PixlBit

It's fun to go down the Metacritic [MC] list, so I'm doing it again for the stuff I played in 2010. 

#7 on MC for 2010 - God of War III (PS3) - I remember being really blown away by the graphics in gameplay trailers. I liked the game but there were a bit too many quick-time-events between battling. It went way too far that way in the next game, Ascension. I'll still replay GoW3 when I break out my PS3 soon though. 

#9 - Halo: Reach (X360) - I always had to pick up a Halo game. I liked this one. The lush outdoor environments and lots of vehicle use made me happy. My friend MK didn't like it as much: no Master Chief and a downer ending. I thought it was an interesting take on the series. This was, of course, Bungie's last Halo game. I didn't see that one coming. Since then I've been very unsure of any new Halo game. They've been ok, but none have that Bungie touch.

#20 - Bioshock 2 (X360) - It was fun to play as a big daddy, but I've never been that taken with this game. I'm unsure why, really, other than it's by a different developer that the first one. 

#22 - Pinball FX2 (XBLA) - It looked better, you could challenge your friends online and all your tables from the first one were still playable. They iterated on this well with FX3, but it all ended after that - such a shame. 

 #36 - Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (Wii) - I still vividly remember seeing this running on a demo kiosk in my home town Gamestop and being really blown away by all the exploding graphics. It's just a gorgeous shmup. 

#37 - Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii) - I was in a Best Buy when I saw a demo of this running and had to have it. All that colorful yarn was irresistable. It also has extremely creative gameplay that just wows me every time I play it. 

#42 - Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (DS) - I rented this from Gamefly and really got into it. I was also moved by the story as it ended. I think this was my frist Prof. Layton game, and I've endevoured to play them all since then. 

#49 - Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (XBLA) - I've never been much into the Tomb Raider games but this one caught my attention. The isometric view and co-op mode made me think of action RPGs like Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance. So I got into it quite a bit. 

#70 - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (X360) - Another series I've had trouble getting into, but make Castlevania play more like God of War and I'm in - all in. 

#76 - Valkyria Chronicles II (PSP) - This must be a year etched in my memory because I remember I used to play this at Panera after work. It was a must buy for me after the first one on PS3. It was more like the first game and just as hard. I never did get very far in it. Around this time I had the art book for the first game. I wish I still had this sequel and the art book still. 

 #84 - Split/Second (X360) - I was really disappointed in 2008's Burnout Paradise. The open world just confused me. I would get lost during races all the time. So this Split/Second seemed like a good Burnout replacement. It did that, but since then there has been almost nothing like the original Burnout series. 

 #109 - Fable III (X360) - Most poeple see Fable 2 as the high point and this one a let down. I always liked this game. It was more focused on the action and less on the RPG elements, I guess, but I like that style too. I think it had some pretty funny writing as well. I still remember some jokes from it. 

 #113 - Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PSP) - I rented this, my first Ys game, and really enjoyed it. I have yet to delve into the other games in the series, but I hope to when I get a chance. 

 #159 - Risk Factions (XBLA) - I'm always up for a new video game version of old board games. I believe you could play this in the classic way or in a faster more modern approach online against friends. I guess it wasn't the best in the end but it was a neat attempt to update it. 

#169 - Etrian Odyssey III (DS) - I don't know which of the first three alerted me to this series, but I likely rented one of them and then had to have them. I couldn't believe my 1981 Wizardry was being recreated but even better on the DS. 

 #175 - A World of Keflings (XBLA) - MK and I played the two Keflings games like crazy. It was a simple game of construction management and resource gathering. You can use your Xbox Avatar as your giant and pick up the little Keflings and set them to work. Just fun. 

 #180 - Endless Ocean: Blue World (Wii) - I got this sequel to Endless Ocean day-one because I loved the first one's ocean science exploration. You photographed and recorded everything you saw as you scuba dived to ship wrecks and natural locations. I couldn't get enough of it. 

 #185 - Singularity (X360) - I was a fan of developer Raven and would play just about anything they did. This was a good FPS. This is kind of a Wolfenstein game with a time control device that lets you alter the environment. It's a solid game. 

 #249 - Disney Epic Mickey (Wii) - Another rare day-one purchase by me. I was so excited for it. A darker take on a Disney character and world, yes please. I didn't like the controls much though and got very frustrated with it. Thankfully the fairly recent remaster fixed everything and I was as delighted as I should've been back in 2010. 

 #251 - Dante's Inferno (X360) - I read a lot of Dante back in school, so I was kind of amazed that there would be a video game adaptation. I liked the God of War style gameplay, and I had to see what they did with the visuals of Dante's Divine Comedy. It was decent. 

 #280 - Crackdown 2 (X360) - I think this got a lot more flak than it deserved. I liked it quite a lot. Yes, it wasn't as great as the first game, but it was fun. I liked how I could actually find all the orbs by pinging for them from a helicopter. Hours were spent combing the city for every last orb. 

 #319 - Lost Planet 2 (X360) - I was excited for this sequel but I found it more suited to co-op play. It seemed really difficult in single player. I love playing these game co-op but it isn't every day I can do that. I'd like to play a game both single and co-op effectively. 

 #327 - Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment (XBLA) - This is the only Vandal Hearts game I've played. The other games are hard to get a hold of. Flames of Judgment is a tactics RPG that I like a lot. 

 #387 - Splatterhouse (X360) - This didn't get great reviews but I liked its beat 'em up battle system which was challenging. A bonus was that the first three Genesis games are included on the disc. 

 #416 - KrissX (XBLA) - I was always on the search for a good word game like Bookworm Adventures and found a decent one in this. You swap letters around to solve puzzles and there's a "quest" mode. Put a "quest" mode in just about anything, and I'll like it. 

And that is literally everything I played that year worth mentioning. A pretty good year, all in all.