2010

10. Transformers War for Cybertron; I wasn't interested in this at all but a gamespoter talked me into it and wow, I had a blast the campaign was lacking (although it had a couple great moments) but the multiplayer modes were where the game really shined and left a good impression.

9.Castlevania Lords of Shadow; it is not like any other Castlevania game , it reminded me more of the hack n' slash games, but I have good memories of this game because of diverse factors; the touching story, the impressive and beautiful graphics and the epic music.

8. Fallout New Vegas; when I started this game it was a chore I was comparing it to Fallout 3 and it fell short, then I got to the first Legion fight and I was involved in the conflict and the story in this game, now that I remember I have things to settle with the guy In the checkered coat…brb.

7. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood; I have to be honest this is one of my least like AC games, but it added some fun stuff to the mix worthy of mention like Leonardo's Machines, the assassin's ready to help you and an original Multiplayer, and I have to admit I enjoyed watching Rodrigo Borgia dying.

6. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction; as a fan of the series I was underwhelmed by conviction, no more planning and spy games, it was more like a hunter and their helpless preys as a fan of Sam fisher I'm glad to see him being that superior to everyone, but still miss the good old days, and well the multiplayer modes as some other games this year were really amazing.

5. Battlefield Bad Company 2; while the campaign was a step up (and Sarge, Sweetwater and Haggar are as likely as the first one) the real thrill came in the Multiplayer portion it expanded improved and hooked me like the first one and in 2010 that's saying something, the graphics wowed me…heck even my girlfriend was impressed by them.

4. Super Street Fighter IV; call me crazy but no other fighting game this gen has had the polish and different fighting styles this game has, with added characters, supers, and game modes there is no reason not to enjoy it.

3. Halo Reach; any other year Reach would have been number 1, the already impressive list of features for Halo 3 return and are expanded upon, the Multiplayer is as good as usual (and I always played it with friends which duplicates the joy) but what I really think is the best of the game is the campaign, I don't know I differ to all of the other Halo fans but I think this is the best and most epic campaign in the series (and today I can say I've played them all) and the score is as good as the best of the series.

2. Red Dead Redemption; the realistic approach that I despised in GTA IV got me in Red Dead Redemption, the tale of John Marston and his redemption is one hell of a experience, add to that the beaty that surrounds the game and you have a winner, the gameplay, was also as fun as the game, and to see the realistic reactions of the euphoria engine was one hell of a show.

1. Mass Effect 2; the commander is back, and no other tale has grasped me like this, the crew is expanded, the sense of scale is bigger, and the war with the reapers is coming. The combat was tweaked and it actually works this time, your squad can be commanded and given instructions this time, the sad thing is I have to wait still to play part 3.

2011

10. Mortal Kombat; the return to the series did it justice, it's a joy and a challenge to play, while presenting the same cruel violence as usual, but to top things this time it is accompanied by top notch gameplay and a fun story mode.

9. Dead Space 2; I haven't dedicated the time this game deserves, but when I do I know I'll get hooked to this for some time, they kept the core gameply from the first and expanded upon, so I'm eager to find out what happens to Mr. Clarke.

8. Battlefield 3; I have to be honest, at least on console I find the spin off series Bad Company series more enjoyable than the main Battlefield, but I find still the Multiplayer engaging and fascinating, I just wish I had more time to play it and really experience it.

7. L.A. Noire; this game is original to me, in the end is a point and click game but since I never played one, I feel it so fresh, the story for each murder is a thriller and to point the finger at the right suspect feels so rewarding, and to be honest I'm still impressed by the facial MoCap for this game.

6. Gears of War 3; is the best game of the series, and brings closure to the saga, it got buried under many new releases but still I wish to play it every once in a while, all the facets of the game got improved and expanded, with a couple welcomed additions, I just want to get doen with the titles I'm currently playing to enjoy ab it more the chainsaws!

5. Assassin's Creed Revelations; the tale of Ezio comes to an end and his ending is really touching, while you experience the last days of altair and see the end of Ezio's adventure you get a feeling of closure to an impressive arch, the gameplay was polished and had a couple twists to make it fresh, and the visuals are way better this time around, and to top it all they created a couple likable characters for this entry.

4. Batman Arkham City; it improved on every facet of the original, the combat was spectacular and rewarding, the amount of characters is impressive and they all played their part, you get to see fan favorites and have a couple twists before the end, although I found goofy the Arkhma City initiative and hat conveniently a lot of stuff important to the batman myth were inside the city walls.

3. Portal 2; if Portal 2 had no personality and such likable characters it would be half as good as it is, thank god you meet Whitley, Cave Johnson and Caroline, that makes it fun and engaging, I saw it finished and wanted to start right away!...I'm in space!!!!

