Racing Game of The Year

There weren't a lot of racing games on the 360 this year but there were some really good ones. I still wonder if fan reaction and sales of Blur and Split/Second were hurt by releasing the same week. Would it have changed your perspective had they been a month apart? Does it matter once you compare either of them to F1 2010 or Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit? Find out who won after the break.

Music Game of the Year

In a year where music games seem to be taking a nose dive into obscurity there are still plenty of great new games to choose from. Even though sales figures are down the quality and depth to the genre is definitely up.

First Person Shooter of the Year

In a year of extremely solid first person shooters, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Halo Reach, Call of Duty Black Ops, it was hard to decide on what stood out as the best. Luckily the worst of was a clear cut choice. Check out the winner and losers after the break.

Action Adventure Game of the Year

The Action-Adventure genre had a lot of strong candidates this year. We gave consideration to Crackdown 2, Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, Red Dead Redemption and, Alan Wake among others. Check out the winner after the break.

Xbox 360 Games of 2010 worth playing

My personal picks on the finest games 2010 has served up so far.

(In no particular order out of 150+ unique Xbox 360 titles I have played this year)

Darksiders
Bayonetta
BioShock 2
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Just Cause 2
Metro 2033
Tiger Woods PGATOUR 11
Alan Wake
Red Dead Redemption
NCAA Football 11
Singularity
Crackdown 2
Spider-man: Shattered Dimensions
Mass Effect 2
Mafia II
Splinter Cell Conviction
Planet vs. Zombies

The list covers pretty much all retail releases. I'm sure more arcade games would be on there if I had played them all. I'm looking forward to checking more of those out at some point. The huge onslaught of games is starting here at 12:00am on the east coast, buckle up.

10 worst games of 2010 (audio)

Top 10 Games of 2010 so far (Audio)

The top Xbox 360 games of 2010....so far

It's pretty much known that I play almost every game that comes out. The good, the bad, and the really disgusting. I will update through-out the year on the best games of 2010. This will only be games released within the calendar year of 2010 in the USA. I will break it down into categories I see fit once the list starts expanding. In my estimation, this will be the best year for the 360 gamer. Everything you see here is a work in progress. It's to give you a better idea of how new games being released in the present stack up against each other.

Best Overall Games of 2010 (SO FAR)

1: Mass Effect 2

2: Battlefield Bad Company 2

3: Bioshock 2

4: Darksiders

5: Bayonetta

6: Army of Two: The 40th day

7: Sonic & Sega Racing

8: Dante's Inferno

9: Dark Void

10: Blood Bowl

Best Multiplayer Games of 2010 (SO FAR)

1: Battlefield Bad Company 2

2: Bioshock 2

3: Army of Two: The 40th day

Best Single Player Games of 2010 ( SO FAR)

1: Mass Effect 2

2: Bioshock 2

3: Darksider

4: Bayonetta

5: Battlefield Bad Company 2

6: Sonic & Sega Racing

7: Dante's Inferno

8: Army of Two: The 40th day

9: Dark Void

10: Blood Bowl

Best DLC of 2010 ( SO FAR):

1: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx - Borderlands

2: Desperate Escape - Resident Evil 5

3: Lost In Nightmares - Resident Evil 5

When Bioshock 2 was first announced, most of the people I know didn't think it would live up to the first one, including myself. How does it stack up against the first? Extremely well, and to be honest, in some ways it's better. Not only is everything you loved from the first there, it's handled with care. The one thing that is missing for me personally, was the shock and awe factor. Don't get me wrong, it has twists and turns like an amusement park ride. Trying to take the same formula that worked for the first and attempting to pull it off all over again had to be a difficult task. You have to solute the developers for trying, but they fell a tiny bit short. Technically, the game is solid on all fronts and trumps the first one.

The big question coming in was how would the multiplayer side of the game hold up . To my delight, I had a really enjoyable time with it. Off the top of my head I could name ten multiplayer games that are better, but I could also name fifty that are worse. Getting into a big daddy suit is one of the best things ever, and that is saying a lot because multiplayer was suppose to be a failure. The game has a few issues with freezing and lag, so everything isn't all sunshine and rainbows.

The Battlefield: Bad Company 2 multiplayer is a must play for shooter fans. The lack of lag is unprecedented when it comes to console gaming. The destruction level, the huge maps, the outstanding team work required is a few of the things that make it tic. What puts it a notch above Modern Warfare is the vehicular combat. The single player campaign will not blow you away, but it offers some enjoyable dialog and scripted moments. It doesn't quite stack up to the Modern Warfare single player. The battlefield is on the Multiplayer front, and battlefield is the top dog. I can't recommend playing it online enough, it's truly spectacular.

Sonic & Sega racing is a lot like Mario kart. It is the best Kart racing game on the 360 by a wide margin. If you like Sega characters and tracks tailored towards the Sega experience, you should have an enjoyable time with it. It's very straight forward and for all ages.

Dante's Inferno is decent at best. It does well at putting things together in a mediocre package. I can't really point to the reason why I didn't enjoy it. I just couldn't get into it. I really liked how seamless the loading was between levels.

