smooth and some of the series' finest. Finally, I cannot overstate the greatness of the soundtrack -- some games take your breath away with their music and this is one of them.
Starcraft II Wings of Liberty
I bought Starcraft on its release date in 1998 and played it until the release of Starcraft II this year. It's hard to live up to a game that I have played almost every year for the past 12 years, but somehow Blizzard managed it. This game and Diablo III (hopefully one of my games of 2011) have reassured me that Blizzard can do more than keep the World of Warcraft juggernaut rolling.
Dragon Quest IX
Simplicity is what keeps Dragon Quest near and dear to my heart. Dragon Quest IX is what an RPG should be -- clear, concise, and so much to do your head will spin. I will still be playing this for a long time. Really, what harm can there be in leveling your main character up to level 99 and then using revocation to go back to level 1 and repeat it 10 times for some sweet achievements? A great game for the OCD prone? You betcha.
Super Mario Galaxy 2
The statement "Mario can do no wrong" is a lie. I get a lot of flak for this, but in my opinion, "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" gets too much love in spite of selling around 10 million copies as I write this. Mario's control was just too sluggish and heavy for his 2-D Wii outing. It stings me to say that it's my least favorite Mario game to date. On the other hand, Super Mario Galaxy was brilliant and Galaxy 2 re-enforces my opinion that people should skip the "New" Mario and just buy the first and second Galaxies. You'll be glad you did.
Valkyria Chronicle 2
To anyone who missed the first game on the PS3, what the hell is wrong with you? Do you not know what a truly great masterpiece is? Sorry, all joking aside, I feel a bit strongly about Valkyria Chronicle, and if you played it then you would know why. It's criminal that a sequel arrived in PSP form, but given the platform's popularity in Japan, I guess I can't blame them. Given that, all the great gameplay and tactics of the first with a visual style that’s as close as a PSP will ever get to PS3 graphics, I can't help but love this one, too. Honestly I would like to see the series make a triumphant return someday to the PS3 where it belongs. Given that it Valkyria Chronicle 3 was announced for PSP already, I guess I'll have to wait for part 4.
So that's it for 2010. Heres to a great 2011 for gaming.
Reader Comments (2)
Too bad I'm still sticking with up the minute updated 16 bit game technology, there's just so many epic and awesome NES, SNES, GB, GB Advance, Genesis, Atari, Arcade and etc games that I have not played yet... (It's also kind of expensive here in Brazil to buy a PS3, a PSP, a Nintendo DS, a Wii, an XBOX 360 and all these systems)
Anyhow, I'll just keep on my personal crusade to clear all Final Fantasy games... Cheers ^^
Thanks for posting Dr. Maccabee's informative review of John Alexander's book here at A.D.
Maccabee's concluding paragraph, with a link to Goldwater's video testimony of being cussed out by his friend, "Bombs-away" LeMay, and then told to never ask about a secret room at Wright-Patterson, would appear to leave the question of official government involvement in place, despite Alexander's inability to discover it.
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