2. Deus Ex Human Revolution; at first I was meh with this game then I got involved into the narrative and atmosphere of Detroit and Heng sha, I marveled at the future that dues ex presented, and found a really likable character in Adam Jensen, that aside with the flexibility in gameplay made is one of the best game I've ever played.

1. The Elders Scroll V Skyrim; I've said enough of this game, and probably you have played it, although notes aside I have around 50 hours of gameplay and have just seen 2 bugs and one was a frostbite spider stuck in the level geometry and the other a Dragon that never attacked me.

Five year and this is the best they have? I'm impressed by all the quality titles I played on the 360 when writing this I erased and moved a lot of games in the order I remembered and kept some good ones out! And to close this article….the games I still expect to play in the near future in my 360!

1. Mass Effect 3

2. Rainbow Six Patriots

3. Bioshock Infinite

4. Borderlands 2

5. Tomb Raider

6. Halo 4

7. Prey 2

8. The Syndicate

9. Transformers Fall of Cybertron

10. FarCry 3

Happy b-day, xbox 360….well it's not exactly 5 years but, I got itearly in Februarystarted so I take my time to write this blog, about 5 years with my Xbox 360, for starters it is the console I've had for the longest time, and naturally the one I've played more different games! So to commemorate this last 5 years as a gamer I'll blog about the best games I played on the console! According to their release dates.
2005-2007
10. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent; I got this game just for the sake of getting it, I thought it was going to be the same game as the original xbox version, but no, the story is mostly the same but the graphics were really pretty and the settings were mostly original, although the MP left a lot to be desired.
9. Gears of War; the graphics for this were damn pretty, I was impressed by them the gore and the cover based mechanic gave the game a personality of it's own, the Multiplayer was a good addition and fun to play every once in a while.
8. Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare; the first chapter of the modern saga was the best story wise, and the MP was fun and different from other games, with unlockables and fast paced action, the set pieces were kind of new to me at the time.
7. The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion; open be who you want in Cyrodiil and do whatever you want, this game absorbed me for a good 150 hours, where I tried to do most of the stuff available, my warrior had no equal….until the world scaled with him….but it was a unique and rewarding experience al around.
6. Assassin's Creed; I remember watching a cutscene in Prince of Persia the two thrones where the prince escalated a wall so freely I thought wow if I could play like that it would be so cool! Then came AC, where not only was part of the base of the game it had a cool setting and a great story, my brother enjoyed watching me play that for the sense of freedom the game gives you while traversing the city.
5. The Orange box; I never played Half-Life 2, so I was really interested in this game just to see what the fuzz was all about, and man Half-Life 2 and it's episodes left a good taste in my mouth and I saw how creative the game was, then came Team Fortress 2 and it's ****based MP although I sicked I enjoyed playingit just for fun, not to mention Portal which originality and charisma made for an impressive package
4. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas; Call of Duty 4 might be fast and crazy, but Rainbow Six Vegas is slower and methodical, the way to play it is as a team both in Single Player and Online MP or co-op the feel of the weapons was good, the challenge was even better, and lining up a headshot is still fantastic.
3. Halo 3; I have to admit I disliked Halo for it's popularity (although I had Halo 2…) and well the sheer amount of media covering this game sold it to me, as I tried it I finished the campaign in no time and while I liked it I had a feeling I was missing something, so I subscribed to xbox live to try it….and well I have to say this has to be my most played game on xbox 360….
2. Bioshock; when I first got it I played it for like 2 hours then stopped for 2 months, when I picked it up again I couldn't stop finding all about Rapture and soak in it's atmosphere, it doesn't play that good but the setting and narrative are one of a kind.
1. Mass Effect; I got lured to Bioware games by KotOR, then I tried and also loved Jade Empire, so I had to play this, the universe it was set in was incredible, the ****s and choices hooked me, and no moment in gaming has felt more epic to me than the final assault of the fleet on sovereign.
2008
10. Dead Space; I recently got to experience Dead Space and like Bioshock I tried and stopped playing it, then I picked it up and when I did man; I got pull into the U.S.S. Ishimura nad hunted for Necromorphs like crazy.
9. Prince of Persia; I remember this game fonsly, not because it has a great story or because the gameplay is top notch, is because of the visuals, it looks beautiful and I was able to play it just to enjoy the landscape and character models, and well they finally made a likable companion with Elika.
8. Gears of War 2; bigger, badder and more badass, Gearso f War 2, brought all the good things from the first one and improved and expanded on some other things, the multiplayer was way better, and it made survival modes all the rage, the environments were vastly improved in this one, and the weapon selection was amazing.
7. Mirror's Edge; this game as Prince of Persia is artistic, it looks stunning, for the art direction, and it sounds appealing, the simplicity in the controls made it great to fool around, it lacks some features I know, but in the end I remember the bright colors and the speed I was moving in while I jumped from rooftop to rooftop.
6. Left 4 Dead; the best co-op experience out there, go alone and you're doomed, work as a team and feel satisfied, then it came the multiplayer, make them run separate and hunt them one by one, who knew that playing an infected could be so much fun!
5. Fable II; I was a big fan of the first Fable, so I had to try this the beginning was kind of slow, then I turned a gipsy, then I killed thieves, then I married, then I bough a city, then I traveled to uncharted seas, then I was a slave, then I was the owner of all Albion, so much things happened in the journey I couldn't stop playing it, oh and the dog was amazing.
4. Saints Row 2; while GTA IV was more serious, saints Row 2 was like a goofy sequel of GTA San Andreas, the over the top plot, and action made it so fun to play, I tried and did almost everything possible in that game, and chuckled all the time
3. Battlefield Bad Company; destructible environments? Tanks? ****s? Count me in! I got this a little late, and when I tried it I was kind of bored with the campaign, then just for curiosity I tried the campaign, I never played the single player again, that's how good I consider this Multiplayer, the audio and graphical presentation completed the package and made me a fan.
2. Rainbow Six Vegas 2; The Single player was good, the co-op was amazing, but the Multiplayer….I played it religiously 2 hours a day for like 2 months, I could never stopped improving my soldier and playing with my clan, man I even had a clan, it improved on it's predecessor in subtle but precise ways.
1. Fallout 3; combine Portals personality with an epic and long campaign, then add bioshock atmosphere, and mix it up with 50's music and you get a glimpse at Fallout 3, I only played it once to be honest, but that was one hell of a ride, I explored the whole capital wasteland, got all the weapons met everyone, and still I had the nerve to get some DLC and play it.
2009
10. Shadow Complex; the standard by which all XBLA games are measured, the game is a nod to games like metroid, and presents a really big and rich environment to explore and conquer, and it does look really pretty in motion.
9. The Beatles Rock Band; I'm a huge fan of The Beatles myself and while I never played any music game before this I knew for certain that I had to play this, so I got it enjoy it, and played it again! Every once in a while I just put the game watch the beautiful intro and play a couple songs.
8. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2; the narrative for this got a lot more ridicule, but still was fun to play, Spec ops (the co-op mode) was challenging and fun to play as it presented diverse challenges, and well the multiplayer was unbalanced and could make your pull your hair…but in the end it was a blast to play with friends.
7. Left 4 Dead 2; when I played the first Left 4 Dead I enjoyed whoever I couldn't differentiate one campaign from the other, well with part 2, all the campaigns had a unique and amazing feeling, add to that melee and new infected and you have a hit!.
6. Street Fighter IV; I'm a big fan of the series, and was mighty pleased with this return to the series for a couple months I was totally addicted to the multiplayer, I even got an impressive streak playing as E. Honda, then news came and….(continues in 2010)
5. Dragon Age Origins; this game reminds me of the gameplay in KotOR, but in a medieval setting, now end of the similarities, Dragon Age doesn't play it safe it's playground is in the big grey area of Morality, sacrifice someone for the good of the people, or save him for your best interests? This kind of choiced made DA:O fell really unique.