Blood Bowl is not like Mutant League Football, so get that out of your head. It's a turn based strategy game. All you need to know is that out of the games on this list, it's the only one I don't have 1,000 for. Some people may enjoy, but most will play a single game then never touch it again.

The Secret Armory Of General Knoxx is the best of the best when it comes to DLC. It has a lot of meat to it, like DLC should. It does have some faults since you can't teleport around the map. If you enjoy borderlands, you will love this. This isn't another Mad Moxxi situation, (crap on a stick) thank God.

Desperate Escape was a nice little piece of content that dives right back into the game play that RE5 offered. How zombie like creatures use Rocket turrets is beyond me and that is the only real annoying part.

Lost Nightmares should've been more like Desperate Escape. It started out good and well in a mansion and I was digging that, but the mansion part is short lived. You go on to fight the same boring enemy through-out the DLC. I hate the way doors open, I know they were going for a classic Resident Evil feel, but it doesn't translate well in the co-op experience. I don't even want to bring up how mind numbingly stupid the final boss is. I'm really glad it was only 400MSP.

I still think we are on pace for the best year of the 360. The top 5 games are all extremely good and there is a little something for everyone. Let's just hope DLC starts improving over the course of the year, miracles can happen.

The top Xbox 360 games of 2010...so far

It's pretty much known that I play almost every game that comes out. The good, the bad, and the really disgusting. I will update through-out the year on the best games of 2010. This will only be games released within the calendar year of 2010 in the USA. I will break it down into categories I see fit once the list starts expanding. In my estimation, this will be the best year for the 360 gamer.

Best Games: (so far)

1. Mass Effect 2
2. Darksiders
3. Bayonetta
4. Army of Two: The 40th day
5. Dark Void

Not only is Mass Effect 2 the best single player experience on the Xbox 360, it is also one of the greatest games ever made. The best single player game I have played in my adult life. The game is remarkable and truly a masterpiece in every way imaginable. If you even remotely enjoyed the first, you will love ME2. Bioware is on the cusp of making video games into feature movies. If your friends are bugging you while playing it, you may say this to them," stop sending me messages, I'm watching my movie." It sucked me in like no other game has. I have been saying for years that DICE will make the greatest game known to man. I think Bioware will now do it and Mass Effect 3 could be THAT game. Until then, pray nightly that new DLC graces our beloved Cerberus network the following day.

Expectations: I held them in check. I knew this game was going to be good. I was thinking top 5 or 10 on the 360.

Meet or Beat Expectations: Beat. THE best single player game in years.

Estimation of how long you're looking at for the 1,000 points: 40-45 hours

Darksiders doesn't get the originality points. It's just fun, pure fun. It reminds me a lot of Zelda. Ultimately, that's what I loved about it. It brought me back to 1998. While not quite as good as Zelda by any stretch, it had me from the start. By the time it was over, I didn't want it to end.

Expectations: None

Meet or Beat Expectations: Beat. Came out of left field and sucked me in.

Estimation of how long you're looking at for the 1,000 points: 20 hours

I would say Bayonetta is a masterpiece of artistic quality and originality. I did not like the game at first, in fact, I hated it. It was cheesy and corny to the highest level. The music is elevator-ish. I said to myself, "the main characters legs are too long and she sucks." Yes, I was nitpicking the game to death. It was a few hours into the game when I realized I haven't seen video game art like this in a while. The pacing and the flow of the game kept me on my toes. Huge boss battles, over the top everything. Redunkulous! I must of said, " This game is Redunkulous!" 20 or more times. My girlfriend and cat wanted to disown me at that point.

Expectations: To be a decent game. I wasn't aware of the developer roots at the time.

Meet or Beat Expectations: Beat. It took some time but this game rocked my world.

Estimation of how long you're looking at for the 1,000 points: 20-25 hours

Army of Two: The 40th day. Let's deal with the good. Coop and stomping on fools heads. The extraction mode is pretty fun as well. Coop deathmatch CAN be fun, but the lag kills that. Saving the hostages is stupid, the moral choices are stupid. The story is...well, it didn't even have one! The lack of customizable guns in the multiplayer is mind boggling. A decent game for blowing crap up with a buddy. Nothing more, nothing less.

Expectations: As good as the first

Meet or Beat Expectations: Met. And just by the hair of its chinny chin chin.

Estimation of how long you're looking at for the 1,000 points: 20 hours

Dark Void is like a 2 dollar hooker. It gets the job done, only very sloppily. Not that I would know how a 2 dollar hooker gets down. I've just been told that's how it is. This game could have been great. Instead, it turned into a MEH game. There was nothing terribly wrong with it, but nothing good enough to write home about. Trust me on this, Dark Void will not stay at the bottom of this list. Average game, so don't expect too much and you may get some enjoyment out of it.

Expectations: Low

Meet or beat Expectations: Met. They were very low.

Estimation of how long you're looking at for the 1,000 points: 12 hours

I would say we are still on track for the greatest year for the 360.

Can anything top Mass Effect 2?

How would your list go so far?