Hexyz Force

With very little to choose from, I had a hard time picking my best reviewed game of 2010, but the Atlus fangirl in me screams Hexyz Force. It brings a combination of old-school RPG charisma, charming chibi graphics, a really interesting set of gameplay systems and a dramatic story just interesting enough to keep it from being too cliche. A great semi-dungeon crawler that’s perfect to settle into for nice, long grind sessions; I still haven’t finished all the optional things it has to offer.
—Lieren Teeling

Dragon Age Origins: Awakening

I warned you last year that this would happen. 2010 didn’t prove to be a stellar gaming year for me, as I predicted, and my top pick for the year ended up being DLC for a 2009 game. That game would be (relax and put down your pitchforks, I’m not going there) Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening. Though pricey at first glance, the Part IA nature of the expansion not only makes it worth the price of admission, but it also immediately whisks you off into the heat of battle, where all of the time you invested in building up your character pays off. It might have ended up a little on the easy side, but by ramping up the difficulty to the next level, one can easily glean another 15 to 20 hours of adventure, fortune and glory from the game. Until next year…and more promising prospects. —Michele White

Aion: Assault on Balaurea

I find myself playing a lot of games I wouldn’t normally play while writing here; it can be an immense challenge, as I can quickly find a reason not to play a game and, at times, dismiss it. The harder thing for me is to find what other people, including myself, would enjoy about the games I play. On some sort of cosmic level, NCSoft always understands what I’m looking for in an MMO. I want something I can drown myself in for a couple of hours that is beautiful and immense, something I actually want to play. Say what you will about Aion: Assault on Balaurea, but this expansion changed my feelings completely about Aion as I delved back into it. With so many games I could spend my time playing, so many other well-rounded games that are available, it’s the charm of Balaurea that does it for me here. Atreia is a fantastic realm that I have wanted to explore fully since I returned, and this feeling I have now almost makes me wonder why I left in the first place. You’ll find me every other day or so wandering around as a Ranger, doing my crafting and, on occasion, completing a quest or two. —Remy Ransom

Mass Effect 2

After taking a look at the games I reviewed last year, I narrowed the list down to three very worthy candidates. Limbo is a minimalist, supremely creepy indie side-scroller that has something new and scary at every turn. inFamous gives you super-powers to use to explore an entire blasted city in search of the evil forces that caused the destruction. But my choice has to be Mass Effect 2, mostly because it’s the gift that keeps on giving. The story seamlessly ties in to the original Mass Effect, while making fundamental changes that make the sequel much less frustrating (although BioWare really has to do something about the resource-gathering mechanic; I spent way too much time strip-mining alien planets, which isn’t a good way to promote intergalactic peace and harmony). The game is almost infinitely replayable; your Cmdr. Shepard can be good or bad, male or female, and your path towards the final battle with a powerful alien race bent on total destruction is totally up to you to chart. Add in several excellent DLC packs and you have a game that never fails to grab and hold onto your attention. —Michael Smith

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

If I was captured by the Chaos Space Marines and they threatened to torture me if I didn’t select my 2010 game of the year, I would have no choice but to pick StarCraft II. Then they would still torture me, because that’s how they roll. Anyway, the reason for my choice is that StarCraft II is the game that I spent the largest amount of time playing. The campaign was a lot of fun, and being an achievement whore, I replayed some missions again and again. Then I got into multiplayer and bumbled my way up to the platinum league—pretty good for someone like me. Of course, there are also the various player mods and custom maps, so I fully expect to come back to check them out. I don’t usually return to games after I beat them, but in this case I didn’t even uninstall. I know it’s just a matter of time before I’ll start building Banshees and Siege Tanks again. —Alaric Teplitsky

Red Dead Redemption

My favorite game of 2010? Well, I’m going to cheat a little here, so forgive me. My choice would have to be (cue the Ennio Morricone music) Red Dead Redemption and the Undead Nightmare DLC. The game not only packs a visual punch, but it also still has me hogtied to it as much as it did in its first week of release. I find myself switching regularly between single and online play, and each time I have as much fun as a gunslinging bandido with a fistful of dynamite. I must confess, though, that for me it’s the online gameplay that keeps me most entertained. Whether its riding roughshod through the expanse of the desert, showering enemy gangs with lead and excitable taunts, or simply trying to survive the next zombie stampede, I keep going back for more. No one game is ever the same, and I have to thank my fellow gamers for such diverse adrenaline-pumped action. Add to this the beautifully rendered townships, the lovingly created characters and some jaw-dropping backdrops—its a lovely game to see. Yes, it has its flaws and glitches, but on balance this is my game of the year. So wolf down those lukewarm beans, gulp the last of your bitter coffee and mount up. There’s gunslinging to be done! —Simon Moore

Batman: Arkham Asylum

If I had to choose the best game out of those I reviewed last year, I’d have to go with Batman: Arkham Asylum (yes, I know it was released in late 2009, but it was not assigned to me for review until 2010, so it qualifies). It’s one of the best computer games based on Batman that I’ve ever seen, and arguably one of the best comic-book tie-ins ever, with Spider-Man: Web of Shadows running a close second. The graphics are awesome, and though there’s a scavenger hunt element to the game (finding the audio diaries and solving the Riddler’s puzzles), it’s never intrusive—you could safely ignore them and just focus on the main storyline. And let’s face it…playing as the Batman, beating up thugs with just his fists and feet, never gets old. —Marcus Spears