4. Batman Arkham Asylum; how can you turn a superhero into a good videogame, just do what rocksteady did with Batman, use and explore the characters, pay attention to the story, use the character strong points, and polish it with top notch presentation and gameplay.
3. Forza Motorsport 3; I'm not a racing games fan, but when you get your hands on a game like Forza 3, you have to experience and feel it, is the most flexible game of it's kind to play, I like making designs for my cars, my brother just likes making drags in quarter miles, and there is a whole lot to do between those 2 points.
2. Borderlands; I don't know what this game has hat captivates me, maybe the loot? The leveling system? The co-op? the bazillion weapons? Maybe all of them, even to these day I keep playing Borderlands and never get bored of it.
1. Assassin's Creed II; when I first saw Ezio I thought "am I supposed to like this guy better than almighty altair?" then I heard " Requiescat in Pace" and saw Venice and I was thrilled, the story for Ezio is one of the best I've seen, from teenager to a grown man, you see how much he changes and how much he experiences in his life…all in amazing playgrounds and with impressive gameplay.

the moment you were all expecting, this year overall was one of the most solid ones, plenty of titles in different genres made it one hell of a ride for any gamer, with sequels, new IP's editions to classics and many ways to play videogames, I am satisfied by this year and well time to award the best!

Best story 2011
Deus Ex Human Revolution: the story scalated to an assault on Sariff industries to a threat for
all of humankind.

Runner-ups: Assassin's Creed Revelations, Batman Arkham City, The Legend of Zelda Skyward
Sword.

