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1UP's 2010 Game Of The Year Awards

See how your readers' choice picks stack up against 1UP's editor picks.

1UP READERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2010: Platform Awards | Genre Awards | Game of the Year

By: 1UP Staff





With 2011 now in full-swing, it's time to take stock of what kind of year we had (videogame-wise) with 2010. Listed below, and divided into the overall categories Best of Platform, Best of Genre, and Game of the Year are our editors' picks along with your readers' choice awards. Read about our winners (and runners-up) along with our reasons behind each winning pick, and check out how similar (or different) your choices are.

Best Downloadable Game

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

Square Enix | Crystal Dynamics

It sounds kind of terrible in concept: "Tomb Raider, but now as a twin-stick shooter!" In actual execution, it's perhaps one of the finest action games to hit hard drives in years. The top-down perspective, the tight and responsive controls, the cooperative gameplay (with actual honest-to-god designed-for-co-op puzzles as well), and the addictive and numerous challenges all combine to make this one of the best games featuring Lara Croft in years. Now this is how you take a flagship series and adapt it to a distinct and great downloadable installment.

Runners-Up: Limbo, Costume Quest


Readers' Choice Limbo (15%)

Runners-Up: Plants vz Zombies (14%), Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game (12%)
Best iPhone/iPad Game

Infinity Blade

Chair Entertainment | Chair Entertainment

As bizarre as it sounds, an addictive mash-up of Punch-Out!! and Demon's Souls that looks like a modern HD game, but is portable enough to fit in your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, actually works. While a great many games are simple-and-addictive, and others (like RAGE HD) are pretty-but-a-bit-shallow, it's Infinity Blade that manages to show off all the best qualities of iOS (and modern console) gaming simultaneously. In short, it's not just a really good iOS game -- it's a damn good (and good-looking) game that just happens to be on iOS.

Runners-Up: Plants vs Zombies, Game Dev Story


Readers' Choice Plants vs Zombies (34%)

Runners-Up: GTA: Chinatown Wars (13%), Infinity Blade (11%)
Best PC Game

StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty

Blizzard Entertainment | Blizzard Entertainment

After years of anticipation, hype, and speculation, StarCraft 2 arrived on the scene and lived up to everything we were hoping it would be...and then some. Epic campaign? Check. Robust (and balanced) multiplayer? Check. Awesome map editor? You got it. Thanks to Blizzard's "we'll ship it when it's finished" mentality, we were treated to a game that worked perfectly out of the box on a variety of hardware configurations on day one. As a game that fully embraced so many aspects of what it means to be a PC game, nothing delivered better than StarCraft 2 in 2010.

Runners-Up: World of WarCraft: Cataclysm,
Sid Meier's Civilization V


Readers' Choice StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty (23%)

Runners-Up: Mass Effect 2 (15%), MineCraft (12%)
Best PSP Game

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Konami | Kojima Productions

Great U.S. releases were few and far between on the rapidly fading PSP last year -- but even on a healthier platform, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker would have stood out as something special. An extraordinary distillation of the Metal Gear concept into a modern portable title, Peace Walker side-stepped the flaws of its most recent console chapter (namely, the drawn-out cut-scenes), and focused instead on compact, cleverly designed missions with tons of Monster Hunter-inspired extra multiplayer content. The only real flaw? The emphasis on multiplayer undermined the series' traditionally amazing boss battles. Otherwise, a real masterpiece.

Runners-Up: Valkyria Chronicles 2, God of War: Ghost of Sparta


Readers' Choice God of War: Ghost of Sparta (27%)

Runners-Up: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (26%), Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (14%)
Best DS Game

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Nintendo | Level-5

With a combination of an approachable battle system, addictive gameplay, and enough optional grinding opportunities for ambitious (masochistic) completists-on-the-go, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies fits perfectly on Nintendo's handheld. Taking advantage of the Nintendo DS' Wi-Fi capabilities, DQIX also lets you go into Tag Mode, a search mode that looks for other nearby players, allows their characters to visit your inn and exchange any special treasure maps they may be holding.

Runners-Up: Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth


Readers' Choice Pokémon Heartgold/Soulsilver (25%)

Runners-Up: Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (23%), Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (11%)
Best 360 Game

Halo: Reach

Microsoft | Bungie

Halo: Reach captured our attention this year by re-establishing the core elements of the infamous franchise, and this back-to-basics approach really helped the game shine. Armor abilites became the cutting-edge fourth option for developer Bungie's now familiar three-piece formula of weapons, grenades, and melee. User created content in Forge became simpler than ever, and player investment bonuses and daily challenges kept us playing for months after the game shipped. Whether in space combat or on the ground (or in some campaign missions, both) Halo: Reach held off the opposition and was our best Xbox 360 game of 2010.

Runners-Up: Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2


Readers' Choice Mass Effect 2 (23%)

Runners-Up: Halo Reach (19%), Call of Duty: Black Ops (12%)
Best PS3 Game

Heavy Rain

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. | Quantic Dream

Adult without being pornographic, serious without being overdramatic, Heavy Rain is one of the few games that offers an authentically cinematic experience while letting you remain fully in control. Perhaps what we most loved about this game is that having a character fail a challenge (or even die) didn't mean your story was at an end; instead, the game's narrative changed to reflect your character's successes and failures. In a year filled with excellent sequels, Heavy Rain's original story and immersive gameplay make it stand over and above as a must-own title on PS3.

Runners-Up: God of War 3, 3D Dot Game Heroes


Readers' Choice God of War 3 (20%)

Runners-Up: Heavy Rain (15%), Red Dead Redemption (12%)
Best Wii Game

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Nintendo | Nintendo

The story of Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a triumph of design. In what is easily the most celebrated and iconic of franchises and the most well-known of characters, Nintendo has (again) managed to collect their vast experience, expertise, and dedication into a platformer magnificent in its simplicity. As Justin Haywald wrote in his review , despite the incorporation of all-new features, abilities, and worlds, "the underlying design is as solid as anything from Super Mario World or Super Mario 64." However, within these familiar trappings, effortless controls, and lush evocative score, you'll find nothing but rigorous attention to detail and loving care.

Runners-Up: Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby's Epic Yarn


Readers' Choice Super Mario Galaxy 2 (38%)

Runners-Up: Donkey Kong Country Returns (13%), GoldenEye 007 (10%)





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