Best of 2010: Video Games

I played a lot of good games this past year. In fact, In 2010 I limited myself to 1 new game a month. Coupled with the Amazon Bonus Offers game credit promotion they have been doing all year, I had a pretty good system going.

Let's start off by saying that 2010 was an outstanding year for games. Red Dead Redemption, Halo Reach, Dragon Quest IV, Bayonetta, Darksiders, Limbo, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Epic Mickey ... the list goes on.

(C) 2010 BioWare published by Electronic Arts

Of all of the games I played in 2010, the one that made the biggest impression on me was Mass Effect 2

As a responsible adult, with a Job and three kids (although I only had two at the time I played ME2) my gaming time tends to be significantly reduced to 20 ~ 30 minute blocks after the kids go to bed, making it difficult to get into some of the more epic games. Games like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy X ~ XIII are still waiting for me in my "pile of shame" mostly because I cannot devote the time to invest to get into the game and enjoy it.

Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 were a different story for me. It started when I managed to talk my buddy Josh into playing the first Mass Effect at the same time I was so we could talk about it at work as we progressed through the game. I'd also like to point out that he typically doesn't like these types of games. The sad part is that I did not live up to my end of the bargain and got distracted by some other game I don't quite remember at the moment.

Knowing that the stories of the two games were connected, I made sure to complete the first ME before I began ME2. Boy ... am I glad I did.

I did eventually start the original ME well after Josh had finished, by this time ME2 had been released and he had started playing that as soon as it came out. I popped in the game one week-end, when I could afford to stay up late and play a deeper game than the bite-sized downloadable or hand-held games I had been playing at the time, and ... well ... to make a long story short, I was hooked within the first 30 minutes. The next thing I know I'm playing this game for at least a couple of hours a night, staying up much later than I should have been to be considered effective at work the next day and so on.

The first Mass Effect had a lot going for it. The story was fantastic (even if it borrowed heavily from established Sci-Fi franchises) The graphics were good and the pacing was great. The hours I spent playing seemed to fly by. I had also managed to order my copy of ME2 so that it arrived the day before I finished the first game.

The improvements from the first to the second installment were significant,  better sound, better graphics, more streamlined gameplay ... they managed to turn this game up to eleven. This game is so much better than the first, there is absolutely no way I can go back to play the first one again, which is a shame, because there were some gameplay scenarios that I would enjoy seeing played out another way ... but more on that later.



See More Crazy Mass Effect 2 Stats and What They're Used For Various at IGN.com

As it turns out I was one of the 20% that played Mass Effect 2 the right way. I imported my Fem Shep from the first game and sat back and enjoyed the ride. As I said before, I typically don't have the time to play a 40+ hour game given my current lifestyle and I managed to play 2 of them back-to back over the course of about 6 weeks. That speaks volumes about how well these games were made and how awesome the experience I had with both of them was.

ME2 was an amazing experience. What made it interesting for me was the choices that you could make in the first game that carried over to the second game. I am so looking forward to ME3 so I can see the what comes of the decisions I've made during both games.