Best character 2011
Adam Jensen (Deus Ex Human Revolution): He never asked for this, but the choices and all plot
twists never changed the essence of the character and Adam proves to be whatever you want
him to be

Runner-ups: Ezio Auditore (Assassin's Creed Revelations), Whitley (Portal 2), Cole Phelps (L.A.
Noire), Isaac Clarke (Dead Space 2)

Best campaign 2011
The Elders Scroll V Skyrim: Epic Open and you can do whatever you want, there is an endless
supply of side missions and main quest varied enough to always keep you trying different
things.

Runner-ups: Assassin's Creed Revelations, Batman Arkham City, Portal 2, Deus Ex Human
Revolution

Best Graphics 2011
Rage; looks and runs pretty some peole have troubles with how the texture looks from up
close, but the way I played Rage I never stood watching at the same thing for long.

Runner-ups: Battlefield 3, Batman Arkham City, Assassin's Creed Revelations, The Elders Scroll
V Skyrim.

Best Art Direction 2011
The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword; SS plays and looks nice, the art direction for this game is
superb and everything has personality.

Runner-ups: Rayman Origins, The Elders Scroll V Skyrim, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Portal 2.

Best Sound 2011
The Elders Scroll V Skyrim: the game is based on the premise of shouts, and those are
impressive, the music, voice acting, creatures and sound are one hell of a show.

Runner-ups: Battlefield 3, Batman Arkham City, The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, Portal 2,
L.A. Noire.

Best Weapon 2011
Hookblade (Assassin's Creed Revelations) the hidden blade was one hell of a weapon, the
doublé hidden blade is spectacular, but the hook blade, is a weapon, a tool, and a show off
artifact.

Master Sword (The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword) Typhoon (Deus Ex Human Revolution)
Retro Lancer (Gears of War 3) Portal Gun (Portal 2) Wingstick (Rage)

Best Multiplayer 2011

Portal 2; the co-op campaing expands on the challenge as trying to think with 4 portals and 2
characters is amazing

Runner-ups: Battlefield 3, Halo Reach Anniversary playlist, Mortal Kombat, Gears of War 3, Call
of Duty Modern Warfare 3

Best Sequel 2011
Batman Arkham City: many games on this lists are sequels, but none is more direct than
Batman Arkham city the game expande don a solid base and increase the playground, the side
missions are as well made as the original ones

Runner-ups: Portal 2, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Gears of War 3

Best Action Adventure Game 2011
Batman Arkham City; Rocksteady did almost everything perfect, the gameplay, presentation
and feeling is top notch, the overall picture of Arkham City makes it a game to keep playing
long after beating it.

Runner-ups: The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Gears of War
3, Metal Gears Solid HD collection

Best FPS 2011
Portal 2; the humor, art direction and charming characters make portal memorable, the
gameplay and mind bending puzles make it a challenge, for whatever reason Portal 2, sucks
you in and it doesn't let you scape from apertura science.

Runner-ups: Battlefield 3, Rage, Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary, Call of Duty Modern
Warfare 3

Best RPG 2011
The Elders Scroll V Skyrim; the sole size of Skyrim and the options given to the player make
it truth worthy of the "role playing" name, make it whatever you want it to be there is
something to enjoy in skyrim

Runner-ups: Deus Ex Human Revolution, Dragon Age 2, Dark Souls.

Best Fighting Game 2011
Mortal Kombat; the series returned to 2-D the character design was improved both in use
and look, the original cast is back, the fatalities are brutal again, and to top it all the gameplay
is tweaked so it is as simple or complex as you want it to be.

Runner-Ups: Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3

Best Open World Game 2011
L.A. Noire; once again rockstar published another sandbox crown and although the gameplay
is more simple tan past games, the atmosphere and social thone of L.A. Noire make it a
wonderful game

Runner Ups: no other game in this genre this year, but Saints Row the third might prove ti
wrong

I never expected this game to be this good 2011

Deus Ex Human Revolution, the CGI trailer looked amazing, and I never played any of the other
games on the series, so I picked this game without knowing what to expect, and man was I
satisfied with the final product

Best Remake/HD edition 2011:
The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D; sorry I'm biased nothing beats my favorite game of all
time.

Runner-ups: Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary, Metal Gear HD collection, Starfox 64 3D

Best Wii game 2011:
The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess; amazing experience and overall game, the mid point
between the epicness of Ocarina of time and the charm of Windwaker.

Runner-ups: Kirby Return to Dreamland, Rayman Origins

Sandman's GotY 2011
The Elders Scroll V Skyim; Deus Ex HR came close (really close) but Skyrim, is a experience,
I've played the game around 30 hours and there is no way I've seen 1/5th of the world and
missions, the game sounds amazing, looks beautyful and plays awesome

Runner-ups:
Deus Ex Human Revolution: the journey to uncover the attacks on Sariff industries takes a
wild ride full of memorable characters real story changing desitions and amazing flexiblity in
gameplay

Batman Arkham City: Batman is an amazing character bute ven better his enemies are what
carries the stories forward, the gameplay should be a standard for games of the genrre and all
other things are almost as good!

Portal 2: Clever, fun and challenging want more? Portal has charm, charm like few games can,
it's the smart and funny guy everyone likes.

Assassin's Creed Revelations: The end of Ezios adventures start slow, but pick up and brings an
epic conclusion, and the most touching momento of the years is when he speaks to Desmond.

The Legend of Zelda Skyward sword; is an amazing game no need to deny it, but it's the first
Zelda game that doesn't take my personal GotY and I wonder if my taste has changed or if
Links new adventure pales to the ones before

official they're coming in a week span...one of the best years in gaming will be awarded by me!

Ok, most of my end year (gaming wise) is done and the last games to add to my collection are:Halo Combat evolved anniversary, The Elders Scroll V Skyrim and Assassin's Creed Revelations; Although Deus Ex Human Revolution was the undeniably best game so far in 2011 (sorry batman and glados close but not that much) both Skyrim and Revelations have provided me with awesome game moments, I just played a couple hours for both but man they are leaving a really good impression.

Other games I'm missing this year are Dark Souls and Saints Row the third which I'll be getting sometime next year (maybe 2012 summer), who will take the gaming crown this year for me? let's see if both Skyrim and Revelations keep their high wuality status!

The compuslive buyer and the gamer part took the best of me this month, and due to extreme circumstances I had plenty of time to game and bought a bunch of games and recovered others so my gaming log as of today looks like this:

Battlefield 3: have just tried a couple campaign and co op missions, I have played some MP and so far good but I'll save my judgement till I have played all components and dedicate them some time.

Batman Arkham City: Impressive, if Deus Ex hadn't come out this year this would be my favorite game so far, the combat, story and atmosphere is pretty neat

Borderlands: well I had this for a long time but I got a GotY edition for me and my gf to play LAN

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3: I'm not even remotely close to a fan of the series, a friend of mine got it for me so I play with him(as that's all he plays), well so far it feels similar to Modern Warfare 2, which was the one I liked the most of all the CoDs

Crysis: I got this on games on demand, I still have to play it but I guess since it is single player only it can wait.

Dead Island: I got this dirty cheap, at first I found it a bit boring, but the more quests I do the more interested I'm in this one, kind of reminds me of the son of borderlands and Left 4 Dead.

Dead Space 2: I gave the first dead space some time this year and it grew on me now Dead Space 2, is keeping me tense and waiting for the next necromorph to jump and attack me!

Dragon Age II: I got this a month ago and hadn't had the time to play it like I wish (you know dedicate myself to ferelden and it's people)

Halo Reach: thanks to the Game Trailers Halo retrospective, I feel like playing this, and oh man now I remember why I love it so much!

Halo Wars: after 1 year a friend borrowed it for me I just got it back and well I tried a couple of the co-op and MP components and I find it curious that this game has a dedicated fan base.

L.A. Noire: the murder cases are fun to play and I play this game as Episodic as it is, because I play a case at a time and can forget about the game for a couple days, I like how fresh this game feels

Portal 2: my gf got this for me, and the humor is brilliant and the puzzles are enagging even more when you have to think with...4 portals OMFG!!!

Sonic & Sega All Stars racing, this game is a pleasant surprise as it is different from all the other xbox games and it is actually fun to play online

Star Wars the force Unleashed II: as a fan of star wars I waited far too long to play this and although I enjoyed part 1 I was reluctant on this one, let's see if it's a worthy sequel or just a George Lucas prequel.

Super Street Fighter IV: I just got this back also and well I remember me being better at this game hehehe I'm not as dominant as I used to be.

wow plenty of games right? tomorrow I'm getting Skyrim and next week Assassin's Creed and maybe Saints Row the third.....too many games I know, I also want to get Enslaved from games on demand, I've been wanting to play this since launch but it{s impossible to find it in Mexico.

I'm glad I finished Deus Ex Human Revolution and Rage before all this

yeah I forgot I never post this on Gamespot so I might update before making it 2011 and while I'm at it it will give me time while the rest of the games are released.

Best Story 2010:Red Dead Redemption, the redemption of John Marston was an ultimately great joruney to see all the way, sadly Mass Effect 2 was too focused on companionsRunner-ups: Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Castlevania Lords of Shadows.Best character 2010: John Marston(Red Dead Redemption) he was careful written and the player becomes attached to John, this outlaw made the game better with his sole presence.Runner-ups: Mordin Solus (Mass Effect 2) Sam Fisher (Splinter Cell conviction) Ezio Auditore (Assassin's Creed Brotherhood)Best Campaign 2010: Mass Effect 2, the galaxy and lore gerew with this entry, and the desitions you are still making are shaping the galaxys fate, with a ship full of likeable aliens, Mass effect's 2 campaign was the best.Runner-ups: Red Dead Redemption, Halo Reach, Splinter cell conviction.

Best Graphics 2010: Mass Effect 2, when I first got into the Afterlife bar in Omega I was blown away of how much the game had changed since the first one.

Runner-ups: Castlevania Lords of Shadows, Red Dead Redemption, Halo Reach, Battlefield Bad Company 2.

Best Art Direction 2010: Castlevania Lords of Shadows, all the creatures and enviroment are gorgeus to look at and actually they seem to fit.

Runner-ups: Bioshock 2, Mass Effect 2.

Best Sound 2010: Battlefield Bad Company 2, the punch on the guns and on all the enviroments were really easy to put this on, it might lack voice acting, but while I play I prefer the biggest bang available!

Runner-ups: Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Best Weapon2010: FN-Seven (Splinter Cell Conviction) deadliest pistol since the Halo CE pistol.

Runner-ups: Drill (Bioshock 2), Lasso (Red Dead Redemption) Fat Boy (Fallout New Vegas)

Best Multiplayer 2010: Battlefield Bad Company 2, I'm all up for bigh conflicts and on the 360 it doesn't get better than Battlefield Bad Company 2, Air, Sea and land vehicles make all better.

Runner-ups: Halo Reach, Army of Two the 40th day, Super Street Fighter IV

Best sequel

Mass Effect 2: it improved on the weak points of the first one making the experience more worthy! that and I never played Red Dead Revolver.

Runner-ups: Halo Reach, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Fallout New Vegas, Bioshock 2

Best adventure game 2010: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood: the gameplay was refined and tuned, Ezio was as capable as usual.

Runner-ups: Splinter Cell Conviction, Castlevania Lords of shadows, Alan Wake

Best Shooter 2010: Halo Reach, nothing comes close to this overall package wether it be competitive MP, campaign or co-op Reach does it great, other games lack on one or the other twwo departments.

Runner-ups: Battlefield Bad company 2, Bioshock 2, Medal of Honor

Best RPG 2010: Mass Effect 2: the role you play in the galaxy is just to big to ignore.

Runner-ups: Fallout New Vegas

Best Fighting Game 2010; Super Street Fighter IV: really nothing comes even close to this.

Runner-ups: Tekken 6, is a good game and all but it lacks in comparison

Best Open World game 2010: Red Dead Redemption, leave it to Rockstar to deliver the open world games, and the western was an amazing setting for the hunters and cowboys.

Runner-up: none

I never expected this game to be good 2010: Red Dead Redemption, only thing I could though is why all this stuff bored me in GTA IV but I love in Red Dead Redemption.

Runner-up: Army of Two the 40th day

Sandman's 2010 GotY: Mass Effect 2, sorry great games in 2010 but nothing really jeopardizes Mass Effect's 2 epic campaign

Runner-ups: Red Dead Redemption, Halo Reach, Battlefield Bad company 2, Splinter cell conviction

Part 2 guys!

Genre: Fighting

Best Online competitive Experience: Super Street Fighter IV: the netcode does makes wonders for this game as the input lag is barely noticeable if at all, all characters are balanced and play different enough to make you change playstyle, torunament mode, team battle and replays only add to the fun, the best fighter out there and one of the best online games overall (at least on consoles)

Best Onlive Co-op Experience: Mortal Kombat, this is kind of difficult to give since most fighters are 1v1 but in MK you can have 2v2 fights were one of the characters is controlled by a friend and you can tag in/out at any given moment to create nsane combinations

Best feature/idea: Mortal Kombat King of the Hill mode, did you ever went to an arcade? were there were players who beated everyone else and just kept playing while the rest of the people tried to beat them, King of the Hill is a virtual arcade where the winner stands and the rest of the people watch the fights.

Good idea poor execution: Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a great game for party gameplay and competitive to some degree but the lag and the inexistent match customization make it barely worthy for online play.

just plain wrong: Garou Mark of the Wolves the lag in a game that needs so much presition does not help this games appeal.

Genre: Racing

Best online Competitive experience: Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, the sheer ammount of fun and strategy packed in Hot pursuit is amazing, cops have to stop racers, and racers have to win, with "weapons" impressive crashes and fast cars all this game does is allow you to have fun!

Best online Co op experience: nothing comes to my mind online, if only MArio Kart Double Dash had online gameplay it would win this

Best Feature/idea: Forza Motorsport 3 sharing community, desgins, tunned cars, cars, vynils, anything you can create on the game you can create, rate and enjoy, more games should be allowed to do this.

Good idea, poor execution: Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts a small community and lots of new players made this quite unfair since the people that played the most had the best parts and vehicles, they should have separated new players to veterans here which kind of broke the game for newcomers

Just plain wrong: Rage, the driving in the game is great for FPS, but when you base your MP on racing, you need to tune the driving and the powers so it takes more skill than luck/equipment.

Genre: Sandbox

Best Online Competitive multiplayer: Red Dead Redemption; the landscape is huge and in Red dead there are tons of things to do online, the gameplay is smooth and works fine in this mode, but nothing beats maulin the entire enmy team with cannons.

Best Online Coop experience: Saints Row 2; the full campaign is playable, both players can have their own content like cars, clothes and weapons, saints row 2 is fun but is far better when playing it with a friend

Good idea poor execution: Crackdown 2; super powered agents running around and destroying each other!? sounds nice right, well no actually no the deathmatch on crackdown didn't work just for the fact that they took the most fun things from the Multiplayer

Just plain wrong: Dead Rising 2, two players can play this game one plays as Chuck and the second player plays as Chuck.....nuff said!

well I guess this is it, I migh miss some genres but I haven't played much online of those next Blog GotYs 2010! a bit late but unbiased!

Sandman is online, how is everyone around here doing? I'm doing fine, at least gamingwise (in the real life I've had some issues) anyway recently I decided to give a bit of a take on online multiplayers, why? well I've been playing a couple games that strongly focuses on this. and well I will dedicate this to some of the best I've seen on xbox live. On my PC I only play same old Quake III and Age of empires 3 online, so I'll try and break it down like this:

Genre: the genre I'm describing

Best Online competitive Experience: my favorite game for the genre (and a runner up)

Best Onlive Co-op Experience: favorite co-op for the genre (and a runner Up)

Best feature/idea: self explanatory

Good idea poor execution: a game that had the idea but executed not as good as it sounds

just plain wrong: a bad game

Remember, before you start burning me all around this is my opinion nothing else...heck there are enoughs "sandmans/doubalfa" around here to make it clear.

FPS

Favorite Competitive Game: Halo Reach; easy to tell why, Halo reach has what every online game needs, a load of game lists with enough variations to tell one from another easily, theatre, content share, customization, map editor, customizable games, a strong community and solid gameplay, I feel epic every time I'm on a warthog with two other guys. (runner up: Battlefield Bad Company 2)

Favorite Co-op Game: Borderlands, it's easy to tell you why Borderlands is my favorite, the entire campaign is made for co-op and is not a short one, the more players the harder it becomes and the more things everyone around gets, all 4 classes are balanced out to work as a team and as a killing squad, and the random generated enemies adds a touch of fresh to the mix. (runner up: Left 4 Dead)

Best Feature Idea: Customization, Rainbow six Vegas did this just right, you generated your own character, which worked in many levels, from mobility to camouflage to loadout, every soldier play style was revealed by looking at them plenty of armor and a shotgun? that guy wants to get really close, fast and silenced weapons? sneaky bastard, this made Rainbow Six Vegas so addicting to rank up (there were no perks or killstreaks here).

Good Idea poor Execution: Bioshock 2, weapons, plasmids (powers) and tonics (perks) all mixed together sounds incredible, too bad the game had lag and balancing issues everywhere or this could have worked perfectly.

Just plain wrong: Perfect Dark (arcade) no online game should be allowed to have that much auto-aim plain and simple.

TPS.

Favorite competitive game: Gears of War 3, a few days out I know, hype? negative I never hyped this game, but the online component serves how Gears of War and Gears of War 2 should have, the dedicated servers really helped here, the symetrical maps work great as usual and the weapons pick ups are great (huge power? low ammo) the gameplay really nailed it, so from here on it can only get better (runner up: Star Wars Battlefront 2 [I always played it on Third person])

Favorite Co-op game: Splinter Cell Conviction, this game split the game into two a 6 hour unique co-op campaign, and several modes meant for two players such as Infiltration, Survival and Manhunt the game implemented the SP mechanics flawlessly, Gears of War 3 almost takes this, but in the end I really feel more natural in Conviction co-op (runner-ups: Gears of War 3 and Army of Two the 40th Day)

Best feature: Revive your teammate..it's just invaluable, up to the point that most co-op games have some form of doing this.

Good idea poor execution: Army of Two had 2 teams of 2 players trying to kill each other with enemies all over the place and contracts to perform, in the end the impact detection and other connection issues broke all of this.

Just plain wrong: Dark Sector, the online gamemode had some form of kill the enemy/enemy team who happen to have/be a super powered soldier. this was simply wrong.

At some point I'll post part two which will include Fighting games and Action/Adventure!

Hola! sandman here reporting from the lines! well the past 2 weeks I made my iron man of gaming....(say what?) I played likenever before...which means....I played a lot, so this might be a long blog. The background for this Iron Man of Gaming is...I worked nonstop for almost two months and Itook a couple days off (that's why I wanted to be away from my PC and my office) so the aftermath.....man I felt like I was 15 years old again!

First off some info on my latest blog, I'm almost done with Gears of War 2, might try to rank up a bit more this upcoming weekend but I'm not sure, Halo 3 was left unplayed sadly, never found anyone who would help me get those cheevos I'm missing, Castlevania...just got back to my collection yesterday (same with Mass Effect 2)on Red Dead Redemption I'm level 48 in Multiplayer which is really close to getting to level 50!

On the oldies front two games came back from the grave.....Bioshock 2, which I used to play a lot, and got to play the heck out of the Multiplayer (ranked up all the way) the multiplayer awakes mixed feeling in me, while I ifnd it fun and somewhat original with the plasmids, hacks, tonics, traps, Big Daddy suits, all sums into an interesting mix...that lacks polish, the game tends to be fast paced, but it has some lag and connection issues that will mostly get you killed a lot, sometimes you shoot someone in the face to no results, hack and research from time to time take a long time to give you the prompt to perform them, and well by level 35 you get all things to create a douche character, which somewhat broke the experience as 7 out of 10 players use the almost same loadout.

The other game that got another round is Battlefield Bad Co. 2, I like this game a lot, and used to play it with friends all the time, then my friends moved on and I was left unmotivated to play, until recently, getting some DLC (onslaught and SpecAc weapons) on deal of the week I popped the game on my xbox again, still is a blast, and I got to meet some really nice people there that got me back into playing it a bit more recently, oh man these guys got me somewhat pumped for Battlefield 3.

Also I played the heck out of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, the campaign was really good (although not as good as ACII) the game was solid all around, the story was compelling although a bit shallow by the end, then I got to play the Multiplayer and maxed the ranks, the game idea itself is fun, but it has some game breaking mechanics that makes it lose some of it's bright, for example, the game keeps telling you to stay hidden in crowds and other palces, but there is a skill enemies can use called "Templar Vision" tells them exactly were you are and whjo you are, whcih makes hiding pointless, even if you spot your attacker the stun ability (which allows you to knock out the enemy and escape) has really low priority over the killing, which means even if you spot your attacker your options are so limited run or run. While on hunting, your preys can be really douches running only of rooftops which means you have to go into high profile for the kills (higher the profile, lower the points) meaning if you're really far in the score there is no way your catching up no matter how many enemies you kill this way, and there's the teammates that like getting all the kills...by runing all around making themannoying because of the low score they get.

Now on the new games, let's start with thearcade games, I got Perfect Dark Arcade (aport of the n64 game with abetter graphic detail) the Online component is fun, and there are the CO-Op and Counter-Op modes (counter mode is a mode more games need) the other game is Dead Rising2 Case West, the game is fun for coop but somewhat boring and nanoying on your own, I got a good idea of the gameplayfor Dead rising 2, which I'll keepaway from (for now) as I can get my Zombie kills here.

Fable III is a good game, just that not as epic as Fable or asgreat as Fable II, the game got simplified, shorter....but more detailed, the art direction is superior to the previous, the online got improved, andthe king part is a good idea but really really short, I was expecting more for this part, I still have afew achievements to go, whichI might go for, Ihaven't made my mind on a score for this game as it shineson some fronts but get really shallow on others.

Darksiders this was a nice surprise, it's not the greatest game out there but it still has some really nice things going for it, the Zelda-like progression(which my360 needed) the game is hard for me on Apocaliptic (as I seem to get a lot of damage) the combatfeels ok, the story seemsinteresting to see me play it to the end,I haven't finished thsi but I'll get toplay it throught.

Now the cherry of the pie Deus Ex Human Revolution, not once I played and finished a game back to back that is in the25-40 hour long, I started the game knowing nothing about the franchise, I started the game with a stealthy mind, got to read everything I found on my way (and most often than not out of it)the stealth works fine, your augmentations allow you for some really nice customization on gameplay, you can be as sneaky asit gets with invisibility, or avoid guards with acrobatic augmentations, I never used a single gun till I got to a missionwith a boss fight...imagine that. For my second run was made guns blazing, and I got to explore every nook and cranny this time, I killed most of my opponents, and the game in the end felt really different, cutscenes and some details changed based on some interactions with other characters, Deus Ex Human Revolution is the most impressive game I played since Red Dead Redemption, it's doesn't stand out as the best in any aspect, btu the sum of it all makes it really great.

So this is it, next week Gears of War 3 comes out so I might play that!